Newcomers Labour Market Integration Archives - SRDC

Employment Support for Refugees with Lower Levels of English in Their First Year in Canada

Wallaa Daramlly — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 17:35:03 +0000

Led by MOSAIC, this project pilots a targeted training and employment support approach for refugees within their first year in Canada who face barriers to accessing existing services, particularly due to lower levels of English proficiency. Delivered through two cohorts serving up to 24 participants, the project combines customized language training with early labour market supports, cohort-based peer learning, and supported referral pathways between settlement and employment services. The approach builds on insights from a 2025 Future Skills Centre project and addresses gaps in current services from the perspective of refugees navigating employment systems in British Columbia.

The project tests whether targeted programming accelerates labour market integration and self-sufficiency for refugees with low English proficiency. Through ongoing evaluation, the project examines which elements of the programming, such as tailored English language training and first language supports, are most effective in helping participants find and sustain employment, and how participant outcomes compare with historical settlement and employment trajectories. Findings will be used to refine the program and inform future replication.

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LINC Sector Coordination

Wallaa Daramlly — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 15:06:50 +0000

This project engages with LINC Sector Coordination stakeholders such as attendees at LINC Gatherings, members of the Settlement Language Working Group and Advisory Group, participants in LINC teacher training, and MOSAIC staff through interviews and focus groups. The goal is to learn what is working, for whom, and why, and to identify areas for adjustment.

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Consultant for the Dedicated Needs and Assets Assessment and Referral Services (NAARS) Community of Practice

Wallaa Daramlly — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 14:51:36 +0000

SRDC is supporting DIVERSEcity Community Resources Society’s Community of Practice for the development of a dedicated Needs and Assets Assessment and Referral Services (NAARS) model in Surrey, BC. This project strengthens local capacity and brings together frontline organizations, service providers, and stakeholders to share insights, and support effective NAARS implementation. DIVERSEcity leads the initiative locally, engaging partners and coordinating CoP activities, while SRDC provides strategic guidance, research expertise, and facilitation to ensure the developed model is responsive, evidence-informed, and community-driven.

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Newcomers with Remote Information and Career Help in British Columbia and Yukon (ENRICH BCY)

Wallaa Daramlly — Sun, 15 Jun 2025 19:26:14 +0000

Led by Douglas College and in partnership with the Yukon Literacy Coalition, this project’s overarching goals are to enhance newcomer settlement and integration in rural and remote regions of British Columbia and the Yukon (BCY). Our approach emphasizes community engagement and local partnerships to co-design online tools and resources that complement rather than duplicate existing in-person services. Specific areas of focus include developing pre-arrival information to enhance migration pathways; facilitating social and economic integration to promote newcomer retention and address local skill and labour needs; supporting truth and reconciliation through the integration of First Nations history, culture, and governance into settlement services; and addressing gaps in existing community and settlement services to improve newcomers’ access to supports. Consultations (in person and remote) with newcomers, employers, First Nations representatives, community leaders, and service providers are used to i) collect information on local contexts, strengths, services, and needs, and ii) co-design and develop ideas for service enhancements to pilot with local communities. Our evaluation focuses on tracking outcomes, identifying areas for improvement, and capturing lessons learned for further enhancement related to program design and delivery.

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Connecting Canada: Testing Innovative Immigrant Attraction Approaches While Building Attraction Capacity in Smaller Urban and Rural Communities

Wallaa Daramlly — Sat, 26 Apr 2025 13:49:16 +0000

Connecting Canada will test the effectiveness of newcomer attraction capacity building initiatives in smaller urban and rural (SUR) communities. Knowledge and relationships gained from 3 years of SDI-funded research that connected pre-arrival immigrants with SUR employers will be leveraged. SUR community feedback has shown a need for collaborative capacity building mechanisms and shared resources. The project aims to expand communities’ capacity as well as build evidence and knowledge on the effectiveness of varying service interventions. Connecting Canada targets SUR communities across Canada and the immigrants who might be interested in settling in those communities. This project aims to test a variety of capacity-building measures, working intensively with 3 anchor communities, broadly with at least 30+ additional communities and engaging at least 5,000 newcomers. SRDC is the project’s research and evaluation partner. Our role is to develop a newcomer attraction capacity index and to implement it as well as to evaluate the project’s progress towards anticipated results.

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Strengthening the Capacity of Organizations to Meet the Employment Skills Needs of Francophone Newcomers in Minority Situations

Wallaa Daramlly — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 18:06:15 +0000

The Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC), in partnership with the Coalition ontarienne de formation des adultes (COFA), will develop innovative, integrated and adapted adult learning resources to support the development of skills (e.g., socio-emotional, linguistic) for the employability and integration of Francophone newcomers in Francophone minority communities. The project will build the capacity of organizations working in the areas of immigration, literacy and basic skills, employability and language training, and create strategic partnerships between organizations with complementary expertise. These partnerships will support sharing of promising practices and strengthen the capacity of service providers to serve Francophone or Francophile clients from immigrant backgrounds, supporting services to immigrant populations while enhancing their employability and skills development.

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CPRNW Pilot: Intermediate Outcomes and Program Impacts

Wallaa Daramlly — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 21:05:51 +0000

The latest results from the CPRNW pilot demonstrate the benefits of programming targeted at racialized newcomer women. One year after joining the program, participants see improvements in career adaptability, employment outcomes, and wellness and mental health. This report presents changes in outcomes and program impacts and details the implementation of the CPRNW pilot, including the flexibility it provided to partnering service provider organizations to learn, both from their own experiences and from the other partnering service providers, and to modify their programming to better meet the needs of participants.

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The Labour Market Integration of Internationally Educated Health Professionals

Wallaa Daramlly — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 15:08:34 +0000

Achēv, in partnership with Blue Branch, the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC), and Edmonton Region Immigrant Employment Council (ERIEC), will improve the integration of internationally educated health professionals (IEHPs) to the Canadian labour market. This pilot project targeting Nurses, Pharmacists, and Laboratory Technicians aims to facilitate the foreign credential recognition process (FCR) in Ontario and Alberta. The pilot project will also improve labour mobility by undertaking a comprehensive study of the pathways and obstacles to recognition of credentials and coordinate relocations across both provinces, especially to rural and remote areas.

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Postsecondary Pathways and Outcomes of International Students in Ontario

Wallaa Daramlly — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 11:25:04 +0000

As part of the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario’s Consortium on International Education, SRDC is analyzing the pathways of select cohorts of incoming international students to Ontario, to identify trends over time in the composition of students and their schooling, migration, and labour market outcomes whether they attended public institutions or not. Specifically, the proposed project would contribute new information on the relationship of various student, program, and immigration characteristics to each outcome of interest to HEQCO and the Consortium.

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EASIEST – Easier Access to Settlement, Integration, Employment and Skills Training

Wallaa Daramlly — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 18:41:49 +0000

EASIEST is an innovative research and analysis project that places the newcomer experience at the centre of the design & delivery of settlement services. The overall goal of EASIEST is to help Immigrant Serving Organizations in BC deliver the most appropriate package of settlement services to newcomers at the right time and for the right duration to improve their settlement and integration outcomes. SRDC will use a Behavioural Insights (BI) approach to understand how and why newcomers access services. These insights will then be used to identify, design, and test behavioural strategies to improve services and address gaps.

To do this project BI will be combined with a user-centric approach to explore services from the perspectives of newcomers so that innovations deliver services to newcomers that are easier to access, relevant, timely, and socially and culturally appropriate. A four-phase approach of discovery, diagnosis, design, and delivery will be used to bring about improvements in services and outcomes for newcomers, especially vulnerable groups. Findings will be used to support continuous improvement and disseminated widely to contribute to the goal of helping newcomers settle successfully in Canada.

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