Bengaluru
Canada enhances assistance for asylum seekers
Facing increased asylum claims and shelter pressure, Canada announced a $7 million investment for a new reception center in the Peel Region. Operated in partnership with community organizations, this center will offer services and additional shelter for asylum claimants. The government has provided nearly $700 million to provinces and municipalities since 2017 through the Interim Housing Assistance Program (IHAP), which was extended with an additional $212 million. The federal government has procured temporary accommodations to alleviate local shelter pressure, currently housing over 7,000 asylum claimants across Canada.
#Asylum_seekers, #refugees, #IHAP, #housing, #resettlement
Canadian provinces and territories have high retention rates
The Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) allows Canadian provinces and territories to nominate skilled workers for immigration. Designed to distribute immigrants equitably and meet labour needs outside the three major cities, it expects nominees to intend to live in the nominating province. However, post-landing, immigrants are free to move. A recent Statistics Canada study, using data from the Immigrant Landing File, tax records, and three retention indicators, found high retention rates among PNP immigrants. In 2019, 89% stayed in their landing province, with rates varying from 69% in Prince Edward Island to 97% in Ontario.
#PNP, #immigration_to_Canada, #statistics
Ontario will increase salaries for early childhood educators to alleviate labour shortages
Ontario will raise the minimum wage for early childhood educators (ECE) to $23.86 per hour in 2023, up from the initially planned $20 to address staff shortages. This was part of the childcare workforce strategy released by Education Minister Stephen Lecce in November. This increase is expected to position Ontario’s starting wages for ECEs among Canada’s highest from being one of the lowest. The province aims to create 86,000 new spaces by 2026 under the national childcare system, despite warnings of a potential shortage of 8,500 ECEs by then.
#Ontario, #ECE, #early_childhood_educators, #labour_shortages
Nearly 25% of study permit holders do not enroll in post-secondary education
A Statistics Canada report reveals that in 2019, about 25% of study permit holders were not enrolled in a publicly funded post-secondary institution. With increasing focus on the impact of international students on Canadian life, this study, conducted by Youjin Choi and Feng Hou, aims to understand what these non-enrolled students were doing in Canada. Of the 717,300 students holding post-secondary study permits in 2019, 24% (172,152) did not enroll in post-secondary institutions. The Longitudinal Immigration Database and the Post-secondary Student Information System data showed that 54.5% (93,822) of these unenrolled students were in Canada and engaged in other activities. A third of these students, who also held work permits, worked full-time. Although students in co-op programs often hold both work and study permits, the industries that unenrolled students worked in do not support the theory that they were primarily co-op students.
#International_students, #statistics, #Study_In_Canada