The Honourable Diane Finley, Citizenship and Immigration Minister, today announced support for Nunavut’s efforts to attract skilled immigrants.
The minister announced funding for more than $600,000 that will be provided over a period of three years. The funding will go toward enhancing online content, tools and services that help the territory to be developed as favorable destination for the immigrants and help them integrate after they arrive. If needed, the funding will also be used for consultation and outreach.
Minister Finley said that immigration is a source of growth and prosperity throughout the country and the Government of Canada is committed towards helping Nunavut to attract newcomers to the territory. She said that the federal government’s support would help Nunavut to offer more services and information that will promote the territory as an attractive destination for the immigrants and help them to settle after they arrive.
Including this funding, the government of Canada is providing a total of $20.9 million to various provinces and territories to enhance their online information and services regarding settling and working in Canada. Last year also, a number of funding was announced for various provinces and territories.
The Honourable Ed Picco, Minister responsible for Immigration said that the priorities for Nunavut are immigration and successful integration of the newcomers. He said that this funding will also help them to develop new and innovative ways to connect immigrants to the resources and services they need to make successful transition to their homes in Nunavut. But this also needs to be done as early as possible, Picco added.
Apart from Nunavut, contributions have also been signed with Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edwards Islands, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories in order to develop online services. Under the existing federal-provincial immigration agreements, British Columbia and Manitoba have also received funding to improve their provision of online information for potential immigrants and newcomers.
Provincial and territorial portals will link to the government’s immigration portal- ‘Going to Canada’ (www.goingtocanada.gc.ca), which provides online information and services that help immigrants to make decisions regarding their entry to Canada and the link also assists them in their integration and settlements after they arrive in Canada.
In addition to the above mentioned funding, the government of Canada is also investing more than $1.14 billion over a period of five years in settlement funding that are aimed towards helping newcomers succeed.