Town successful in application for immigration pilot project

By Rob Vogt, Local Press Writer

The Town of Claresholm has been successful in its application for the federal government’s rural and northern immigration pilot.

On June 14, the federal government announced Claresholm was one of 11 communities selected for the program, and the only one in Alberta.

Mayor Doug MacPherson issued a statement on June 18.

“Claresholm’s application would not have been successful without the unconditional support from organizations like the Foothills Catholic Immigration Services, Claresholm and District Chamber of Commerce, Willow Creek Adult Learning Society, Foothills SNAPS, Family Community Support Services, and the Claresholm Housing Authority,” he said.

“It takes a village, and that is how we will approach the Rural Immigration Pilot for Claresholm.

“The Town of Claresholm will be part of the second-phase launch of the program with training commencing in the fall 2019, and applications being accepted as early as January 2020.”

The process began back at the Feb. 25 meeting of Claresholm town council (and was reported in the March 13 issue) when they reviewed a report by Brady Schnell, the town’s economic development officer, explaining the application.

Schnell was contacted by a business owner in Claresholm who is interested in participating in a federal government rural and northern immigration pilot. This program is designed to:

• use immigration to help meet local labour market needs and support regional economic development;
• test a new pathway to permanent residence in rural Canada for skilled foreign nationals at various skill levels;
• create welcoming environments that encourage and help new immigrants to stay in their new communities.

During a business visitation program in 2018, Schnell said there were other businesses who expressed a need-for, and/or an interest in, hiring foreign workers. Several other businesses who did not mention foreign workers also expressed a concern for lack of available work-force in both skilled and unskilled labour.

The report explained the rural and northern immigration pilot was developed to help spread the benefits of economic immigration to smaller communities throughout Canada.

Council then agreed to approve the application to the pilot project by the Claresholm Economic Development Committee.

Since then, MacPherson noted, several businesses are operating at a reduced capacity due to a lack of available work force. Many existing employers in Claresholm have used, and continue to use temporary foreign worker programs in order to maintain operations.

Anyone interested in more information about the pilot program can email Brady Schnell, economic development officer, at edo@claresholm.ca.