A history of OISWA…from inception to present and beyond.

In 1986, the Ministry of Citizenship organized a series of focus groups to address the need for structure in the field of settlement work. Following these in June of 1988 a workgroup meeting was held for settlement workers who would be interested in forming an association. Five volunteers: Joyce Wong, Lily Saraiva, Angela Girardo, Isabel Mahoney and Michael Douglas became the steering committee. They agreed to work on such issues as; title of the association, the definition of a settlement worker, by-laws concerning the legal formation of such an association and the amount of members would be willing to pay in membership fees.

In 1988, a questionnaire was sent out to settlement workers in Ontario regarding these issues. As a result the present name was chosen, a definition decided upon, a mandate formed and the price of membership agreed upon. Later, in November another meeting of the steering committee was held regarding the formation of OISWA and speakers were contacted from groups such as TESI and OCASI in order to share their experience of forming their respective associations.

One of the purposes for creating OISWA as to further the development of settlement work as a profession and to implement some form of accreditation which would allow for standardization of settlement work. In February of 1989, approval for a pilot project at George Brown College for a settlement worker certificate program was given, with courses beginning in January 1990.

Early in 1991 plans were drawn up for a professional development forum to bring together settlement workers from across Ontario to get together and learn from each other. Almost 100 settlement workers took part and the forum was deemed a success.

However, after time, movement towards creation of an association was not felt to be going anywhere; the momentum had been lost due to lack of time and lack of focus. Once again the steering committee decided to contact the members of OISWA to find out their points of view and where they would like to see OISWA go in November of 1995. The needs assessment survey found that more outreach was necessary in terms of informing Ontario’s settlement workers about OISWA and it’s mandate and that they desired professional recognition as well as more training.

The steering committee has been meeting monthly since 2000. The present committee is comprised of; Angela Girardo, Murtha Bandiner, Silvana Zivkovic and Mary Sharif. To date, there are 69 members of OISWA.

Right now, the need for settlement workers across Ontario to organize is greater than ever in this climate of fiscal restraint, changing immigration policies and heavier work loads.