Sault Ste. Marie's Economic Development Corp. held a special board meeting this week to fast-track a program aimed at making the Sault a bigger and more culturally diverse community.
The EDC board voted to pony up $102,500 as the city's portion of the Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP), which has also received $1,025,000 from the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario (FedNor).
When then-MP Terry Sheehan announced federal support for the program in late January, he said RCIP would bring 300 newcomers to the city to help fill local labour needs.
But at this week's EDC meeting, Travis Anderson, the city's director of tourism and community development, said he's now expecting a five-year commitment from the federal government, attracting a total of 1,500 newcomers and their families here over that time.
RCIP is a successor to the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP), a similar program that ended in March of last year.
"The previous program was quite effective for us," Anderson said in a report to the EDC board.
"Just as a data point, in RNIP we had 1,031 principal applicants. Including their families, a total of 884 applicants plus dependents were accepted through the program.
"So it's a huge bump in terms of population for the city, a lot of younger families came in, and the program supported 240 local businesses," Anderson added.
"We do follow up in terms of confirming who's still remaining in the community, and the retention rates have been quite strong.
"The top four countries that we saw through RNIP were India: obviously, a lot of that had to do with the international student population.
"The Philippines was huge towards the end of the program. And with the Philippines, very large families were coming.
"And then we had Nigeria. With them, a lot of families.
"Then Latin America. We have all these countries, but the retention has been really good.
"What we're seeing within India, particularly in families that have embedded within the schools.
"The Filipinos have a very strong Catholic society, so within the churches, sports teams."
Anderson said Immigration Canada wants to make this a permanent program, but they need to do another pilot in order to meet the timelines to make it permanent.
"In some cases, particularly in the aerospace sector, if we can assist employers in recruiting key sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, and skilled trades, we can facilitate the growth of the companies allowing them to add additional assembly or product lines, thereby increasing the overall employment in the company," he added.
"This is critical to a northern community such as Sault Ste. Marie, with an aging workforce. The attraction and retention of a younger workforce will assist and add to the resilience and diversity of the community."
RCIP is also expected to help Sault Ste. Marie attract physicians and health-care workers.
"Based on the criteria set out by Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada, the city will conduct outreach events to share awareness of the program. It will also conduct several information sessions for employers and potential applicants locally, regionally, nationally and internationally," Anderson said.
"Each application will first undergo a comprehensive assessment to ensure that all the information provided is accurate and that the application is eligible and meets the criteria for suitability. This meticulous review process is designed to maintain the highest standards of integrity and fairness.
"Following the initial assessment, applications will be carefully processed to confirm that all necessary documentation and requirements have been fulfilled. Once the review and processing stages are complete, as this is an employer-led pilot, the employers will be at the forefront of deciding who they choose to assist through the program.
"By looking at the strategic goals and priorities of the labour force needed in Sault Ste. Marie, the city will choose the applications after the employer has been designated. For those applications that receive approval, a formal letter of recommendation will be issued by the city."
