View Publication
“We have to dream big for this province,” former Premier Heather Stefanson said, referring to a pledge to increase Manitoba’s population to 2 million by 2030. The source of much of that population growth? Immigration.
Emerging from the pandemic, immigration has received renewed attention from the Province. Manitoba is estimated to need about 15,550 workers per year until 2025 to meet labour demands, according to its February 2023 Immigration Advisory Council report.
While known for its warm welcome, recent cuts to the civil service workforce and provincial spending on immigration have significantly reduced Manitoba’s capacity to support its innovative immigration and settlement programs.
Manitoba has been a model in Canada for using immigration for province-building—recruiting immigrants for labour force growth and economic development and to address population decline, much of which occurs through out-migration to other provinces. As part of a push to receive its “fair share” of newcomers, in 1998 Manitoba pioneered the first Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) in Canada.
The PNP emphasizes the selection of ‘skilled’ workers for in-demand occupations—nurses, for example—and also allows temporary migrants and international students already working or taking post-secondary education in Manitoba to apply for permanent residency through a two-step process: migrants enter the country as with temporary status and then apply to the PNP to immigrate.
Since the PNP’s inception, immigration to Manitoba surged; fewer than 3,000 newcomers arrived in 1998, and by 2011 that grew to 15,963. After a pandemic-related backlog, last year Manitoba welcomed a record 21,645 immigrants. That figure does not include the nearly 26,000 temporary residents in the province in 2022, according to preliminary data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Manitoba has also received more Ukrainians per capita than any other province since the 2022 invasion.
Even as immigration has grown, however, the Province has cut spending in the sector. Between 2016 and February 2021, there was a 27 percent reduction in the immigration civil service workforce. And since 2013-14, overall expenditure on immigration dropped 34 percent.
Provincial funding for settlement is crucial. It fills important gaps in federally funded services that help newcomers learn official languages, find jobs, and otherwise settle successfully in their new community. Cuts especially affect newcomers with temporary status, who do not generally qualify for federally funded settlement services and must rely on dwindling provincial supports. These include workers filling essential jobs in sectors such as healthcare, hospitality, meat-processing, manufacturing and trucking. This also includes international students, who have been actively recruited as a means of enhancing Manitoba’s “competitiveness for global talent.” If these newcomers are unable to access services on arrival, it impacts their integration when they eventually become permanent residents.
According to respondents in a survey as part of the Public Service in Tough Times: Working Under Austerity in Manitoba project, austerity measures since 2016 have “greatly impacted” the immigration sector and its capacity. Cuts have left some organizations attempting to deliver the same services with fewer resources or making tough choices about reducing services to certain groups. One respondent noted that in 2021-22, one-third of the positions in their unit had become vacant and were not filled. This resulted in increased workloads, a loss of departmental strategy, a diminished “Manitoba brand” and low morale.
Settlement services are a critical transition support for recently arrived newcomers. Measures intended to reduce costs in the short-term can have detrimental longer-term costs. As one respondent reflected, “While there may be very short-term cost reductions to the Province, critical social services are being eroded, with high stress and staff burnout in the community sector, more pressure on emergency services, and an increasingly divided society.” Another stressed that “government austerity since 2016 has been a disaster in the province of Manitoba. It will take years to rebuild the coordination and collaborative nature of the sector.”
Earlier in 2023, the Province negotiated with the federal government to increase Manitoba’s annual intake of Provincial Nominees, seeing the program as a key tool “to advance Manitoba’s economic prosperity.” If the Province really wants to compete as a “destination of choice,” it must be willing to properly fund the public and non-profit service sectors supporting our new community members. Increasing funding to align with immigration levels and providing more stable multi-year, core funding to service providers would reduce administration costs, staff turnover and training costs.
Government support sends an official message of welcome and inclusion and contributes to successful newcomer settlement—and retention. To build thriving communities, Manitoba needs a strong public and service sector. Without that, “big dreams” for the province may be just that—dreams.
Grant: Community-Driven Solutions to Poverty: Challenges and Possibilities - 2020-2027
Category: Community Economic Development