Robert Blanshay, the chairman of the Ontario Bar Association’s citizenship and immigration law executive, applauds the federal government for providing the funding, but says more needs to be done to make sure LAO is not in the same situation next year.

“I don’t think there’s any cause for jumping for joy here,” says Blanshay. “I think we’ve still got a global issue and problem.”

He says that while there is no one solution, LAO, governments and stakeholders will need to figure out how to maintain sustainable and consistent funding for the agency’s services over years to come.

Jawad Kassab, the executive lead for LAO’s refugee and immigration program says LAO is looking into a number of internal initiatives to make its services more cost efficient, such as creating standard research packages and centralizing translation services.

He adds that all stakeholders will need to work together to make sure services are as cost effective and efficient as they can be as there is no way of knowing what demand will be.