Newcomer Settlement and Integration: Exploring New Governance Models

Executive Summary

While cities are the primary destinations for most newcomers to Canada, municipalities’ influence on newcomers’ settlement and integration is substantially limited, as the federal and provincial governments hold primary authority over immigration. This scoping review of knowledge synthesis examines the dynamics of Canada’s multilevel governance system, focusing on municipalities’ roles in facilitating newcomer settlement and integration. Additionally, the review draws on international best practices from major immigration destination countries that could offer guidance on improving the settlement and integration of newcomers.

To advance the country’s national interests in the labour market and demographic goals, and to meet humanitarian obligations, the federal government exercises its constitutional authority over immigration via three main federal pathways, among several others: economic, family, and refugee. Provincial governments have influenced immigration mainly through bilateral agreements, which are the legal overarching agreements between the provinces and the federal government, and Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs), which operate under those agreements as the primary economic immigrant programs. Municipalities, even though they have no legal authority over immigration, encounter significant influxes of newcomers and struggle to serve them effectively within their limited power and resources.

The review demonstrates that municipal governments are better positioned to identify the specific needs of immigrants and to be key actors in the immigrant integration continuum. Most literature critically examines the role of municipalities, yet in reality, they play no significant role in settlement and integration. However, improving immigrant settlement and integration outcomes in Canada requires a shift from centralized, program-driven approaches to a place-based, multi-level governance. Integration is inherently local, shaped by the local context and supported by community institutions, making municipalities and civil society indispensable actors. The study recognizes the importance of strengthening local partnerships through coordinated municipal mechanisms. Collaboration among municipalities, LIPs, and other local agencies with clearer mandates and stable funding helps improve integration frameworks that enhance responsiveness to local needs and advance coherent regional immigration strategies.

The study demonstrates that a successful immigration system in Canada depends not on the dominance of any single level of government, but on building coherent coordination mechanisms that align federal selection authority, provincial labour-market responsiveness, and municipal integration capacity into a collaborative system. Comparative evidence from international best practices also suggests that successful immigrant integration systems are consistently linked to coordinated governance from the federal to the municipal level, clearly defined municipal responsibilities supported by sufficient resources, and strong collaboration. Strengthening municipal capacity, along with better alignment and sequencing of integration programs throughout migrants’ settlement pathways, provides a strategic opportunity to promote equitable access to services and to improve long-term integration outcomes.

This knowledge synthesis offers five implications for research, practice, and policy that could significantly enhance the role of municipalities and local actors in the immigration integration process by

1. Formalizing municipal roles
2. Enhancing horizontal coordination among local and regional partners
3. Adopting a whole-of-community model
4. Examining long-term integration outcomes
5. Investigating settlement service sequencing and coordination