Resources and Reports

  • Resettling in Canada as a refugee can be a rewarding but challenging experience. Learn more about what to expect when you first arrive and the services available to help you get settled into your new life: https://www.youtube.com/watch|q|v=N9J_32xHh5E
  • Se réinstaller au Canada peut être une expérience enrichissante mais difficile pour les réfugiés. Renseignez-vous sur ce à quoi vous pouvez vous attendre à votre arrivée et sur les services qui vous aideront à bâtir votre nouvelle vie : https://www.youtube.com/watch|q|v=l_iQyYv8YoM

This video is available on YouTube in the following languages:

LIP Reports

WINS Backgrounder – Our story: a short history of the Welcoming and Inclusive New West (WINS) Local Immigration Partnership

Strategic Action Plan 2020 – 2025 – The Strategic Action Plan lays out where and how WINS Local Immigration Partnership Council should concentrate efforts to address issues and challenges faced by newcomers.

Talking Points – Welcoming and Inclusive New West (WINS) Local Immigration Partnership

Other Reports

Checking the Pulse: An anti-racism report. Prepared for the New Westminster Spokes Committee by Jasmindra Jawanda. May 2021.

Settlement Delivery Improvement (SDI) project – Navigating the Newcomer Maze

In 2021, New Westminster LIP was invited to design a model community-based plan to enhance the community’s capacity to help newcomers find settlement success.

This purely experimental project was one of 12 from across Canada to inform the settlement sector and Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) of various community based models.

It began with a comprehensive Environmental Scan of resources available to newcomers in the community. Two hundred and eleven local services and programs were analyzed to identify gaps and unmet needs, and became the baseline for the development of the model. This exposed where local services were strong, and where support was lacking.  For example, interviews with newcomers found:

  • Inadequate awareness about settlement services
  • Critical gaps around housing
  • Employment barriers, including recognition of credentials
  • Lack of translation and interpretation services
  • Highly skilled workers need more supports

Some of the thoughts from stakeholders from a series of discussions and workshops about the present settlement model:

  • About 30% of newcomers are accessing settlement services, where are the other 70%?
  • Critically need a “one-stop shop” and a “suite of services” for the whole sector
  • Greater relationship building with faith-based organizations and cultural organizations
  • More institutional connections amongst settlement and non-settlement agencies
  • There is a “connection gap” between newcomers’ knowledge and the offering of settlement programming
  • Present funding model is very competitive and needs to change to a more “non-competitive model” involving non-bias and transparency approaches.
  • With knowledge of “politics behind the scenes”, there is a need to de-politicize governance groups/structures
  • Structural change needed in reporting to measure collaboration amongst agencies and the newcomer community
  • Complementary does not always equate to duplication; it can also equate to choice

A request that the Welcome Centre be included in the model eventually became the Hub around which the model revolved. The Welcome Centre was given the role as a core service, and a collaborative hub model was developed. For an outline of the Collaborative Hub Model, see here.

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