Q&A: How Ottawa says it’s supporting immigration in NWT

Canada’s immigration minister is in Yellowknife this week meeting with NWT officials, the business community and newcomers to the territory.

Marc Miller said he sat down with leaders and residents to discuss how Canada’s immigration system can better meet the needs of the NWT.

While Canada has had record immigration levels, Miller said it’s important that talent being attracted to the country addresses gaps in local labour markets and that immigrants are properly supported.

“In Yellowknife, it’s quite clear that there are some realities that we need to reflect better as a federal government as we work with our territorial counterparts to make sure that people that come to this beautiful part of Canada are properly surrounded, properly welcomed and we’re not doing this in a sort of haphazard way,” he said.

“We’re seeing from Canadians the need to make sure that the immigration system is one that doesn’t just let people come into the country and then go to the big, large commercial centres and not reflect needs that are, at times, regional in nature and sectoral in nature.”

The NWT government has looked to initiatives to attract more immigrants in recent years to address labour shortages in the territory.

Earlier this month, the territorial government announced that it had reached the federally imposed immigration cap for its nominee program for the first time.

The NWT Nominee Program aims to attract qualified foreign nationals to fill critical labour gaps in the territory. The program, which has a business stream and an employer driven stream, offers support to qualified immigrants in acquiring Canadian permanent residency.

The territory also receives an annual transfer payment from the federal government based on population size while population growth has been minimal in recent years.

Miller sat down for an interview at Cabin Radio’s studios on Tuesday.

 The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Emily Blake: The NWT government has shown a lot of enthusiasm for welcoming people to the territory. What is the federal government doing to support that?

Marc Miller: Well, first, that’s good. I have had enough discussions with my colleague, Mike McLeod, as well as the roundtables that I’ve had today with various business associations, immigrant advocacy groups, new Canadians to the Northwest Territories themselves, to know that there is a big need for the vitality of communities in the Northwest Territories.

People are very conscious of the draw that other provinces and territories have on residents from the Northwest Territories, and the ageing of the population as well as the simple needs of the labour market that exist in the North that are different than those in downtown Toronto or downtown Montreal, where I’m the Member of Parliament for. And the federal government has a role.

So this, particularly in an atmosphere Canada isn’t immune to, where there is a lot more scrutiny on immigration, immigration systems, generally in Canada but also countries across the world that we like to compare ourselves to. It makes for a job where there’s less margin for error and people are looking to the federal government and their provincial, territorial and municipal governments to get it right.

Northwest Territories has a nominee program that it has used rather sparingly in the past, that has become oversubscribed now this year, and that is a reflection of a number of things, including the limited spots, but also the demand that’s out there in the market. And if there is that need, and it should and can be filled by newcomers or immigrants, then there’s a lot of logic in me engaging with with my counterpart, minister [Caitlin] Cleveland, to make sure that that happens.

For a territory of this size that’s looking to use population as an economic driver, what would you say is a healthy immigration target for the Northwest Territories?

Well, look, frankly, it’s something that happens organically at times, but it isn’t necessarily entirely up to me to solve, as odd as that sounds, as the federal immigration minister.

The strategic review that took place within my department and engaged a number of actors across Canada in the last year, clearly said there is a need in certain labour markets for more immigration. As a country, we have an ageing workforce, ageing demographics and a need to have a younger workforce just as an economic matter or else we lose the ability to fund a lot of the programs that are very important to our national identity including, most importantly, health care. That comes with a challenge of the pressure that that poses on housing, on the education system, on the health care system, that immigrants contribute to in a number of ways. Particularly in the health care system where we can’t continue the health care system that we have, particularly with elderly care, if we don’t have immigrants. But we need to get it right.

We need to work with the Northwest Territories on looking at the needs of the labour market, how and when immigrants can fill those. And with a population, like as I mentioned earlier, that’s ageing, and even with a baby boom it would take 20 years to create sort of productive members of the economy, it’s inevitable that immigration needs to fill that space. And the nominee program that the Northwest Territories benefits from has seen an ability to welcome several hundred immigrants. We can look at that and how it could potentially be increased or how it could be better leveraged to look at the needs of all businesses in the North, which have unique needs and don’t have necessarily the same retention rates of immigrants as the larger cities where we see a draw for a variety of reasons, whether it’s for the jobs or for being closer to their community members. So the unique challenges that face the North, and Yellowknife is not alone in that, is one that I think I owe it to my colleagues in the territorial government and to people, residents of Yellowknife and other regions of the Northwest Territories, to get right.

Speaking on that, sort of the unique challenges of the North whether it’s the high cost of living or a lack of housing, what can be done to make the territory a more attractive destination for immigrants?

Probably get warmer once in a while, although I love the cold. Look, I think it’s a beautiful place, whether it’s this time of year or whether it’s in the depths of winter. But when it is cold and you have immigrants from countries where they’re not used to that, the generalization is that they prefer to be in an environment that is a little more hospitable. But it is an attractive place to be in.

I mean, there are reasons to migrate to the North, and there are increasing reasons to make sure that immigrants are part of that story. Whether it’s the evolving critical minerals discussion we have in this country about how Canada can exploit critical minerals in an ethical way, in a way that serves the needs of a greening economy, or the tourist industry that is thriving and can thrive even more, there are plenty of spaces in which immigrants have a story and a place where they can fulfill the needs that are here. Obviously, when we talk about productivity, that also means higher salaries at times.

When we talk about more volume to the North, that also means the importance to make sure that we have proper housing. Minister of housing, Sean Fraser has announced some significant investments in the Northwest Territories including leveraging 2,500 homes in the next 10 years, and the investments in the housing accelerator fund here, which is super important. We know that housing is a component of this discussion and it’s one that federal government has a role to play in. That also includes the territorial governments in the services that they provide to newcomers that are in the effective sphere of their jurisdiction including education and health care.

Canada has a program called the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot that’s designed to help boost immigration to smaller and more isolated communities, but the pilot doesn’t currently feature any communities from the territories. Is that something that’s going to change and if Northwest Territories communities wanted to be involved, how would they go about doing that?

Well it’s a program that I announced was going to be a permanent one, and it’s one where communities have to apply and qualify for. So we look for a number of criteria that the applicant communities can fulfill, including its ability to support and assume the agency of newcomers to, in this case, the Northwest Territories. And it is a competitive process. There is also, when communities don’t, some don’t avail themselves of that, it does require a certain level of capacity to support newcomers.

What we look at as a federal government is the ability of those communities to provide the proper welcome to those members that are there so that we can assume and assure the proper retention rates. The retention rates of the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot is well over 80 percent. So it is successful, but it comes with some rigorous criteria as to how to qualify for it. And then we support those communities in their journey and making sure that the people that immigrate there have wraparound services and support from the community. So it isn’t sort of, you win the lottery and then you figure it out. It actually is planned in advance, and I think that’s what Canadians are looking for.

Were any particular community not to qualify, they can always apply in other years and seek to qualify. And it’s something that we have to remain dynamic about, because it is successful. Because it’s a pilot, it’s only been limited to a couple thousand spots. But there are other avenues to look at, including the pilots that we have to welcome Francophone migrants to the territories. And that’s one where there has been some success, particularly in Yellowknife, being a welcoming community as part of that plan.

The NWT government has said it’s pushing for its immigration cap to grow. What are the next steps for that to potentially happen?

Talking to me helps as one of the steps, but not to be glib about it. I’m having conversations with the premier and minister Cleveland tomorrow, specifically on this topic. I know, and this has brought to my attention a little less than two weeks ago, about the quota that had been exceeded by the territories. This is the first time in a long time that’s occurred. So that is a positive sign, but it’s also a sign of pressure on the system, and the Northwest Territories only has a few spots available. And that’s a conversation that will continue, namely tomorrow, but over the next little while as we look at the needs and how to make sure that the needs of the North are reflected. And that agency is assumed by the Government of Northwest Territories.

This is part of a program called the provincial nominee program that includes the territories and provinces. It allots about 100,000 spots annually from our permanent residency levels, where provinces and territories can select certain people according to their own criteria. And my message in recent months has been to my colleagues that let’s do this in the right way where we’re leveraging the local labour market of people that are here temporarily, and making sure that we are sensitive to the volumes of people that want to come to Canada and reflecting the local talent that’s here. So using those programs in the right way, making sure, as I mentioned as I referred to earlier, that we are coordinated in our approach in welcoming newcomers to Canada.

In the last minute that we have here, is there anything else that you wanted to say or think should be part of the discussion?

No, I’m super happy to be here. In my previous portfolio, I got to come up here. I got to get away from Yellowknife as well, in other communities, just to say hi to people. It’s always important to hear back from Canadians on what they’re seeing, what they’re feeling. Whether it’s immigration or others, as elected officials we are sometimes stuck in a bit of an Ottawa bubble, so it’s great to get out here and even have your listeners hear what I have to say and draw their conclusions as to whether they like it or not. Hopefully they like it. But I certainly love being here in Yellowknife and different parts of the Northwest Territories, so I hope to get back up here again soon.