Reports

FARM was a TIES pilot in 2018 and 2019 that prepared newcomers for work in agriculture, horticulture, and landscaping in Alberta. It delivered a 96 hour workplace language and job readiness course plus a 45 to 52 hour practicum, ran 4 cohorts with 67 enrollees and 50 graduates, and 38 graduates were employed by December 2019.

Internal study on TIES shift to remote delivery gathered staff and student views on reopening and online learning.

Overall sentiment favored continuing remote, with concerns about safety, communication gaps, and practical barriers like technology and childcare.

Recommended path was to keep online options, reopen in phases with strict protocols, and strengthen training and support for online teaching and communications.

An internal TIES report reflects on the rapid move to remote delivery, summarizing staff and client experiences across programs, recurring technology and connection challenges, the strong support and creative adaptations that emerged, and the case for keeping flexible blended options with better communication and training as services evolve.

ReNEW is a University of Calgary partnership studying newcomer emotional wellness in LINC programs, drawing on teacher and manager input to examine how classroom care intersects with system limits, where instructors feel unsure about their helper role, where external referral pathways are thin, and how attendance rules and PBLA pressures add strain, with plans to translate findings into practical supports and workshops.

The 28th Annual National Metropolis Canada Conference brought together settlement practitioners, policymakers, government officials, and researchers, from across Canada to exchange knowledge and discuss emerging challenges in immigration policy and newcomer integration. The conference was held from March 11–13, 2026, at the Halifax Convention Centre in Nova Scotia and focused on the theme “Changing Course? Establishing Consensus on Canada’s Immigration Future.”

Between 2016 and 2021, over 1.3 million new immigrants settled permanently in Canada, making immigration a key driver of population stability and a way to help address labour shortages as the population ages, though one author argues Canada often treats immigrants mainly as economic tools. This study focuses on newcomer youth, who were 17.5% of Canada’s immigrant population in 2021, and highlights education as a major challenge because adapting to a new school system can be hard when combined with barriers like limited English, unfamiliar norms, disrupted schooling, low parental engagement, weak school supports, discrimination, and peer difficulties. Using a community-based research approach with two local community organizations, the project conducted interviews with newcomer youth and junior high and high school stakeholders to better understand these experiences and support needs.

The current report is a part of the Hybrid Education for Literacy Learners Optimization (HELLO) study, aiming to evaluate the impact of the HELLO toolkit1 on digital literacy skills, attitudes toward computers, and satisfaction with hybrid delivery mode. Over the course of one semester, six dedicated TIES literacy instructors actively integrated the HELLO toolkit into their classes. Utilizing a quasi-experimental design, this exploration centers on a pilot group (n=16) and a comparison group (n=15), carefully selected from TIES literacy classes.

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Between 2021 and 2023, TIES registered 8,357 clients, with numbers growing each year—most sharply in 2023. The majority were Permanent Residents, though refugee registrations increased notably in 2022 and 2023. Ukrainian, Tigrinya, Arabic, Spanish, and Dari were the most common languages spoken. Clients mainly came from Ukraine, Eritrea, Afghanistan, India, and Ethiopia. Most had more than 12 years of education and were between 31 and 50 years old at arrival. The vast majority registered within five years of landing in Canada.

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