Nova Scotia’s immigrant population on the rise
Nova Scotia welcomed more newcomers in 2018 than ever before, new immigration numbers show.
According to Nova Scotia Immigration, the province approved a total of 2,272 people to come here through various immigration programs.
“That’s huge, we broke the record last year with 1,651,” provincial Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab told The Chronicle Herald.
“When I came into this position in 2013 ... we had 620.”
That figure only includes individuals who have been approved to immigrate to Nova Scotia under the provincial nominee program, which encompasses several different streams, and the federal/provincial Atlantic Immigration Pilot project. Metlege Diab notes that not all of those 2,272 people have actually landed in the province yet.
As for total immigration numbers, Nova Scotia is also on track for a record number of landings in 2018. Between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31, 5,225 newcomers have made Nova Scotia home. With two months of reporting to go, landings will likely surpass the 2016 record year of 5,485, the department says. That number includes all immigrants to Nova Scotia who physically arrived in the province up until the end of October, through provincial and federal streams, as well as accompanying family members.
New programs, new immigrants
Immigration is something experts say is key to economic development and to battling outmigration of young people — in fact, it’s one of the main goals outlined in the 2014 Ivany Report.
Metlege Diab said she owes the increase to efforts by the province to increase opportunities for prospective immigrants who want to call Nova Scotia home, and ensuring individuals are best matched with the immigration streams that meet their needs.
“It’s important that the immigration system is responsive and meets the needs of the labour market here in the province,” she said.
“We’ve been working with the federal government, we’re working with our settlement partners and organizations across the province to promote all our streams, and we want to maximize all immigration pathways.”
To that end, the province introduced two new immigration programs this year. The Labour Market Priorities Stream, which allows the province to invite skilled professionals from the federal Express Entry system to apply directly to Nova Scotia, and the Physician Stream, which is aimed at helping curb the province’s physician shortage by making the immigration process faster for internationally trained primarycare doctors and specialists. Since launching in February, 18 physicians have been nominated.
In addition to a record-breaking year, the province, which gets its immigration quotas from the federal government, surpassed its Atlantic Immigration Pilot allotment of 792, as well as its provincial nominee quota of 1,350.
The Atlantic Immigration Pilot was announced in July 2016 as part of the Atlantic Growth Strategy and officially launched the following March. The program initially aimed to bring up to 2,000 additional primary immigrant applicants and their families to the region in its first year. Ottawa has since committed to doubling that to 4,000 by 2020.
The project got off to a slow start in Nova Scotia, but interest has been picking up. A total of 872 people have been endorsed so far this year and across the province, 716 businesses have been designated to hire and fill positions through the program, the department said.
City-centric reality
In order to exceed federal quotas, Metlege Diab’s office said the province was able to secure extra allotment from other provinces for the Atlantic Immigration Pilot as well as 50 additional allocation spaces for the provincial nominee program.
Metlege Diab said the province is always hoping for higher quotas, but has not yet received allotment numbers for 2019.
“We will continue to work closely with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to maximize every opportunity available for Nova Scotia,” she said.
Also in 2018, the provincial government invested in a new branding and international recruitment and marketing strategy to reach potential newcomers. As part of this, Nova Scotia Immigration attended 10 international recruitment events and took part in 150 events provincewide.
As for where people are settling in the province, according to Statistics Canada, about eight in 10 landed immigrants this year settled in Halifax, similar to immigration trends across the country.
“It’s a Canada-wide fact, it’s a worldwide fact, most people when they immigrate, they tend to centre around big cities,” Metlege Diab said.
When it comes to the Atlantic Immigration Pilot, Metlege Diab said, the allocation of rural to urban applicants is more balanced.
“(These businesses) are taking these employees to settle where the jobs are, which is what we want. We want people to come and stay and the way they’re going to stay is to be working and get settled into their communities,” she said.
But, Metlege Diab said, retaining immigrants continues to be a challenge her department is constantly working to improve. She said retention rates have been consistent around 71 per cent, the highest in the region, a significant increase over the approximately 50 per cent retention rate the province has traditionally observed. Key to that, Metlege Diab said, is employment as well as ensuring seamless settlement and community integration for newcomers with the help of the province’s settlement agencies.
“Attraction is very, very important and we’ve been working hard on that and I think we are seeing very good results, but retention is equally as important,” she said. “We (can) bring people in but if we can’t keep them, then we’ve lost the battle.”