The 3rd (Now Biennial) Ottawa Immigration Forum
The Ottawa Immigration Forum is part of OLIP Governance system and approach, designed to celebrate OLIP partners’ progress, enable reflection on challenges, and solicit community input into planned areas of action.
This year, the Forum marks the end of the first five years of the OLIP partnership and coincides with the completion of the first period of implementation of the Ottawa Immigration Strategy (2011-2014). As such, the Forum will focus on the theme: Moving Forward on our Vision | Building on our Accomplishments.
Download Forum Program
Forum Program
Interactive Engagement with Forum Participants
Sarah Onyango, Forum Master of Ceremony
Mark Taylor, Deputy Mayor of Ottawa
– Corinne Prince St. Amand, Director General of the Integration-Foreign Credentials Referral Office, Citizenship and Immigration Canada
– Cohen Langerak, Senior Business Consultant- Ministry of Citizenship, Immigration and International Trade
Lead by Sarah Onyango, Forum Master of Ceremony
Dr. Caroline Andrew & Carl Nicholson, OLIP Executive Committee members
Louisa Taylor & Sarah Onyango, WOW Co-chairs
– What do you think are the most important things Ottawa should focus on to make our City more welcoming?
– Where do you think we can achieve the most progress if we act together?
Bill Shields, OLIP Facilitator and Governance Associate
– How can Ottawa leverage Administrative Data to inform Local Planning?
Dr. Michael Haan, Associate Professor, at the Western University (London, Ontario)and Canada Research Chair in Population and Social Policy
– Tackling Mental Health Challenges among Immigrants & Refugees
Dr. Branka Agic, Manager of Health Equity Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
Sarah Onyango, Forum Master of Ceremony
Hindia Mohamoud, OLIP Director
Speaker Profiles
Deputy Mayor of Ottawa and City Councillor for Bay Ward
Mark Taylor serves as one of the two Deputy Mayors of the City of Ottawa. He elected to Ottawa City Council in the Municipal Election of 2010 to represent Bay Ward in Ottawa’s west end. Several years prior to this election, Mark had the opportunity to work in the office of then MPP Jim Watson who represented Ottawa West Nepean in which Bay Ward is located. Read More
Executive Director, Catholic Centre for Immigrants
Carl Nicholson is the Executive Director of the Catholic Centre for Immigrants (CCI) and the Catholic Centre for Immigrants Foundation (CCIF) overseeing an annual operating budget of $8.0M, and a staff of 85 people who serve 7,000 clients who are immigrants and/or refugees. Carl is a graduate of Carleton University and a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE). Read More
Director, Centre on Governance, University of Ottawa and OLIP Settlement and ICD Sector Table Co-Chair
Caroline Andrew is the Director of the Centre on Governance, School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. She studied political science at the University of British Columbia (BA), Laval University (MA) and the University of Toronto (PhD). Read More
Director General of the Integration-Foreign Credentials Referral Office, Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Corinne first joined CIC 7 years ago as the Director General of the Foreign Credentials Referral Office (FCRO). She has served as the Director General for Integration Branch and the FCRO with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) since January 2013, a role that has expanded her connections to settlement partners across Canada. Read More
Senior Business Consultant- Ministry of Citizenship, Immigration and International Trade
Cohen previously worked with the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure, providing corporate immigration advice and guidance to domestic companies and international clients investing in Ontario. In his current role, Cohen overseas the ministry’s temporary foreign worker portfolio. Read More
Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Population and Social Policy at the University of New Brunswick
Dr. Michael Haan (PhD, University of Toronto, 2006) is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Population and Social Policy at the University of New Brunswick. From 2005-2010, Dr. Haan held an academic appointment at the University of Alberta, where he was Winspear-Archer Research Fellow in Immigration and Social Policy. Read More
Manager of Health Equity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
Branka Agic, MD, PhD, is the Manager of Health Equity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Branka holds a PhD in Health and Behavioral Sciences and a MHSc in Health Promotion with the Collaborative Program in Addiction Studies (CoPAS) from the University of Toronto along with a Medical Degree from the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Read More
Background & Reference Material
OLIP partners’ concrete accomplishments, since the launch of the Immigration Strategy in 2011, in five sectors: a) economic integration b) health and wellbeing; c) education; d) language; and e) settlement and integration capacity development.
These reports are written by Meyer Burstein, OLIP Associate in Research & Policy and Lynn Barwin, Community-based researcher. The reports rely on three sources of data: partners’ discussion, survey to partners leading collaborative initiatives and follow-up interviews as needed. Analysis of these data is still in course, however brief summaries of the main accomplishments of each table is drawn to support discussions that will take place at the 3rd Ottawa Immigration Forum.
This report provides detailed information on the recruitment, retention, and economic establishment of immigrants to New Brunswick from 2005-2012. It uses the Longitudinal Immigrant Database (IMDB), a unique administrative file containing landing and tax filing information on Canadian immigrants, to look closely at immigration in New Brunswick in recent history.
This guide presents excerpts of research evidence to illustrate service providers’ perceptions of refugee mental health needs, service gaps and promising practices.It also presents some of the common situations that settlement workers may encounter in working with refugees and resources. The suggestions for ways to deal with these problems come from service providing organizations across Canada, and from mental health-related resources that are widely available..0
Common mental health problems in immigrants and refugees: general approach in primary care
This article identifies the risk factors and strategies in the approach to mental health assessment and to prevention and treatment of common mental health problems for immigrants in primary care. It also recognizes the fact that treating mental health problems among new immigrants and refugees in primary care poses a challenge because of differences in language and culture and because of specific stressors associated with migration and resettlement.
What is a Welcoming Community: An Overview (2013) Meyer Burstein, Pathways to Prosperity Partnership
This snapshot review gives a definition of a welcoming community and provides fifteen essential characteristics that are largely acknowledged to be the constituting blocks of a welcoming community. The overview is a brief adaptation from the “Characteristics of a Welcoming Community” (2010) study by the Welcoming Communities Initiative.
Characteristics of a Welcoming Community (2010) Welcoming Communities Initiative
This study provides a review of the current consensus by newcomers, policy makers and academics on the key characteristics of a welcoming community. It draws its findings from an extensive survey of the relevant scholarly literature, government (federal, provincial/territorial, and municipal) and community reports, and case study examples from the public and private sectors. The report acknowledges that there are gaps in supporting evidence of these characteristics, and suggests a strategy for further evaluation of their relevance and impact.
Francophone Immigration in Ottawa: Trends, Issues and Current Action (2013) RSIFEO and OLIP
This one-page report provides a brief overview of the current levels and trends of francophone immigration in Ottawa, and an analysis of some of the factors that may explain the observed trends. The report also highlights the key barriers to francophone immigrants’ integration in Ottawa, and outlines the approach that the Réseau de soutien à l’immigration francophone de l’Est de l’Ontario has taken to address them.