Abstract

The settlement and integration of immigrants in Canada was once a task left to government bodies such as the Canadian National Railway and the Hudson Bay Company, and to the newcomers themselves. However, as of 1966, government settlement services were disbanded and the federal government stopped being dynamically engaged in the settlement process (Citizenship and Immigration 2001). Complexities associated with the settlement of newcomers in Canada has caused the Canadian government to push this responsibility elsewhere. It has mostly fallen to Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the non-governmental Immigrant Settlement Agencies (ISAs) that it funds (Wayland 2006). The rise in popularity of New Public Management (NPM) initiatives has resulted in the restructuring, reformation, and building of partnerships between all levels of government, the private sector, and the voluntary sector (Citizenship and Immigration 2001). These “partnerships” purport to be valuable in the settlement and integration of newcomers. However, the literature on newcomer settlement in Canada reveals that settlement processes have not been smooth. Based on some successes and failures of “NPM-like” changes in the settlement sector, this piece proposes to answer this key question: Have NPM-like activities produced overall negative outcomes in the settlement of newcomers in Canadian communities?