There’s a new Eastern Ontario Immigrant Attraction and Retention Strategy.
It’s been quite the extensive collaboration, involving five community partners with a vested interest in its success.
(The development of this Strategy was led by Local Immigration Partnership – Lanark & Renfrew, in partnership with The Eastern Ontario Training Board (EOTB), Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership (OLIP), Réseau de soutien à l’immigration francophone de l’est de l’Ontario (RSIFEO), and St. Lawrence-Rideau Immigration Partnership – Leeds and Grenville.)
That’s Jodi Bucholtz, Manager of the Local Immigration Partnership for Lanark and Renfrew Counties.
Jodi says she’s hoping for wide buy-in to the eight aspects of attraction, and the further eight of retention to make immigrants entering the workforce here welcome, and thus more likely to stay.
Mark your calendars for the Eastern Ontario Immigrant Attraction and Retention Strategy Summit on Oct 4 and 5. The Summit aims to introduce and unite leaders, policymakers, community organizations, and stakeholders to explore innovative approaches and best practices in attracting and retaining immigrants in our region.
Keynote speakers include Kareem El-Assal, immigration policy expert and the Director of Policy & Digital Strategy at CanadaVisa and Wali Shah, a dynamic spoken word artist, speaker, and youth advocate.
You can wait for the virtual walk-through in October- or dive right into the document, by visiting liplanarkrenfrew.ca
It’s a deep dive, however, as the document is over one hundred pages- but makes a good starting point.
By Rick Stow