Immigrants continue to play an increasingly important role in the Canadian economy and society. Some industries will even rely on immigration to fulfill their labour needs. It’s critical to our community that we have a collaborative and strategic plan to effectively support newcomers.
The Saint John Local Immigration Partnership (SJLIP) is a collaborative community initiative designed to improve newcomer settlement and integration outcomes, and strengthen the region’s ability to better address the needs of newcomers. The partnership brings together various stakeholders from the Saint John Region to develop a coordinated settlement, integration, and retention strategy. By leveraging partnerships at the local level we work to integrate newcomer needs into the municipal planning process, while influencing provincial and federal priorities and processes.
We are one of 86 Local Immigration Partnerships funded by Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Local Immigration Partnerships such as SJLIP signify a new form of multi-level governance involving municipal, provincial, and federal partners. SJLIP is housed under the City of Saint John’s Growth and Community Services Department.
Our purpose and goals
Building on existing strengths in our communities, the SJLIP will facilitate maximum quality of life and community participation by all newcomers. We will achieve this by:
- raising awareness around newcomers’ needs and engage a wide range of local actors in fostering welcoming communities.
- supporting community-level research and strategic planning.
- improving accessibility and coordination of services that facilitate newcomer settlement and integration, such as improving newcomer labour needs, and helping newcomers build more social supports within the City.
Values and guiding principles
In the pursuit of our shared goals, SJLIP Council will:
- commit to a shared vision of an increasingly welcoming and inclusive city.
- operate with transparency, objectivity, and pragmatism.
- remain accountable to each other, to SJLIP funders, to respective organizations and their mandates, and to the communities and individuals at the core of the SJLIP’s vision.
- maintain a supportive environment for partnerships and collaboration by respecting each other’s diversity and autonomy.
- maintain an environment of open communication, trust, reciprocity, and shared responsibility.
- encourage and support innovation and creative strategies that will enhance the delivery of services to new Immigrants.
- ensure that actions will be purpose-driven and goal-oriented.
- make sure that decisions will be based on best-practices and the best available evidence.
- foster a collaborative process to achieve the best coordinated outcomes possible.
- be a champion of SJLIP within organizations and in the community.
A partnership with many stakeholders
SJLIP Council includes representatives from:
- The City of Saint John
- Human Development Council (HDC)
- YMCA Newcomer Connections
- Saint John Newcomers Centre
- Pride of Race, Unity and Dignity through Education (PRUDE Inc.)
- Opportunities New Brunswick (ONB)
- Envision Saint John
- Association Régionale de la Communauté Francophone de Saint-Jean Inc. (ARCf)
- The University of New Brunswick (UNB Saint John)
- New Brunswick Community College (NBCC Saint John)
- Anglophone South School District (ASD-S)
- District scolaire francophone Sud
- Department of Public Health
- Horizon Health Saint John
- WorkingNB
- Fundy Regional Service Commission
- The Provincial Government / Post-Secondary Education, Training & Labour (PETL)
- The Federal Government / Immigration, Refugees & Citizenship Canada (IRCC)
- Saint John immigrant community
SJLIP Working Groups
- Welcoming Communities
- Newcomer Advisory Panel
- Employment & Training
- Health Working Group
- Long-Term Retention
- Newcomer Attraction
