A New Program to Encourage Civic Engagement among Canadian Immigrants

Nearly one fifth of Canada's total population was born elsewhere in the world. Most of them immigrated to Canada because of the promise of living freely in a democratic, peaceful and multicultural society. Most immigrants to Canada have low levels of political participation. A new program being run by The Maytree Foundation aims to change that by encouraging civic engagement among immigrants.

The program is being launched this summer in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Toronto is home to the highest concentration of immigrants in Canada, and is one of the most diverse cities in the world. Fully 44 per cent of the area's residents were born outside of Canada. With the Province of Ontario headed to the polls for a provincial election in October 2007, the organization will have an opportunity to measure its success in increasing voter turnout.

The new initiative is called School4Civics, and will explore a variety of different methods, such as mentoring and skills workshops to encourage active involvement by immigrants in Canadian political life. The aim is both to encourage greater diversity in Canada's political leadership, and to have the program's participants help increase voter turnout in their communities. The Maytree Foundation, which is sponsoring and running the program, is a non-profit, non-partisan charitable organization with reducing poverty and inequality in Canada as its goals.