The Immigration Partnership is a collaborative of over 100 residents and community leaders from more than 60 community service, business, municipal and post-secondary partners working together to facilitate the successful settlement and community involvement of immigrants and refugees in Waterloo Region through systems, policy and program change. Our work is based on the premise that everyone has a role in making immigration successful in Canada, and we exist to enable people across systems and sectors to do their part.
Jennifer Roggeman, a member of Canadian Bar Association and Ontario Bar Association based in Kitchener, ON, has volunteered on the Waterloo Region Immigration Partnership’s Leadership Council since April 2011, and with its predecessor, the Waterloo Region Immigrant Employment Network, since before 2009.
Through her involvement with the Immigration Partnership, Jennifer has made Waterloo Region a better community for immigrants, refugees and everyone else. For more than 10 years, Jennifer has collaborated with community leader across sectors to develop comprehensive community wide strategies to empower immigrants and refugees to succeed in Waterloo Region, by sharing her knowledge of immigration law, policy and experiences in Canada. During her time on Council, the Immigration Partnership provided foundational leadership to Waterloo Region’s award-winning collaborative community response to Canada’s historic resettlement of more than 40,000 Syrian refugees and oversaw the disbursement of over $800,000 in local donations to community initiatives through the Immigration Partnership Fund for Syrian Newcomers. Through Jennifer’s leadership, we have significantly strengthened the advocacy mandate of the Immigration Partnership, providing a strong voice for Waterloo Region’s interests with respect to immigrant and refugee settlement, integration and economic empowerment. We have strengthened engagement with municipal leaders and deepened community engagement in our collaborative work.
As Jennifer transitions off of the Immigration Partnership Council, we wanted to share and express our gratitude for the commitment and contributions she has made to the Immigration Partnership and the Waterloo Region community. We look forward to working with Jennifer and the legal profession in new ways in the future.