The N.B. City With The Most Newcomers In 2018 Has A Plan To Add 25,000 More
FREDERICTON – The city that welcomed the most newcomers in the province last year launched its first immigration strategy Friday that aims to increase population by a thousand new residents annually over the next 25 years.
Fredericton welcomed 1,470 newcomers in 2018 according to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada. Moncton was close behind with 1,440 with Saint John third at 835.
Immigration Fredericton, an initiative led by Ignite Fredericton and supported by the Multicultural Association of Fredericton, the Fredericton Newcomer Partnership Council, and the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, announced the five-year strategy Friday at the Fredericton Convention Centre.
“It’s immigration 2.0, it takes it to another level,” said Eric Megarity, chair of the Fredericton Newcomer Partnership Council.
Megarity also announced the launch of an online immigration portal, www.immigrationfredericton.com, which includes all the necessary information for potential newcomers. The portal aims to ‘simplify and streamline the immigration process by putting all information in one place.’
The strategy also features a social media campaign that aims to share newcomers’ stories with #WeSpeakWelcome as a slogan.
The Fredericton Newcomer Partnership Council declared June as Immigration month in Fredericton as part of their strategy and kicked off the month-long event with a flag raise on June 3.
In an interview with Huddle, Megarity said all of the province’s cities have a shared goal: to grow the population.
“We’re not in competition with other cities, we all work together,” he said.
He believes newcomers choose Fredericton for the quality of life it offers.
“It’s a nice pace, it’s clean air, it’s all about those good things,” said Megarity. “Over time, [immigrants] grow to appreciate that, and it provides our city that diversity.”
Over the past five years, there has been a 54 per cent increase in immigrant participation in N.B.’s labour force, shows a study conducted by David Campbell for the New Brunswick Multicultural Council.
Megarity says it’s important to include immigrants in both the economic and social aspects of the city. Immigrants already participate in the city’s economy by buying goods and services.
However, it’s also important they feel part of the community to fight loneliness.
To that end, the strategy also aims to achieve a functional immigration support system and grow diversity in the city.
“We [need] to include them in our social side and our neighbourhoods [because if] social isolation steps in and loneliness sets in, then they question whether they made the right move,” Megarity said. “That would be anybody, anywhere in the world.”
A way to include immigrants in the community, said Megarity, is by providing volunteer opportunities. These could later open doors in the job market for them.
“It’s things like that [which] we can provide that makes their transition easier [and] it makes their stay here a little more comfortable,” he said.
Megarity said it’s as if Canada was a house. Each room represents a province and is allowed so many newcomers. And within the N.B. room, there are ‘a bunch of chairs,’ which represent the cities in the province.
“They sit in this chair, and if they are not comfortable, they get up and sit in the next chair,” he said. “It’s our job to make those chairs comfortable.”
According to Megarity, immigrants represent about 11 per cent of Fredericton’s population – more than 7,000 people.
He said ‘the big jump’ happened between 2016 and 2018.
“It’s all about marketing yourself, marketing your city,” he said.