Moncton launches website to attract immigrants

Website designed to attract immigrants City of Moncton says number of newcomers could double if the site works as well as expected. Jonathan MacInnis reports.

The amount of immigrants who settle in Moncton could double if a new website does what it is designed to do.

The city launched the site Thursday and it's aimed at attracting highly skilled newcomers to fill vacant jobs.

Greater Moncton became a more diverse community last year as the area welcomed about 1,100 immigrants.

With the launch of the new website, officials hope to bring that number to more than 2000.

The website is part of the greater Moncton immigration strategy.

“A lot of immigrants that are moving here are very high skilled and we really look at what are the skill sets that are needed on the ground and how can we connect people to those jobs when they arrive,” said Angelique Reddy-Kalala, an immigration strategy officer with the city of Moncton.

The website will also help direct newly landed immigrants to the services they need and help answer some questions for them.

“What kind of sports do the kids like? Does the spouse require language classes? What kind of networking opportunities are available?” said Reddy-Kalala. “So we are really trying to provide all of those opportunities.”

Historically, anyone looking to move to greater Moncton turned to the multicultural association.Now that the city has launched its website, the feeling is that this new approach will be more successful at attracting newcomers.

“I think it's going to be a really effective way for people who are abroad to go ‘I'm curious, what's going on’ and to be able to find one place where they can get the entire landscape of what they're looking at,” said Justin Ryan of the Multicultural Association of Greater Moncton.

The city isn't just hoping to attract workers. International students are also being sought.

A number of universities have seen enrollment by students from outside of Canada increase. It’s a trend, they hope continues.

“I've seen growth from multiple universities that have reached out to me and said, can you help us and come do some cross cultural training because we are seeing such a significant increase in the number of international students arriving,” said Ryan.

The website took about a year to design and build.

It was launched so Moncton could keep pace with other cities across the country that are also looking to attract immigrants.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Jonathan MacInnis.