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Growing North Bay’s Diversity

The Mayor’s Office of Economic Development has done the research, and now they want to increase the number of immigrants who choose North Bay when landing in Canada.
The Mayor’s Office of Economic Development has done the research, and now they want to increase the number of immigrants who choose North Bay when landing in Canada.

Each year Canada welcomes 250,000 new immigrants, and of those 125,000 will land in Ontario and only 0.3 percent of that number (400 immigrants) will come to all of Northern Ontario.

Saturday the office is hosting a symposium as part of the North Bay Newcomers Club in the Canadore Room at Canadore College to review best practises in recruitment of new Canadians.

“It’s a free event and we are inviting all those new comers to North Bay to attend and give us some of their input. And give us some feed back on the challenges and issues that they encountered moving to the city, and also to share some of the good things as well,” says Marla Tremblay, Economic Development Officer.

Tremblay notes that a decrease in population is a major concern not only for the city’s labour market growth, but the country’s growth as well.

“An enlightening statistic is that by 2011 all labour market growth in Canada will come from immigration. By 2026 any net growth in the population will come from immigration otherwise we are declining and that’s a reality.”

“And we need to be prepared if we would like our company’s to be able to be in a position to expand. They need to be able to fill the human resources.”

In a homogenised society like North Bay’s, Tremblay notes it is time for the city to grow in population and diversity.

“Diversity is a good thing, diversity allows different companies to expand their markets globally.”

Tremblay says the Immigration Symposium still has spots available and is encouraging people that are newcomers to the area to participate.

Interested parties can contact The Mayor's Office of Economic Development at 474-0626 extetion 318.