THUNDER BAY - More and more international students are choosing the north for post-secondary education, but municipal leaders across the region want to keep those students here in order to address the growing immigration crisis in Northwestern Ontario.
The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association annual conference got underway on Wednesday and began with an immigration forum to discuss ways of not only attracting more people to the region, but how to keep them here.
It is estimated that the district of Thunder Bay alone will need more than 50,000 new immigrants by 2041 in order to sustain its economy. Several speakers during the forum, including lawyer, Ayoub Ansari, who graduated from Lakehead University in 2016, said students are going to be the primary source of immigrants.
“Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario does not have a problem with attracting newcomers here,” Ansari said. “We have almost 1,000 international students at Lakehead University, we have almost 600 students at Confederation College. We need to focus our efforts on retention.”
Jennifer Kaplanis, an immigration advisor in the International Office at Lakehead University, said Canada has become a destination for international students because of programs like the Post Graduate Work Program, which provides work permits for students after graduation to work in Canada.
“I’ve been doing this for almost eight years, I have seen the difference in the number of students who are staying in Thunder Bay and settling here,” she said.
But Kaplanis recognizes that there is still work to be done to retain more students in the north after graduation. Smaller communities with economies that are resource-based require skilled trade workers, which are positions that can be more difficult to fill.
“That’s almost like a double edged sword,” Kaplanis said. “One you have to attract them to the community. In my experience, if there is a job there and it will help people stay, they will go. The second part of it is recognizing those skilled trades.”
And not all jobs qualify under the Post Graduate Work Program. Kaplanis used the example of the increasing need of personal support workers across the region. But because the position does not qualify as a job to keep someone in the country, newcomers will seek other job opportunities instead.
“We can’t attract people when they can’t stay for that program,” she said.
In order to transition those newcomers from studying in the north to working in the north, Ansari said there has to be more to offer than just employment opportunities.
“There also needs to be cultural facilities and places where they are more physically, spiritually, and emotionally nourished,” he said.
The benefits of living and working in the north also need to be highlighted by the many communities across the region. Wendy Landry, president of NOMA, said there are a lot of opportunities for young students, families, and immigrants coming to Northwestern Ontario, including an affordable cost of living, home ownership, and jobs.
“I think it’s our job as leaders to get people to feel comfortable here, feel welcomed and to make the decision to stay after their studies and look at our region and outlying communities and the opportunities lie in both buying houses and working,” she said.
Ansari is confident that Northwestern Ontario will be able to attract and keep immigrants to the region. It’s just a matter of providing the proper support systems for people choosing to live and work in Northwestern Ontario.
“I moved to Thunder Bay in 2009 and since then I have seen the diversity that is present and how it is growing and how it is attracting people from different communities and countries who are now calling Thunder Bay home,” he said.
The NOMA conference continues on Thursday and Friday at the Victoria Inn.
