The Ontario Chamber of Commerce is calling for increased immigration opportunities in northern Ontario.
At its Annual General Meeting in Timmins last week it joined with the Northern Policy Institute on a resolution from the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce.
Last year, Ontario announced it is set to double the number of economic immigrants it welcomes to the province under an agreement with the federal government to boost the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program.
The province will have more than 18,000 spots under the program in 2025.
See: Ontario to see higher numbers of economic immigrants under federal agreement
The Chamber resolution, endorsed by the OCC membership, dealt with a set-aside of 3,000 spots in the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program for northern Ontario, and a further 6,000 spots dedicated to rural communities in southern Ontario.
“Our research highlights that Northern Ontario needs to welcome upwards of 5,000 new immigrants every year for the next twenty years to deal with population aging and a growing skills shortage. We won’t get there without dedicated allocations of available immigration streams.”says Charles Cirtwill President of Northern Policy Institute.
