THUNDER BAY — The city's economic development commission received an unprecedented surge in demand last week from prospective immigrants looking to settle in Canada while working in the region.
"We just got a ton of applications in at once," Thunder Bay Economic Development Commission CEO Jamie Taylor said.
The CEDC administers the federal government's Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot program in Thunder Bay and area. Last Friday —Nov. 17 — provided the last opportunity for candidates to submit their qualifications online before the program's scheduled expiry date of February 2024.
Just one hour after the web portal became available, over 200 completed applications had already been submitted, forcing the commission to close applications because there's a limit on available spots.
Applicants must meet a number of criteria in order to be accepted for consideration, and those that came in within the first hour all achieved the threshold.
"Obviously, candidates were anticipating that this is the final draw for the program." Taylor said. "They were all ready to submit their applications as soon as the portal opened. Having only 115 recommendations left for the 2023 and 2024 year, we received more than what we have in terms of space available."
Receiving what's called a community recommendation through the pilot allows successful applicants and their families to apply for permanent residency and to settle in Northwestern Ontario.
"The response to this final draw show that there is a great appetite for economic immigration in our region, both from the candidate and the employer side," Taylor said.
Since Oct. 1, the CEDC has processed over 160 new applications from local employers wishing to make full-time job offers to immigrants.
That process is now shut down in concert with the closure of the candidate portal.
A statement from the CEDC acknowledged the disappointment felt by those employers and candidates who were unable to make submissions before the target was reached.
There's been steady growth in the uptake in Thunder Bay since the program was initiated by the federal government in eleven rural and northern communities across the country three years ago.
The number of applicants accepted for the program locally rose from 67 in 2020 to 475 this year, and the government has allocated a further 100 spots to the region for 2024.
Thunder Bay has benefited from the fact that other participating communities have not used their full allotment, so its quota has been increased the last two years.
Taylor said the interest in the program from area employers "points to the fact that they're really challenged to find a qualified workforce, and they're looking at all options available to them."
The great majority of applications have come from international students attending Lakehead University or Confederation College.
"You can see just by the demand for this last draw, both on the employer side and the candidate side, employers are looking for new and innovative ways to bring in employees to their business to be able to sustain themselves. The number one issue that we hear from employers is labour," Taylor said.
The CEDC will be tracking the retention rate for candidates approved for the program, but it takes a year for permanent residency for approved applicants to come through.
According to Taylor, early indications are "very positive" in terms of retention.
Thunder Bay–Superior North MP Patty Hajdu has described the program as "hugely beneficial" to the region, and has stated that she and Thunder Bay–Rainy River MP Marcus Powlowski are advocating for it to continue.
Chamber of Commerce president Charla Robinson has also emphasized the importance of the program, "because Thunder Bay needs those folks to be coming here and settling here to address our labour issues and allow us to grow."
But it's not clear yet what will happen after February 2024.
Although Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has recently indicated the pilot program should be made a permanent pathway, no details have been provided.
Taylor said "we are very much awaiting that decision, so that we can do our planning to make sure that we capitalize on the opportunity for our community. I think it's very important. It provides another pathway to ensure the future of Northwestern Ontario."
In August 2022, the government expanded the program from Thunder Bay to include the entire district as well as Rainy River district, Dryden and Sioux Lookout.
Although the majority of applications are from people being offered jobs in Thunder Bay, in the last couple of rounds of recommendations the CEDC has seen an increasing number coming out of regional communities.
