Duane Hicks
The federal government is maintaining its commitment to a strong immigration program and will welcome 300,000 immigrants in 2017—40,000 more than the previous target number of 260,000.
But with a labour market shortage in Rainy River District, could more immigrants to Canada mean more people coming here to live and work?
Tannis Drysdale, a consultant for the Rainy River Future Development Corp., said more immigrants in the district would be beneficial but admitted it’s doubtful they’ll come.
Drysdale said the RRFDC has participated in the federal and provincial Northwestern Ontario Immigration Portal, a website designed for potential immigrants to get information about regional communities with the hopes of luring them to settle—for the last five years or so and hasn’t seen results.
“I think the reason Fort Frances has not attracted immigrants has nothing to do with the number of immigrants coming into Canada,” she noted.
“It’s the relationship of where immigrants go.
“In modern times, they tend to go to more urban centres—and immigrants tend to want to stay in communities where they have some sense of their original community,” she reasoned.
“When our community was growing, we attracted fleets of immigrants from various countries across the world,” Drysdale said.
“And by having more than one family of immigrants arrive, generally speaking it meant they could enjoy aspects of their culture—whether it be their religion, community celebrations or language—within Fort Frances,” she added.
“We certainly saw that with Ukrainians and Italians, and before them Scottish and Irish folks, and the Finns.”
In more recent years, the community has not had
exponential job growth to create employment to draw large groups of immigrants, although certainly a small number of new families from other countries have settled here.
The RRFDC also has looked at opportunities under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) to get immigrants to invest in building businesses in Rainy River District.
This type of program has been successful in the Prairies and other parts of Canada.
“The trick is when Ontario has such a program, it’s complicated because the benchmark is too high,” Drysdale explained.
“A $2-million investment is not very significant in the GTA [but] it’s epic here,” she lamented.
Drysdale said some local businesses also have chatted with her about being able to access the provincial temporary worker program but this, too, may be problematic.
“The belief is, under the new guidelines, because the census districts and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada measuring districts are so large, we don’t appear to have a labour market shortage,” she noted.
While Drysdale sees more immigrants as being the outcome of a healthy, dynamic economy, and a stronger economy here in the future, “I don’t see it being our solution for any temporary labour market shortages we have,” she conceded.
Rather, she noted there has to be quicker, easier ways to address the problem other than immigration.
But that doesn’t mean the district should stop trying to attract more people.
Drysdale said the “future Canada” will look different than it does now, and if Rainy River District doesn’t “look like our own future country, we do it to our own detriment.”
“I’m pretty excited about the opportunities entrepreneurial immigrants could bring to our district,” she remarked.
“I think we’ve seen a little bit of that in the west end, with some interest from Germans in farming, and I think in a world that’s more globalized, it’s a good idea to be thinking more broader than who is buying and selling in Fort Frances.”
Local MP Don Rusnak said raising immigration to 2017 levels will “put Canada in a strong position for the future while supporting our country’s overall economic and social development.”
“Immigration is a key pillar of our nation’s history; it helps build our society, culture, and economy,” he noted.
“When we come together to welcome newcomers, it strengthens our communities and contributes to the success of all Canadians in long-lasting and enduring ways.
“Our government is committed to an immigration system that strengthens Canada’s middle class through economic growth, supports diversity, and helps build vibrant, dynamic and inclusive communities,” Rusnak added.
When asked about how trends in immigration seem to show many immigrants settle in parts of Canada where there are established communities of people of similar backgrounds, and thus new ones tend to gravitate to larger urban centres such as Toronto or Vancouver, Rusnak said other areas of Canada are taking action to promote their regions.
And he feels Northwestern Ontario could do the same.
“For example, Atlantic Canada has shown eagerness in welcoming newcomers and have demonstrated great enthusiasm about welcoming Syrian refugees to the region,” Rusnak noted.
“Northwestern Ontario could look to the Atlantic Provinces as an example,” he said.
“We could collaborate and better market the physical beauty of our region, our connection to the outdoors, and the welcoming nature of our communities.
“There are many reasons people love living in Northwestern Ontario, and there is room to grow our reputation as a desirable place to live and raise a family,” Rusnak added.
