Southwestern Manitoba's biggest city joins provincial nominee program

Southwestern Manitoba's biggest city is joining the province's immigrant nominee program for the first time, drawing on its experience as one of the 11 communities participating in the federal rural and northern immigration pilot.

Eleonor Mascardo, owner of Brandon's Happy Skin Clinic, used the immigration pilot to help secure staff. Mascardo felt embraced by Brandon when she opened in August 2023, but she "couldn't find any right fit locally" for a marketing manager at the multicultural clinic.

"We have a preference for the right candidate to speak Tagalog … We can reach more people," she said.

The rural and northern immigration pilot (RNIP) helped. Her new marketing manager, who will be arriving in September, has all the skills needed and Mascardo will help her with housing, work and making community connections.

She hopes those factors will help make Brandon her manager's settlement city — a major goal of of the pilot program

Manitoba's provincial nominee program will play a similar role in Brandon after the pilot program's applications closed in June. The city will act as a partner in the program to receive more recommendations including skilled workers or entrepreneurs.

Gerald Cathcart, Brandon's director of economic development, says the pilot brought more than 400 individuals to Brandon over four and a half years. Their skills span all employment needs, from hospitality to medical staff.

The city is hoping to build on the pilot program's success through the Manitoba provincial nominee program, Cathcart said. In 2023, the provincial program reported 7,348  nominations and approvals in Manitoba.

Manitoba's provincial nominee program offers three pathways for those looking to immigrate to the province: skilled workers, international education or business investors.

"We are growing substantially based on newcomers coming to our city and a lot of those newcomers are finding employment here," Cathcart said. "Employment has been tight in a number of areas and where we're able to find the skill sets that employers need."

The city committed to partnering on the provincial nominee program at a July 8 council meeting. To become part of the program, Brandon had to conduct a labour market assessment that included outreach to individual employers and data analytics from Statistics Canada.

There's a major demand for skilled workers, Cathcart said, but it's hard to predict exact numbers.

Westman Immigrant Services community outreach manager Hannah Stollery says since 2022 they've been seeing at least 2,000 new immigrants each year. About 23 per cent of Brandon's 54,000 residents are immigrants, the city estimates.

Westman Immigrant Services is looking for more opportunities for newcomers and employers to connect and fill needed economic gaps.