City of Saint John reveals 10-year plan to recruit and retain immigrants
CBC
The city of Saint John wants to welcome 12,000 newcomers to the Saint John region in the next decade, according to David Dobbelsteyn, the city's acting director of growth and community planning.
Dobbelsteyn shared the goal during a presentation of the city's new 10-year immigration strategy at the Saint John Trade & Convention Centre on Tuesday.
"This is a way for the city and our broader region to essentially both inform our provincial and federal counterparts that we're willing and ready to accept more newcomers," Dobbelsteyn said in an interview.
"But also, to inform our newcomer community: you're welcome here. We want you to stay and we want you to succeed."
The event featured a panel discussion with researchers and consultants who helped develop the Succeed and Stay report, which was prepared by the city and the Saint John Local Immigration Partnership (LIP), a community initiative.
The report examines the settlement and retention experiences of newcomers in Saint John and helped inform the new 10-year strategy.
Employment is one of the main reasons newcomers stay in Saint John, said Mikael Hellstrom, a co-investigator for the Succeed and Stay report.
But a lack of opportunities is also why they leave, he said. Improving the employment opportunities for newcomers is one of four pillars in the ten year strategy.
The partnership conducted a survey with newcomers, and received 700 unique responses.
Duyen Nguyen, the principal investigator for the Succeed and Stay report, said one problem identified in the survey was suitable employment. Forty per cent of respondents couldn't get a job that matched their skills and pay expectations.
As well, 54 per cent of respondents felt there was a lack of job opportunities in Saint John.
One challenge Hellstrom identified while interviewing newcomers in 2020 was that it's difficult for them to be hired without a network.
Employers in Saint John in 2020 were apparently reluctant to hire someone they didn't know, he said.
"It wasn't just resumé, it wasn't enough. 'Do I know this person? Does my family know this person? Do my friends from high school know this person? No, OK, I'm not gonna go with this person'," Hellstrom said.
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