• Established skilled immigrant mentoring program reaches landmark of
  10,000 mentoring matches over 10 years
• The Mentoring Partnership announces development plan through an
  investment by LEAP: The Centre for Social Impact, bringing
  transformative hands-on support over five years at its Annual
  Recognition Reception
• The Mentoring Partnership’s Annual Recognition Reception will also
  celebrate outstanding corporate and volunteer mentors

TORONTO, Dec. 2, 2014 /CNW/ – The Mentoring Partnership, a program of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC), has made more than 10,000 mentoring matches between skilled
immigrants and professionals in their field. The program celebrated
this achievement today at its 10^th Anniversary Celebration and Annual Recognition Reception. Emceed by CBC-TV’s Our Toronto host Marivel Taruc at CBC’s Barbara Frum Atrium in Toronto, the event also honoured the
outstanding work of the program’s mentors in 2014 and launched exciting
plans to reach thousands more skilled immigrants.

TRIEC announced the investment by LEAP: The Centre for Social Impact in The Mentoring Partnership at the event. By combining the strengths of
its staff, advisors and sector partners – The Boston Consulting Group,
McCarthy Tétrault, Cossette, Ernst & Young and The Offord Group – the
Centre catalyzes massive social change in Canada. The partnership
between the Centre and TRIEC will help scale The Mentoring Partnership,
a program addressing unemployment and underemployment of skilled
immigrants in the GTA and across Canada.

The Mentoring Partnership brings together recent skilled immigrants and
established professionals in occupation-specific mentoring
relationships. This relationship has become a powerful way of
supporting newcomers to the GTA in their search for meaningful
employment. Mentors are given the opportunity to hone their leadership
skills in an increasingly diversifying workplace, with more than 75
percent of mentees finding work in their professional field after 12
months.

“In 2014, The Mentoring Partnership reached two historic milestones: the
10^th anniversary of the program and 10,000 successful mentor-mentee matches
that have changed thousands of lives for the better,” said Margaret Eaton, Executive Director, Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council. “Our new partnership with the Centre will allow us to change even more
lives, as we enter a new era of the program.”

The Mentoring Partnership’s success to date has been driven by its
employer and service delivery partners. CIBC is one such partner: their employees have mentored more than 500
immigrant professionals via the program. The company was recognized at
the Annual Recognition Reception for helping newcomers find their way
to a rewarding career in the Greater Toronto Area.

“CIBC’s employee participation in The Mentoring Partnership furthers our
commitment to enhance the experience for newcomers to Canada.  Through
this TRIEC program, we too have been mentored,” said Gillian Whitebread, Vice-President, Diversity, Inclusion & Executive
Talent Management. “The program has provided our employees with a stronger appreciation
of international talent and an opportunity to think with a global
mindset, while further developing our employee’s coaching skills- a
win-win for all.”

EY received special recognition for its efforts in matching 100 skilled
immigrants with leaders in their chosen industries. The Mentoring
Partnership also honoured individual mentors from EY who have made a difference in the lives of 10
or more skilled immigrants in 2014 and mentee-turned-mentors in the program.

For more information on TRIEC and The Mentoring Partnership, and to read
stories from some of the program’s participants, please visit TRIEC.ca, TheMentoringPartnership.com or @TRIEC. Follow the hashtag #TMP10 to join the celebration!

About TRIEC and The Mentoring Partnership
The Mentoring Partnership is a collaboration of employer and community
partners and operates as a program of TRIEC. TRIEC creates and
champions solutions to better integrate skilled immigrants in the
Greater Toronto Region labour market.

Prominent employer partners in The Mentoring Partnership include the
City of Toronto and TD Canada Trust, who have previously reached 1000
mentoring matches, and Scotiabank and CIBC, who have made more than 500
matches between skilled immigrant professionals and their staff.

The Mentoring Partnership’s 10^th Anniversary Celebration and Annual Recognition Reception was sponsored
by TD Canada Trust. The venue sponsor was the CBC Inclusion and
Diversity department, and beverages were sponsored by Steam Whistle
Brewery.

About LEAP: The Centre for Social Impact
LEAP: The Centre for Social Impact employs venture philanthropy to
create massive social change in Canada. We apply the discipline of
private equity investing to select, support and scale charities with
quantifiable social impact.

The Centre is pioneering a new model that teams up high-potential
charities with forward-thinking investors and private sector expertise
to create measurable and sustainable benefits to society.
Transformative hands-on support to scale impact across Canada is
delivered by the Centre, our board, advisors and sector partners: The
Boston Consulting Group, McCarthy Tétrault, Cossette, Ernst & Young and
The Offord Group. LEAP was incubated in the Pecaut Centre.

SOURCE Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce