CIMM – Racialized Newcomer Women Pilot – March 24, 2022

Key Messages

Racialized newcomer women often face multiple barriers to employment, including gender- and race-based discrimination, precarious employment and lack of affordable childcare.
Racialized newcomer women are overrepresented in low‑wage sectors that have been disproportionately impacted by labour market loss during COVID-19. These effects are expected to create long-term economic challenges for newcomer women and their families.
Canada is making it easier for racialized newcomer women to find a job by funding the support and services they need to succeed.
Budget 2021 announced funding of $15M over two years to extend the Racialized Newcomer Women Pilot and continue to support employment outcomes and career advancement for racialized newcomer women through the delivery of settlement services.
The additional funding for the Pilot builds on existing Government of Canada investments. Budget 2018 committed $31.9M (from 2018-2019 to 2021-2022) to support opportunities for racialized newcomer women to thrive and succeed in the Canadian economy.

The Racialized Newcomer Women Pilot (previously called the Visible Minority Newcomer Women Pilot) supports Canada’s efforts to achieve gender equality and reduce inequality through funding targeted employment-related settlement services, including work placements and employment counselling.
More specifically, the extension to the Racialized Newcomer Women Pilot will allow my Department to continue to support employment outcomes and career advancement for racialized newcomer women across the country by:
- Continuing relationships with non-traditional organizations and recipients to develop new approaches to increase employment opportunities for these women; and
- Testing and evaluating the effectiveness of employment-related services for racialized newcomer women through ongoing service delivery.
The testing component of the Pilot was informed by cross-Canada workshops involving a diverse group of settlement and employment agencies, academics and government representatives. Stakeholder workshops were complemented by focus groups with racialized newcomer women to ensure that the design of services is client-centered and responsive to client needs.
Results from the Racialized Newcomer Women Pilot will inform employment-related settlement services for newcomer women funded through the Settlement Program.

As a result of COVID-19, the need for this type of targeted programming remains high. The pandemic has had disproportionate economic impacts for certain groups, including recently-arrived newcomer women who had higher than average unemployment rates (16.7%) in 2020 (Statistics Canada data).
In 2019-2020, more than 2,500 clients participated in activities related to the Pilot. Participants were highly diverse, with clients having immigrated to Canada from approximately 128 countries. The majority of participants were of core working age (i.e. between the ages of 25 and 54) and recent immigrants (i.e. those who have lived in Canada for less than five years).

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s Settlement Program supports targeted programming for newcomer women including: women-only employment and language supports; women-targeted mentoring and social connections activities; and family and gender-based violence prevention support.
The Settlement Program also offers support services which include; child care, transportation assistance, translation, interpretation and provision of services for newcomers with disabilities, to ensure that families, and specifically women who would not otherwise have access to settlement programming, can benefit from a range of supports to facilitate their successful integration.