More staff needed to help newcomers build their lives in Nova Scotia, says provincial report

This story is part of an ongoing CBC Nova Scotia series examining how the province is managing its record-setting population boom after decades of limited growth.

An almost 50-page review of settlement services in Nova Scotia is a sobering reminder of how much more the provincial government needs to do to help newcomers settle and remain in the province.

Nova Scotia's Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration commissioned the survey of newcomers and review of existing programs last year to provide it with insight ahead of issuing a new call for proposals for immigrant settlement services last November.

CBC News got a copy of the report from the department.

Eighteen service provider organizations and 220 immigrants took part in the study. Twelve newcomers also agreed to more in-depth, one-on-one interviews to give the province "a deeper understanding of the existing strengths and opportunities of settlement services."

The report concluded a significant increase in the number of people looking for settlement services is putting a strain on those services, which, in turn, was causing delays.

"[Service providers] have served 22,000-25,000 newcomers a year since 2020," noted the report. "This is 55-60 per cent more than expected."

Since 2019, nearly 33,000 immigrants have landed in Nova Scotia, including 12,650 last year alone. That was a record for new arrivals. In the first six months of 2023, 6,400 newcomers have settled in the province.

Key issues

The report also found an increasing number of newcomers are choosing homes outside urban centres in Halifax and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

"Twenty-five per cent of newcomers have settled in rural areas so far in 2022 verses 16 per cent in 2018," it said.

The key issues identified by the newcomers surveyed included: 

• An insufficient number of settlement workers for the existing workload.
• Inadequate housing supports and "often a lack of information surrounding the housing situation."
• "Critical supports" for newcomers unavailable, particularly in rural communities.
• A need for multi-year contracts to provide stability for settlement organizations. 

The report praised programs designed to help newcomers find jobs as being effective and deeply appreciated.

"Employment services were highlighted as the biggest help in transitioning to life in Nova Scotia," noted the authors of the report.

Jennifer L'Esperance, the senior executive director with immigration and population growth, said the province had already made progress on nine of the report's 14 recommendations, including signing funding agreements for three years rather than two, better tailoring employment support to "highly skilled" immigrants and increasing overall funding to Nova Scotia's 22 settlement organizations.

"Over the past two years, we've increased our funding to settlement service providers by $1.6 million," said L'Esperance. "So we're almost at $9 million now, in terms of the amount of funding that we provide so it's a good amount of funding."

L'Esperance said the report gave the department valuable insight before the call for new proposals and the renewal of contracts with existing partners.

"It's important to us that we get settlement services right," said L'Esperance. "If we're inviting newcomers to Nova Scotia and we're wanting to invite more and more newcomers to Nova Scotia, we want to make sure that they have the services that they need to settle well.

"We want to make sure that they stay so we can recruit all of the people that we want, but if they don't want to stay in Nova Scotia, then we're not doing our job."

The YMCA of Greater Halifax/Dartmouth is one of the largest immigrant service providers in Nova Scotia, offering 70 in-person settlement programs in 11 communities across the province.

The organization assisted 6,500 newcomers last year. This year, participation has increased by 25 to 30 per cent.

"We've tripled in size, we've also tripled in the funding source to do the work that we can do," said YMCA president and CEO Brian Posavad, who praised both the federal and provincial governments for increased funding. "There's always a little bit of a lag and a catch up as you go.

"As the new opportunity or the new requirement comes forward, then we work with our funding partners to find out how we can best address that."

Posavad said signing a three-year contract with the province provided his organization with greater stability and allowed it to maintain staff. 

"It keeps your team stronger," he said. "It's less time writing the grant and the funding proposal so that you actually get to do the work that you're trying to do."

'Nova Scotia needs newcomers'

The Y has struggled to find enough English language teachers, especially in rural communities.

Asked if his organization could do more if it got more money, Posavad replied, "You're talking to the CEO of a not-for-profit. Yes, we could.

"At the end of the day, Nova Scotia needs newcomers to make this province thrive and be vibrant and that's our job."