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Report of

Study Visit on New Arrivals Service

(October 17-22, 2013 Vancouver and Calgary, Canada)

Prepared by:

Mr. TANG Chung-wah

Officer Service Development (Family & Community) The Hong Kong Council of Social Service

Mr. LAM Chun-ming

Division Head Youth Service Division (Yau Tsim Mong) Yang Memorial Methodist Social Service

Mr. LAU Chung-yeung, Martin

Social Worker Cross-boundary & Intercountry Casework Service International Social Service Hong Kong Branch

Ms WONG Fuk-nga, Nora Unit-in-charge Group & Community Work Unit Hong Kong SKH Lady MacLehose Centre

Ms WONG Lai-ling

Social Worker Integrated Family Service Centre St. James Settlement

Ms HUANG Wenjie

Community Organizer New Immigrants Project The Society for Community Organization

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Content

Part I Introduction

1.1 Background of the Visitation Programme 1.2 Itinerary of the Study Visit

Part II Agency Visitation

2.1 Visit: Vancouver 17-20 October, 2013

� S.U.C.C.E.S.S. ��

� Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia (ISS of BC) � Meeting with Prof. YAN Miu-chung, School of Social Work of University of

British Columbia (UBC)

2.2 Visit: Calgary 21-22 October, 2013

� Immigrant Services Calgary (ISC) � Calgary Catholic Immigration Service (CCIS) � Calgary Chinese Elderly Citizens’ Association (CCECA) �� Calgary Chinese Community Service Association (CCCSA) ��

� Calgary Family Services (CFS) � �� "!$#%� �'&$(*),+.-0/2143�5%687:9<;>=@?�A�B�C�BED,FG(IHKJ>LMH0) of Legislative Assembly

Part III Appendix

• Service leaflets of agencies visited • Program rundown and Presentation PowerPoint of Report Back Session

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Part I Introduction

1.1 Background of the Programme

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1.2 Objectives � To study service models and support measures in both family and

community level to generate insights on service development for new comers � To strengthen sector’s exposure and sensitivity in developing the service in

view of the changing social background of new comers � To enhance overseas connection in service concerning social responses that

have been developed to address needs of new comers 1.3 Duration and Venue

17-22 October, 2013; Vancouver and Calgary, Canada 1.4 Delegation Size

There were totally 6 delegates as the following:

Name of delegates Post and Agency Mr. LAM Chun-ming (Group Leader)

Division Head Youth Service Division (Yau Tsim Mong) Yang Memorial Methodist Social Service

Mr. TANG Chung-wah

Officer Service Development (Family & Community) The Hong Kong Council of Social Service

Mr. LAU Chung-yeung, Martin

Social Worker Cross-boundary & Intercountry Casework Service International Social Service Hong Kong Branch

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Ms WONG Fuk-nga, Nora Unit-in-charge

Group & Community Work Unit Hong Kong SKH Lady MacLehose Centre

Ms WONG Lai-ling

Social Worker Integrated Family Service Centre St. James Settlement

Ms HUANG Wenjie

Community Organizer New Immigrants Project The Society for Community Organization

1.5 Sponsorship All delegates were granted 50% subsidy of the estimated expenses of the captioned event sponsored by Social Welfare Department.

1.6 Study Visit on New Arrivals in Canada

Apart from meeting with Prof. YAN Miu-chung at the University of British Columbia and Mr. Jason LUAN in Calgary respectively, the delegates had visited totally 7 agencies which shared their service and development. The agencies are listed as follows:

� S.U.C.C.E.S.S. �N�O��

� Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia (ISS of BC) � Calgary Chinese Elderly Citizens’ Association (CCECA) �� Calgary Chinese Community Service Association (CCCSA) �� P�

� Immigrant Services Calgary (ISC) � Calgary Catholic Immigration Service (CCIS) � Calgary Family Services (CFS)

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1.7 Itinerary of the Study Visit

Day 1 17 October, 2013

AM � S.U.C.C.E.S.S. - Family & Youth Service, Community Service

http://www.successbc.ca/

28 West Pender Street, V6B 1R6

� Meeting with Mr. Kelly NG, Chief Operating Officer, Ms. Mary KAM, Program Director of Family and Youth Services, and Mr. Dominic FUNG, Acting Manager of Community Services

� An Integrated Client Service Model

� Key service provisions: Settlement, Language and Community services, (2) Employment, (3) Family and Youth, (4) Business and Economic Development, (5) Health Care, Wellness and Housing Services for Chinese and multi-cultural immigrants.

PM � S.U.C.C.E.S.S. - Employment Service

250-3665 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC V5R 5W2 (Boundary Plaza Building)

� Meeting with Mr. Edwin WONG, Project Manager of Virtual Citizenship Resource Centre

� Online Counseling Service for employment


AM � S.U.C.C.E.S.S. -Employment Service

238-8131 Westminster Hwy Richmond, BC

� Meeting with Mrs. Queenie Choo, Chief Executive Officer and Ms. Monica Mak, Loan Advisor of FCR Loan Project

� Employment Programs of BC (EPBC) as a one-stop service to help the unemployed

� Foreign Credential Recognition (FCR) Loan Project

PM � S.U.C.C.E.S.S. - Active Engagement Immigration Program and Tour of Caring Place (Caring Place Office)

220 – 7000 Minoru Boulevard, Richmond, B.C. V6Y 3Z5

� Meeting with Mr. Francis Li, Centre Manager, Caring Place

� The Active Engagement & Integrated Project (AEIP) providing pre-landing service to new comers

� The model of cooperation of Caring Place

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� Meeting with Prof. YAN Miu-chung, School of Social Work of University of British Columbia Jack Bell Building , 2080 West Mall V6T 1Z2

� Review on the policy on the Immigration and Service for migrants in Canada

� Sharing on the Study of BC immigrant Settlement

� Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia (ISSofBC) – Settlement Service

http://issbc.org

530 Drake Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 2H3

� Meeting with Mr. Chris Friesen, Director of Settlement Services

� Language college and career support service and settlement services for multi-ethnical immigrants and refugees

� Well-being support and trauma information and support for refugees

� Temporary residential service to refugees


� Traveling to Calgary, Alberta


AM � Immigrant Services Calgary (ISC) - Settlement service, MOSAIC, Language Bank http://www.immigrantservicescalgary.ca/

1200, 910 – 7th Avenue S.W., T2P 3N8.

� Meeting with Mr. Ho-man Chan, Director of Settlement and Language Bank

� The adoption process of Chinese migrants in Calgary

� Multi-cultural settlement service and Language Bank Centre

� Immigrant Language and Vocational Assessment–Referral Centre (ILVARC)

� Mosaic Family Resource Centre

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PM � Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS) -Employment Service

http://www.ccis-calgary.ab.ca/

1111 - 11 Avenue SW Calgary, Alberta T2R 0G5

� Multi-cultural immigration services

� Career training

� Child caring service

Day 6 22October, 2013

AM � Calgary Chinese Elderly Citizens’ Association (CCECA) Q�R�S�T�UQ�R�S�T�UQ�R�S�T�UQ�R�S�T�UV�WV�WV�WV�W

http://www.cceca.ca/

111 Riverfront Avenue S.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 4Y8

� Meeting with Ms Liza CHAN, Executive Director and Ms Celia LI, Community Engagement Coordinator

� Senior migrants’ experience in the Migration process

� Multi-disciplinary services to Chinese seniors in Calgary: Education enhancement, social and recreation, outreach services, community engagement, meal service, Chinese special needs support group, health services, chronic condition classes, Wellness Centre and etc.

� Calgary Chinese Community Service Association (CCCSA) Q�R�SQ�R�SQ�R�SQ�R�ST�X�Y�Z�Z�[]\P^T�X�Y�Z�Z�[]\P^T�X�Y�Z�Z�[]\P^T�X�Y�Z�Z�[]\P^

http://www.cccsa.ca/

#1, 128, 2nd Avenue S.W., Calgary, Canada, Alberta, Canada T2P 0B9

� Meeting with Ms Lily KWOK, Executive Director

� The method in building social network in Chinese society

� The experience in community building project

� Service for the Chinese and the community in Calgary: Integration and Civic Engagement, Children and Youth Program, Life Skills Training and Tobacco Prevention Program, Murals Project and Back Alley project as remarkable Chinatown Safety projects

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PM � Calgary Family Service (CFS) – Family Service

http://www.calgaryfamily.org/

200, 1000 – 8th Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 3M7

� Meeting with Peter CHAN, Community Developer/Counselor

� Multi-cultural counseling services and child care services for children and families

� Meeting with Mr. Jason LUAN, Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), Calgary-Hakwood Constituency, Alberta http://www.assembly.ab.ca/net/index.aspx?p=mla_bio&rnumber=15&leg=28

� A successful case of integration

� Migration and settlement policy

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Part II Agency Visitation Reports on agency visits are prepared in the following chapters:

THE HONG KONG COUNCIL OF SOCIAL SERVICE

Family and Community, Service Development

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AGENCY VISIT / MEETING RECORD FORM

1. Date of Visit/Meeting: 17 October 2013 & 18 October 2013

2. Name of Agency: S.U.C.C.E.S.S.

3. Address/Meeting Venue:

~ Day 1:

1. 28 West Pender Street, Vancouver, B.C. V68 1R6;

2. Boundary Plaza Building, 250-3665 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC V5R 5W2

~ Day 2 1. 238-8131 Westminster Hwy Richmond, BC

2. Suite 200, 7000 Minoru Road, Richmond

4. Contact Person:

Name & Position:

~ Day 1

1. Mr. Kelly NG, Chief Operating Officer: Tel no: +1 604-408-7267 Fax: +1 604-408-7236

2. Ms. Mary KAM, Program Director of Family and Youth Services: Tel no: +1 604-408-7246 Fax: +1 604-630-7311

3. Mr. Dominic FUNG, Acting Manager of Community Services

4. Mr. Edwin WONG, Project Manager of Virtual Citizenship Resource Centre: Tel no: +1 604-408-7274 ext. 1021 Fax: +1 604-408-7234

~ Day 2

1. Mrs. Queenie Choo, Chief Executive Officer, Tel no: +1 604-408-727 Fax: +1 604-408-7234

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2. Ms. Monica Mak, Loan Advisor of FCR Loan Project, Tel no: +1 604-232-1100 ext102 Fax: +1 604-232-1130

3. Mr. Francis Li, Centre Manager, Caring Place, Tel no: +1 604-279-7180 Fax: +1 604-279-718

5. Description of Agency:

S.U.C.C.E.S.S. is a non-profit organization which had 40 years of service history with 26 offices in British Columbia (B.C.) Canada and 2 overseas offices at Taipei and Seoul. Rooted in serving the Chinese in the past, S.U.C.C.E.S.S. developed and served people from multi-nationality nowadays. There is more than 400 staff in the organization, in which 60 % or above is non-Chinese. Their services included (a) settlement, language and community services, (b) employment, (c) family and youth, (d) business and economic development, (e) health care, wellness and housing services. Its services ran under an Integrated Client Service Model. It promotes orientation, adaptation & Integration, Community Engagement, Career & Skills Development, health, wellness & Housing as the five essential components to facilitate the well-being of an immigrant.

a. Settlement, Language and Community Service

One of the remarkable settlement programs is the Active Engagement and Integration Project, named AEIP. Funded by Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC), the project aims to provide pre-departure orientation in South Korea and Taiwan for immigrants-to-be. The project is carried out by the staff in Taipei and Seoul office. Besides, there are landing service include Community Airport Newcomer Network, which is about providing information and orientation to new immigrants and government-sponsored refugees at the Vancouver International Airport; and Refugees Services, which provide tangible assistance like winter clothing, transportation and medical care to refugees. Moreover, the Settlement and Integration program provide one-on-one settlement counseling, trade talks, parenting workshops, community connection activities, special field trip, city tour, mentoring and support groups for women, seniors, family and Mandarins etc. To provide newcomers with guidance, advice, and support on career planning and development, there is also Employment Mentoring Program that matched volunteer professionals with newcomers having similar professional backgrounds. Such matching enables newcomers to access to B.C. Labor Market Information. Furthermore, through business tours, networking opportunities, coaching and mentoring etc., the Business Immigration Integration Support (BIIS) assisted immigrants to pursue small business in B.C.. The BIIS is funded by the BC Ministry of Jobs, Tourism, and Skills Training.

S.U.C.C.E.S.S. also provides Language Services under the government sponsorship. The classes are on activity based such as creating a map of local community and making personal health kits to donate to the community etc.

For the Community Service Development, it uses self-directed approach which means helping the groups to develop into self-administering and self-programming bodies. There are different kinds of groups include interest groups such as

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Chinese Painting Group, Ballroom Dance Group; cause group such as Chinatown Seniors Services Council; service group such as Seniors Hospital Visiting Team, Better at Home Volunteer team; and developmental groups such as Volunteer Coordinating Team. Among 4200 volunteers, 2500 persons are active members. They became an important labor force to facilitate S.U.C.C.E.S.S.’s senior services, women services, fundraising events, membership development and administration. To many immigrants, doing voluntary service is important as it is relevant to job experience, since employment in all companies in Canada required at least 30-hours local Canadian work experience. It also enhances social networking, collective pursuit of social ideals and self-actualization. The community service development team had 2 staff only. They were assisted by the volunteer coordinating team which is composed of 25 volunteers.

b. Health care, Wellness and Housing

Under the Health Programs, S.U.C.C.E.S.S. operated Care Home and Assisted Living Harmony House, which have 113 beds and 33 beds respectively. The latter was mainly for the seniors with deteriorating health problem. Meals on Wheels service are also available to support the needy. For the Housing Service, S.U.C.C.E.S.S. managed the Orange Hall which provides 27 subsidized housing units for low income singles and families; and the Solheim Place which provides 86 subsidized housing units for the low income seniors and families. With the support from Vancity Savings Credit Union, more subsidized housing units would be provided in the future under the management of S.U.C.C.E.S.S..

c. Family and Youth

The Family and Youth Services team have 12 staff. The Multicultural Early Childhood Development Service was introduced after a need assessment report on early childhood development released by the University of B.C. The Service is funded by Ministry of Children and Family and United Way. It serves families with children ages 0-6 with parent support group, parenting education and support programs, parent ambassador scheme, parent-child story-telling and singing time and the family resource centre holding programs with toys, art and craft activities and circle time. Besides, the team also cooperated with local elementary schools for the Middle Childhood Program which focuses on the physical development of the students. This is to response to the needs of the working parents, who had to work until 6pm while their children finished their school at 3pm. Also, there is School-based Youth Services include Another Route to Success and Buddy Program. The former organized a lot of outdoor activities for the youth while the latter is about mentorship between youth and primary school student in order to help the youth gaining a sense of satisfaction through the helping process. The team paid extra attention on the youth development by having Youth Leadership Millennium, an 8-month leadership program dedicated to helping youth ages 14-24 in areas of personal and leadership development. This is sponsored by a commercial company called Shaw. Furthermore, The Moving Ahead Program under the Vulnerable Immigrant Population Project was introduced. It is only for refugees and permanent resident living in Canada less than 5 years. The service is about one-on-one support, social and emotional support group, job search and

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career exploration, supported access to community services. For the youth refugee, a 12-week life skills group program would also be conducted. Meals and bus pass are provided for them as well. In general, the team also provides counseling and referral service and the Chinese Help Lines which is run by trained volunteer.

d. Employment, business and economic development

a) Employment Programs of BC Funded by the provincial government, Employment Programs of BC, named EPBC, act as a one-stop service to help all unemployed British Columbians to employment. It is about delivering employment and labor market services through partnerships, which means building a network of Employment Service Centers (ECSs) operated by service providers. S.U.C.C.E.S.S. acts as one of the service providers. By the Integrated Case Management System, clients are categorized into 4 tiers under the 4-tier model. The first tier is group of client that is most employable while the fourth tier is the less employable group that eligible for more services provided by ECSs. There are different kinds of employment services include self-served job searches, workshops on employment skills, job posting board, support costs for work related expenses, short-term certificate trainings, life skills and work experience development.

e) Foreign Credential Recognition (FCR) Loan Project

Under the employment service, S.U.C.C.E.S.S. ran the Foreign Credential Recognition (FCR) Loan Project. The FCR Programme is setup to improve the integration of Internationally Trained Professionals (ITP) into the Canadian Work force. Many ITPs lost their own professional status before getting accreditation in Canada. They need financial support in duration of getting local professional registration bodies to recognize their professional status before they can go back to their professional field of work again. Being the only service provider of FCR Programme in B.C. (8 other agencies in nation) which is non-profit making, the FCR Programme started in mid 2012 and offers a competitive low-interest rate loan of prime +1% to ITPs, with personal maximum loan amount to CAD$15,000. Until October 2013, the Project conducted 634 intakes and approved 367 cases.

6. Content of Meeting:

1. Day 1

Policy on immigrants in B.C. discussed. It changed from tolerance to acceptance and integration under the prevailing policy to encourage multicultural integration.

Family problems of the immigrants shared. Many problems appeared 4-5 years after their settlement. One of the main problems is about the English-speaking youth, who complained their parents for the misunderstanding on their Canadian way of living. The parents also worried much about their children for substance abuse because the use of drug became a common way of socialization in the schools. Thus, S.U.C.C.E.S.S put much effort in doing the youth work.

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The concept of “double separation” introduced by Ms. Mary KAM, Program Director of Family and Youth Services. It is said that children age 0-6 are found to experience “double separation” in their migration process. Since the cost of the child care service in B.C. is very high, many children separated with their parents and under the care of grandparents in their native country when they are 0-3 years old. Yet, when they start schooling, they have to separate with the grandparent and migrated to B.C. for better education. Under such founding, the Multicultural Early Childhood Development Service was introduced.

The importance of considering cultural diversity in running senior service was recognized. S.U.C.C.E.S.S. found it worthwhile to provide senior care service for the Chinese. It is because the health of the Chinese seniors deteriorated rapidly in Western-style old age home but the situation improved when they used S.U.C.C.E.S.S.’s senior care service, where they can meet other Chinese seniors and have Chinese meal.

The hot issues in senior service shared. To lessen the financial burden on child care problem, it became more and more common for some grandparents to migrate to B.C. with a super-visa. The validity of super-visa is 10 years. The problems of senior abuse and grand-parenting became a hot issue now.

2. Day 2

After Meeting and Greet from Queenie, C.E.O. of the agency, Monica firstly provides information and service content of the agency in employment services. Content of Meeting please see attachment 1. Despite many Projects of service provision, the ultimate goal of the service is to enhance employment of new arrivals, which is important and basic to integrate the local community and even the nation. While the C2C and YEP are helping youngster to enhance placement skills to transit to employment status, the Virtual Citizenship Resource Centre and Virtual Employment Resource Centre are established to give online counseling service for citizenship and employment respectively. Cost effective is emphasized in online service in order to provide direct service to remote and large area of B.C.. The SEED and ITTI, on the other side, supporting NA who would like to setup business and being an employer. Service will be given in form of basic information and training to the potential employers. The LMLP in short, trying to fill as much as service gap by providing support to marginalized immigrants such as refugee, to gain vision and hope in achieving sustainable and meaningful labor market integration. The EMP and BIIS, provide mentoring to NA employee and employer respectively, which offering matching mentor and case management services.

The Meeting is main focus on illustrate the Active Engagement & Integrated Project (AEIP) and FCR Programme. AEIP is indeed settlement service, catering pre-landing service which actively provides immigrant information to NA from

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Origin or in arrival hall of airport (CANN). In 2013, the agency setup offices in Taipei and Seoul in order to give information to NA before they land on Canada, such as housing, employment, family counseling services, governmental information, social services, financial arrangement such as bank account opening, etc. Service of CANN is comprehensive and is leading in the industry.

The FCR Programme, on the other hand, serving ITPs after landed on Canada. ITPs usually facing the problem of accreditation is not recognized by the local(Canada) professional bodies. Not only the programmes mentioned in the above paragraph can help the ITPs, including provide information of getting accreditation, but also think of the ITPs need financial support during examination and accreditation period, the FCR Programme loan cash to ITPs in order to assist them to return to home-town trained profession. The FCR Programme is conducted by a team of loan advisors (and project leader and clerical support), who will not only loan to ITPs, but also giving case management services in order to enlarge the benefit of applicants and giving the most effective assistance. Being nonprofit making, the team revealed that all interest generated by the loan will be used to enlarge the loan capacity, which giving a more sustainable service. Other than FCR programme, the team also responsible to organize job fair in widen ‘employability’ of applicants and others.

The meeting also come across Student Placement Programme, which providing world-wide social service learning and exchange opportunities, in service areas of Settlement Services, Employment Services, Community Services and Housing Services.

The Meeting in Richmond Caring Place is main focus on illustrate the Active Engagement & Integrated Project (AEIP).

A large content of meeting focus on discussing the model of cooperation of Caring Place, which stimulated delegates reflect service model in HK. Richmond Caring Place, started by NGOs serving in the community, who found rent budget usually an obstacle for service. NGOs hence rise fund and contribute resources to establish Caring Place. With the aid of City government with land, NGOs fund and local fund rising, Caring Place was built in 2009. Local parties such as neighborhood community were invited to ‘own’ the facilities and hire manager to manage the property. NGOs who rent office in the Caring Place are required to pay monthly rent and cooperate in using facilities. Board meeting are regularly conducted in order to discuss contemporary needs of the community and direct management of service provision. However, NGOs are prohibited to join the board of directors and management of property in order to avoid conflict of interest. This cooperation model resulted in the one who pay for building the venue lastly had no right to own the premises, but got the right to use and serve the community.

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7. Observation:

1. Day 1 It is found that the concept of settlement is very clear in B.C. Different from Hong Kong, their development of settlement service was based on different stages of settlement, varies from initial settlement, adaptation and integration. They named it as settlement process. After the initial settlement, there is also 5 distinct stages of adaptation include honeymoon stage, culture shock, initial adaptation, mental isolation and acceptance & integration. Throughout the settlement process, the settlement workers are giving information & orientation on settlement related topics such as schools, health care, housing, immigration. They also provide life skills training to help immigrants with exploring career, training and job options; creating targeted resumes & cover letters, understanding workplace etiquette & culture; dealing with anxiety and developing parental skills etc. After that, they organized community connections activities include creating volunteer opportunities, connecting newcomers to long term residents through mentoring program, support group, organizing city tour and facilitating immigrants to join community events. At the same time, they assist them to access to services by providing interpretation service, transportation subsidy, child care, assistance on completing forms and application and accompaniment. Their settlement service is need-based and comprehensive. At the end, their goal was to help immigrants to be well-integrated into the community, which means their participation in the community became high and they can contribute to the community. Through a series of service, the Canadian government successfully assisted a group of highly skilled immigrants to integrate into the local community and became the work force for the local community. The Canadian government was willing to subsidize the settlement service as they regard it as “investment-in-return”.

In general, Canadians also have a positive view on the immigrants. Majority of them perceived immigration as an opportunity rather than a problem. In comparison, the highly skilled group immigrants in Hong Kong is fewer, the Hong Kong governments may review its population policy in attracting highly skilled professionals. An immigration policy was suggested, under which services on housing, job opportunities, education provision and health care have to put into consideration. From the successful example of Canada, it is proved that their employment services for immigrants successfully met the needs of the immigrants and created a work force to help the Canadian society.

Besides, the Active Engagement and Integration Project can be a reference to the New Arrival service in Hong Kong. From our daily contacts with the new arrivals from the Mainland China, it is common to find that they had adjustment difficulty in Hong Kong especially for the housing arrangement and work culture. Some of them regretted and wanted to return to the Mainland for a living but their accounts in the province was cancelled which resulted in difficulty to find jobs or continue study for their children. The Project was useful to help adjusting their expectations before migrating to Hong Kong.

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Insight gained also from the importance of cultural diversity in running senior services. There are quite a lot of EM seniors in Hong Kong. Yet, the mainstream senior service in Hong Kong was for the Chinese seniors. EM seniors seldom connected with community resources which may be somehow because of the cultural difference.

2. Day 2

Delegates observed that the agency started to change service target origin from Chinese community to highest NA population, such as Korean and Taiwanese. This is subject to funding sources and also driven by service need. In addition, delegates discussed that professionalism and accreditation although enhancing and secure professional standard, in real case ITPs usually suffered even ITPs came from higher professional standard region. Apart from the above, delegates also admitted that employment is the most important settlement criteria. Therefore, although service division of labor was observed, a holistic approach is also observed. The agency strives for giving all rounded settlement service in order to enhance integration of NA.

Delegates imply the observed service model into Hong Kong NA from Mainland China and South Asian countries. Active engagement service is suggested to be feasible and in placed, in giving emigration information, preparation, expectation management, etc. Besides, employment (re)training programmes in Hong Kong are not effective enough for NA from different region to enhance placement ability.

Delegates, observed that, NGOs serving community although having competition in fighting for resources, still keeping harmonic environment because of Canadian culture, which emphasis on respect and cooperation. Delegates admitted that similar cooperation are found in HK too. However, balancing practical benefit to each parties and alienation in participation from respect to control is also found. It is then suggested that similar regulations should be mutually input in HK.

8. Recommendations:

Being one of the leading social service agencies (in past, a support group), it is undoubtedly worthwhile to have visit to S.U.C.C.E.S.S and in meetings with different units of the agency, the delegates not only found that the service content is worth to discuss, but also the administration management, funding management, professional and political struggles, etc. are important as background to understand service trend and development. It is recommended to have pre trip information sharing session and reserve previous visit time to share the above.

Completed by: Patrick, LAM Chun-ming, Candy, WONG Lai-ling�

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STUDY VISIT ON NEW ARRIVAL SERVICE

(OCTOBER 17 - 22, 2013; VANCOUVER AND CALGARY, CANADA )


1. Date of Visit/Meeting: 18 October� 2013

2. Name of Agency: Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia (ISSofBC)

3. Address/Meeting Venue: 530 Drake Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 2H3

4. Contact Person:

Name & Position: Mr. Chris Friesen, Director of Settlement Services

Telephone no: +1 604-684-7498� Fax: +1 604-684-5683 �


ISSofBC started to work with the Government in 1972 and ��

�� cater service for refugees and immigrants from Africa. Around 450 staff to cater multi-cultural service to the targets. Other than language and career support service and settlement services, well-being support and trauma information and support service are also catered specific needs� of refugees. From service scope, ISSofBC catered two areas of service which disguised her with the other two biggest settlement service agencies (S.U.C.C.E.S.S. and MOSAIC), which are temporary residential provision and service to refugees. With collaboration with business sector, the ISSofBC started a project to rebuild and resettle their service branches into a new� area and building in Richmond in 2015. The new Welcome House has enough capacity to union� ISSofBC service within a block.


Mr. Friesen firstly gave delegates a brief introduction to ISSofBC. Over 40 years of service in BC, ISSofBC provides Language College and Career Services, which provide corresponding service support for new comers and fostered integration in Canada. While settlement services emphasis on catering service to Government Assisted Refugees (GARs) from Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Afghanistan and Bhutan, who is now becoming a large community in Surrey and Burnaby area of Vancouver now. The GAR issue stimulated discussion on immigration policy of Canada indeed catering elites all over the world to come in order to push up economic. However, the GAR scheme is not included for those with low technology and low

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educated people. Both Mr. Friesen and delegates also admitted that this is the result of immigration policy driven.

The second half of the meeting came across change of funding model in BC in recent year. Provincial government role of funder was taken by the Federal Government, which of course undergoing a large extend of budget and administrative control. Besides, change of funding model also changing service model of the agency. While some of the agencies, such as ISSofBC, tried hard to maintain they service origin, some of the agencies started to change their service origin in order to fit for funder’s interest. In addition, in order to compete for funding, agencies started to deploy large amount of resources to formulate service proposals, and started to collaborate and negotiate within non government bodies, which aiming to fit for service surveillance. Mr. Friesen revealed that, calling for proposal (with fixed budget, aim to receive innovative service idea to specific target) and inviting proposal (with specific service orientation, aim to receive efficient budget to carry out service) are two main funding modes observed recently. Delegates on the contrary, revealed that these are common in HK.

7. Observation:

Delegates, observed that, unstable funding model even for current service are common and ‘in blooded’ to social welfare industry in BC and AB. Although non-subvented services are facing the same situation in BC and AB, current service is still receiving current funding from the SWD. Unstable funding implies unstable human resources and often layoff of staff. The context of this issue is not a social issue in BC, which believed by the delegates that, related to well developed social security and pension system.

8. Recommendations:

Being one of the biggest settlement service providers in BC, which specifically serving refugees, it is undoubtedly worthwhile to have visit to ISSofBC again. It is suggested to re-visit ISSofBC in 2015 after the new Welcome House was founded. Because of target diversity (from different nations and cultural background), ISSofBC should demonstrates highly effective administration management and service arrangement. Re-visit should also focus on operation on temporary residential service and policy advocacy in enhancement on humanistic consideration of immigration policy. Lastly, integrated approaches of service is within a single block.

��Completed by: Patrick, Lam Chun Ming

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1. Date of Visit/Meeting: 19 October, 2013

2. Name: Prof. Miu Chung Yan

3. Address/Meeting Venue: School of Social Work, University of British Columbia;

Jack Bell Building 2080 West Mall V6T 1Z24

4. Contact Person:

Name & Position: Prof. Miu Chung Yan, Associate Professor of University of British Columbia

Telephone no: 604-822-8688 Fax: 604-822-8656


The University of British Columbia (UBC) is among the top three research universities in Canada with campuses and facilities in British Columbia, Canada. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in the province of British Columbia and has the largest enrollment with over 57,000 students at its Vancouver and Okanagan campuses combined.


Canada has been one of world's major destinations for immigration flows, with immigrants taking up roughly 0.7% of its whole population of 33 million. New immigrants are welcomed by Canadians based on the belief that immigrates will help to slow down the rate of population decline as well as to offset the labor shortage.

Unlike those in Hong Kong, only 25.2% of the immigrants migrate to Canada under family class, i.e. as sponsored spouses, parents or children aged under 22. The majority of the immigrants belong to the economic category, which includes skilled workers, professionals, temporary workers, international students, investors and living-in-care givers (domestic helpers). The economic category accounted for 62.4% of the admissions in 2012. Meanwhile, 9.0% immigrants fell in the humanitarian category (refugees) and 3.4% were provincial nominees.

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The leading original countries in 2011 were the Philippines (14% of total), China (12%) and India (10%). The number of immigrants from Mainland China already exceeded that of those from Hong Kong in recent years.

In order to respond to the economic and labor market’s needs, Canada's immigration system has undergone many changes recently, which includes:

1) New selection criteria of the Points System emphasize official language proficiency, narrower age group, and Canadian experience. Maximum points awarded for official language has increased from mark 24 to 28, and maximum points for age are awarded to applicants between 19 to 35 years old, while previously it was 19 to 49 years old. Anticipated for 2014, the Canadian government may only invite prospective immigrants to apply for permanent residency only if there is an interest from a Canadian employer needing to hire.

2) The sponsorship of parents/grandparents is currently suspended, while "Super Visa" comes into effect, which allows multiple entries to Canada for a 10-year period to parents/grandparents with permanent resident/citizen child or grandchild in Canada and needs to be renewed every two years. This will make sure that the elderly going to Canada on the super visa category does not become a burden on Canada’s health system.

3) Policy has been changed to the sponsorship of spouses in order to avoid marriage fraud. Conditional PR status is given to the spouse upon arriving in Canada until the sponsored spouse stays in the relationship with the sponsoring partner for two years. Since 2012, sponsored spouses must wait for 5 years before applying for citizenship compared to the previous requirement at 3 years.

4) Instead of waiting for "approval of principal", living-in caregivers (domestic helpers) can apply for PR by themselves after working in Canada for 2 years, or 3900 hours over a minimum of 22 months now.

Generally speaking, the discrimination towards new immigrants is not obvious in Canada. Acts and laws that may play an important roles in eliminating the discrimination on races or religions are: Canadian Citizenship Act (1946), Non-Discriminatory Policy (1962), Immigration and Refugee Protection (2012) and Introduction of Canadian Experience Rights (2007).

Compared to Hong Kong, except voting in elections, Canada’s newcomers' enjoy the same rights and responsibilities as Canadian citizen, such as sharing social welfares and working in the government.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) took a central role in making immigration policies, coordinating services which help to optimize efficiency and effectiveness of immigrant services delivery, including settlement and adaptation programs as well as employment services.

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7. Observation:

In order to improve the economic outcomes, Canada's immigration policy attracts many skilled workers and professionals while most new immigrants to Hong Kong are low skilled workers. The policies cannot be applied in Hong Kong, but the one-stop immigration services from pre-landing, settlement to employment is worth learning.

The lack of a centralized sector to organize immigration policy and services is also a serious problem in Hong Kong. Without sufficient information of community resources, new immigrants are not benefitting from the integrated model (IFSC, YIT).

Multiculturalism policy was officially adopted by the Canadian government. Immigrants are welcomed by Canadians because immigration is often viewed as a potential way of maintaining population growth as well as helping to offset anticipated skills and labor shortages. Same as Canada, Hong Kong also has low birth rate, but local people's attitude towards new immigrants is totally different, which is worthwhile for the Hong Kong government and service providers to review and reflect.

Case management is the main approach in assessing new immigrants’ needs and referring them to appropriate services. Face to face conversation and follow up are helpful for newcomers.

The funding system in Canada is not as stable as expected. Services are contract-based and time-bound. So the top three immigration services providers S.U.C.C.E.S.S , ISS of BC and MOSAIC in Vancouver will be aligned to get bids, while on the contrary, small NGOs may be gradually eliminated by this funding model.

8. Recommendations:

Undoubtedly, Prof. Yan is an expert in the immigration policy in Canada.

Completed by: HUANG Wenjie

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STUDY VISIT ON NEW ARRIVAL SERVICE (OCTOBER 17 - 22, 2013; VANCOUVER AND CALGARY, CANADA )


1. Date of Visit/Meeting: 21October, 2013

2. Name of Agency=�Immigrant Services Calgary (ISC)

3. Address/Meeting Venue=�12th floor 910 – 7 Ave SW Calgary, AB T2P 3N8

4. Contact Person:

Name & Position: Mr. Ho-man CHAN, Director of Settlement and Language Bank

Telephone no: 1+403+5388349 Fax: 1+430+2662486


Immigrant Services Calgary (ISC) was set up in 1977. Its former name was Calgary Immigrant Aid Society CIAS and renewed its name and logo in 2007. There are over 150 staff providing a wide range of services to support settlement and integration of immigrants and refugees in Calgary community. Under the support of Citizenship and Immigrant Canada (CIC) and Alberta Government as well as other funding sources, namely United Way, Family & Community Support Service (FCSS), Calgary And Area of Child and Family Services Authority, Canada Trust, Public Health Agency of Canada and etc., ISC has developed three core services which include Settlement and Language Bank Centre (the settlement service started to be funded by the provincial government in 1981), Immigrant Language and Vocational Assessment–Referral Centre (ILVARC, established in 1985) and Mosaic Family Resource Centre (established in 1994).


In the meeting, Ms Krystyna Biel, CEO, Mr. Homan Chan, Director of Settlement and Language Bank as well as Ms Vivian Chan, Language Bank Manager were present to welcome and introduced the key services of ISC to the delegates. Mr. Homan Chan shared the current plight of immigrants in Calgary and the difference in job market between Calgary and Vancouver. Franks to the development of oil and gas industry, Calgary becomes a much wealthy city now and the opportunity of getting a “survival” job is more easy in Calgary rather than Vancouver. However, there is still a common difficulty for those international educated professionals (IEP) to find jobs there. In response of such needs, ISC launched loan program as well as bridging program to connect them with local

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established professionals in areas of support, training, employment and mentorship. The discussion shared their view and role of their settlement service. “Settlement is about how to adapt to and build up a new life in a new place, while integration is about a sense of belonging to a country”, Mr. Homan Chan said. That’s why the settlement service of ISC also put much effort in encouraging new immigrants to integrate into the society through making voluntary contribution and building up mutual help network particularly at the neighborhood level. Support service for men is worth to highlight. Their multicultural men’s program was established in 1998. The delegates exchanged the idea about the support on single-father with children. Ms Krystyna thought this would be a nice idea and see whether their service can specifically cater for this group of people in future. After the meeting, we toured around their office on the 12th floor and visited Mosaic Family Resource centre located on the 5th floor�

7. Observation:

The delegates observed that its settlement service was strong in developing and delivering translation and language assessment service. For example, its document translation provided by their trained and professional volunteers was accepted on all municipal, provincial and federal levels. Can this service system be possible for new immigrants from the Mainland and ethnic minority residents in Hong Kong? In Canada, we found different NGOs, not just ISC can be able to develop a very strong basis of volunteers and then harness their expertise in supporting their service. One of the key factors was that the government recognized voluntary service as working experience. Does this practice also worth Hong Kong to run? ISC demonstrated that the language support in carrying out service was crucial for new immigrants or refugee clients. They were able to hire professional staff from different ancestries under the support of mainstream funding resource. This is a good implication for Hong Kong to review their support on eliminating language barrier in social service ��

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8. Recommendations:

As ISC is one of the mainstream NGOs in Calgary, it is worth to revisit again to learn how their service direction moves in response to the new funding model the government will practice next year. It is also worth to learn more about their frontline service operations in launching their language bank service, employment service and family service if we have a chance to visit ISC again. For example, we can further realize the service needs and their practice experience through sharing with their staff in the meeting.

Completed by: Wong Fuk Nga, Nora

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STUDY VISIT ON NEW ARRIVAL SERVICE (OCTOBER 17 - 22, 2013; VANCOUVER AND CALGARY, CANADA )


1. Date of Visit/Meeting: 21 Oct ober 2013

2. Name of Agency: Calgary Catholic Immigration Society

3. Address/Meeting Venue: 5/F, 1111-11 Ave SW, Calgary, Canada

4. Contact Person:

Name & Position: Mr. Ron Volk, Employment Coordinator

Telephone no: 403-262-2006 Fax: 403-262-2033

5. Description of Agency, including type of services provided, target served, programmes, staffing, funding sources, and special facilities:

Calgary Catholic Immigration Society is a non-profit organization, which provides settlement and integration services to all immigrants and refugees in Southern Alberta. CCIS is a community leader with 32 years of solid experience in the design and delivery of comprehensive quality resettlement and integration services to refugees and immigrants. They pride themselves in delivering these services through a dynamic multicultural, multilingual and multidisciplinary team of professionals who collectively speak over 62 languages. This diversity enables them to provide their clients and community with optimum assistance. Meanwhile, they have over 2,000 volunteers who devote their time to help newcomers.

The key services are listed below:

- Business Employment and Training Services

Services are provided to all refugees and immigrants in the areas of pre-employment training, pre-employment counseling and skill building for the long term goal of obtaining self-sufficiency.

- Community Development and Integration Services

Facilitates CCIS involvement with the community through volunteerism and community outreach in the areas of multicultural education, sponsorship and family reunification, health, integration services and adult education for families and seniors.

- Family and Children's Services

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Builds on the strengths of families and children, facilitating their integration into their community, and enhancing the provision of services to newcomers by community resources.

- Resettlement and Integration Services

Provides resettlement services for government sponsored refugees and independent immigrants to facilitate their integration as active participants in Canadian Society.

- Health and Wellness

The Health and Wellness division was launched as a community initiative aimed at overcoming the numerous barriers new refugees to Calgary face in accessing health services. It is host to a complete range of health-related programs and services, designed and delivered by an team of professionals dedicated to enhancing the health and well-being of our clients.

- Brooks & County Immigration Services

Providing effective, appropriate and easily accessible services in the community of Brooks and the Newell County.


- General introduction to the immigrant profile and the agency business are conducted. In which the employment and training program are the major topic.

- Childcare service is another core area that the delegation visit the Childcare center.

7. Observation: (e.g. stimulation / implications for Hong Kong)

- Seeing the immigration policy, professional or skilled people contribute the major share of which over 52% of migrant is under the scheme of “skill migrant”.

- Although survival job is always a option for maintaining living, it is not good for the migrants themselves and also a misuse of manpower macro-perspective. Therefore, employment support, training and foreign credential recognition are the major service content.

- Frank to economic active status, childcare will be the following issue and it is sometimes a hurdle. In Canada, the childcare fee is expensive which almost one-fourth of the family income is. Therefore, sponsor for elder parent for taking up the childcare work is always a option. However, this kind of migrant become more difficult, in term of Language requirement, constraint in welfare entitlement after landing, etc.

- Immigration is concerned as a relief measure to the aging society as migrants are expected to replenish the labour supply and even the labour demand for elder caring industry. It is worth to consider to merge the discussion of the aforesaid issues during the consultation of Population Policy.

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8. Recommendations: (e.g. whether it is worthwhile to visit the agency again?)

The CCIS is one of the monopolist of settlement service provider in Alberta so it is almost the must visit point in Calgary. Franks to rich of nature resource, it has strong linkage with local enterprise, e.g. oil company, so that they render training and referral in one hand. This cooperation model is worth to study in deep.

Completed by: TANG Chung Wah

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Family and Community, Service Development �




1. Date of Visit/Meeting: 22 OCTOBER 2013

2. Name of Agency: The Calgary Chinese Elderly Citizens’ Association

(Chinese Name: �� )

3. Address/Meeting Venue: 111 Riverfront Avenue S.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 4Y8

4. Contact Person:

Name & Position: Ms Liza CHAN, Executive Director

Ms Celia LI, Community Engagement Co-coordinator

Telephone no: +1 (403) 2696122 ext. 230 / 237 Fax: +1 (403) 2691951


The Calgary Chinese Elderly Citizens’ Association (CCECA) is a non-profit social service organization established in 1985 and locating at downtown Calgary and near Chinatown. The current service premise was in use since 1995 with the donation from the local Chinese community mainly. CCECA now provide the service in Cantonese and Mandarin mainly.

CCECA provides the service with its mission of providing a supportive environment for the enhancement of the well-being of older adults and encouraging them to make changes in their life and integrate into mainstream society.

The seniors since aged 50 can participate in the service of CCECA. CCECA provides various kinds of service such as education enhancement, social and recreation, outreach services, community engagement, Chinese special needs support group, health services, chronic condition classes, wellness centre and longevity group. There were 6,530 members approximately until the end of 2012.

The service of CCECA is provided by 15 full-time staff and 7 part-time staff. Its service funding come from different sources such as Family and Community Social Services (FCSS), United Way, Alberta Lottery Fund, Alberta Solicitor General and Public Security.

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Besides the normal facilities in a service centre to the seniors, CCECA has a wellness centre which provides the health care service by the medical practitioners. However, due to the flooding in June 2013, it had a serious damage which now is waiting for the further funding to support the renovation and maintenance.


The delegation was welcomed by Ms Liza CHAN and Ms Celia LI. As we only had an hour for this visit, Ms CHAN was quickly to introduce the background of the centre and general profile of the Chinese seniors in Calgary. As estimated, there were around 10,000 Chinese seniors in Calgary in 2012. In Calgary, Chinese is the largest visible minority group with a total population of 66,000 (2006 Census), slightly over 10% are seniors. Ms CHAN anticipated that the demand of the service to Chinese seniors is keeping increase. Then, Ms CHAN shared the goals of CCECA as strengthening community capacity and impact, social inclusion, civic engagement and reducing social isolation. She mentioned that for the Chinese seniors in Calgary, most of them cannot speak in English, and their income is quite low. This can create the social isolation to those seniors. Thus, CCECA always focus on provide different kinds of information given, guidance and social service to fulfill their daily needs.

In the midst of the meeting, Ms CHAN and Ms LI shared their experience of the flooding incident in June 2013. As the flooding destroyed some facilities of CCECA, however, they also can have a strong volunteer network to support the service and the isolated seniors in the community. Before the end of the meeting, Ms CHAN specially introduced health service, living well programme, civic engagement group, the Way-in bridging service (outreaching), elderly abuse prevention and support service, and language support group. Ms CHAN also shared the way to keep the relationship balanced between advocacy and government relationship. She said that they always maintain the proper channel to keep in touch with the members of legislative assembly (MLA), write letter and raise a meeting with the government officials, encourage the seniors participate in the elections and so forth. They found that some of the seniors are quite involved in the civic engagement activities especially those with better educational background.

7. Observation:

It is the only main service to Chinese seniors in Calgary. Therefore, the volunteer support and individual connection are very important to Chinese in such a big area. As the service provision in Canada always emphasizes “First Language”, i.e. to use the mother-tongue of the service user in the service, it can facilitate the service users to integrate into the community and connect to the service easily. Therefore, the language usage in our work is also very important. “First language” is not only about our spoken language during meeting the service users, it also related to how we can understand their language and culture. It is very important to encourage the understanding under the cultural difference and the community integration.

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8. Recommendations:

It is worthwhile to visit CCECA again as it was very limited to understand the elderly service to the Chinese migrant this time. If feasible, some meeting with the elder migrants can be useful to the delegation to have more comprehensive understanding to the service to migrants.

Completed by: LAU Chung-yeung, Martin

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2. Name of Agency: Calgary Chinese Community Service Association

(Chinese Name: �� P�)

3. Address/Meeting Venue: #1, 128, 2nd Avenue S.W., Calgary, Canada, Alberta, ��Canada T2P 0B9

4. Contact Person:�

Name & Position: Ms Lily KWOK, Executive Director

Telephone no: +1 (403) 2658446 Fax: +1 (403) 2330070


Calgary Chinese Community Service Association (CCCSA) is a non-profit �aking organization and established in 1978 and locating at downtown Calgary and near Chinatown. CCCSA provides service mainly in Cantonese and Mandarin currently. There are 11 full-time staff as the managerial level in the centre and oversee the service of various areas such as integration and civic engagement, community development, children and youth services, health programme and outreaching programme. Currently, the service is funded by United Way, Family & Community Social Service, Alberta Health Services, Alberta Lottery Fund, The Calgary Foundation and so forth.

CCCSA hopes the service can enhance the individual and community integration, encourage and empower volunteers, reduce the social isolation and provide support to the marginalized family, and promote culturally responsive service delivery by coordination and collaboration with mainstream service and society.

Integration and Civic Engagement Programme offers a holistic range of services to the Calgary Chinese population that are advocating and empowering. It aims to cover many social and community related fields where individuals can obtain information and solutions to their inquiry ranging from workers’ right and benefits, legal matters, interpretation service and so forth. Children and Youth Programme provides after school programme, leadership programme, life skills

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training and so forth. Health Programme offers activities on tobacco prevention and breast cancer peer support.

In future, CCCSA will focus on the service with reduce the language barriers of the immigrants and build up the social capital in the community.


There is only an hour for the meeting. We firstly met up Ms KWOK in the centre and listen to the presentation of the service provision. She introduced the vision and mission of the centre and then the aforementioned service. As a community centre, Ms KWOK also shared that they had various way to maintain the partnership through different social service agencies, Ethno-cultural Council of Calgary, DiverseCT Alberta (a group of different NGOs in Alberta), media and so forth. Currently, CCCSA has regular video programme with the topic of family life education, community living and so forth.

Then, Ms KWOK introduced another remarkable service project, Chinatown Safety Project. The Chinatown Safety Council was formed in 2008 and made up of various community stakeholders to plan for crime prevention initiatives in Chinatown. Solutions from the Chinatown Safety Council are delivered through programs of CCCSA. One such program is the mural project, a graffiti abatement strategy through creating murals in graffiti stricken areas to discourage future vandalism from occurring. The Chinatown Greeter Program, I Love Chinatown Spring Cleanup, Summer Evening Walk and mural tours are also crime prevention initiatives by increasing foot traffic in the higher crime spots in Chinatown. The Chinatown Safety Council was a two-time recipient of the Alberta Solicitor General and Public Security Crime Prevention Award in 2006 and 2010. Under the leading of Ms KWOK and her staff, we visited few graffiti in Chinatown.

7. Observation:

CCCSA pays lots of effort in doing the community integration and also enhancing the Chinese to concern the community issues. Chinatown Safety Project is one of the good examples which can enhance the community concern and use the power of the local community to solve it. However, as more immigrants from different countries to Calgary, the resources is getting more limited. CCCSA will move to the new office which can provide service to more newcomers and have more collaboration to other service agencies to get avoid the marginalization.

The practice of CCCSA reminds me that the service to newcomers is not only focused on the skill training but also the social participation and advocacy. To enhance the belongingness of the newcomers, encourage them to express the concern about society and make it as an action is important. Also, the partnership among social service agencies is relatively weak in Hong Kong. If the partnership can be better, it can gather the efforts from different agencies and provide more resources to our service users.

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8. Recommendations:

It is worth to visit CCCSA again if the delegates have opportunity to talk to the youth that participated in community project and to understand how they can contribute to the community as they are the newcomers to the society.


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2. Name of Agency: Calgary Family Service�-�>�:

3.��Address/Meeting Venue: 200, 1000 – 8th Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada �T2P 3M7

4. Contact Person:

Name & Position: Mr. Peter CHAN, Community Developer/Counselor�

Telephone no: +1 (403) 2055260 Fax: +1 (403) 2055281

5. Description of Agency

Calgary Family Services (CFS) is a not-for-profit and non-governmental organization. It was established since 1913. It is celebrating 100 years of serving the Calgary community. There are various kinds of service targets in CFS, such as infants, children and youth, family, adults, older adults, home care, training institute and so forth.

Currently, they operate 40 programs and projects. Besides the counseling, groupwork, outreaching service, CFS also operates adoption, aboriginal outreach, elder abuse public awareness campaign, empowerment seminars, language- and cultural-specific counseling, in sync and so forth.

The composition of staffing in CFS is mainly formed by social workers, psychologists, educators, counselors and so forth. However, Mr. CHAN is the only one counselor can speak Chinese. He is also responsible for all cases related to the Chinese background. CFS is mainly supported by few funding sources such as Family and Community Social Service, United Way, Child and Family Service Authority, Alberta Health Service and so forth.

During the introduction to the service, CFS specially addressed a project called “in-sync” to the delegation. It is a project of play-based learning that enhances parent-child attachment. This project is also supported the counseling and family therapy in CFS. They thought that “in-sync” project works for the attachment and can have to enhance the parent-child relationship effectively. Also, it also assists the adoption program and helps the parents and children to develop

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positive relationships and promote attachment. To support this project, CFS has one-way mirror room and playroom to offer the observation and live supervision for the cases.


After the welcoming speech from Ms Sue MALLON, CEO, Calgary Family Services, the Delegation were divided into 2 groups to have the centre visit. We visited the office environment and talked to Mr. CHAN. On the other hand, we also visited the “in-sync” project and the playroom and observation room.

During the meeting, the cultural perspective in parenting and difficulties of migrant family were shared and discussed. As the multi-cultural background of the service users, the counselors should be sensitive to different cultures. Because the child protection is very important in Canadian Law, the counselor always needs to understand how the original culture of the parents and how it parent the child, then the counselor needs to explain and encourage the service users to understand what is it look like in Canada. Moreover, the counselor will work with the parents to develop another way for parenting.

Mr. CHAN also mentioned that many Chinese families also suffered from some difficulties on attachment and separation. He said that after the child was born in Canada, the parents would bring the child back to China under the care of grandparents. Until around aged 4 and 5, the child would return to Canada and attend the pre-school education. Since the parent-child attachment is not developed well during infancy, the child may suffer from the separation anxiety and other family difficulties. On the other hand, some families in Mainland China would move the child to Canada for studying, it also creates the separation anxiety to the youngsters as well. Therefore, it is worth to study how to enhance and strengthen the attachment of the Chinese family.

7. Observation:

The cultural sensitivity is always important in working with the ethnic minority. Moreover, when changing the mindset of parenting with the family with different cultural background, it� is very important for us to know how does it look like in their origin then adjust their way to�parent their children in Canada.

8. Recommendations:

It is valuable to understand the difficulties of the immigrant families in Calgary from the family service perspective. Although those families settled down at Calgary more than 5 years, their difficulties may come out to the surface, thus, this visit can let the delegation to know more about the family difficulties to this kind of families. Therefore, I recommended that to visit CFS again.


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2. Name: Mr. Jason LUAN

3. Meeting Venue: Immigrant Services Calgary, 510, 910 – 7th Avenue S. W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 3N8

4. Contact Person:

Name & Position: Mr. Jason LUAN, Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA),

Calgary-Hakwood Constituency, Alberta

Telephone no: +1 (403) 2165444 Fax: +1 (403) 2165442

5. Description of Interviewee:

Mr. LUAN was elected to his first term as a Member of Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Calgary-Hawkwood on April 23, 2012. He has been appointed to the Chair of Social Care Facility Review Committee; the Deputy Chair of the Select Special Conflicts of Interest Act Review Committee; Government Liaison of the Alberta Research and Innovate Authority; member of the Legislative Policy Committee on Alberta’s Economic Future; member of the Standing Committee of the Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing. He also served on the Standing Committee of Private Bills and the Legislative Policy Committee on Family and Community Services in 2012.

Mr. LUAN holds a master's degree in social work from the University of Calgary and has his career to public service for over 20 years, promoting healthy families and strong communities. He is interested in community development, collaboration, cultural diversity and social inclusion. He is also concerned about the business, community and cultural exchanges between Alberta and China. Prior to being elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Mr. LUAN served as a social worker for the former Alberta Family and Social Services, and then as a social planner for the City of Calgary, managing funding for nonprofit social service agencies. Mr. LUAN was the recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 due to his professional service to the community.

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Mr. LUAN concerns the Chinese immigrants in Canada. Therefore, he always wants to look up the win-win situation in the community. The newcomers can use the social service to solve the problems, and they can also be more integrated to the society.


Under the liaison by Mr. CHAN Ho-man, Director of Settlement and Language Bank, Immigrant Services Calgary, the delegation had an opportunity to meet up Mr. LUAN to understand the policy of migration and settlement from policymaker and government’s angle. The meeting was around 1.5 hours. Mr. CHAN was also sit-in and facilitated the discussion between the delegation and Mr. LUAN.

Mr. LUAN said that 80 out of 87 MLAs have different ethnic backgrounds�instead of local Canadian. The benefit of ethnic groups is very important and becomes the issues in the society. Canadian government treats the immigrants as the economic source in the manpower. In fact, Alberta is having shortage in manpower and low reproduction rate. Therefore, no matter in national and provincial levels, the immigrants are very important for the economic development.

��Mr. LUAN also projected that there will be more and more immigrants in Canada. He estimated that now the ratio of immigrants and local Canadian is 1:50, however, after 50 years, the visible minority will go to 1:3 – 1:5.

��Mr. LUAN also shared his view on “supervisa”. He thought that the current immigration policy only focuses on economic growth but not consider the family factors of the immigrants. Even some of the seniors can follow the family sponsorship to acquire the citizenship; they only can get the social welfare after 10 years and require the sponsors to support the expenses of the seniors. It may create some negative effect to the family development. Mr. LUAN commented that “supervisa” is just a “token” and to be the supplement for the family immigration policy and family sponsorship.

7. Observation:

The immigration policy in Canada makes balance between economic growth and humanitarian such as family reunification and sponsorship. The immigration policy in Hong Kong inclines to family reunification obviously. However, it is also important to consider how to encourage the immigration policy can benefit to the economic growth. Hence, to make the immigrants as a contributive group to economic growth is also essential.

8. Recommendations:

It was a valuable opportunity to have a meeting with Mr. LUAN and understand the view of policymaker and government officials. It is worthwhile to have such kind of meeting with councilor or government officials again.


report of study visit on new arrivals servicewebcontent.hkcss.org.hk/irn/events1314/14. (fcs... ·...

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