|
|
|
Newcomers Corner
Newcomers...don't stay New for long
|
|
|
Newsletter by Newcomer Information Centre
October 2013
|
|
|
| |
Did you know...
As students head back to school this Fall, families are again facing the costs of textbooks, bus passes and extracurricular activities. The Canadian Government offers tax relief to help families save more of their hard-earned money. The tax relief introduced by our Government is saving the average Canadian family more than $3,200 a year in taxes.
Examples of this tax relief include:
- Children's Fitness Tax Credit: Parents may claim a 15% non-refundable tax credit on an amount up to $500 for the feespaid relating to the cost of registering their child in a prescribed program of physical fitness activity.
- Children's Arts Tax Credit: Parents may claim a 15% non-refundable tax credit on an amount up to $500 for the fees paid relating to the cost of registering their child in a prescribed program of artistic, cultural, recreational or developmental activity.
- Public Transit Tax Credit: Provides a 15% non-refundable tax credit on the cost of monthly public transit passes, and passes of longer duration, or electronic fare cards and weekly passes when used on an ongoing basis, for travel within Canada on public transit.
- Tuition, Education and Textbook Tax Credits: Provide a 15% non-refundable tax credit on amounts paid for tuition and enrolment in post-secondary educational programs. Tax relief is also available for apprentices and other workers in regulated occupations who must pay to complete certification examinations.
- Tax Exemption for Scholarships, Fellowships and Bursaries: Provides that certain post-secondary scholarships, fellowships and bursaries received in connection with a student's enrolment in a program that qualifies for the Education Tax Credit may be fully or partially excluded from income. Elementary and secondary school scholarships and bursaries are not taxable.
-
Student Loan Interest Tax Credit: Provides a 15% non-refundable tax credit on interest paid on loans for post-secondary education received under the
Canada Student Loans Act, the
Canada Student Financial Assistance Act, or a similar provincial or territorial government law. -
Registered Education Savings Plan ( RESP): Provides incentives to save for a child's education on a tax-assisted basis. There is no annual limit for contributions to RESPs, and the lifetime limit on the amounts that can be contributed to all RESPs for a beneficiary is $50,000.
For more information on the benefits available for families and students, please visit the Canada Revenue Agency's website: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/bnfts/menu-eng.html
|
 |
The Home in Peel Affordable Ownership Program
| |
The Home in Peel Affordable Ownership Program is designed to provide low-to-moderate income residents who are currently renting a unit in the Region of Peel (Brampton, Caledon, Mississauga) the opportunity to qualify for down payment loan assistance to buy a home in Peel Region.
This program will assist eligible applicants who have a total gross (pre-tax) household income of $80,000 or less to purchase a resale home in the Region of Peel that does not exceed a purchase price of $295,000
For more information contact: nic@tcet.com
|
 |
Fault Determination in Common Scenarios
_____________________________________________________
Perhaps the most confusing thing for any driver after a car accident is how fault is determined. Although some situations are obvious even to the drivers involved, often drivers are not sure who is at fault. Fault determination rules are used to ensure that every accident is judged in the same way and against the same rules. This means that every accident that occurs as a result of the same actions by a driver will have the same fault outcome. These common accident scenarios will all have the same outcome based on the fault determination rules. Outside influences such as weather have no bearing on how these rules are applied, so slipping on the ice or poor visibility do not change who is found at fault.
Common Scenario: Lane Change and Merging Accidents
These accidents happen in a variety of ways including when someone changes lanes and misjudges the space, striking another car, when a driver enters a roadway from a yield or controlled access ramp and strikes another car, or merges as their lane ends and causes an accident.
Who is at Fault: The driver who is entering a lane of moving traffic and strikes another car is always at fault in these scenarios. If you are travelling forward in your lane and another car enters that lane and strikes your car, you will not carry any fault. This is true regardless of what caused that driver to strike your car.
For more scenarios stay tuned to our next newsletter...
|
 |
Stress... New Place, New Friends...
| |

Young newcomers experience lots of mental health challenges. Many young newcomers have anxiety or depression. It can be for many reasons, such as: settling into a new place, adjusting to a new culture, language problems, racial discrimination, and stress from home can be hard to deal with.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is when you start worrying about things more than usual. You can tell if you are anxious if:
- You are worrying about things you never used to worry about.
- You feel overwhelmed with your feelings.
- You are not sleeping well or you can't sleep at all.
- You are eating too much or too little.
- You start becoming obsessive about some things, like washing your hands all the time.
- You start to panic in certain situations, or have a panic attack.
What are Panic Attacks?
Panic attacks are a major symptom of anxiety. Panic attacks can be really scary. You are having a panic attack if you feel like you cannot breath, hyperventilating, feeling chest pain, feel like your heart is beating really fast, or feel dizzy.
What is Depression?
Depression is not just a feeling of sadness. It affects your mind AND body. You might be depressed if you:
- Feeling very negative about yourself, issues you may face and the people around you.
- Coping with issues in your life become overwhelming, and hard to deal with.
- You feel tired all the time.
- You can't sleep, or you sleep too much (can't get out of bed).
- You start eating more or less than you usually do.
- You start feeling pain in your stomach or other parts of your body.
When should I get help?
Do you feel anxious or depress? If you feel anxious or depressed for more than 2 weeks than you should get help as soon as possible. If you are feeling like life isn't worth living and suicidal, then you should get help now. Kids Help Phone is a free, confidential phone line and online service for youth. Their trained counsellors can help you with just about any kind of problem. Find out what to expect when you call in or use their web-based forum. 1-800-668-6868.
If you need any more resources or help you can email a youth information counsellor at nicyouth@tcet.com, we can give you more information on anything you may need! Call us at 905-949-0049 and ask for a youth counsellor.
|
|
Join Newcomer Information Centre in Celebrating
Citizenship Week
(October 21st to October 25th)
| |
Monday, October 21:
Canadian Citizenship information session from 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm followed by activities and refreshments
Brampton City South
Tuesday, October 22:
Canadian Citizenship information session from 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Thursday, October 24:
Video- "Canadian Hero" followed by citizenship rights and
by Judge Dhaliwal and many more
905-457-4747 ext: 3013
Malton
Friday, October 25:
Canadian Citizenship information session from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
905-677-0007 ext: 5233
Brampton East
Wednesday, October 23:
Canadian Citizenship information session from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
905-595-0722 ext: 4001
Oakville
Opening ceremony from 10:00 am - 10:30 am, followed by a "Citizenship Rights & Responsibilities" information session 10:30 am - 11:30 am
Wednesday, October 23:
"Oakville History & Heritage" information session from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Friday, October 25:
Conclude the festivities with a "Canadian Symbols" information session held from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
905-875-3851 ext: 5023
________________________
|
 |
Toronto's Centre Francophone de Toronto and Rexdale Community Legal Clinic will provide legal aid services to refugees who do not have their own lawyers, as part of a one-year pilot agreement with Legal Aid Ontario.
| |
This innovative community-based initiative is an important milestone in LAO's efforts to diversify its refugee services model, support community-based client legal services and deliver cost-effective, efficient, quality legal representation.
Le Centre Francophone de Toronto is the hub for French-language services in the Toronto area. It will serve French-speaking refugee claimants from countries such as Burundi, Rwanda, and the Congo Republic. This hub also provides health, employment, settlement, mental health and cultural services.
Rexdale Community Legal Clinic, part of the Rexdale Community Hub, will provide supervised licensed paralegal services for refugee claimants (primarily from Nigeria, Somalia and Pakistan) living within its catchment area - the M9W, M9V, M9R, and M9P postal code areas. The Rexdale hub also provides health, social, legal, employment and cultural services.
Both clinics will:
- prepare Basis of Claim (BoC) forms and file them with the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) of the Immigration and Refugee Board
- prepare for and represent claimants at hearings of the RPD until the decision has been rendered For More Information contact: nic@tcet.com
|
 |
Did you know...?
Effective August 1st, 2013, seniors in Ontario will have improved access to exercise and fall prevention classes.
Classes are free of charge and there will be no limit to the number of classes seniors may join.
In Brampton, the Central West Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) will lead classes at several locations: Greenway Retirement Village;
Holland Christian Homes; Southbrook Lodge Retirement Community; and Woodhall Park Retirement Village.
For questions contact the Central West CCAC at 1-888-733-1177 ext. 7744; or visit their website: ww.centralwestlhin.on.ca.
|
"Likes" from our Facebook
Federal government to reduce citizenship backlog by slashing dormant applications - Have you applied for citizenship, follow up with www.cic.gc.ca
|
We Count On You
Feedback and Submissions
| |
We would like to hear from you. Please send us your feedback.
Service providers, we are happy to promote new programs and events at your agency through this newsletter.
Sincerely, Newsletter Team nic@tcet.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
About Us
The Newcomer Information Centre is an innovative program that provides free settlement information to newcomers and residents from a number of accessible locations across Peel and Halton.
A smooth transition into Canadian life is critical to success and our program provides accurate referrals to make this happen. Clients work with friendly multi-lingual staff and get confidential counselling about settlement, employment, health, housing, education, language training, immigration issues and more. Counsellors speak Punjabi, Spanish, Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, Mandarin, Cantonese, Romanian, Croatian, Russian, Serbian, French, German, Polish, Swahili, Tamil, Hindi, Bulgarian and Pashto.
Drop by at any of our locations to speak with a counsellor. No appointment is required.
Our locations
***Care for Newcomer Children services available at Malton and Oakville locations***
***Free Commissioner of Oaths service at all locations***
NIC Itinerant services in
Brampton Library: every Tuesday
Caledon Library: last Tuesday of every month
Milton, Library - Main Branch & Beaty Branch: every third Tuesday of every month 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Mississauga, Meadowvale Library: Wednesday, Thursday & Saturday
Mississauga, Central Library: Tuesday to Thursday & Saturday
|
|
|
|
|