BC SETTLEMENT AND INTEGRATION SERVICES

Settlement and integration support by the Province of British Columbia is provided in Prince George to support the social and economic integration of newcomers who are not eligible for such services under the federally funded program and to focus on the needs of Temporary Residents working in B.C. with an intent to stay and Naturalized Canadian Citizens actively seeking employment.

Target clients under the provincial settlement are Temporary Residents working in B.C., Provincial Nominees who are not yet approved for permanent residency, Post-secondary International Students who are eligible to work in Canada, Refugee Claimants and Naturalized Citizens who are looking to be more fully engaged in the labour market.

Settlement staff continues its efforts to introduce services provided by IMSS. The staff regularly travels to smaller communities around Prince George like Vanderhoof, Fort St. James, and Mackenzie etc. for the same.

Services include:
• Information, referral and action planning that meet and support the settlement, employment and integration needs of the target clients
• Assistance to navigate immigration and work permit applications
• Community connection
• Short-term training courses such as Level 1 food safe and first aid provided free to the eligible clients
• Supporting clients’ access to government, community and employment networks and services/programs
• Educating and supporting clients with respect to their rights and responsibilities as residents, workers and citizens of BC
• providing time-limited group support for eligible clients
• Collecting information on the specific needs of the target client groups and best practices to address those needs
• English language instruction in classes that are primarily funded by CIC and implement Canadian Language Benchmark aligned assessment tools to facilitate student intake/placement and demonstrate client progress in language

Different workshops and information sessions are delivered to the targeted clients in collaboration with the local community and government resources. Some of these workshops and information sessions focuses on financial literacy, understanding Canadian culture, family and immigration law, parenting, child care and child minding etc. Job Fairs are also held twice a year and are very successful in providing networking opportunities between employers and eligible clients.

Eligible clients:

  • Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW)
  • Naturalized Canadian Citizens
  • Provincial Nominees (awaiting IRCC approval for PR)
  • International Students (no language training)
  • Refugee Claimant

“We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Jobs, Trade and Technology.”