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TIES Lays Off Dozens of Employees Following Federal Funding Cuts

News

TIES (The Immigrant Education Society) has laid off more than 40 employees following significant cuts to its funding.

“Our budget was cut by about 15 per cent for the current fiscal year,” TIES President & CEO Sally Zhao said.

Zhao says the reduction in staff, which follows a reduction in federal immigration support, is the largest she’s ever had to deal with since leading the organization more than a decade ago.

“One of the hardest parts of being a CEO is navigating moments like this,” she says.

“In my 20 years in this sector, this is among the most challenging times I have faced – not because of the decisions, but because of the people impacted.”

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Language Learning Classes Cut

TIES English language programs have been hit the hardest by the cuts.

The non-profit runs Calgary’s largest Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program. It offers classes from basic literacy to Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) Level 8.

As of April 1^st, 26 classes have been cut, with further reductions on the way. That includes the complete elimination of all higher-level classes beyond CLB 4 by September.

“This will leave many students without the necessary language skills needed for many jobs,” Senior Manager, Language Programs and Childminding Jana Ciobanu says.

Ciobanu points out that at CLB Level 4 most students are just starting to form more complex sentences and write short paragraphs.

“They can just get by. That is not going to be enough for them to get a job in an engineering company or in health care.”

Zhao adds some will be able to find so-called “survival” jobs, but they won’t be able to give back as much as they could with higher level education skills.

“They’re very eager to give back to the labour market, to work, to contribute to the economy. But they can’t do it if they don’ t have the language foundations.”

Federal Funding Cuts

Ottawa has recently turned its focus to “a return to sustainable immigration” and more “economic immigrants”.

As a result, it has reduced immigration levels and in turn reduced funding for the federal settlement program.

Both Zhao and Ciobanu understand the logic but add supports still need to be given to the thousands of immigrants already here in Canada.

“We have been working with our IRCC (Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada) officers and they have been very supportive of our programming in the past,” Ciobanu says.

“We are hopeful that relationship can continue.”

“We have about 2700 clients on our waitlist for classes,” Zhao adds.

“The classes will be gone. We will have nowhere to put them now. We’re trying to find ways to support them but there is no way for us to serve those clients on the waiting list.”

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Finding Support Elsewhere

TIES isn’t alone in its funding woes. Immigrant serving agencies across Canada are facing the same issues.

“We are trying to navigate all of the challenges and all of funding cuts. We are trying to see if we can find some sources to support these clients,” Zhao says.

Zhao is hopeful other partners will step in to help fill the gaps.

“Any potential corporate, government or community foundations, if you can provide some resources to non-profit organizations like TIES – please come forward,” she urged.

“Please come forward to support us so that we can support these vulnerable people who want to give back. We will all suffer if they cannot contribute.”

In the meantime, she has this message for those who have been let go from the organization, which has been around since 1988.