Empowering SPOs to Connect with Newcomers Through CANN E-Linkage Service

Authors:Xiaoyang Luo Masashi Miyairi Sol Park Taylor Shek-Wai Hui

S.U.C.C.E.S.S. has been delivering the Community Airport Newcomers Network (CANN) at the Vancouver International Airport (YVR) since 1992. CANN E-Link is a pilot project funded by the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), testing the use of technology to proactively connect settlement provider organizations (SPOs) with newcomers and aiming to increase the uptake of settlement services.

SRDC is conducting an independent evaluation of the E-Link pilot. This report presents our interim findings of the deployment and implementation of the E-Link platform, early impacts and outcomes on newcomers’ usage of settlement services, as well as newcomers’ experiences of settlement services.

We found that E-Link has been implemented as it was designed. E-Link achieved its service provider target ahead of schedule with providers from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. E-Link has substantially increased the contact of newcomers with a SPO by 17 percentage points soon after arrival. Usages of settlement services and employment services increased by over seven percentage points. These impacts corroborate with the positive experience newcomers have with CANN and E-Link. The process was simple and easy to understand, especially if the CANN staff spoke in their preferred language.

Discover more in the full Interim Evaluation Report.

Community Airport Newcomers Network (CANN) E-link is a pilot project designed to test the use of technology to proactively connect settlement provider organizations (SPOs) with newcomers who are landing in Canada via the Vancouver International Airport (YVR). The SPOs will contact newcomers to provide settlement services to address newcomers’ immediate needs shortly after their landing. This service will be offered to newcomers who are destined for BC or are transiting through YVR to another community in Canada.

The goals of the project are to implement and test the effectiveness of this technology to:
1) increase the uptake of IRCC-funded settlement services among recently arrived newcomers, and
2) connect newcomers and SPOs earlier so that their settlement and integration journey is accelerated.

Download Interim report I

Project Details

Published: September 2023
Capability: Experimentation - Program Evaluation/ Performance Measurement - Survey Design and Data Management
Population: Newcomers - Communities and Families