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Newcomers to Kootenays to get settlement services
The provincial government is aiming to make settlement in the Kootenays a friendlier and easier thing with the announcement today that newcomers to the Kootenay region will receive immigrant settlement services for the first time.
The province is providing the Community Connections Society of Southeast BC with $50,829.51 in funding, part of a $20.3 million Settlement and Integration Program fund, which is part of WelcomeBC.
The funding will go toward orientation classes and workshops on a wide variety of topics such as: how to find a job, find a place to live, navigate the local transit system and learn banking basics.
“It’s important that we are welcoming and inclusive towards new immigrants and that is exactly what Community Connections does. Cities thrive when people understand each other, embrace new ideas, and put them to use to improve their communities,” said Kootenay East MLA Bill Bennett.
B.C. continues to be one of Canada’s most popular destinations for new immigrants, welcoming more than 40,000 newcomers each year. Services through WelcomeBC are provided to more than 100,000 newcomers in 66 communities across the province, by more than 100 service providers.
WelcomeBC’s award-winning website helps approximately 600,000 clients each year from B.C. and around the world, offers information accessible in several languages and makes it easier for immigrants to access vital information.
By 2019, it’s expected that there will be over a million job openings in the province, and skilled immigrants will play a vital role in filling many of those positions.
Learn More:
Watch the newcomers’ videos here: https://www.welcomebc.ca/wbc/immigration/settle/newcomersguide
Users can mix and match the language the host speaks in with the subtitle; for example viewers can watch the videos in Punjabi with English subtitles.
Once the host’s language is selected, all the information on the screen will convert automatically.
Clients can download the video scripts in any of the eleven languages to keep the instructions/lessons close at hand.
The technical sophistication of these web videos/mobile offering is a first for any jurisdiction in Canada.
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