By Tiffany Goodwein

City relieved to be selected for immigration program

Jun 18, 2019 | 6:00 AM

The city of Vernon is responding to critics after the federal government announced that the city has been chosen to take part in a federal immigration pilot program.

Kevin Poole, manager of economic development and tourism, said the rural and northern immigration pilot is necessary to keep up with the growing demand for skilled workers.

According to Poole, the latest reports indicate that by 2028 roughly 70,000 workers will be heading for retirement in the Thompson-Okanagan region and an additional 20,000 jobs will be generated through economic growth.

“Ninety-thousand job vacancies just in the Thompson-Okanagan. That’s the challenge that we are trying to fulfill, and this program is just going to skim the top of that,” he said.

Under the program, roughly 100 new full-time workers will settle in the city every year for the next three years.

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“So potentially 300 jobs, 300 new families. That’s on the high end, but at the end of the day there has to be permanent full-time jobs for these people in order to come and they have to meet the criteria,” Poole said.

The struggle of finding skilled workers has been a challenge that spans several years.

Poole said the need for more qualified workers varies from tourism to manufacturing to health care.

“It’s really across the board; it’s every sector” he said.

“We hear it from all of the businesses right now that they have huge challenges trying to fill their skilled labour shortages within the community, so this program will provide us the opportunity to assist.”

He argues that local businesses may suffer if the skilled-worker shortage is not addressed.

“This is their number one challenge. It’s inhibiting growth,” Poole said.

The federal government listed Vernon as one of 11 communities taking part on Friday sparking a firestorm on social media.

“Vernon has a major homeless issue. If there is not enough homes in Vernon for not only the homeless but also numerous families, where in the heck do they plan to put these immigrants?” one person wrote on Beach Radio 107.5’s Facebook Page.

“Instead of taking care of the population that has held this city up, they replace, and forget us. Nothing new here,” said another comment.

Community Futures of the North Okanagan will be responsible for administering the program.

Federal ministry staff is expected to meet with the organizers in the summer in order to identify candidates for the program this fall.

The new workers for the first installment of the three-year program are expected to arrive in 2020.

by Tiffany Goodwein

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