The North Bay & District Chamber of Commerce is adding its voice to the push to make permanent an immigration pilot program that’s so far brought hundreds of newcomers to the North.
On Aug. 23, the chamber said it’s presented letters of support to Nipissing-Timiskaming MP Anthony Rota, in a lobby effort toward the program’s continuation.
Launched in 2019, the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot created a special immigration stream that enables foreign skilled workers to settle in communities across the North, including North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Timmins. The idea is to bolster the labour force by filling gaps in skilled labour in smaller rural and northern communities.
Donna Backer, the chamber’s president and CEO, said the benefit to North Bay has been significant.
“As one of the five communities in Northern Ontario partnering with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to implement the pilot, we are very pleased with the results so far and the momentum of the pilot is just getting started,” Backer said in a news release.
“We have over 150 participating employers and have made over 300 community recommendations of newcomers to our catchment area.”
Across the North, other communities have echoed the call for a permanent newcomer settlement program.
In Timmins, 148 letters of recommendation were issued in 2022, while in Sudbury, the program was expanded to 515 spots for 2023 and 200 in 2024.
Sault Ste. Marie exceeded its goal of 125 allocated recommendations in 2022, issuing 213 letters to applicants who then apply to IRCC for permanent residency.
And in Thunder Bay, according to one report, the RNIP program generated $11.6 million in wages in the local economy and offered 229 jobs to its applicants, which in turn generated an additional 92 jobs in the local economy for a total of 321 jobs after one year.
“This pilot has proven to successfully fill key roles in labour shortages faced by most communities, but this issue is not going away any time soon,” Backer said.
“We need to continue to market our smaller communities to newcomers, spread the benefits of rural and Northern immigration to help communities relieve labour shortage pressures, allow communities to grow and offer alternative living options for newcomers who are not interested in settling down in a bigger city.”
