Building a Home

Building a Home: Strengthening the Pathways for Newcomer Economic Integration

October 24,  2019 |  Rachel Rizzuto

Given a slow population growth, a rising demographic dependency ratio, and the introduction of the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot, as well as the Francophone Welcoming Communities Initiative, it is important for the City of Greater Sudbury to ask: What assets and resources can we enhance in order to effectively attract and retain newcomers? Specifically, how can the City of Greater Sudbury encourage effective and long-term newcomer economic integration?

To answer these questions, the Greater Sudbury Local Immigration Partnership held a discussion with its Economic Working Group, which was facilitated by Northern Policy Institute (NPI). Through an analysis of the comments made in this session, as well as in key informant interviews, NPI was able to provide strategic actions for the City of Greater Sudbury to take in order to successfully encourage economic integration of newcomers.

Alongside the economic integration barriers for newcomers (e.g. a lack of knowledge regarding Ontario’s legislation for starting a business, language barriers, and not enough diversity training), barriers for employers and service providers were identified that can impact their ability to effectively address these obstacles for newcomers, including: lack of quality data, communication issues, and a lack of attraction efforts.

Based on these barriers, there are several actions that can be taken such as constructing an asset map so that newcomers and employers can identify and access appropriate resources, engaging employers appropriately, improving the pathway for newcomer entrepreneurs, and planning for families too – not just individual newcomers.
Through these recommended actions, the City of Greater Sudbury can strengthen supports and other economic integration pathways for newcomers. Doing so will not only ensure newcomers are appropriately integrated into the labour market but also increase the likelihood they choose to stay and help the City of Greater Sudbury continue to grow.

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This report was created as part of the Northern Analyst Collective. This project allows members to “time share” a professional policy analyst. By merging our collective resources we can ensure that the smallest municipality or local charity can access high-end skills at an affordable cost. For more information on the program click here.

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In the Media

• November 12, 2019 - Sudbury Star - Newcomers face too many barriers in Sudbury: Report
• October 29, 2019 - Wawa News - Building a Home for Newcomers
• October 28, 2019 - CBC - Northern Policy Institute offers tips on filling labour gaps in Sudbury

Related Research:

• Places to Grow: Best Practices for Community-based Regional Economic Development in Ontario’s North
• Northern Projections: Human Capital Series - Greater Sudbury District
• The Northern Attraction Series 1: Exploring the Need for a Northern Newcomer Strategy
• The Northern Attraction Series 2: Identifying Northern Ontario’s Strengths and Weaknesses in the Attraction and Retention of Newcomers
• The Northern Attraction Series 3: Evaluating the Suitability of Provincial and Federal Immigration Programs for Northern Ontario
• The Northern Attraction Series 4: Thinking Local: Best Practices and Solutions for Northern Ontario Communities