The District of Muskoka is seeking funding from the federal government, Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, to establish a Local Immigration Partnership (LIP) in Muskoka.
The District is requesting a letter of support from the Town of Huntsville, along with the other five municipalities in the region, to help strengthen their application for funding under the Settlement and Resettlement Assistance Program.
Muskoka was identified as the home of more than 5,000 immigrant residents in the 2021 Census, and Muskoka’s combined growth rate of economic migrants and refugees between 2016-2021 is four times that of the overall population. New Canadians are more important to Muskoka’s workforce than ever before, particularly in the health, hospitality, and tourism sectors, according to Town staff who will be bringing the request forward at the December 13 Council meeting.
“The YMCA of Simcoe Muskoka is supportive of the application,” said Saleem Hall, Employment Specialist and Community Liaison with YMCA. “We’re seeing more and more new Canadians finding their way up to our region to make Huntsville and the greater Muskoka area home and it’s important from the YMCA’s perspective to have support to ensure people have a smooth transition to their new community.”
Hall said the YMCA is seeing a greater number of employers lean on new Canadians to support their growing businesses. He said the YMCA has had to fundraise to provide English language courses to new Canadians who need those supportive systems. “Having a formal LIP program up here is something the YMCA wholeheartedly endorses.”
Related:
District to develop an immigration integration partnership
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