Busting myths and embracing newcomers: New project aims to make N.L. more welcoming

People from Newfoundland and Labrador are known as a friendly bunch, but a new pilot project wants communities to take their welcoming skills to a whole other level.

In some cases, the first step is correcting locals' misconceptions on immigration, says the project's co-ordinator in Corner Brook.

"One of my favourite myths to bust is that newcomers are stealing jobs from Canadians, and that's just not the case. There are massive labour shortages in Newfoundland," said Nicole Ivany.

"In order for people to come here, businesses have to prove that there is a need, that there is a labour shortage and they've exhausted all their options to recruit locally."

Welcome NL launched in August as a collaboration between Municipalities NL and the provincial Office of Immigration and Multiculturalism. The two-year pilot currently has projects planned for Corner Brook, Labrador West, Happy Valley Goose Bay, Gander and Grand Falls-Windsor.

Ivany said the work done in each community depends on the individual needs of the newcomer population in each area.

"It has largely been left up to the different projects what, exactly, they will offer to newcomers in their communities," she said.

"In our case, we're developing like international student job shadowing, Multiculturalism Week celebrations, as well as networking opportunities for newcomers. If we aren't able to answer questions or help them with things directly, [we] connect them with the right people who can."

Welcoming committees

Arlene Michelin-Pittman, the project co-ordinator in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, was shocked when she realized just how diverse the community of newcomers is in the Upper Lake Melville region. In December, she met more than 70 newcomers at a community event.

"I was completely blown away speaking with these people, asking how long they've been here. Some have been here for two years, three years, eight months and I'm thinking OK, I'm pretty active in my community and I haven't laid eyes on any of these people so I think there's way more diversity than we have any idea," said Michelin-Pittman.

"One of the goals of Welcome NL is to bridge that gap so that these individuals who are new to our area feel that our community is very open and welcoming."

One of the main ways Welcome NL is helping communities to do that is by encouraging them to form "welcoming initiative committees" that include established immigrants, employers, as well as representatives from health boards, educational insitutions, law enforcement and more.

"We want to be able to sell what Happy Valley-Goose Bay is, but we don't have a concrete, formal process so that when you move here, for instance, we hand you a document that [outlines] all the things you need to become aware of," said Michelin-Pittman, such as information about extra-curricular activities and volunteerism for example. She said they hope to have something like this in place by September.

"We want to be able to show how diverse our community is."

Attract and retain

The provincial government's Way Forward plan aims to increase immigration to Newfoundland and Labrador by 50 per cent by 2022. Ivany said as a Welcome NL co-ordinator her goal is to help communities to also focus on ways to keep newcomers in the area.

"Retention is everything. We want people to come here and establish families here and to stay and love Newfoundland and Labrador the way we do," said Ivany.

It's no secret the province has an aging population and a low birth rate, she said.

"So how are we going to get the new people? It's going to be through immigration."

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