The Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC;, CLIC) program is a free language education programme—funded and regulated by the Canadian government's Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship—that offers full-time and part-time English- (excluding Quebec) and French-language lessons to adult permanent residents (or those with approval-in-principle) and Convention refugees.[1] [2]
The LINC is not available for Canadian citizens, refugee claimants, temporary residents (e.g., foreign students, foreign workers, or visitors). The program is designed to meet English language needs, ranging from day-to-day living to job searching. This includes improving reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills.[3]
Language classes are facilitated by local immigrant-service agencies; for example, ISSofBC is a community organization that provides LINC in British Columbia. The program is primarily provided in English; the French-language program, CLIC, is provided by institutions such as:[4]
LINC classes are based the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB;), the official national standards for the assessment/measurement of adult immigrants' ability in English (or French) as a second language.[7]