Empowering Newcomers, Enriching Communities

Working with new immigrants to build digital inclusion across Canada

Connected Canadians has a proud history of working with new immigrant mentors. These individuals bring valuable technology expertise, lived experience, and linguistic diversity to our programs. Many of our volunteers are newcomers to Canada who offer support in over 26 languages, allowing us to provide culturally responsive digital literacy services to older adults across the country.

This collaboration began naturally. As Connected Canadians grew, we saw a clear connection between our mission to empower seniors and the opportunity to support newcomers seeking Canadian experience. By training and supporting newcomer mentors, we created a model where everyone benefits. Seniors receive personalized technology training in their preferred language, and newcomer volunteers build confidence, community connections, and skills that support their personal and professional goals.

These intergenerational and cross-cultural relationships are at the heart of our approach.

Newcomer Mentorship Program

Expanding Canadian Seniors’ Digital Skills via Ottawa-based New Immigrants

Funded by TD Bank Group through the TD Ready Commitment, Connected Canadians proudly launched the Expanding Canadian Seniors' Digital Skills program in June 2024. This initiative aims to enhance digital literacy among older adults across Canada while supporting skilled newcomers in gaining valuable Canadian work experience. The project engages 25 new immigrants as technology mentors and workshop instructors. These mentors receive comprehensive training focused on older-adult learning styles, preparing them to lead one-on-one technology support sessions and educational workshops with seniors. With participants from 18 countries, including Algeria, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Ghana, Guinea, Haiti, India, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, and Ukraine, the program enables Connected Canadians to offer personalized support in 19 different languages, including but not limited to Spanish, Arabic, Korean, Kinyarwanda, Hindi, Tagalog, and Urdu. By providing service in a client’s preferred language, the learning process becomes more accessible and less intimidating. This initiative builds intergenerational and intercultural community ties while supporting newcomers’ integration into the Canadian workforce.

Read the program press release here, and click on the mentor avatar below to hear their story.

Thank you to TD Bank Group for their support for the New Immigrant Mentorship Program through the TD Ready Commitment.

Community Economic Development New Immigrant PRogram

Connected Canadians was awarded an Economic Development Grant from the City of Ottawa, which ran from May until November 2021. With this funding, Connected Canadians developed a program to train three cohorts of new immigrants in the Ottawa region as paid technology mentors for isolated seniors amidst the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. These mentors were trained on remote support best practices and tools to use with our senior clients, while leveraging their diverse language skills, cultural competencies, and previous work experiences in their new technology mentorship roles.

Read the program press release here, and click on the mentor avatar below to hear their story.