ISAP Program Review for Citizenship and Immigration Canada

Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s Settlement Directorate – Ontario Region (CIC Ontario) hired RealWorld Systems to review its Immigrant Settlement and Adaptation Program (ISAP) in November 2002. The program review focused on the needs and experiences of newcomers to Canada, on the planning, delivery, and evaluation of settlement services in Ontario, and on necessary changes and/or improvements to ISAP. ISAP funds direct services to immigrants and refugees: primarily reception, needs assessment, orientation and information, referral to community resources, interpretation and translation, para-professional counselling, and employment-related services. ISAP also funds indirect services that contribute to improving the delivery of overall settlement services to newcomers, such as research and training. The program review incorporated many different perspectives and activities, including hundreds of interviews and surveys with newcomers, agencies and key informants, as well as several group consultations and a scan of the relevant literature. Our recommendations are based on two assumptions: That newcomers need access to the full range of services that are available to all Canadian residents, and that ISAP funding cannot possibly replace the other service sectors (such as health, employment, education and so on). It is vital that ISAP focus its mandate to ensure that newcomers get the services they need rather than settling for a parallel and under-funded service system. Our five major recommendations, below, aim to improve the effectiveness of ISAP services within the context of the challenges facing the settlement sector as a whole. This upload includes the final report and recommendations as well as the working papers and detailed methodology