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What are Local Immigration Partnerships?
Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs) are funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to develop and implement plans to improve immigrant and refugee settlement and integration. LIPs are community planning tables that include community agencies and institutions representing local government, settlement and community agencies, education, business, parks, recreation and culture, policing, libraries, volunteerism, and others.
Since 2008, LIPs in Canada convene to support community-level research and planning to create more welcoming and inclusive communities where newcomers are connected and have opportunities to participate economically, socially, politically, and culturally.
There are currently more than 80 LIPs across Canada; in April 2020, Langley Community Services Society received five-year funding to establish and coordinate the Langley LIP. The Langley LIP work will be supported by a core LIP Membership Council, several tasks and issue-based working groups and a 12+ member Immigrant Advisory Council who will work to develop and implement plans to improve immigrant and refugee settlement and integration.
Why does Langley need a LIP?
Over the last decade the immigrant population of the City and Township of Langley has grown significantly. According to Census 2016 data, the Township had the highest immigrant population growth rate in BC at 21.5%; the City had the 5th highest at 15.5%.
Although more recent data on numbers of immigrants to the region will not be available until after the Census 2021, according to population data pulled from BC Stats, the Township is second only to Surrey in overall population growth among Metro Vancouver communities and the Fraser Valley.
Since 2015, the City and the Township have received about seven new residents per day. And, although the pandemic has impacted the number of immigrants welcomed by Canada in 2020, in October, the federal government released its updated 2021 – 2023 Immigration Levels Plan in which it aims to welcome the most immigrants in its history:
Immigration Levels Plan
In 2019-20 in response to this ongoing growth, Langley Community Services Society applied to and was successful in obtaining funding from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to establish a Local Immigration Partnership.
What will the Langley LIP do?
The partnership table will enhance stakeholder and community knowledge of the contributions and assets newcomers bring and the challenges they face. It will play a vital role in identifying immigrant needs and service gaps. It will support service coordination to avoid service duplication and to fill service gaps and assist stakeholders to adapt programming and policies.
How do I become involved?
To learn more about the work of the Langley LIP and how to become involved, contact
Mary Tecson
Program Coordinator
mtecson@lcss.ca or at 778.861.1512.