|
For the past few years, the Canadian federal government has been instrumental in helping migrants with Canadian skilled visas settle into their new homes and adapt to the country’s way of life. Now, as part of the migrant settlement strategy, Immigration Minister Dianne Finley has announced that Ontario’s Peel Region will be the next to benefit when it receives $830,000.
The Government of Canada is committed to helping newcomers succeed,” Finley said. “With this funding, the Peel region will be better prepared to welcome and assist newcomers, providing much-needed services and easing their transition to life in Canada.”
The funds donated by the government will go towards the Peel Newcomer Strategy Group (PNSG) set up in 2005 in order to ensure that the needs of the region’s Canadian immigration newcomers are met, allowing them to settle in and adapt to life in the area as quickly as possible.
Evelyn Myrie, Executive Director of the PSNG, commented: “With a growing number of immigrants comes a corresponding need to coordinate and improve settlement services for newcomers. Such services will contribute to the economic and social well being of new migrants in the community. The Peel Newcomer Strategy Group has been created to find appropriate solutions to the challenge of assisting newcomers.”
The Canadian government has increased the overall funding for Ontario to $920,000 over five years. The money will go towards aspects of settling in such as language training, helping migrants with Canadian skilled visas establish contacts in their field of work, and assisting them in connecting with volunteers who help them access various settlement-related services. |
|
|
An industry survey has revealed that Canada is set to spend up to C$110 billion on oilsands projects over the next few years, but the country’s labour crisis could prove to be a major stumbling block to the plans.
If the project is to remain on track, various skilled tradespeople such as engineers, pipe fitters, welders and insulators will be required, and recruiting professionals with Canadian skilled visas is the only feasible way of ensuring that such skills will be readily available.
The CAPP survey found that in the five years from 2007 to 2011, 70 percent more investment is expected in comparison to the amount spent on oilsands projects in the ten year period between 1996 and 2006. It also showed that a crunch period can be expected either in 2009 or 2010 at which point the correct quantities of equipment, materials and employees will be an absolute necessity, with recruitment through Canadian immigration a major priority.
“Unless something radical happens, it's impossible for the work to be done on schedule,” commented Herb Holmes, a manager for Construction Labour Relations in Edmonton. “By radical, I mean for example a huge influx of workers. Also needed would be tools, machining equipment, engineers. We are seeing shortages now and we are not yet at the peak.” |
|
|
Canada has been hotly tipped to attract a wealth of new migrants in 2008 due to a massive boom that is set to take place in the country’s construction sector.
The Canadian Press had revealed plans for a number of high profile construction projects due to begin in 2008, including the Bow Tower in Calgary, the 256,000 square foot Epcor Tower in Edmonton, an a number of new high-rises at the Alberta University campus. Such projects are clearly going to require a steep increase in the construction sector’s workforce, and the country will be relying primarily on Canadian immigration to provide the skills needed.
Signs of a nationwide effort to attract workers with Canadian skilled visas can be seen in areas such as the province of Manitoba where government spending has been doubled in order to help settle and train foreign newcomers. In the last two years, such initiatives have accounted for a 23 percent increase in migration to Canada.
Meanwhile, parts of Canada, such as Saskatchewan, that usually see large numbers of their population leaving to pursue work in larger regions have experienced a significantly lower number of professionals moving away from the province due to similar schemes. |
|
|
Calgary-based power company Enimax is one of many major corporations suffering from a severe lack of electrical engineers.
Despite an aggressive recruitment drive to secure the services of local skilled workers, the company has failed to find the required number of tradespeople needed to undertake the construction and maintenance of electricity lines. Moreover, the retirement of a generation of baby-boomers is only making matters worse.
Provincial and federal governments are working on amendments to the current laws on migration, including a major increase in the quota of migrants able to enter the country under the Foreign Workers Program in specific sectors. Read more about Canada needs electrical engineers urgently |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
The Canadian province of Alberta, with the help of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, has set up a website that aims to attract a greater number of migrant workers by making the immigration process simpler and easier.
The new initiative has been implemented following the announcement that Alberta will be short of a predicted 109,000 skilled workers by 2015.
Iris Evans, Minister of Employment, Immigration and Industry has hailed the new site as a one-stop destination for information on the immigration process, finding employment and settling into life in Alberta. Read more about Website launched to encourage migration to Alberta |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Michael Adams, a senior Canadian media commentator, has claimed that the attitude of the Canadian people towards immigration from abroad is “overwhelmingly positive”, stating also that foreign migrants are successfully adjusting to their new lives in Canada.
Mr. Adams commented: “in naming things that make them proud to be Canadian, more Canadians say multiculturalism than hockey or bilingualism”.
Statistically, Canada is the country with the highest rate of immigration in the world, and Canadian’s have the greatest faith in immigration being positive for Canada’s workforce, economy, and culture.
Migrants from various countries, predominantly the UK and USA and India, claim that their quality of life, as well as their economic status, has improved significantly. |
|
|
Canada’s Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration, presented to the House of Commons on 31 October, has stated that the country expects to welcome between 240,000 and 650,000 skilled migrants in 2008.
As well as revealing the prospective figures, the report also announced that between 139,000 and 145,000 new permanent residents will enter the country under the new Canadian Experience Class, which will be implemented in 2008. Under the new stream, certain temporary foreign workers, as well as international students with Canadian degrees and work experience, will be allowed to apply for permanent residency from within the country. Read more about Canada to accept up to 265,000 migrants in 2008 |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons has announced that Canada will be short of between 5,800 and 10,400 doctors by 1020, causing major concern and being labelled ‘the biggest issue affecting Canadian healthcare today’.
As well as actively encouraging Canadians to enrol in medical school, the Canada’s government is relying heavily on importing foreign expertise through immigration; something which it hopes will ease the crippling shortage of trained medics country-wide. Read more about Canada needs doctors to combat severe labour shortages |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Canada’s red-hot mining industry is recording substantial profits, but is failing to cope with the demand for skilled workers. Moreover, the crippling labour shortages from which the industry is suffering so heavily are not showing any signs of improving, in fact, the situation is set to worsen over the next ten years.
Experts from the Ottawa Mining Industry Human Resource Council (MIHR) predict that a further 92,000 skilled workers will be required over the next decade if the problems caused by excessive labour shortages are to be resolved. In addition to this, an expected baby boom retirement wave is set to hit the region, at which time an estimated 40 per cent of the workforce will leave. Read more about Canada mining industry enjoys record profits, but labour shortages prove costly |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
An initial 200 jobs will be created when Microsoft opens its new software development centre in Vancouver, BC; a number which could grow substantially in time and see an increase in the demand for skilled migrants in the IT and electronic sectors.
The announcement of the new development has sparked debate as to why Microsoft should chose to open the new centre north of the US border. One of the main apparent reasons is the fact that skilled migration to the US is constrained by restrictions placed on the number of H-1B visas granted every year. Read more about Further skilled migrant opportunities as Microsoft announce development centre to be built in BC |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Canada Immigration Minister Diane Finney and Ontario Minister of citizenship and Immigration Mike Colle have announced the opening of a Welcome Centre in Vaughn, Ontario, which will aim to provide integration services for some 3,500 new migrants over the next 12 months.
A further four such centres are to be opened under the Canada-Ontario Agreement, which will provide settlement and employment support services, language training and accreditation and qualification recognition services.
Ms. Finney commented “I am pleased to be supporting centres such as this one, where a real difference can be made in the lives of newcomers by helping them with language training or finding a job”.
The Canada-Ontario agreement is part of a federally-funded commitment to helping new migrants settle into Canadian society and find employment relevant to their skills. The total funding package of $1.3 billion, $920 million of which will be subsidised by the federal government, will be purely devoted to the integration of new migrants and their families. |
|
|
Immigration News 
