Good Ideas in Settlement & Inclusion

The pandemic meant that everyone had to move services online. For New Canadians, that move was probably easier than many. Already adept at online content sharing, as well as an OMNI TV show that's run for a number of years, it made sense that they would create something like Café New Canadians, a virtual event series.

Created by Ottawa-based Capital Rainbow Refuge, the Queer Refugee Hearings Program (QRHP) Toolkit aims to "assist individuals claiming refugee protection based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and/or sex characteristics (SOGIESC).

The Canadian Council for Refugees worked with others to develop ethical guidelines for research with people in situations of forced migration. The guidelines include a checklist for organizations who are approached by researchers, to help evaluate whether the research will be conducted ethically, and taking into consideration the particular vulnerabilities of people who have been forcibly displaced.

Each month, the Immigrant and Refugee Mental Health Project (IRMHP) features a promising practice that highlights how an organization is addressing the mental health of immigrants and refugee and how you can use this information in your practice.

Best practice. Promising practice. There are many ways to name something that you think might be useful to know about in your work. Perhaps knowing about it might inspire you. It might even encourage you to replicate it. I've always liked the way the Cities of Migration project named the projects they kept an eye on as Good Ideas in Integration: "At its most basic, a Good Idea in integration is any program, activity or strategy that has made a difference in the successful integration of migrants in city-life. In this process, the city and all its residents have also benefited with increased social cohesion, greater urban prosperity and the richness that cultural diversity affords all communities."

The Digital Messaging for Settlement and Integration (DMSI) project is all about connecting newcomers with the information they need to successfully settle in Canada, when and where they need it.

Refugee 613 has produced several multilingual videos to help ensure language is not a barrier to getting accurate, trustworthy information during COVID-19. These videos were produced in collaboration with Ottawa Public Health.

The project involved free in-person and webinar based 45 minute training sessions on how to use the Google Translate application, for community stakeholders, organizations, business and institutions. Participating businesses were provided with training and We Speak Translate decals and stickers to display. The symbol on the decals and stickers was used as to identify a place of business where Google Translate was being used and as a sign of welcome for non-English speakers.

I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to meet weekly with a small student advisory group and they have provided valuable feedback on our program and our various projects. The students are forthright in their assessments of how our organization is using social media and their insight has provided valuable information regarding their day-to-day use of technology.

In this presentation, ISSofBC's Kathy Sherrel outlined the journey her 350 person, 17 location, and 60 active program organization has been on that started in their settlement department around this concept of outcomes measurement about two years ago.

In this episode, I’m talking with Jason Shim, described by TechSoup as a Nonprofit Technology Rockstar. I definitely share that opinion. I’m so excited to bring his insights, energy and experience to all of you.

Marc-André Séguin is an immigration lawyer with the firm Exeo, in Montreal. In 2017, Marc-André and his partner Francis Tourigny, launched the first immigration chatbot in Canada. Immigration Virtual Assistant, or IVA, is a Facebook Messenger-based chatbot.