Atlantic Region Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies ARAISA 2010 Conference St. John’s, NL

The International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Atlantic Region Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies

ARAISA 2010 ConferenceSt. John’s, NL

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IOM At A GlanceIOM is:• a global inter-governmental organization dealing with a

wide range of migration issues• dedicated to promoting humane and orderly migration for

the benefit of all by providing services and advice to governments and migrants.

Vitals:• 127 Member States• 440 offices in more than 120 countries• A staff of over 7,000• 2,030+ programs/ projects totaling over a billion dollarsStructure:• Headquarters in Geneva, with a number of regional offices

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IOM & Canada• Canada and IOM have a long history of

working together • 3 main areas IOM provides service for the

Government of Canada: Medical Orientation Movements

• IOM office located in Ottawa• Ottawa staff provide project support and

liaison for activities conducted overseas

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Canadian Orientation Abroad

• COA is a pre-departure orientation project funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)

• COA has been implemented by IOM since 1998

• IOM also provides Cultural Orientation for refugees bound to the: US, Norway, Finland, Australia, the UK

• COA Global Management situated in IOM Amman• COA Liaison and training support located in IOM

Ottawa• COA facilitator’s are locally engaged staff

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COA Eligibility• COA is offered free of charge to all categories of migrants for

whom PR status is intended, these are in order of priority:– Refugees– Skilled Workers– Family Class– Provincial Nominees– Live-in-Caregivers– Investors

• COA is offered generally: – 3 days for urban refugees – 5 days for camp based refugees – for all other classes for 1 day

• Participation is voluntary, but encouraged

Bhutanese refugees in COA Nepal

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COA Objectives• To provide accurate information about life in Canada

• To help immigrants develop realistic expectations about settlement

• To develop immigrants’ awareness and skills necessary for successful adaptation to their new society particularly during their first 6 mos. of stay in Canada

• To address participants concerns and questions

COA Manila

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COA Permanent Sites• Africa (3 sites): Ethiopia, Kenya and Ghana

(Kenya mobile: Uganda, Sudan, Eritrea and Ghana mobile: Benin, Sierra Leone)

• Asia (3 sites): Nepal, Philippines, Pakistan• Europe (1 site): Russia• Latin America (1 site): Colombia• Middle East (5 sites): Egypt,

Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and • Mobile training missions also took place in:

Uzbekistan, Romania (ETC), Syria, etc.

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COA Content

Some topics covered in the orientation:• Facts about Canada, Canadian climate/weather• Travel procedures to Canada• Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP) • Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program • Rights, responsibilities, laws• Housing• Healthcare• Education• Finances & Budgeting• Working in Canada• Cultural shock/adaptation• Services available including settlement• Other, according to the needs & specific questions

brought up by the group

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COA StatisticsSince inception 124,146 individuals have received

COAIn the project year 2009-2010:• COA sessions were conducted in 32 different

locations in 21 different countries• 14,831 individuals were invited to attend COA• A total of 13,800 individuals received COA training

world-wide:Refugees represented 5,558 individualsSkilled workers 5,126Family class 2,052Live in Caregivers 1,064

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COA Trainers

• Majority COA trainers are locally engaged staff

• Preference dual nationals/ Canadian PRs, or have lived/ visited Canada extensively

• Multilingual

• Some facilitator’s are full time others on call or assigned to other IOM projects (Operations)

Training of Refugee Facilitators, Ottawa November 2009

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Noteworthy Activities

• Familiarization Visit of 10 COA refugee facilitators to Canada in Feb 2009

• First-ever Training for Refugee Facilitators in Canada in Nov 2009

• Observation Visits to 3 COA refugee training sites for 15 SPO representatives in Mar. 2010

Left: Visit to COA Nepal, Right: Visit to COA Kenya

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COA Observation Visits

• 14 RAP SPOs & 1 staff from RSTP visited 3 COA sites: Kenya, Syria and Nepal in late Mar/Apr. 2010

• IOM requested applications• IOM funded travel and stipend• Arranged to see IOM resettlement operations,

COA & meet with partner agencies

• Participants submitted reports about visit including various recommendations for COA/IOM

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The EndThe EndIOM Ottawa Contacts:

Tracy Vunderink, COA Project Liaisontvunderink@iom.int

Ahmad Fahim, Head of Officeafahim@iom.int

Telephone: 613-237-0651