Sault Ste. Marie is only one of three communities who have officially launched its Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot Program.

The program is designed to help the community bolster its population by attracting foreign workers with skill sets that match local needs.

Labour market shortages have been identified across Northern and rural communities across Canada, including Northern Ontario, as a result of declining birth rates, an aging population and an outmigration of youth.

Sault Ste. Marie, Brandon, Man., and Altona/Rhineland Man., are the only three communities, to date, that have been able to launch local programs. Eleven communities across Canada were selected last year for the pilot project.

North Bay, Timmins and three other western communities were to begin their intake Jan. 1 but their programs are now delayed by at least a month, a Canada Immigration newsletter states. Sudbury and Thunder Bay, both communities that were to begin accepting applications late last year, have also not begun the intake process.

“I’m proud of our team and our community partners,” said Mayor Christian Provenzano. “I’m not surprised by that information. I knew we were prepared and I think it is a testament to us listening to are economic and community partners years ago. We lobbied for this program and we were successful to be part of the pilot and we’re one of the first out of the gate.”

Paul Sayers, FutureSSM’s labour force development co-ordinator, attributes the city’s early success to the early preparation completed by the community partners and the early launch of the Welcome to Sault Ste. Marie website.

“We have a healthy network of people in the community who were seasoned in all the areas of support,” Sayers said. “We also had our WelcometoSSM website running in June, prior to the announcement about the pilot project.”

The WelcometoSSM website serves as a guide to people interested in moving to the city. It offers information on career planning, life in Sault Ste. Marie, education, resources and testimonials.

To date, 13,000 expressions of interest have been received in Sault Ste. Marie, ranging from questions about the city or the application process or a copy of a resume.

Sayers said other communities may not have created the same team network that Sault Ste. Marie did and may, perhaps, be working in silos with no one resource responsible for pulling everything together, he said.

“We’ve been building relationships for a year prior to the program, and I think that has really helped us because we have our system, our website, and our community committee and partners in place,” Sayers said.

Sault Ste. Marie’s program officially kicked off late last fall and was the very first community to begin accepting applications under the program guidelines.

A goal of establishing 100 primary candidates and their families in Sault Ste. Marie had been set for the first year of the pilot project.

In December, the city’s committee reviewed 12 applications and endorsed six, all of which are currently in Sault Ste. Marie on temporary work permits and want to transition to permanent residency, Sayers said.

A further pool of 10 to 15 applicants will be reviewed at the end of this month, again all applicants who are currently working in the city on temporary permits.

It’s believed that there may be about 30 or more people currently on temporary work permits in Sault Ste. Marie who will apply for permanent status under the program.

“That’s part of the program; it’s not only attracting newcomers, but retaining them. We have people in Sault Ste. Marie who have already had the experience on temporary work permits and want to be part of this community permanently,” he said.

The “trailblazing process” to bring in new immigrants is still underway and there are a lot of administrative processes that must be completed, Sayers said. He anticipates that phase of the immigration strategy will unfold in late spring with targeted work campaigns, advertising and discussions with employers to identify specific skill trade needs and positions available, among other things.

Sayers said coming together as a community reiterates that “we can achieve great things when we work together. I feel pretty good about how far we’ve already come and it’s all because of the great community support we’ve had.”

Before the program was even launched, several thousands of emails and resumes were sent through the Welcome to Sault Ste. Marie website from around the world, including about 2,500 resumes.

Under the regulations of the pilot project, the immigrants must have a job offer and skills must match those needed for the positions. Knowledge of English is also a requirement.

Applicants must also be considered a good community fit by the local review committee.

That committee includes representatives from the Sault Ste. Marie Career Centre, the Local Immigration Partnership, the Economic Development Corp. and FutureSSM. Such factors as personal experiences and lifestyle, hobbies, alignment with local cultural groups or like-minded people, are all considered in the application review process.

Sault Ste. Marie’s aging and declining population and low birth has resulted in a population decrease of 2.11 per cent between 2011 and 2016.

The city’s median age is listed at 47, somewhat higher than the provincial average of 41, and considered the oldest of large city centres in Northern Ontario.

Sault Ste. Marie’s labour force needs include skilled workers in the IT sector, finance, health care, engineering and skilled trades.