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Good practice Imported

TRIEC Mentoring Partnership

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

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

Since 2004, Toronto's TRIEC Mentoring Partnership has logged 27,000+ mentoring matches for skilled immigrants; an independent, federally funded evaluation found participants 2.5x more likely to land a 'good quality job', with 85% in permanent, full-time roles.

27,000+ matches
Cumulative mentoring matches since 2004 (2004-2020s)
2.5 x
Mentees more likely to secure a 'good quality job' vs matched control group (2020 evaluation)
4 x
Mentees more likely to expand professional network vs matched control group (within 3 months of programme completion)
85 %
Employed mentees in permanent, full-time roles (n/a)
77 %
Mentees finding work in their field within six months (within 6 months)
TRIEC Mentoring Partnership

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC)
Period
2004–present
Keywords
Immigrant employment, professional mentoring, workforce integration

Context

Toronto's skilled immigrants faced a persistent employment gap despite professional qualifications; TRIEC was founded in 2003 by Maytree and the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance to close this gap, and in 2004 launched the Mentoring Partnership with TD Bank Group.

Objectives

Pair newly arrived, internationally trained professionals with established Canadian professionals in the same field for structured mentoring, giving mentees industry coaching, a local professional network and guidance on Canadian workplace norms.

Activities

Structured, roughly four-month mentoring relationships are delivered through a coalition of 27 employer partners (including TD and RBC) and 12 community partners; the model has since spread to six other Canadian cities and to New Zealand.

Results

27,000+ cumulative mentoring matches have been logged since 2004. A 2020 external evaluation (Blueprint ADE, funded by ESDC) comparing mentees to a matched control group found mentees about 2.5x more likely to be in a 'good quality job' and nearly 4x more likely to have expanded their professional network within three months of finishing. TRIEC's own tracking separately reports 77% of mentees finding work in their field within six months and 85% of employed mentees in permanent, full-time roles.

Conclusions

The external evaluation found the largest gains for female newcomers and previously unemployed participants; unlike most talent-retention initiatives that report only self-collected numbers, TRIEC's model has been tested against a control group by an independent evaluator.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Coalition-funded mentoring/matching programme (volunteer mentors, 27 employer + 12 community partners); no specific budget figures found in source.
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years) — Individual mentoring relationships last roughly four months; the institutional programme has operated continuously since 2004.
Staffing & skills
TRIEC coordination staff, 27 employer partner organisations (e.g. TD Bank Group, RBC), 12 community partner organisations, volunteer professional mentors

Conditions for success

  • Sustained employer buy-in to supply volunteer mentors
  • Structured ~4-month matching process with industry-specific pairing
  • Independent evaluation capacity/funding (e.g. from government) to validate outcomes

Common failure modes

  • Growth is bounded by volunteer mentor supply
  • Model depends on continued multi-employer and government funding coalition

Where it fits

Governance type
multi-stakeholder non-profit council (employers, government, community organisations)
Scale
metropolitan region (Greater Toronto Area), replicated in other cities
Income level
high-income country, immigrant labour-market integration focus

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

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

Attachments

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