Multicultural Liaison Officer Program (MLO)
– A Unique and Effective Service Delivery Model
Created in 1991, OCISO’s Multicultural Liaison Officer Program (MLO) addresses the settlement needs of immigrant and refugee families in Ottawa schools. The goal of the MLO Program is to help ensure the successful integration of newcomer children and their families in Ottawa schools. The program takes a three-pronged approach that involves the student, the family and the wider school community. OCISO runs this program in partnership with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and the Ottawa Catholic School Board.
MLO Program Approach
Schools are one of the first services that immigrant and refugee families connect with in the community. The program allows for settlement services to be provided on-site at schools and facilitates the interaction between students, parents, teachers, school
administrators and a broad range of organizations, enabling all involved to work toward shared goals, such as quality of education for newcomer students, increased intercultural competence and awareness, and a smoother integration of immigrant and refugee families.
What makes the MLO program unique?
The success of the MLO program rests on the fact that it’s based on the recognition, to borrow from an African proverb, “it takes a village to settle and integrate newcomers in our communities”. There are two important features that speak to the innovative nature of this program:
- Unique partnership between Ottawa School Boards, OCISO, the Federal Government and newcomer communities.
- Providing settlement services on site (in the past settlement services were delivered in settlement agencies) which makes the program highly effective.
Program Impact
Through orientation, daily interventions, outreach and information sharing the MLO program contributes to student success, facilitates a relationship between the schools and new comer families, supports immigrant parents to become familiar and confident in dealing with the school system and supports the schools to create a welcoming environment for immigrant and refugee families.
Based on the MLO program success in Ottawa, the Ministry of Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) adopted the MLO model and launched the Settlement Workers in Schools program, which now has 225 settlement workers operating in schools across Canada.
The MLO program has become an important feature in many communities across the country and greatly contributes to creating welcoming communities for newcomers to Canada.
Request for MLO Assistance
If your school needs the services of a Multicultural Liaison Officer, please download the Request for MLO Assistance.
Send it as an e-mail attachment to:
Zeina Al Attar
zalattar@ociso.org
Help a child succeed
Download our flyer to learn more about how you can support OCISO’s MLO program in schools. Donate and help a child succeed.
25 ideas to increase diversity of your school council
Download this poster to help generate some ideas about how to increase the diversity in your school council.
Newcomer Orientation Week is a program designed to welcome and orient high school students who have recently moved to Canada. The newcomer students learn about student life and the Ontario school system. Eligible students are those who have recently-arrived in Canada and will be attending a secondary school for the first time in Ottawa.
The NOW Program is almost entirely led by secondary student Peer Leaders who receive intensive training .The NOW program is held each year during the month of August. Each summer 10 trained Peer Leaders and 30 newcomer students participate in the NOW program.
Event Name: NOW Program (Newcomer Orientation Week)
Event Date: Tuesday, August 14 to Friday, August 17
Event Time: 8:30 am to 1:30 pm
Event Location: Brookfield High School, 824 Brookfield Road, Ottawa K1V 6J3
Ottawa Catholic School Board Family Welcome Centre
570 West Hunt Club Rd. Ottawa ON
Ottawa Carleton District School Board Family Reception Centre
300 Rochester St. Ottawa ON