Moncton looks to boost immigrant numbers: City

MONCTON – The city of Moncton is looking to boost the number of immigrants settling in the city over the next decade.

The city released an immigration strategy Tuesday which shows more newcomers have moved to Moncton in recent years than any other city in the province.

But Moncton’s Director of Economic Development says, with more people leaving the province in search of work, immigration numbers need to be higher.

“We’ve experience significant population growth over the last 5-15 years. If we are going to sustain that growth then certainly immigration and the newcomer population is going to be very important going forward,” said Kevin Silliker.

Carolina Henriquez Genotti moved to Moncton from Chile five years ago. Her husband and three kids joined her two years later.

“The job I got, it’s amazing I love that job,” she said in an interview with Global News.

Genotti works as a civil engineer technologist in Moncton. Her husband, MauricioCollao, started his own cleaning company and hired two New Brunswickers to work for him.

The city has set out a plan to attract up to five times more immigrants to settle in Moncton over the next decade. They’re aiming for 500 to 1700 newcomers each year.

“That is an aggressive number but it’s also a bit of a reality check for the community,” said Silliker.

New Brunswick only attracts about 2000 immigrants every year.

Carolina says in order to attract newcomers the city needs to do a better job of promoting itself.

“I was trying to find information to come to Canada but I just find information on Quebec,” she said.

The strategy highlights include:

• The growing role immigration will have in shaping and impacting the ongoing success of Greater Moncton;
• The need to engage broad community stakeholders in the attraction, retention and integration of immigrants in the workforce and in the community as a whole;
• Key objectives are focused on 3 categories: 1) Attraction of new immigrants; 2) Retention and integration initiatives and 3) Support for immigrant entrepreneurship and business networks; and
• The opportunity and benefits of a coordinated approach through the implementation of a Local Immigration Partnership.