BY BILL BRADLEY
Mayor David Courtemanche has been invited to participate in a discussion on immigration taking place with members of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Big City?s Mayors? Caucus.
Toronto Mayor David Miller will be chair of the discussion that will held by conference call Thursday at 1:30 pm.
Courtemanche has said many times Greater Sudbury needs to attract more immigrants as a way to counter the area?s declining population.
?Many of our communities, which were built by first-generation immigrants, are now experiencing a marked decline in population,? Courtemanche said in a letter accepting Miller?s invitation to participate.
?With supporting federal programs, our northern communities can assist in easing the challenges of concentrated population growth and related
infrastructure needs faced by major metropolitan areas,? he added.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities established a Working Group on Immigration last November. Its mandate will be to lobby the federal
government for action on immigration and settlement issues in the context of the New Deal for Cities.
Miller picked Courtemanche to participate in the group because this city to trying to attract and retain immigrants. Sudbury?s experience ?is core to the
advocacy focus for the working group,? Miller told Courtemanche in a letter.
Immigrants are key to Canada?s and Sudbury?s future, says senior Sudbury planner Carlos Salazar.
Salazar is involved with another immigration working group through the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, AMO.
?Both the federal government and the Conference Board of Canada, a national think tank, say the biggest net job growth will come from immigrants by 2011,? he said.
?The problem is that unlike other provinces, Ontario does not have an agreement with Ottawa on immigration.
?If we did, if Sudbury was short of say skilled instrumentation technicians for the mining sector then those immigrants with those skills could be fast tracked and encouraged to locate here,? he said.
That would please economist David Robinson. Speaking Monday at Laurentian University about Sudbury?s economic forecast for 2005, he said the city needs to be proactive about recruiting specialists from throughout the world.
?Forget about general immigration incentives, get out and recruit specialists from elsewhere in the world in the areas we want to develop like mining supply and services companies,? he said.
One program at the university is helping get Sudbury the expertise it needs for all kinds of fields.
Jorg Virchez, professor in the Laurentian geography department, said a number of key initiatives are underway to bring in professors, students and technical staff from Mexico and the United States.
?We at Laurentian are involved in the NAFTA Mobility Program, that facilitates cross border flow of professionals and students to here for instance.
We are meeting in Orisaba Mexico, Feb. 13 to talk with a number of universities to bring in more students and more new ideas to a number of
disciplines at Laurentian, from biology to nursing, geography to women?s studies, already the commerce department is on board.?
Salazar cautions Sudburians not to just cream off the skilled professionals and workers from elsewhere.
?We have to realize Sudbury was built from a diverse mix of people. many were unskilled. we have to also take the farmers from the mountains of
Ecuador. they will enrich us too,? he said.
