With contracts with the federal government for more than $10 million worth of services, Catholic Cross-Cultural Services is one of the largest settlement agencies in Ontario. Last year its share of the cuts came to more than $700,000 and resulted in the layoff of 15 staff.

“There’s no fat in our budget,” said Davis. “The only way you can manage such a cut is through staffing and cutting staffing is going to have an impact on service.”

North of the city, Catholic Community Services of York Region hosts 10 language classes for immigrants with an average of 24 students per class at its welcome centre. There are 300 more immigrants on a waiting list to get into the classes.

“The demand for the service is here,” said executive director Robert J. Hickey.

Hickey and Davis expect to hear what level of cuts their individual agencies will bear in December. As relatively large agencies, they expect to do better than most.

Citizenship and Immigration claims cuts to Ontario are justified by a shifting pattern of immigration which has seen Ontario’s share of Canada’s immigrants drop from 64 per cent in 2005 to 52 per cent in 2010. More newcomers are entering Canada through the Western and Atlantic provinces.

Basing funding on landing statistics doesn’t necessarily reflect where the real demand for settlement services comes from, said Hickey.

“The secondary immigration isn’t there. It’s not accounted for,” said Hickey.

Often when immigrants discover they’ve been lured to a city or region with relatively little ethnic diversity they decide to move to the Greater Toronto Area, said Hickey. In Toronto they find a community that speaks their language and supports their culture.

Destabilizing the agencies that help immigrants settle is counterproductive economically and socially, said Davis.

“It’s pretty clear that we are populating our workforce through immigration and will continue doing that through the future,” she said.

“If we don’t successfully integrate immigrants and refugees, what’s the impact going to be on the health of our economy?... If they’re our future, we better make sure that they integrate into our community well so they can be part of our economy.”

Citizenship and Immigration said it plans to continue funding at least 90 per cent of 261 Ontario settlement agencies it currently funds with a total of $314.9 million in 2012-13.

Ontario Minister of Citizenship Charles Sousa called the federal cuts “short sighted.”

“Those cuts will make it harder for newcomers to find jobs and contribute to Ontario’s economy,” said Sousa in a press release.

Cutting Ontario’s settlement agencies now could mean the province won’t be ready when the economy rebounds, said Hickey.

“What happens if there is a recovery? Where is that going to leave Ontario in terms of creating a solid labour market to respond to the needs?” he asked.

Canada's support system

CATHOLIC REGISTER STAFF

Based on where immigrants first land, newcomers to Canada receive varying levels of support. Quebec, which administers its own immigration program under the Canada-Quebec Accord is not included in these statistics.

British Columbia: $2,612 per immigrant.
Alberta: $2,756 per immigrant.
Manitoba: $2,778 per immigrant.
Prince Edward Island: $2,794 per immigrant.
National Average: $2,816 per immigrant.
Saskatchewan: $2,867 per immigrant.
Ontario: $2,891 per immigrant.
Nova Scotia: $2,913 per immigrant.
New Brunswick: $2,958 per immigrant.
Newfoundland and Labrador: $3,997 per immigrant.
Yukon: $4,501 per immigrant.
Northwest Territories: $5,930 per immigrant.
Nunavut: $18,234 per immigrant.

Some provinces receive extra "capacity-building" funds to help establish new settlement services or expand existing services, according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada.