色狐入口

The head of one of the main organizations pushing for an immigration pilot for Ontario鈥檚 northern regions has provided new details of his vision for the program.

Charles Cirtwill, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Policy Institute, detailed a number of key issues that he said the pilot must address in .

For one, Cirtwill said it is essential that the pilot reflect the fact labour needs in smaller, rural communities are typically different from those in urban centres.

鈥淢y colleagues at the have found that seven of the 10 jobs in demand in Northern Ontario, based on number of vacancies posted, were 鈥榤iddle-skilled鈥� jobs in National Occupational Classification codes C or D,鈥� Cirtwill said.

颁补苍补诲补鈥檚 , organizes more than 30,000 occupations according to skill level and skill type. Skill levels C and D include semi- and low-skilled occupations in the trades, primary and manufacturing industries, sales and services, and some clerical and assistant categories.

Cirtwill says the pilot must also recognize the fact that labour needs in Northern Ontario can vary from community to community 鈥� 鈥渟ome need truck drivers, others tourism staff, skilled trades or office support staff,鈥� he wrote.

Accordingly, the pilot program should allow for a broad range of foreign labour while placing 鈥渁 hard cap on any one specific job classification.鈥�

鈥�1,500 new immigrants a year鈥�

As to how many immigrants the聽proposed聽pilot should welcome on an annual basis, Cirtwill said the various regions that make up Northern Ontario need 鈥渁t least 1,500 new immigrants a year to have a sustainable mix of working age population to dependents (under 19 and over 65).鈥�

This target assumes full employment among current residents, including Northern Ontario鈥檚 Indigenous Peoples, he said.

Planners would also have to establish sub-targets to ensure that each region covered by the pilot receives its fair share of newcomers. This would ensure that Northern Ontario鈥檚 鈥淏ig Five鈥� communities 鈥斅燦orth Bay, Sudbury, Timmins, Thunder Bay, and Sault Ste. Marie 鈥� aren鈥檛 the only beneficiaries of the pilot program, Cirtwill said.

Other key considerations are the project鈥檚 duration and the need for proper oversight and monitoring. A minimum of three to five years would allow for the collection of 鈥渟ound data,鈥� Cirtwill argued, adding that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) must prioritize 鈥渞eleasing better and more timely data.鈥�

Cirtwill鈥檚 column follows meetings in August that brought together business and community leaders from Northern Ontario with 颁补苍补诲补鈥檚 Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Ahmed Hussen.

The Northern Policy Institute and others are hoping Hussen and IRCC will approve a pilot program for Ontario鈥檚 rural and remote regions along the lines of the , which was introduced last year to fill skilled and semi-skilled labour shortages in 颁补苍补诲补鈥檚 Atlantic Provinces of , , and .

At the time, Minister Hussen said his department is studying the possibility, but a better understanding of the region鈥檚 specific needs is required.

鈥淛ust like in Atlantic Canada, if we鈥檙e going to proceed with that, we want to have a program conceivably that is very much tailored to the local needs of the regions and also a program that is really designed by the stakeholders [in Northern Ontario], as opposed to the government in Ottawa,鈥� .

READ MORE:听Proposed pilot would encourage immigration to Northern Ontario

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