Canadian Visa Expert confirms that more foreign healthcare workers are needed in Northern Ontario. The rural and northern Ontario healthcare sector needs help filling open job roles.
A Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot program has been set up to help find foreign workers to help fill these roles.
The program was launched in 2019 and has recorded many successes. However, there are still many more roles in the healthcare sector in Northern Ontario to be filled.
According to the local program coordinator attached with the Timmins Economic Development Corporation, Bailey Campbell, 352 candidates have been recommended since the beginning of the pilot program.
“That is to say workers from outside the country have successfully filled 352 open jobs in the community”, Campbell said.
Though the pilot program has served a great purpose, Canadian Visa Expert reports that the program was revised last year and is due to sunset in 2024.
"That is to say workers from outside the country have successfully filled 352 open jobs in the community"
What happens if the program expires in 2024?
According to Canadian Visa Expert, while the program is scheduled to expire next year, many healthcare roles in Northern Ontario will remain vacant – a situation that will create more shortages in the rural labor force.
As a result, many Northern Ontario politicians, alongside Timmins Mayor Michelle Boileau, have called on Sean Fraser, the federal immigration minister, to investigate the situation and make the Rural and Northern Pilot Program permanent.
Boileau concluded, “There is more awareness of and interest in the program now coupled with the fact the drop in COVID-19 restrictions could make applicants take a better advantage of the program.”