The Regional District of Central Kootenay will provide Community Futures Central Kootenay with $40,000 to help sustain its Rural Community Immigration Pilot.
The pilot is the successor to the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot, which ran from 2019 to 2024 to help fill jobs throughout the region. It launched last June and differs slightly from the previous program in its employer-driven approach.
The pilot targets five priority sectors: health care, education and community services, sales and service, trades and transport, and manufacturing and utilities.
Community Futures asked the RDCK in October to consider providing financial support to keep the program sustainable. The board of directors voted in favour of that request at its meeting Thursday.
However, some questioned whether funding the pilot through the RDCK’s general administration service, funded by all taxpayers, was appropriate.
“I struggle with area taxpayers paying into this. I just wonder if there was another way to fund this through grants and not through taxpayers,” said Area E director Cheryl Graham, who suggested that each area consider pooling grant money instead of relying on taxation.
Area C dDirector Kelly Vandenberghe echoed Graham’s concern, noting that rural areas may not see direct benefits from the program.
“I’m just a little apprehensive that in the rural area we don’t see the benefit of this,” said Vandenberghe.
“It certainly has benefit for our towns and cities, but in my experience our farmers have already adapted to an immigration program they have to rely on,” he added, suggesting that the funding be discretionary rather than drawn from general administration.
Some directors also highlighted that some of the target sectors, particularly health care, are already supported through existing funding.
Area I director Andy Davidoff noted that electoral areas already contribute $25,000 annually through the economic development service for health-care initiatives.
“We spend $25,000 a year on physician recruitment, and that includes physicians coming from outside Canada,” he said, emphasizing that the service’s funding priorities are already set.
“We’re kind of maxed out in terms of our economic development service. Our contribution is substantial. We know without doctors we won’t have an economic base in our communities that can sustain business without doctors.”
Other directors stressed the broader regional benefits of the pilot.
“This helps the whole region. Once these people land and get settled, they’re not going to be tied down. It helps the whole region and helps us all flourish,” said Keith Page, director for the City of Nelson.
“I think this is a good program, and we’re really lucky to have another cycle of it in this new, unique model, which is a lot more community driven,” he added.
Village of Nakusp director Aidan McLaren-Caux agreed with Page, highlighting the program’s benefits to the local labour shortage.
“Selkirk Innovates just put out their State of the Basin report for 2024, and the labour replacement rate for our region is 0.67, which means we don’t have enough people to replace all the jobs that are becoming vacant. This is one of the ways we address that as we work with programs.”
The funding request was ultimately granted, with 10 directors voting in favour and nine opposed.
Want to get your business noticed? Have you considered advertising through your local radio station? Speak to one of our sales agents and find out how radio advertising can boost your business today. Call 250-365-7600 or email Vista Radio.
