IRCC announces $5.8 million in funding to empower women who arrive in Canada as newcomers. Furthermore, the grant will enable women to find employment in the country after their arrival. IRCC recently declared its intention to provide an additional $5.8 million to fund ten projects under the Racialized Women Newcomers Pilot Program. This announcement occurred on December 9 in Halifax as it was part of a 16-day awareness campaign that took place regarding the violence based on gender against women.
Racialized Newcomer Women Pilot Program
The Racialized Newcomer Women Pilot Program began in 2018. It was formerly known as the Visible Minority Newcomer Women at Work Program. This program emerged with the idea of assisting newcomer women to find employment conveniently. Initially, when the program came out, it invested $31.9 million in supporting women and empowering them by building their careers. This effort applied to the racialized newcomers for over three years. As for the budget for 2021, funding of $15 million for the next two years is as applicable.
Immigration minister, Sean Frazer acknowledged the ongoing challenges faced by the racialized newcomer women in joining the Canadian workforce. According to him, the whole idea didn’t simply revolve around women getting jobs but emphasized providing a sense of dignity to them. The support given to these women is deeply embedded in the Canadian government’s working process. Moreover, this is an attempt to completely end the violence based on gender. Canada targets all women when it comes to gender equality.
Newcomer women are prone to work in low-wage positions
The initiatives came to the forefront throughout the pandemic phase. The official reports claim that these women newcomers were increasingly working in grocery and retail stores during this specific period. Overall, recent Canadian immigrants witnessed an increased employment rate within sectors such as food and accommodation and hospitality. Consequently, these sectors recovered from the pandemic loss. According to the Labour Force Survey, between June to January 2021, an unemployment gap between newcomer women and women born in Canada prevails. The percentages are 15.2 percent for newcomer women and 8.0 percent for Canadian-born women.
The Statistics data also displays that newcomer women have greater chances to work in part-time jobs. A recent study also reveals that 66 percent of women in common-law partnerships or marriages have more chances to work full-time. This data is in comparison to 70 percent of the women born in Canada.
IRCC will provide funding for Women empowerment projects
IRCC announces $5.8 million in funding to empower women. According to the data, over 2,500 clients took part in the Pilot related activities between 2019 and 2020. Additionally, the maximum number of participants belonged to the prime working age group between 25 and 54 years. The newcomers who had resided in Canada for a period of below five years were also included in this.
Interestingly, several independent organizations across Canada run these projects to help women with their language proficiency, build their contacts with suitable employers, and teach them soft skills to find employment opportunities.
Another ongoing project focuses on women possessing IT and other technical skills which will benefit them in receiving credential recognition for successful Canadian employment.
The latest declaration took place for funding programs that targeted newcomer women and prevented them from gender-based violence. Besides this, a Gender-Based Violence Settlement Sector Strategy project also came out. This project revolves around the partnership between settlement and anti-violence. Also, the aim is again about ending the violence through spreading more awareness and taking more measures for the same. A multi-sectoral collaboration is yet another initiative to meet this objective.
Moreover, the frontline settlement sector workers will receive training to build their potential to combat such situations related to gender-based violence. The government will also provide funds for this.
According to IRCC, they will provide workers with access to training, knowledge, and resources so that they can proceed with the victim’s requirements accordingly. Additionally, it will be crucial to assess the project so as to build a common knowledge base regarding violence based on gender. The department will also continue building programs to make newcomers aware of the sources and resources they have access to. This applies to newcomers living in rural areas or smaller cities.
