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Good practice Imported

TRIEC Mentoring Partnership — Toronto's Skilled-Immigrant Employment Bridge

Canada · Toronto · See the Canada profile · See the Toronto profile

Evidence: Quasi-experimental Top 4% 91/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 2003 Toronto's TRIEC has matched 5,300+ skilled immigrants with professional mentors; a 2020 evaluation found participants 2.5x more likely to land good-quality jobs, with 85% in permanent full-time roles — now replicated in six cities and New Zealand.

5,300+ matches
Skilled immigrants matched with mentors since inception (2003-2020s)
2.5 x
Participants more likely to land good-quality employment vs non-participants (2020 evaluation)
85 %
Employed participants in permanent, full-time roles (n/a)
80+ %
Participants reporting improved job-search skills (n/a)
1,300+ placements
Immigrants placed into internships via Career Edge partner (cumulative)
TRIEC Mentoring Partnership — Toronto's Skilled-Immigrant Employment Bridge

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC)
Period
2003–present
Keywords
Immigrant employment, professional mentoring, labour-market integration, talent retention

Context

TRIEC was founded in September 2003 by the Maytree Foundation and the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance as an independent, multi-stakeholder council to help skilled immigrants use their qualifications in the Toronto region's labour market, funded by the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario and private partners.

Objectives

Match job-ready skilled immigrants with established professionals in similar occupations for a structured mentoring relationship, building local networks and Canadian workplace know-how.

Activities

The Mentoring Partnership has matched more than 5,300 skilled immigrants with mentors via 60+ council member organisations and 50+ employer partners, including TD Bank Group employees (nearly 700 newcomers mentored since 2005); a related Career Edge internship partner has placed 1,300+ immigrants into internships with 350+ host employers.

Results

A 2020 third-party evaluation found mentored participants 2.5x more likely to land good-quality employment than similar non-participants, with 85% of those employed in permanent, full-time roles and over 80% reporting improved job-search skills.

Conclusions

The strongest gains were seen among female newcomers and previously unemployed participants; the mentoring model has since been replicated in six other Canadian cities and in New Zealand, and is cited by Canadian federal immigration policy as a best-practice example of employer-led integration.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Volunteer-mentor-based matching programme funded by federal, provincial and private partners; no specific budget figures found in source.
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years) — Operating continuously since September 2003; individual mentoring relationships are structured, time-bound engagements.
Staffing & skills
TRIEC council staff, 60+ member organisations, 50+ employer partners (e.g. TD Bank Group), volunteer mentors

Conditions for success

  • Broad multi-stakeholder council governance (employers, professional associations, governments, immigrant-serving agencies)
  • Sustained federal/provincial/private co-funding
  • Structured occupation-matched mentoring model

Common failure modes

  • Scale bounded by available volunteer mentors and employer partners
  • Requires continued multi-level government funding

Where it fits

Governance type
multi-stakeholder council (employers, government, community, education)
Scale
metropolitan region (Toronto), replicated in other Canadian cities and New Zealand
Income level
high-income country, skilled-immigrant labour-market integration

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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