People looking to immigrate to Alberta from outside the country will benefit from a new program that looks to fill labour shortages, while helping workers and their families become permanent residents. The town of Taber is one of four Alberta communities to be included in the Alberta Advantage Immigration program. It is a sponsorship program run by the province and the federal government that looks to bring in skilled workers and entrepreneurs.
“Taber is already so diverse – we have such a diverse community, with many cultures to celebrate and there is so much going on. We have a lot of great businesses and new businesses and entrepreneurs and hard workers and we need the labour force to be able to support that growth,” said Amy Allred, economic development officer for the Town of Taber.
The program launched in February with two new streams specific to rural communities. Allred said it is easy to see the town is struggling to meet labour demand and she is optimistic this will help.
“There’s actually a couple businesses here in town that approached the town and asked us to apply for the program so they can be part of it, so we are really excited that they took the initiative to do that,” she said. “It’s a community driven program because we want the growth to be long term and stable and bring good economic growth to the whole community and we want the people to come and to work and to stay in the community.”
Allred said a lot of the need is in service industries, but the town also needs skilled workers. The town is asking employers to post jobs on Canada job bank to attract people looking to immigrate. They will then bring names to a committee, which will provide a letter of support for the program. Taber and District Community Adult Learning and Lethbridge Family Services will work to help welcome people and make sure they and their families are connected to the community by assisting with things such as getting kids into school and helping enrol in English classes.
“Municipalities aren’t typically involved in immigration programs, so this is very new to us but we think it’s a really exciting project,” Allred said. “We are encouraging businesses to be a real part of welcoming them to the community — make sure if they arrive in winter that they have winter clothes to wear and have a place to live.”
She added Taber is already a diverse community and the town likes to celebrate different cultures — she said in the past couple years, the town helped about 1,000 people with settlement services in the area. She also added there are more than 20 rental units under construction, which positions the town well to welcome newcomers.