A pan-Northern approach is being taken to an offer by the federal government to take part in a pilot immigration project.
Northern Ontario qualifies as a remote area in the government criteria for the project that’s aimed at bringing skilled workers to Canada.
Timmins Economic Development Corporation executive director Christy Marinig says to start with, the larger cities in the region will partner, and then reach out to smaller municipalities.
She says employers are finding the recruitment of skilled workers challenging.
“Such as truck drivers, heavy equipment operators, heavy equipment mechanics, welders, tradespeople,” she lists, “so it will provide employers with a chance to go out and try to fill those skills gaps by recruiting in other countries.”
Marinig adds: “It’s a great opportunity for us to look at helping employers who have identified that skilled labour is a definite challenge to them as people retire in Northern Ontario and think a pan-Northern approach is one that will allow us to become more successful in being selected as one of the pilot areas.”
Some of the immigrants filling those gaps could be in Northern Ontario by sometime this summer.