Montreal unveils $24M plan to integrate new immigrants into city life

Montreal will introduce a host of measures over the next three years aimed at making it easier for new immigrants to find jobs, housing and city services, regardless of their legal status, MayorValriePlanteannounced Wednesday.

"With the implementation of this plan, the municipal administration has met the winning conditions that will accelerate the process of integrating newcomers to maximize their full participation in Montreal life," Plantesaid at a news conference in the borough ofVilleraySaint-MichelParc-Extension.

She described the plan,titled "Montreal Inclusive," as a first for the city. The province is contributing roughly $12 million and the city another $12 million, for a total of $24 million.

Plante's announcement comes one dayafter the provincial governmentconfirmed its intention to cut the number of immigrants Quebec accepts by more than 20 per cent next year.

Montreal's goal, said Plante, isto be anexample of openness, safety and inclusiveness as both anadministrator and employer. Along withproviding integration services, the city will also work to assure employers, and the rest ofthe population, improves their reception and inclusion capacities.

Services for migrants with uncertain status

Under Montreal's integration plan, the city will transfer millions in funding to community groups that provide services to immigrants.

Plantesaid there will be a focus on organizations insix "priority" areas of the city:Montreal North,Anjou-Saint-Lonard,Ahuntsic-Cartierville,Pierrefonds-Roxboro-Saint-Laurent,VilleraySaint-MichelParc-ExtensionandCte-des-NeigesNotre-Dame-de-Grce.

The city will be looking to supportprogramsthat, among other things,reduce discrimination, contribute to the protection ofimmigrant rightsand combat the isolation of female newcomers.

The city will alsoprovide protection and access to services for migrants whose legal status is uncertain.

"We want to focus on actions to protect all residents of the city regardless of their status," said Plante. "We will take concrete actions."

The city will also establish an "access without fear" policy that will allow residents, regardless of their immigration status,to use cityprograms and services.

Plantesaid she wants new immigrants to feel welcome when they arrive in the city.

Immigrants whowant their kids to participate in day campor visit the library, won't need to provide an address, explainedMarie-Christine Ladouceur-Girard, director of Montreal's newcomer integration office.

This practice, she said, is still in development, but the city is looking at various models already implemented by other municipalities with similar policies.

"Municipal services will be accessible to everybody," she said.

Range of strategies to guide city

The city's planoutlinesa range of goals that will guide its efforts to improve the integration of new arrivals. They include:

• Enhancingimmigrants' accessto positions withinthe city's workforce
• Working with local employers to speed up recognition of foreign credentials and experience
• Centralizinginformation for new arrivals, giving them easy access to informationabout resources
• Improving French-language training for immigrants

One of the first challenges new immigrants face, the plan states, is finding decent, affordable housing. Beyond the difficulty of navigating the local system, they must deal with language barriers anddiscrimination.

The city wants to encourage all stakeholders to "facilitate access to quality housing and property for newcomers."

It will identify residences that are appropriatefor immigrants with precariousstatus. There will also be an effort to produce multilingualflyers and hire agents that can explain tenants' rights in different languages.

No longer a sanctuary city

The Plante administration will, at the same time, stop calling Montreal a "sanctuary city," which had been an initiative offormer mayorDenis Coderre.

Legally, Plante said, the city cannot offer special protection to newcomers as it is up to the federal government to accept, deny or expulse immigrants.

MagdaPopeanu, the executive committee member in charge of diversity, said Montreal will describe itself instead as "a responsible and committed city with an emphasis on actions on the ground to protect the entire population of Montreal, regardless of status, without fear."