Immigration to Canada’s four Atlantic provinces has tripled over the last 15 years, new figures show.
Last year there was a record influx of 11,600 immigrants to the region – more than triple the number who settled there in 2016.
What’s more, a report released by the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council (APEC) last week predicted that as many as 19,000 people may choose to move to the region annually in the future.
“As long as you’re in one of these priority occupations, based upon our labour market analysis, then we think you have a good chance of succeeding here in the region,” the report noted.
The longer-term trend here is really the increase driven by immigrants coming through provincial nominee programs, that’s what’s really driving that longer-term increase that we’ve seen,” said David Chaundy, the director of research at APEC.
This past July, the federal government announced a pilot programme to help increase immigration to the four Atlantic provinces – Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island. The scheme will allow the region to accept up to an extra 5,000 people each year.
The details for this plan have yet to be worked out, but it is almost certain to be an employer-driven programme and include the employees’ families. It will also be an opportunity to test out some new approaches to improving retention, to help people settle and stay in the area.
Article published 15th January 2017