New Federal Immigration Program for Rural and Northern Communities

New Federal Immigration Program for Rural and Northern Communities

Today, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced the creation of a five year Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot. The objective of this Pilot is to help small and rural communities meet local labour market needs and support regional economic development. This Pilot will provide a pathway to permanent residence for foreign nationals wanting to immigrate to small and rural communities in Canada.

Eligibility Criteria

Communities that are interested in participating in this Pilot must submit an application, consisting of a Community Interest Form and supporting documents, to IRCC through a community-based economic development organization by 11:59 pm PST on March 1, 2019. To be eligible to participate in this Pilot, communities must meet the following criteria:

1. Have a total population of 50,000 people or less and be located at least 75 km from the core of a Census Metropolitan Area or have a total population of 50,000 to 200,000 people and be considered remote from other larger cities using Statistics Canada’s index of remoteness;

 2. Be in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Ontario, Saskatchewan, or Yukon;

3. Have job opportunities;

4. Have an economic development plan which was written in the last three years (i.e. between 2016 and 2019);

5. Have a local economic development organization that can manage this Pilot on behalf of the community (e.g. Community Futures Organizations, Chambers of Commerce, an independent or not-for-profit economic development organization, a hybrid organization of a municipality with an independent board of directors made up of different community stakeholders, etc.);

6. Be able to settle new immigrants in the community by having or developing relationships with local or regional immigrant-serving organizations, opportunities to connect newcomers with established members of the community (e.g. through mentoring or networking), and / or access to key services (e.g. education, housing, transportation, health care, child care, etc.); and

7. Have at least one letter of support from a municipal leader (e.g. a mayor, chair, warden, reeve, etc.) and one letter of support from a local or regional immigrant-serving organization (e.g. a Local Immigration Partnership, a Réseau en immigration francophone, etc.).

Selection Process

This Pilot will launch in a small number of communities only. Therefore, not all communities that meet the eligibility criteria and apply to participate in this Pilot will be selected to do so.

IRCC has indicated that it will consult with provinces and territories and select communities based on their need for immigration to support the local economy and the resources and community partners they have lined up for this Pilot. It seems that preference will be given to eligible communities with French-speaking populations.

If your community is selected to participate in this Pilot, IRCC will notify the community-based economic development organization that submitted the application on behalf of your community and work with them to receive applications from eligible foreign nationals.

It is anticipated that IRCC will publish information regarding permanent residence applications under this Pilot later this year.

Conclusion

If you are an economic development organization and would like assistance in preparing an application to participate in this Pilot on behalf of your community, please contact dRN Law LLP.