Multicultural Liaison Officers (MLO) Program

Program Impact

MLOs are known in the settlement sector as Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS).

Based on the MLO program success in Ottawa, the Ministry of Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) adopted the MLO model and launched the SWIS program, which now has 225 settlement workers operating in schools across Canada.

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.

Request for MLO Assistance

If your school needs the services of a Multicultural Liaison Officer, please click the link below to fill in the form.

MLO Assistance Request Form

Programs

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.

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.

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.

Help a child succeed

Contact us to learn more about how you can support OCISO’s MLO program in schools. Donate and help a child succeed.

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Newcomer Orientation Week 2022

NOW 2022 - Newcomer Orientation Week

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. NOW is facilitated by MLO and YOCISO Programs.

In order to register, please contact Multicultural Liaison Officer Emanuel Molla, [email protected].

Event Name:

NOW Program (Newcomer Orientation Week)

Event Location:

Ridgemont High School, 2597 Altavista Drive, Ottawa K1V 7T3

Event Date:

Friday, July 25 to Friday, August 19, 2022

Event Time:

8:30 am to 1:30 pm