Institute for Canadian Citizenship
2022 – 2023 Annual Report
Message from the Chair
Every year, Canada welcomes thousands of newcomers to call this place home. Yet fewer and fewer are becoming citizens and there is mounting evidence that newcomers are losing faith in Canada.
If we want newcomers to deliver prosperity for future generations, we need to deliver for them.
That’s why the work of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship is so essential for Canada.
What exceptional growth we’ve accomplished this year. I encourage you to read this short report in detail. You’ll surely be impressed with what this team has achieved, as I am daily.
Coming in 2024, we extend our program benefits even further, reversing the decline in Canadian citizenship uptake and ensuring greater retention of immigrants in our country.
None of this work could have been completed with our devoted board, generous donors and partner, and the newcomers we serve – who continue to give Canada a chance in the face of sometimes daunting challenges. I want to thank our staff for their extraordinary dedication, creativity and enthusiasm in helping ICC grow to serve Canada better. And I want to thank our CEO, Daniel Bernhard, for his leadership and perseverance in navigating the challenges of growth.
Sincerely,
Irfhan Rawji
Board Chair
Year in Review: 2022–2023
Message
from the
CEO
“Sometimes you need to get narrow to expand.“
That’s how I opened last year’s annual report, promising “to return to our roots as an immigrant-serving organization that champions, facilitates, and celebrates the journey to citizenship at scale.”
That’s exactly what we did.
Canoo membership skyrocketed in 2022. During the summer months, we provided newcomers with over 1,000 free visits to Canada’s best culture and nature attractions every single day.
Our original research on the sharp decline in naturalization rates made headlines across the country and caught the attention of key policymakers too. We continued to deliver magical enhanced citizenship ceremonies in iconic locations across Canada. And we secured a major investment from Employment and Social Development Canada to help newcomer youth gain Canadian experience through high-skilled volunteering.
I remain fiercely proud of our team for their ambition, commitment, and care – for Canada, and for each other.
With a strong foundation beneath us and so many generous and devoted donors gravitating to our cause, next year promises to be our best and biggest yet.
Canada needs us to succeed. Join us.
Sincerely,
Daniel Bernhard
Chief Executive Officer,
Institute for Canadian Citizenship
Our Work
Since 2005, the ICC has worked to unlock Canada for newcomers, facilitating the journey to full and active citizenship. We welcome newcomers to Canada through four key programs: the Canoo Access Pass, enhanced citizenship ceremonies, Ideas and Insights, and soon, the Newcomer Skills Accelerator. We’re committed to making newcomers feel more included and to giving them a reason to stay in Canada and become citizens.
Here’s how we do it.
How We Do It
1. Canoo Access Pass
Our flagship program welcomes newcomers at scale and makes them feel respected and at home here.
The Canoo Access Pass provides new Canadian citizens and recently arrived Permanent Residents with free and discounted access to over 2,000 of Canada’s best experiences, including the best museums, galleries, national parks, science centres and historic sites, but also tickets to professional sports matches and concerts, heavily discounted travel, kids’ activities and so much more.
2022 marked Canoo’s 10-year anniversary, and we celebrated by opening the program to recently-arrived Permanent Residents for the first time. We also diversified our offerings with even more transformative experiences, including the Biodôme in Montréal, the Toronto Zoo, and the Banff Gondola – to name a few.
Did we make the impact we intended? The numbers speak for themselves.
– Amandeep, Canoo member
Impact
300
partners with
2000+
experiences
157,980
free admissions
300,000
newcomers served and
450,000
free admissions to culture and nature attractions since our May 2022 relaunch
80%
of Canoo members reported an increased sense of belonging in Canada after just 12 months on Canoo
Future of Canoo
Canoo is the one-stop destination for newcomers to discover arts, culture, and recreation experiences and volunteer opportunities across Canada. And it continues to grow.
We’ve set an audacious goal of reaching 1 million Canoo members by 2026 – far more than all other settlement organizations combined.
We will achieve this by:
- Expanding Canoo membership to last forever, not just one year. A forever membership will allow Canoo members to continue experiencing the best of Canada for longer, driving retention and boosting naturalization rates.
- Further growing the number of organizations that contribute to Canoo, with a focus on family-friendly activities, organized sports for kids and adults, travel, and festivals but also very valuable deals with banks and telecommunications providers.
- Partnering with traditional newcomer settlement agencies across the country. We’re exploring partnerships with over 125 such agencies, who let their clients know about Canoo when accessing services. In exchange, we let Canoo members know what services are available nearby.
- Leveraging our immense trove of usage data and original research to make data-driven decisions. By analyzing Canoo insights and conducting Canoo member surveys, we produce ground-breaking research at scale. These help us improve Canoo but are also of public interest.
- Making data-informed product improvements that make for a smoother and more effective member experience.
– Kari, Canoo member
– Meilyn, Canoo member
2. Enhanced Citizenship Ceremonies
Celebrating the journey of citizenship
Becoming a Canadian citizen is a major life milestone. Since 2005, the ICC has co-hosted enhanced citizenship ceremonies to celebrate our newest citizens and their achievements in a manner that is more festive manner than standard government ceremonies and also open to community participation. We partner with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to host these transformative ceremonies, featuring prominent Indigenous participation, special guest speakers, performers, and light refreshments – all delivered in iconic public spaces in every province and territory.
Our enhanced citizenship ceremonies feature moving roundtable discussions where new citizens, Indigenous people, and other Canadians reflect on what it means to be Canadian, share their diverse journeys to Canada, and the importance of becoming Canadian. These are transformative experiences and if you haven’t attended one yet, you really should. Write us at philanthropy@inclusion.ca and we’ll ensure you can participate.
– New Canadian citizen
– New Canadian citizen
Impact
61
ceremonies hosted in FY 2022-23 in
9
different cities featuring
220+
special guests
Since 2005:
480+
ceremonies hosted
Over
70
cities
33,000+
new citizens sworn in
Over
7,000
community members served as roundtable hosts
Future of Ceremonies
With more special guests and performances each year, our ceremonies continue to provide a welcoming and participatory environment to our newest Canadians.
Future developments include:
- Increasing the scope and reach of our enhanced citizenship ceremonies. We are committed to further growing our ceremonies program to increase the frequency of ceremonies and bring our citizenship celebrations to more locations across Canada.
- Incorporating more diverse and engaging guest speakers and performers into each ceremony.
- Inviting partners, stakeholders, and community members to more actively engage in our vibrant ceremonies as both co-hosts and participants.
– Dr. Richard Vedan, Enhanced Citizenship Ceremony Special Guest
– Muraly Srinarayanathas, CEO of 369 Global, Special Guest at Toronto Enhanced Citizenship Ceremony
3. Research and Ideas
The ICC’s Ideas and Insights department is Canada’s go-to source for unique and incisive public policy research and insights on citizenship, immigration, and newcomers’ experiences of life in Canada. Drawing from external sources as well as our own Canoo member base and usage data, our one-of-a-kind research explores the social, cultural, political, and economic factors that impact and influence newcomer livelihoods in Canada.
Our findings help us understand and improve our programs, but they also inform governments and public policy audiences and contribute to the public discourse on immigration in Canada, and beyond. The launch of the Citizenship and Immigration Dashboard this year – the first of its kind in Canada – enabled real-time displays of IRCC operational data, making us the go-to source for up-to-date immigration data and visualizations. Reports published on naturalization trends, newcomer attitudes and labour market barriers informed issues on immigrant retention and naturalization in Canada.
Launched the first publicly available Citizenship and Immigration Dashboard in Canada, publishing monthly updates using data compiled from multiple IRCC sources.
Sparked a national conversation by publishing new data from Statistics Canada showing that only 45.7% of permanent residents became citizens within 10 years – a 40% decline since 2001.
Published one of Canada’s largest studies on newcomer attitudes towards social and recreational activities.
87.3%
of respondents agree that participating in activities with diverse groups of people increase their sense of belonging and connection in Canada
95.6%
of respondents indicated that they would like to increase their participation or attendance in social and recreational activities (Activities survey)
Future of Research
- Strengthening bidirectional research. Continuing to further develop and harness Canoo member insights and analytics to drive research for the ICC and its partners.
- Developing research on immigrant satisfaction with life in Canada. Digging deeper into the findings of our Canoo Insights, Immigration and Citizenship dashboard and producing innovative analyses on citizenship uptake, labour market integration, newcomer inclusion, and more.
- Expanding our research partnerships, collaborations, and generating additional media coverage for our perspective. This includes further developing the ICC’s collaborative research with Deloitte, the Conference Board of Canada, and others.
4. Newcomer Skills Accelerator
Thanks to a $1.8 million investment from Employment and Social Development Canada (Canada Service Corps), we will be launching the Newcomer Skills Accelerator in the coming fiscal year. This program will help 750 newcomer youth aged 18-30 to build Canadian work experience via high-value volunteering roles with charities across Canada. We look forward to bringing this exciting project to life!
Financials 2022–2023
2021-2024 Projected Growth
Expenses
Revenue
Total Revenue
$3,813,802
$2,088,819
(54.77%)$1,701,337
(44.61%)$9,915
(0.26%)$13,730
(0.36%)Total Expenses
$3,699,682
$2,840,700
(77.41%)$534,234
(14.44%)$115,595
(3.15%)The figures above are preliminary, pending final approval from the ICC's 2022-2023 auditors, BDO Canada LLP.
Additional financial information relating to the ICC can be found on our website https: //www.inclusion.ca/ or on the CRA website https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency.html. To view ICC Charity Return History on the CRA website, click here.
Our Community
The ICC is tremendously grateful for the growing community of generous and loyal donors and partners who have joined us in our mission to unlock Canada for newcomers. To our donors and partners – individuals, foundations, corporations, government – you support us through generous contributions, you tell others about our work, and you make us more powerful than we could ever be on our own.
Thank you for your unwavering support and generosity!
“As a new Canadian I believe we need to support all of us.
Gregory Ogorek, donor
Thank you for your action.”
Our Team
– Kathryn Paige Hawco, Manager, Western Canada
How You Can Help
Your contribution can help us make Canada the most welcoming country on Earth and create new ways to persuade newcomers that they belong here. The work of welcoming newcomers is a labour of love in which all of us must share.
Ways you can make a difference:
LEAVE A LEGACY
By establishing a gift to the ICC in your will – you are creating a powerful legacy of support for future generations of new citizens.
SHARE
Amplifying newcomer voices and opportunities and sharing what we are doing with your community.
REACH OUT: If you have an idea to connect newcomers with opportunities, we want to hear it! For more information on ways, you can make a more welcoming world for newcomers, please contact Mike Crum, Senior Director, Philanthropy at philanthropy@inclusion.ca.