00;00;10;16 - 00;00;49;05 Lindsay Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Life On The Prairies. And I am Lindsay. So today we're going to actually be talking about the real community immigration pilot that was just announced. And I'm going to be speaking to it from a community perspective. And it's going to be more involved. So I'm definitely going to do a future episode for those looking to apply under the Rural Community Immigration Program, however, today I want to focus more on speaking to the economic developers to create features, staff to chambers and any others who are interested in applying.

00;00;49;12 - 00;01;15;27 Lindsay So on March 6th, the Honorable Marc Miller, he is the Minister of Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada, announced new policy for rural and Francophone minority communities. And really, what the program is, it's creating permanent rural immigration. As we know, a lot of newcomers and immigrants generally go to huge cities such as Montreal, such as Toronto, such as Vancouver.

00;01;16;00 - 00;01;45;06 Lindsay And we're seeing a large influx going to cities like Saskatoon, which is amazing. Calgary and even out east. However, there is still really a lack of actual newcomers, immigrants moving to and remaining in rural communities throughout Canada. So today we're going to focus on the rural community, immigration pilot and how it's going to launch in the fall 2024.

00;01;45;08 - 00;02;13;29 Lindsay And further, though, we're going to look back on it and we're going to say, okay, before it's delivered, what is it that the communities need to know when they're applying? Because really, the pilot is going to aim at, having the program that addresses labor shortages, that helps local businesses find the workers they need. It's also going to provide a permanent residency pathway for newcomers who can help to overcome the critical labor shortages.

00;02;14;02 - 00;02;44;04 Lindsay And again, that want to live and work in our smaller communities. Now, if you know of immigration and you're either involved in it, through an economic capacity or you are an immigrant yourself, or you're somebody who's just been reading a lot about immigration lately, you will actually realize that this rural community immigration program is based off the R, an IP, which is the rural northern immigration pilot, that's actually just been made permanent for this fall.

00;02;44;06 - 00;03;13;08 Lindsay And so it was such a huge success that the government of Canada has designed a new one where it will actually allow more communities to be in charge of their permanent residency. So what does that mean? So the way how most often than not that immigration works is employers will nominate a person to work for them and say, hey, we really, really want this person to work for us, you know?

00;03;13;08 - 00;03;36;09 Lindsay So we're going to nominate them. So they write a letter. And, technically it's the provinces that do the nomination. And so then the provinces in turn review that applicant and say, okay, how well do they fit into our economy on a provincial level? Are they really need it? And they do a whole review. In Manitoba, for example, this process is taking about a year for it to happen.

00;03;36;09 - 00;04;01;07 Lindsay So by the time the employer gives the letter to the person after they're invited to apply to the provincial nomination is taking about a year. Yeah, a year. So then once the person gets the nomination, then that the person who's a newcomer has to then apply for permanent residency. So in all you could very well be looking at an 18 month to 24 months, which is two years immigration.

00;04;01;10 - 00;04;32;10 Lindsay And that is crazy, right? Because during that time, a lot of work permits will run out. Your, passports may expire, and there's so many just intricacies that people don't realize and at and think even our provincial government doesn't realize that. Right. So this program allows communities to skip the provincial nomination and that is a good thing. It allows the communities to say, hey, we really like this worker.

00;04;32;10 - 00;04;56;29 Lindsay We want to nominate them. And so we're going to get into that in a little bit more detail. So it allows the community to nominate the prospective newcomer and then that newcomer bypasses the province and they go directly to a permanent residency. Right. How we feel like I'm I'm talking about not monopoly. It's like a you get a skip go.

00;04;57;01 - 00;05;29;07 Lindsay But that's really what it is. So you're cutting out the middleman and that makes it more effective. And I also believe that there's a better buy in from your community. So let's get into it. Now, I'm going to say this off the hop, even though I'm a rural developer who has her regulated, Canadian immigration license, I do not believe that every community should be applying for this because I really feel it is a challenging application.

00;05;29;09 - 00;05;57;00 Lindsay And I also believe that communities should actually have a little bit of immigration history before they dive right into it. Right. So before we go any further, let's just start off with what is expected, right. So first off, they're going to be looking for they meaning Immigration Canada. When you go to apply the very first criteria that you have to overcome is population size and where the community is situated.

00;05;57;02 - 00;06;22;23 Lindsay So what does this mean if you have a population under 50,000 and you are located at least 75km from a CMA, or you have a population under 200,000 and are basically what we have is your score is, 2.0 or higher for statistics, index of remoteness. we have this, link that I'm going to leave for you at the bottom of my show notes or maybe on my webpage.

00;06;22;26 - 00;06;48;20 Lindsay But anyways, if you meet one of those two criteria, so you have your populations under 50,000 and is located at 75km away from a CMA, or you have a population under 200,000 and your community, scores 2.0 or higher on the statistic index of remoteness, then you are eligible. Now that's simple enough right. So okay, so there's going to be a lot a lot of community.

00;06;48;20 - 00;07;07;09 Lindsay There's thousands and thousands I think there's like 3200 municipalities in all of Canada. So it's other people that may not seem like a lot, but for a rural prairie girl, to me, that's a lot of music. Valleys. So okay, so let's say your community check, we meet that now we're going to have to look at your community's needs.

00;07;07;09 - 00;07;31;01 Lindsay Right. So the economy of your community and this is where you really have to be, community or region that was actually prepared. And you have this information at your fingertips. Right. So you have identified a shortage in a sector and occupations that cannot be filled by Canadians or permanent residents. And you're having a economy that is growing overall, right?

00;07;31;01 - 00;08;04;11 Lindsay So they're going to be looking for players or communities that truly know what their shortages are. They can prove that their shortages cannot be filled by Canadians and permanent residents. And there's an overall growing economy. So this might automatically preclude some communities because there are some communities where they might just not have that knowledge. They may not have those statistics built in terms of saying, okay, so we have three plumbing businesses and they are all short of workers.

00;08;04;11 - 00;08;30;02 Lindsay We have a greenhouse that can't fulfill workers. And, you know, and there's a list of employers that are continually using labor market impact assessments or using the postgraduate worker pathway to attract and retain workers. Right. So that's what they're going to be looking for is how well, you know, your community's economy. Secondly, and I really think this is important.

00;08;30;04 - 00;08;50;09 Lindsay It's all important. So I actually think what Immigration Canada is actually asking is fair, which I tend to usually disagree with government. But I do have to say that this is fair to ask. They're going to be asking you as well as are you able to welcome and settle newcomers. Right. So what is your capacity? So how is your health care?

00;08;50;12 - 00;09;19;23 Lindsay How is your housing and your educational facilities, right. What settlement organizations do you have? What are the services? How will you welcome these newcomers into your community, and what infrastructure do you have in place? And I actually have this conversation with, my good friend Lori Matthews and, and, she runs I municipal consultancy agency out of Saskatchewan and, and this is native to boys event as well.

00;09;19;24 - 00;09;44;10 Lindsay But, she also talks to me about it's not just if your community wants to immigrants. It's about the capacity and the infrastructure. And, you know, after talking to her a couple times, it's really got me thinking about communities really need to have the infrastructure as well, not just settlement organizations and volunteers saying that, hey, come here, you know, and we'll get you into baseball.

00;09;44;10 - 00;10;06;19 Lindsay We'll do this right. There's a lot more involved in that. Secondly, they're going to actually be looking for administrative experience and capacity. So you need to show that your community has funding. So a lot of people may not realize this is that there's no money that comes with this. Right. So this program is not going to give you money for a staff person.

00;10;06;21 - 00;10;32;14 Lindsay So funding must come from external sources, or you must have probably an existing person on staff that that's willing and able to understand how to deliver this initiative. You also have to show that be it yourself or your partner actually has experience with other multi-year initiatives. Right? So, you know, you might take a Community Features who are really great at handling lots of programs, right?

00;10;32;14 - 00;10;54;08 Lindsay So they'll be able to say, hey, we've had a multi year initiative so we can really take that on. you could also work with people that have experience with initiatives aimed at attracting, selling or retaining newcomers. Right. So that would be your resettlement agencies or maybe it's a group of volunteers. Okay. So then what do you need to know right now?

00;10;54;11 - 00;11;27;03 Lindsay The communities who will have the greatest chance will be those with the strongest applications. And it says it right on the call for proposals. So those based those people who are able to show the following identified gaps that need to be filled in their economy, availability of infrastructure, services and programs to settle newcomers, their experience with immigration programs, their capacity to partner with immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada, which is IRC, and their commitment to fulfill the rules and responsibilities.

00;11;27;03 - 00;11;53;19 Lindsay Right? Because as I said, there's no money coming with this. So if you have an existing staff person and you're going to assign he or she they that role, then they have to understand that that's their roles and responsibilities. You're going to have to have a board that sits down, that comes together and reviews the employers. You request to nominate the person that they might, they might want to see stay with them.

00;11;53;22 - 00;12;15;28 Lindsay So there's a lot that goes into this. So your community has to be really prepared to take it all the way. Right now. It leads me to you who can actually apply on behalf of your community, right? So if you are a volunteer sitting here listening to me talk, you might be like, wow, I really believe this is great for our community, but I don't know what organization to turn to.

00;12;16;00 - 00;12;34;21 Lindsay So as I just mentioned, a community futures organization, there are regional organization and they deal with business and economic development. They could, look at delivering it for you. Obviously, you would have to talk to them about this. Everyone I'm mentioning, you would have to go to yourself or you would have to go and ask them and show them the whole proposal.

00;12;34;23 - 00;13;02;29 Lindsay It could be an independent, nonprofit economic development organization, a community organization with an independent board of directors made up of a different community stakeholders, a chamber of commerce, a regional economic development organization who has a local presence in the community. We should also note, though, that people our communities in Quebec can not apply. Neither can provincial organizations representing our province or territory.

00;13;03;01 - 00;13;27;03 Lindsay So those are the only two organizations and communities that can apply those in Quebec and as well as any provincial or territory, organization. So let's dig a little deeper into this. Right. So I keep touching on the roles of everyone and what's going to be expected. Right. So I think first and foremost, the economic development organization has to realize their responsibilities.

00;13;27;03 - 00;13;56;14 Lindsay So this is what immigration, refugee and Citizenship Canada IRCc is asking of the economic development organizations. They are saying you will have to be able to promote the pilot to potential newcomers. Employers and designated learning institutions. Build awareness of the pilot in your community or region. Identify priority occupations and sectors facing labor shortages. Designate employers making sure that they are established within the community boundaries.

00;13;56;21 - 00;14;32;15 Lindsay Have labor needs aligned with the identified priority occupations or sectors. Agree to support newcomers settlement and integration. Also, the economic development organization, because I'm not done, needs to make sure that candidates job offers are genuine. They're from a designated employer in this in a priority occupation, as we just mentioned. They also have to recommend eligible candidates for permanent residents, build a maintain strong program integrity capacity to detect and deter fraud, ensure decision making is fair as well as impartial.

00;14;32;18 - 00;15;00;20 Lindsay Monitor and report on the results of the pilot in your community. So the person who or a community, organization that is applying your nonprofit that is their roles and responsibilities. So that's a lot right there. Right. So and nobody's getting money for that. They're not getting dollars to hire a staff person or dollars for administration. They have to just raise their hand and say, hey, we believe in the good cause of this, so we're going to take it on.

00;15;00;22 - 00;15;20;28 Lindsay Now, let's move on to employers because at the end I'm going to come back to the employers. But I need you to listen to what the employers need to do as well, because it's pretty important. So they need to apply to the nonprofit or what we call the economic development organization for a designation. They also need to complete mandatory training.

00;15;21;01 - 00;15;43;01 Lindsay They need to recruit, assess and hire the newcomers. They need to confirm the job requirements are aligned with the community labor market priorities, and they must also support the settlement and integration of newcomers. So it's not as simple as them just hiring someone. There's some training involved. They have to agree to certain aspects of the program as well.

00;15;43;08 - 00;16;18;11 Lindsay So the employers they are taking on more as well. And now you may be asking, wow, what's the immigration category to do? Well, here's what they're gonna do. They will be responsible for onboarding, training and providing ongoing support for communities promoting the pilots. And they will ultimately decide if someone's going to get their permanent residence. So while a lot of people may not know in immigration, it's always the federal government who decides whether or not somebody becomes a PR.

00;16;18;14 - 00;16;49;13 Lindsay So they will assess the candidates with recommendations for a permanent residence against their own eligibility criteria. So this is maybe human capital, such as language education, work experience and making final decisions, as I just mentioned, on all PR applications and as well as of course, they're going to be monitoring the outcomes of the pilot. In addition, before you apply to participate, you also need to get letters of support from each of these members in your community.

00;16;49;17 - 00;17;10;02 Lindsay So you must get a letter of support from a municipal leader. And this can be, as I said, inform of a mayor, a chair, a warden or reeve. You must also get letters of support from your funding sources or your partners, and this one might be a tricky one. You also need to get a local housing authority or a municipal housing committee.

00;17;10;02 - 00;17;35;14 Lindsay This confirms that your community has enough housing availability and affordable housing for newcomers and or initiatives. To work towards affordable housing, you must also have a local sediment service provider organization. So I don't think that that necessarily means you have to have one that's provincially sponsored or federally sponsored. You could probably have your own organization, even if it's a group of volunteers that have been doing it for years.

00;17;35;14 - 00;17;57;10 Lindsay Right. And and put them forward too. But as long as you actually have a local seven month service because it's going to prove that you just didn't, start your immigration strategy, that you've actually had immigrants come into your community for a while. Right? There's no set template for the letters of support. They must endorse your communities application to participate in the pilot.

00;17;57;10 - 00;18;25;25 Lindsay So that's really all that, that says about your community templates? there is none. You have to design your own and just ensure that the essential information is in there, that the organization and or the municipal leader, whoever it is, supports, the initiative that you're applying for. So once Immigration Canada actually, receives your completed application, they're going to review it at what we call high level, right.

00;18;25;27 - 00;18;44;28 Lindsay So this is how they're going to weed a lot of people out. And for those who do not meet the following criteria, I believe automatically, you'll be excluded. Right. And so this is your responsibility. And they kind of told you this in the CFP, the call for proposals. So you got to make sure all sections of the form are complete.

00;18;45;01 - 00;19;20;24 Lindsay Make sure all your supporting documents are included. Identify if your community is eligible to participate in the pilot and complete an assessment of your application. And of course, you can contact Immigration Canada for more information. So I don't want to go on and on about this application, but I do want to really stress some important key takeaways for what the government will be looking for, and as well as what you should consider before you start having a bunch of evening meetings and calls to each other.

00;19;20;26 - 00;19;51;03 Lindsay So the first one is it's going to be a simple yes or no. Does your community or did your community have an immigration track record in some regard? So if you just started a strategic plan and have like only 1 or 2 families, right, that you brought in, you got to think of something a little creative to win the bed over those who have maybe had a strategic plan for 20 years and who actually have a very high, adaptable and very good, program that's working.

00;19;51;03 - 00;20;12;03 Lindsay Right. They're also going to be looking at, you know, how well do you do you know, your employers and their prospects and the education levels associated? So you have to really take a deep dive into that and say, okay, so here's our employers in our community, you know, do we need a lot of skilled trades or are we looking at a lot of health care workers?

00;20;12;03 - 00;20;40;22 Lindsay What is it that our community really needs? Right. And you don't have a lot amount of time to to figure this out. Right. The biggest 1 or 1 of the biggest ones to me is housing. Now, how are you going to get housing for newcomers is really what they're going to want to know? I'm going to say that go back to the episode for the one I just released, and there is a person who practices economic development, that was telling us that there was no housing in often.

00;20;40;24 - 00;21;04;03 Lindsay Right? That person said, you can't do this project is not enough housing. Well, after a lot of research on word of mouth, we were able to situate 65 families who all have their own homes. But I do say this, it took some time, right? So we had some time. We started with three families and 12 families and, you know, and we didn't have to prove ourselves to anyone.

00;21;04;03 - 00;21;30;03 Lindsay Right? Because we were just a group of business owners, like we didn't have municipal funding or provincial funding or federal interest. We just did it on our own. So we were able to take our time and create our own kind of economic development way of doing it. But communities applying for this don't have the time right? So you need to know your housing, and you need to be able to demonstrate that through a community housing support letter of some kind.

00;21;30;05 - 00;21;58;25 Lindsay Right. You also need to be able to ensure that the newcomers are those who are relocating to your area, have suitable and affordable housing. Because I'll tell you one thing, newcomers like a Canadian will leave a town if they do not have a job they're satisfied with and or if they don't have suitable housing. So I really suggest that your community be sure that it has some housing that's affordable and very suitable for our newcomers.

00;21;58;27 - 00;22;23;28 Lindsay When I walk into a house, I always say, would I live here? And if I say yes, put it on the list. If I say no, then you take it off the list, right? Partners. This is another big one. No one's getting funding from this project. Not a not a dollar. Right? You may be able to access it somewhere else, but this community funding or this community project that's going to be delivered through IRC, they are not giving you money.

00;22;24;00 - 00;22;49;10 Lindsay So your community has to take on this additional responsibility in terms of identifying existing staff or accessing other funds, as I just said from elsewhere, to deliver the program to me, it would be worth this. If your community is strategic and can really access the newcomers that your community needs, right? So if you really believe you can get this off the ground, I truly believe that you should take existing, resources such as staff and have them do it right.

00;22;49;10 - 00;23;14;17 Lindsay But sorry if you're only going to do what I call a half assed job, and I would strongly suggest that you don't participate in this round, and that you kinda look at what a winning community does and take notes, and then maybe you can reapply if the next round comes available. The last and most important thing that I want to touch on is your community, specifically your employers wanting to be a part of this program.

00;23;14;22 - 00;23;38;07 Lindsay Now let's go back over this. Remember, your employers are the ones that will make or break this program. So they got to apply to the EDL for designation. The hidden cells had to complete mandatory training. They had to recruit assassins, hire the new comers again. They have to confirm the job requirements that are aligned with those of the community labor market priorities.

00;23;38;15 - 00;23;59;29 Lindsay And they also have to assist to support the settlement and integration of newcomers. So if I was a economic development officer, Chamber of Commerce, or a CF staff member, or whoever it is, I would definitely be doing a check with my employers before I even venture down this road. As I just said, without your employers, the program will not be successful.

00;24;00;07 - 00;24;37;05 Lindsay It's just that simple. So there's so many things that also I want to say, but I know that sometimes just listening to me ramble on isn't the most interesting thing. However, I am going to be putting on a workshop on June 14th. It's going to be a webinar, and I'm going to go into a bit more detail, and I'd like to have a discussion with anyone who's interested in online and go over some tips that I've seen, through, from other RNIPs and just being an immigration practitioner, what I think, communities could also put in their proposals to have a winning edge.

00;24;37;07 - 00;24;58;10 Lindsay So if you want to register for my workshop, if you're a municipality, if you're an economic selling officer, if you're a chamber of commerce, if you are community futures, I would love to have you participate. So just go to my show notes or log on to my web page to register. And I would love to meet and chat with you all about this program.

00;24;58;10 - 00;25;16;17 Lindsay And basically anything rural. Okay, so that's a wrap my friends. Live rural, live well.