Canada’s Immigration Minister, Ahmed Hussen, has reaffirmed that attracting skilled talent through immigration is the key to unlocking the country’s future economic success.
Since 2015, Canada has focussed on attracting the best and the brightest from around the world through specific pilot programs to deliver on the recommendations made by Canada’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth by:
– Setting up the first, ambitious long-term immigration levels plan which will strategically increase the amount of immigrant workers needed to support Canadians and seniors as they retire.
– Modifying Express Entry to attract highly skilled global talent and former international students who have the skills Canada needs to fill labour shortages.
– Creating the Global Skills Strategy to attract investments of innovative companies, helping thousands of businesses and benefitting 40,000 people with a two-week application processing time.
– Introducing the Global Talent Stream, which has been used by more than 1,100 Canadian companies to hire approximately 4,300 highly-skilled foreign workers.
– Making the Start-Up Visa Program permanent, which has attracted more than 300 entrepreneurs leading about 200 start-ups that have been launched in Canada.
– Spearheading the Atlantic Immigration Pilot, an innovative partnership aimed at attracting and retaining skilled immigrants and international graduates to meet the unique workforce needs of the Atlantic region. This pilot has led to close to 1,900 participating employers who made more than 3,700 job offers to skilled foreign nationals or international graduates, resulting in almost 3,000 permanent resident admissions to Atlantic Canada.
– Launching the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot, a five-year pilot addressing the unique labour and skills needs of rural and northern communities and the ability to create new businesses within those smaller communities. The communities selected will serve as a blueprint for the rest of the country.
Hussen explained that Canada is steadfast in its commitment to welcome newcomers from across the globe to make Canada their new home in order to address labour shortages to support businesses and to support Canadians as they retire.
“Our population is aging and attracting the best and the brightest from around the Globe to fill labour gaps is key to support our Canadian way of life,” the Minister said. “Newcomers can also help unlock our hidden potential and create middle-class jobs of the future.”
Article published 26th June 2019