For over 40 years MNLC has helped newcomers build stable lives and contribute to Canada’s economy through settlement services and employment pathways.
Immigration brings numerous benefits to Canada. Newcomers start businesses, help to fill labour gaps, and increase consumer spending. Many new Canadians are also highly trained medical professionals with skills that Canada’s healthcare system urgently needs. “Canada’s strength has always come from communities that welcome newcomers,” says Dwayne O’Connor, Executive Director, Mennonite New Life Centre (MNLC), a non-profit organization that supports newcomers through settlement services and employment programs. “When people are supported to rebuild their lives here, they contribute their skills, energy, and ideas back to the communities around them,” he says.
Supporting newcomer transition
MNLC provides targeted support that helps newcomers transition into the workforce and contribute their skills to Canadian communities. By bringing together community engagement and community services, MNLC works with newcomers to ease the integration process, strengthen their voices, and increase social equity. “Newcomers bring extraordinary talent and determination to Canada and our role at MNLC is to help ensure that those skills can thrive here. Every day we see how support at the right moment can change the course of someone’s life,” says O’Connor.
The Mennonite community’s strong sense of concern for refugees and persecuted persons derives from its own history of persecution and forced migration. Based on these values, Ontario Mennonites started sponsoring Vietnamese refugees in the early 1970s. Later they began to look for opportunities to support a new wave of refugees coming from Latin America. In 1983, following a period of research and needs assessment with the Toronto Latin American community, MNLC was founded.
Supporting internationally trained professionals
Originally offering services such as language training, citizenship classes, and career pathways, the MNLC has adapted and expanded its programs over the years in response to diverse and changing needs. A recent addition is the Bridge to Registration & Employment in Mental Health (BREM) Program which supports internationally trained mental health professionals who wish to contribute to addressing mental health service needs. This 12-month program prepares participants to meet the requirements of the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) and transition to employment in the field. The program includes a part-time option, and participants may enrol in BREM from anywhere in Ontario.
The MNLC offers many opportunities for people to get involved. Learn more about how you can support MNLC as a partner, donor, or volunteer, by visiting: mnlct.org/get-involved
To learn more about BREM or to attend an information session, please visit: mnlct.org/brem
