In November 2008, the Social and Health Services Department, City of Windsor was given the lead for an initiative called the Local Immigration Partnership (LIP) by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).

The LIP is an initiative of Citizenship and Immigration Canada to encourage communities across Ontario to develop a comprehensive plan for the delivery of newcomer services. The plan should consider:

• How to improve access to, and coordination of, immigrant integration services;
• How to improve labour market outcomes for immigrants; and
• How to strengthen local awareness and capacity to integrate immigrants.

The LIP initiative is not an evaluation of specific agencies or programs. It is a process that examines the whole system of services currently available and considers how the system could be strengthened to promote the short and long-term settlement and integration for newcomers into Windsor and Essex County.

Step #1: Create the Windsor Essex County Partnership Council

The Windsor Essex Partnership Council was established in January 2009 and representation is an ongoing process. The Council provides strategic leadership to the Local Immigration Partnership process. The Council has a wide range of stakeholders including Settlement agencies, Language training providers, Education, Health care, Children’s services, Business groups and Newcomers- all of whom are interested in the enhancement and integration of newcomers into Windsor and Essex County.

Step #2: Develop a Local Settlement Strategy

In order to build the base upon which the strategy will be founded, the City of Windsor contracted with Dr. Uzo Anucha to organize and facilitate the Local Immigration Partnership (LIP) data collection. Dr. Anucha is an Associate Professor at the School of Social Work, York University and the Director of the Applied Social Welfare Research and Evaluation Group, York University. She is also an adjunct professor at the School of Social Work University of Windsor and a former faculty member at the University of Windsor.

There are four parts to the data collection:

1. Collect and analyze ‘settlement’ stories as submitted by over 100 newcomers to our community for common themes and issues;
2. Conduct 20 focus groups among local newcomers and service providers to discuss the challenges and strengths of the existing service delivery system;
3. Conduct 10 in-depth interviews with senior management of agencies and representatives from various primary sectors to discuss operational challenges and agency capacity; and
4. Conduct four half-day community consultations (held October 6, 7 and 8, 2009). These sessions were open to the public including service providers, employers, business, education, health care and especially all immigrants- newcomers, landed immigrants, government assisted refugees, refugee claimants- all invited to share their ideas on ways to shape newcomer services in Windsor and Essex County.

If you were unable to attend one of the consultation sessions, you can still contribute your ideas!

There are three presentations available online:

1. Background of the Local Immigration Partnership; and
2. Overview of the Local Immigration Partnership (LIP) Research results.
3. Un Sommaire Des Conclusions Cles.

Please read these presentations then submit your ideas online to one or all of the questions posted after the presentations. Or send an email to mbernard@city.windsor.on.ca. All responses will be kept in confidence.

Step #3: Develop a Work Plan

Now that the consultations are over, the Windsor Essex Partnership Council will review the results of the data collection with respect to the current service delivery system to identify areas where the system can be enhanced to better meet the needs of immigrants in our community. The work plan will then be developed for submission to Citizenship and Immigration Canada for consideration for funding.

The Project Manager for the Windsor Essex Local Immigration Partnership is Mary Ellen Bernard. She is a Manager in the Social and Health Services Department, City of Windsor and can be reached at 519 255-5200 Ext 5270 or mbernard@city.windsor.on.ca.