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'We need people': Northwestern Ontario communities looking to attract immigration

Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association hosted round table meeting with FedNor, which included discussions on how to make the region attractive to new people and business.
Cathy Woodbeck
Thunder Bay Multicultural Association executive director Cathy Woodbeck during a Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association hosted round table discussion with FedNor officials on Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (Matt Vis, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY – Regional municipal leaders are putting their heads together to try to come up with ideas to encourage migration to Northwestern Ontario.

The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association on Wednesday hosted FedNor officials for a round table discussion that included talks about developing a northern image to attract people and businesses as well as identifying the opportunities and challenges to bringing immigrants to the region.

NOMA president Wendy Landry said enough studies have shown the region does not have the people needed to fill the jobs that will be opening up in the future.

“It’s very important our communities participate in the immigration piece and we spoke at our tables about how we make that successful and how we support families that are moving into our communities that have to adapt to our climate, have to adapt to the small community environment and how we get them to sustain and stay,” Landry said, adding there is a similar opportunity for municipalities to involve Indigenous people.

The North of Superior Workforce Planning Board in 2015 released a report warning that the Thunder Bay District would need 50,000 immigrants within the following 25 years to replenish the aging population.

After issuing a study finding that only 700 immigrants moved to Thunder Bay between 2001 and 2016 compared to 355,000 in Toronto, the Northern Policy Institute called on the province to encourage more immigration to northern Ontario.

Thunder Bay Multicultural Association executive director Cathy Woodbeck is happy to see community leaders embracing the opportunity to bring newcomers.

“I think it’s really important for municipalities to start to look at that,” Woodbeck said.

“The old conversation about immigrants taking jobs is ending and now it’s becoming how we need people. We need people in these positions, we need to find workers and we need to grow communities. Municipal leaders coming to the table, eager and interested to talk about immigration or even secondary migration across Canada…is really encouraging.”

Katherine Turner, FedNor’s program delivery manager for Northwestern Ontario, said immigration and community readiness was identified as a priority area during engagement sessions for their Prosperity and Growth Strategy for Northern Ontario.

“Attraction and retention was a huge component of what we heard from the communities because of demographic changes so that’s an area we’re focusing quite heavily on,” Turner said.

Northern Ontario leaders have previously called on the federal government to implement a regional immigration pilot program similar to one in place in Atlantic Canada. That program allows designated employers to hire immigrants that are not yet citizens or permanent residents for jobs that have gone unfilled locally, with those candidates able to apply for permanent resident status when they meet the established requirements.

Woodbeck suggested FedNor could be involved in helping recruit people to northwestern Ontario.

“I think maybe a strategy and having a way for employers to all connect and find out who is available in the workforce already within Canada and for municipalities to all get together and encourage employers to do that and to have a way of welcoming people when they come,” Woodbeck said.

Landry said efforts will be more effective if everybody is on the same page.

“We have a gem in this area we are not marketing. We don’t have the capacity to market right now,” Landry said.

“What we spoke about (Wednesday) is all of our communities coming together and having a conversation and an approach that is collaborative and that we’re all working together to promote our region as a whole and not competing against each other as municipalities.”



About the Author: Matt Vis

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