These foreign workers fear having to leave northwestern Ontario community they love after federal program ends
CBC
A small town northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont., has become the unlikely home for hundreds of foreign workers, but many may have to leave the community they've embraced after the end of a federal program put in place to fill gaps in Canada's labour market.
Since 2019, foreign workers have been coming to Sioux Lookout through the federal Rural Northern Immigration Pilot Program (RNIP). It connected skilled workers to employers in small rural communities in need of labour while offering a pathway to permanent residency.
But RNIP ended in August, leaving many workers and employers uncertain about what comes next because the program replacing it doesn't include Sioux Lookout.
Palak Gulati is a customer service supervisor at grocery store Fresh Market, where she's been working on an open visa.
Gulati chose Sioux Lookout, 350 kilometres from Thunder Bay, after studying in Toronto with the intention of continuing on to the RNIP program and eventually applying for permanent residency.
Gulati never imagined she'd end up in a place like Sioux Lookout. But now, she doesn't want to leave.
"I was never a girl who wanted to stay in a small town," she said. "I always wanted to be in Toronto or Calgary." But the small remote community is "peaceful" and has allowed her to tap into a "quieter" side of herself, she said.
After RNIP ended in August, she stayed in Sioux Lookout. She liked the town and her job, and there was an expectation Sioux Lookout would be included in the new program set to replace RNIP.
The Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP) was billed as an extension of the RNIP.
Similar to RNIP, RCIP was designed to bring foreign workers to parts of the country that were less populated and in need of skilled workers. But the boundaries of the new program changed, which is why Sioux Lookout was left out in the cold.
When asked why Sioux Lookout was not included in the RCIP, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said in a statement that all communities had the opportunity to apply to be part of RICP and to reach out to "contact Thunder Bay for more information."
RCIP is administered by community-based economic development organizations, through funding and oversight from IRCC. Only organizations with a successful track record in implementing multi-year projects qualify. Sioux Lookout does not have an organization that is eligible to administer RCIP on its own.
Thunder Bay's Community Economic Development Commission (CEDC) had been administering RNIP in Sioux Lookout along with nearly the entire Rainy River District, Dryden and Thunder Bay District. But when RCIP came up, Thunder Bay decided that was too large a catchment area to include in its responsibility.
Thunder Bay's CEDC must ensure employers hiring foreign workers through RCIP meet the requirements and standards of the program.
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