Parry Sound is calling for the Rural Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP) program to stick around.
Council carried a motion this week supporting the RNIP program becoming a permanent program.
Officials say the community driven program began as a federal initiative designed to spread the benefits of economic immigration to smaller communities by creating a path to permanent residence for skilled foreign workers who want to work and live in one of the participating communities.
Clayton Harris, Parry Sound’s Chief Administrative Officer, says the resolution also calls for the program to be expanded.
“We also think local northern communities like Parry Sound have the same challenges as the cities in northern Ontario and there’s no reason this pilot program shouldn’t be expanded to all northern Ontario,” he says. “Hopefully that resonates with the federal government and those copied on the resolution and gets some traction as well from other communities and other levels of government,”.
Council says they are supportive of encouraging continued immigration in the area that can lead to permanent residency.
The federal government’s program, which includes five northern Ontario cities, will come to an end on February 1.
According to council, the resolution will be sent to the federal and provincial governments as well as the Parry Sound Area Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Business Association, Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities, the municipalities of West Parry Sound and the Rotary Club of Parry Sound.