Funding cut closes Welcome Place door on government-assisted refugees

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This article was published 15/08/2019 (1709 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Welcome Place has been told next year it will no longer be welcoming any government-assisted refugees.

Manitoba’s largest and longest-running refugee resettlement agency found out it will no longer receive federal Resettlement Assistance Program funding, which makes up one-third of its budget. The move will impact the agency starting in April.

“For over 40 years, Welcome Place has been resettling government-assisted refugees destined for Manitoba,” said Rita Chahal, executive director of the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council. The numbers, determined by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, have fluctuated over the years.

In the 2013-14 fiscal year, Welcome Place staff helped settle 365 government-assisted refugees. In 2015-16, that number nearly tripled to 990, thanks to an influx of Syrian refugees. This fiscal year recorded 187.

“We won’t be getting any new GARs,” Chahal said Friday.

“There will be layoffs,” she said at the Bannatyne Avenue building with 50 full-time employees and 30 temporary housing units.

“Many of our staff are former refugees themselves and have been with us 20 years or more. Because we are in a unionized environment, that will have an impact on who goes and who doesn’t.”

She said the Resettlement Assistance Program contract covers the first six weeks of the refugee’s settlement process, and includes providing temporary accommodations “and all the services that go with that.” The non-profit organization that’s been around for 70 years will continue to provide settlement services for those who’ve already arrived, as well as privately-sponsored refugees and refugee claimants, Chahal said.

“Welcome Place has been very unique,” she said. “All our services are under one roof,” so clients received help for the first six weeks funded by RAP and the transition period that followed from the same settlement workers, said Chahal.

“The collective knowledge and experience of the staff is there and we hope we’ll continue to use that in other ways to ensure out settlement services continue to be the best we can give.”

The board of the non-profit organization is figuring out where to shift their focus, Chahal said. “We now have an opportunity to look at other programming opportunities to provide other services.”

Meanwhile, Winnipeg’s other major resettlement agency for government-assisted refugees, Accueil francophone, learned its proposal for providing such services has been approved by the federal government.

“We have been approved, but we do not have any more information yet,” said executive assistant Wilgis Agossa, who declined to be interviewed until more details are available.

Another major, long-running, non-profit program rejected by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is the Entry program, which offers orientation classes for immigrants and refugees.

“We had an emergency meeting (Thursday) with the board, staff, and some other supporters,” said Grace Eidse, executive director of Altered Minds Inc., which runs Entry. She said in an email Friday they’ve been contacting MPs and are planning to send out a news release Monday.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada wouldn’t comment on the shakeup of who’s providing what services starting in 2020, but sources said Manitoba Start is expected to be the main provider of orientation programs.

The federal government appears to be trying to streamline the provision of services, and in February required settlement agencies to submit proposals for funding.

Chahal said she understands the federal government needs to be careful spending taxpayers’ money.

“There is a competitive environment for public funding. It’s not a secret. If we can create efficiencies that way, that’s best,” she said, noting: “Our record speaks for itself.”

 

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca