The International Organization for Migration (IOM) Atlantic Region Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies ARAISA 2010 Conference St. John’s, NL

2 IOM At A Glance IOM IOM 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 dollars Structure: Headquarters in Geneva, with a number of regional offices

3 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

4 Canadian Orientation Abroad COA is a pre-departure orientation project funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)COA 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

5 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

6 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

7 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.

8 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

9 COA Statistics Since inception 124,146 individuals have received COA In the project year : 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 individuals  Skilled workers 5,126  Family class 2,052  Live in Caregivers 1,064

10 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

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

12 COA Observation Visits 14 RAP SPOs & 1 staff from RSTP visited 3 COA sites: Kenya, Syria and Nepal in late Mar/Apr 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

13 The End IOM Ottawa Contacts: Tracy Vunderink, COA Project Liaison Ahmad Fahim, Head of Office Telephone: