Immigration key to make up for impact of low birth rates on Vancouver Island
This is part three of CTV News Vancouver Island's three-part series Shifting Focus: Families, Fertility and the Future.
As B.C.’s workforce ages, the province anticipates 160,000 jobs will open in the next decade. It hopes 20,000 of those positions will be filled by people from other countries, and the challenge may not be finding qualified workers, but rather encouraging them to stay.
“When immigrants come here, they are looking for a better life,” says Humaira Ahmed.
The North Saanich tech start-up founder and CEO moved to Canada from Pakistan in 2005. Her family immigrated to Toronto, and she later moved to Vancouver, then Victoria. She says the lack of diversity on Vancouver Island was a difficult adjustment.
“It’s truly your network is your net worth here and that’s one of the biggest challenges when you’re new to a country,” says Ahmed. “I would say until I started my company, until I started to win awards – nobody cared. It’s really hard to break in.”
It’s a heartbreaking revelation as government eyes immigration to help address shortages in our labour market, which are partly a result of declining birth rates.
“We have more jobs than people and we expect that to be a challenge for the years ahead,” says Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation Ravi Kahlon.
Ahmed is happy to hear the province is trying to recruit thousands more immigrants to help fill positions, but she says leaders need to be mindful of making sure a community is set up to help encourage newcomers to stay.
“That’s where I’ve had issues and challenges,” she says. “One of the things I’ve been saying for years is, ‘I want to move back to Toronto.’”
The South Island Prosperity Partnership shares the concern. Economic developer Dallas Gislason says city centers like Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal have large, diverse, in-depth support systems in place for newcomers, and we need to build more supports in this area.
“The research shows in organizations like McKinsey and academic research has showed that diverse organizations actually outperform homogenous organizations substantially,” adds Gislason.
Ahmed’s business is called Locelle. It focuses on advancing the careers of women and other under-represented groups in tech. She says opportunity and community are paramount.
“I do think it’s a systems thing too, where we can educate women and under-represented communities as much as we want,” she says. “But if the systems are not changing, the leadership is not changing, we can only move the needle so far.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
'State or state-sponsored actor' believed to be behind B.C. government hacks
The head of British Columbia’s civil service has revealed that a “state or state-sponsored actor” is behind multiple cyber-security incidents against provincial government networks.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
Mother assaulted by stranger while breastfeeding baby in her car: Vancouver police
A person was arrested in East Vancouver Thursday after allegedly entering a car while a mother was breastfeeding her four-month-old boy.
More than half the Canadians once detained in Syrian camps for suspected ISIS family members have returned home
A total of 29 Canadians have been freed from detention camps in northeast Syria and brought back to Canada since human rights advocates began lobbying for their release years ago.
Rare severe solar storm Friday could bring spectacular aurora light show across Canada
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
Canada abstains from Palestinian UN membership vote but supports two-state solution
Canada was one of 25 countries that abstained from a United Nations vote on Palestinian membership that passed with overwhelming support on Friday.
Amish youth experience a rite of passage called Rumspringa. It’s not what you might think
The idea of “Rumspringa” has a specific spot in the American imagination. A rite of passage for young people in some Amish communities, Rumspringa is seen by most outsiders as a wild time away from strict Amish rules, when teenagers can experiment with the modern vices of the world.
Djokovic needs medical attention after getting knocked on the head by a water bottle at Italian Open
Novak Djokovic needed medical attention after apparently getting knocked on the head by a water bottle after a win at the Italian Open on Friday.