Alberta is experiencing a population explosion. In 2023, the province’s population grew by over four per cent, largely due to immigration. As a result, newcomer settlement agencies are overwhelmed.
Souleka Mustapha is a director at the Alberta Immigrant Women and Children Centre in Edmonton, an organization that helps newcomer women and their families find employment, housing, mental health services and early-childhood care. Mustapha reports in Maclean’s that she and her colleagues (there are roughly 40 of them) are on the brink of burnout. About 100 people come through her agency’s doors every day looking for support, and staff can barely keep up.
Mustapha paints a picture of a system buckling under the volume of need. An immigrant herself, she is deeply passionate about her work, but she worries that newcomers aren’t getting the attention they require. “My family was fortunate enough to succeed in Canada,” she says, “but sometimes it feels like the system is set up for immigrants to fail. Newcomers bring so much to this country, so the least we can do is give them the basic tools to build a life here.”
—Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief
