THUNDER BAY — A federal program that supports the recruitment or retention of skilled foreign workers in Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario is on track to continue to grow in 2023.
The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot easily passed its goal of selecting 250 people for permanent residence last year, with a total of 281 candidates successfully securing full-time jobs with 144 area businesses and organizations.
Officials expect to easily pass that figure in the coming year.
In 2021, the pilot program facilitated the securing of full-time jobs for 162 applicants in sectors experiencing significant labour shortages in Thunder Bay, while in 2020 there were only 69 participants.
The program began as a three-year pilot in 11 Canadian cities in 2019, but has been extended to 2024.
Most of the 281 successful applicants last year were international students who graduated from Lakehead University or Confederation College, or people already in the city on work permits or on some other temporary basis.
But 24 individuals did travel here from overseas specifically to take advantage of the program after receiving job offers from Thunder Bay employers.
The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot is administered locally by the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission.
Since its inception, the CEDC has helped 213 employers recruit or retain over 500 skilled workers, resulting in more than 700 newcomers coming to the area including applicants and their family members.
"There is no slowing down. The RNIP has huge potential to bring more skilled workers to the Northwest region," Jamie Taylor, CEO of the CEDC said in a statement Monday. "We anticipate a continuous increase of candidates in the 2023 allotment of recommendations from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada."
The program initially included only the Thunder Bay metropolitan area, but last year the government announced an expansion to take in the entire District of Thunder Bay, most of the District of Rainy River, and part of the District of Kenora.
Stacey Platt, a workforce development officer with the CEDC, said rural communities have welcomed the expansion, and many employers in the new catchment areas have already registered to use the pilot program to help fill their labour gaps.
"We are pleased to see such a quick uptake from employers in the region," Platt said.
The CEDC expects that if the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic diminishes, there will be an increase in the number of participants recruited while they are still living in their home countries.
Receiving a community recommendation under the pilot allows people and their families to apply for permanent resident status and to settle in the Thunder Bay area.
CEDC staff member Lexie Penko has played a large role in managing the program in Thunder Bay since 2020.
She said its success is measured in the shorter term by the number of people it helps to stay in Thunder Bay and by the number of participating employers who use the program to fill vacant positions.
Over the longer term, retention of the newcomers will become a more important measuring stick.
"We haven't been able to measure retention yet. We are working on it," Penko told TBnewswatch.
She said the pilot is not likely to be extended after 2024, but "the point of the pilot is hopefully to allow Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to decide if they want to make this stream of immigration a permanent stream."
The application process was restarted at the beginning of December, and judging by the early results "absolutely it looks as if 2023 is going to be more successful than 2022," Penko said. "The response so far has been a little overwhelming, and we expect to exceed 281 recommendations by far in 2023."
She encouraged businesses that have been unable to fill positions and are interested in taking advantage of the pilot program to look for more information online.
