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Nearly half the immigrant service organizations in the Greater Toronto Area are braced for program closures soon due to federal funding cuts that began in 2024.
Toronto Today reports that a survey of 48 newcomer service agencies – conducted by the United Way Greater Toronto, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants and the City of Toronto – says 44 percent of respondents expect too see program closures, while 56 percent expect program disruptions due to declining funds.
Jessica Kwik, director of the Peel Newcomer Strategy Group, said many of the cuts are hitting higher level language training.Newcomers who lack this training can struggle to find work, she said.
“We’re seeing that erosion where if people aren’t able to get employment, there’s going to be income insufficiency around housing. And a lot of people who come to settlement services are families with children.
“So you know it is a vulnerability that we may be seeing downstream in terms of those that may then have problems with keeping housing if they don’t have the income or employment,” she said.
The Peel Newcomer Strategy Group connects newcomers with settlement service organizations that specialize in things like language training and help with finding work or housing.
Kwik said a “strong proportion” of people using settlement services in the GTA are refugees.
Federal government data shows since April 2023, Ontario typically recorded the highest number of asylum claims each month, though Quebec occasionally receives more.
Approximately 300,000 asylum claims are in the Immigration and Refugee Board’s backlog as of December 31, 2025.
The United Way report says the cuts are coming from a three-year, $317.3 million reduction in the overall Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada budget that began in the 2024 fiscal year.
