The Halton Multicultural Council was founded in 1979 by volunteers from a number of cultural groups to provide social programs to the community. HMC strives to do two things:

• We welcome newcomers and prepare them for life in Canada
• We prepare our community to welcome immigrant newcomers and refugees

We are a community-based settlement agency that provides a variety of programs and services to immigrant and refugee communities. Our staff of 60 full and part time employees and over 250 volunteers is dedicated to enabling every individual, regardless of race or ethnic origin, to participate as full and active members of the community through fostering mutual respect and understanding of one another. We have offices in Burlington, Milton, and Oakville as well as serving people from many community locations such as libraries and community centres – we offer services to newcomers to help them with their settlement in Canada.

Our dedicated teams of experienced and passionate staff work hard to fulfill HMC’s mission to help newcomers settle and integrate into a welcoming and inclusive community. All of our services are available online including:

• information, referral, orientation to Halton, Ontario and Canada,
• counseling,
• English language classes (LINC),
• employment supports and specialized supports for highly skilled immigrants,
• adult, youth and senior groups and programs,
• transitional housing,
• crisis management (for newcomers only),
• Career Accelerator Program (CAP) – for internationally trained health care professionals
• interpretation and translation.