THUNDER BAY – Recognizing the need for skilled workers in the region, the federal government is providing a boost to a tool used to help attract immigration to Northwestern Ontario.
Minister of Status of Women Patty Hajdu announced $255,000 in FedNor funding on Friday to the Thunder Bay Multicultural Association for their Northwestern Ontario Immigration Portal.
The portal, which has been in operation since 2010, is a website run by the multicultural association on behalf of 32 regional municipalities to provide valuable information to encourage relocation to Northwestern Ontario.
“In the north we often have fewer resources so we really do need to work together. It doesn’t make sense if we’re all doing our own initiative,” Hajdu said.
“We can get so much of a greater impact if we pool our resources, our intelligence and our innovation. Many of our communities are quite small so they can’t afford to invest in a way that we could if we actually work together.”
Cathy Woodbeck, the executive director of the Thunder Bay Multicultural Association, said the portal provides information about how to immigrate to Canada, resources such as language education available once skilled workers, international students or entrepreneurs arrive and information to businesses about how they can hire immigrants.
“If somebody on the other end of the world is looking to emigrate and is wanting to come to Canada we want them to be thinking about Northwestern Ontario first,” Woodbeck said.
“This is that access point.”
The portal has a 95 per cent success rate in keeping immigrants in the region with 90 per cent of them finding suitable careers.
“It’s really integral to making sure we have the skilled employees and the innovation we need to actually address some of the longstanding economic challenges of our region,” Hajdu said.
