Rural communities in Canada are hoping to attract newcomers to the country and reversing dwindling population trends to strengthen local economies and address labour shortages.
More than a quarter of residents of metropolitan cities are immigrants which this measure falls down to 5 percent in small towns. Nearly two thirds of immigrants are residing in three large cities of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. On the other hand only one-third of Canada's total population lived in these cities, representing varies of population distribution between urban and rural areas.
However, some rural communities are trying to reverse this trend by attracting newcomers on the base of their own labour needs. Local communities are moving forward to this aim by consulting local employers and promoting Provincial Nominee Program. The Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) among the other factors, specifically consider person intention to settle in that province. As a result, some small town have launched initiatives aimed at sourcing the highest quality immigrants to their communities.
A Case Study: Morden, Manitoba
One of those rural communities is Morden, a small town in Southern Manitoba with the population of 8,000 people, with the distance of 112 km southwest of the Winnipeg. With an unemployment rate of 3.1%, local employers struggle to find skilled workers. Morden's Community through an active recruitment campaign is driving an immigration initiative aims to aid local employers. Applicants for Morden apply through Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program(MPNP).
While the role of most rural communities in Canada is passive in terms of attracting immigrants — for example, by observing which newcomers are arriving to the given province and only then hoping to attract them to their respective town — The role of Morden is taking a much more active by identifying potential newcomers to the town before they make their PNP application, rather than after.
A Case Study: Simcoe County, Ontario
Simcoe County, situated in north of Toronto, is another region actively looking for newcomers. In recent years, there has been approximately 650 landed immigrants per year, but Sandra Lee, Project Manager at Simcoe County's Local Immigration Partnership, has noticed a growing trend of immigrants moving from big cities to counties such as Simcoe.
"Most of our growth is because people are landing and they're moving after the fact," said Lee following a panel at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario's annual conference in August. "Recent settlement trends reveal that economic regions other than the GTA are receiving a larger share of Ontario immigrants and that the proportion of secondary migration to non-Census Metropolitan Areas is increasing."
In order to help new arrivals, last year Simcoe County launched an online immigration portal with a particular emphasis on immigrants with particular skills to meet local labour market needs. Instead of relying on immigrants moving from the big cities to more rural environments years after they have landed in Canada, the focus, like in the case of Morden, is increasingly turning towards attracting more landed immigrants directly. Simcoe County as one of many rural regions, identified immigration as part of the solution to stagnant population growth rate. Skilled workers would fulfill future job opportunities, and immigrant talent will be an important component of the county's future.
The Prognosis
Canada In the earlier part of her history, made use of skilled newcomers moving to rural areas to fulfill labour shortages and take advantage of the potential of the land.
For example, through government recruitment campaign, much of Western Canada was settled by immigrants from Eastern Europe. While current federal immigration policies do not consider any particular region or group, it appears likely that rural areas, after decades of losing out to Canada's cities in attracting skilled international labour, will take a progressively active role in the immigration process. This fact has different positive outcomes for both communities and newcomers alike, and strengths the diversity and continued economic success of Canada. When small rural communities actively identify people who are more likely to fit in and succeed, this creates growth and reduces the burden on big cities.
