LITTLE CURRENT—Business owners from across Manitoulin learned of the opportunities of international recruitment of francophone immigrants through a luncheon hosted by the Northern Ontario Francophone Immigration Support Network.
The luncheon explored how business owners can recruit internationally for skilled professionals as well as information about immigrant investors and entrepreneurs who might be interested in buying up or starting up business on Manitoulin.
Christian Howald, project coordinator with the Northern Ontario Francophone Immigration Support Network, gave the opening presentation, explaining how the Conference Board of Canada estimates that by 2015, Canada will face a shortage of 1.2 million skilled workers and that in Ontario alone businesses already lose $24.3 billion in economic activity because they are unable to find workers with the skills their companies need.
The Northern Network works with key partners in Canada immigration such as Destination Canada and the Canadian Embassy in Paris to build bridges between organizations across Northern Ontario to implement a system that promotes and facilities recruitment, settlement and the integration of newcomers to the area.
Mr. Howald explained that in the Sudbury-Manitoulin-Algoma region there are 60,000 individuals that are French speaking in 26,000 households.
“French speaking tourism is rising each year by six percent,” said Mr. Howald. “We have 149,000 French tourists spending 129 million dollars annually in Ontario. Island tourists are French, Swiss and Belgian and want to feel at home during their stay, which means they want businesses that speak French.”
Mr. Howald also reviewed with luncheon participants the changes to the immigration system for 2015 and some of the programs that exist connecting skilled francophone immigrants with Ontario businesses owners.
Other presenters included representatives from La Bonne Affair, an organization dedicated to helping French speaking immigrants find work or go into business, and Conseil do la cooperation de l’Ontario on the cooperative model of business and how it can help build businesses with immigrant population.
For more information about the Northern Ontario Francophone Immigration Support Network or hiring a Francophone immigrant visit www.reseaudunord.ca.
