The President of the AMBM and Reeve of the Rural Municipality of La Broquerie, Mr. Ivan Normandeau, issued the following statement in response to the release of the Report of the Immigration Advisory Council of Manitoba:

On behalf of Manitoba’s bilingual municipal leadership, I would like to begin by congratulating the two co-chairs, the Honourable Jon Reyes, Minister of Labour and Immigration, and Lloyd Axworthy, as well as the 20 members of the Immigration Advisory Council, for the important work they have done and the excellence of their report, which was released in February 2023.

We are particularly pleased that the report explicitly prioritizes Francophone economic immigration to rural areas. These two lenses (Francophone immigration and regionalization of immigration) are of paramount importance as the majority of our member municipalities are located in rural areas and face many challenges in attracting Francophone immigration. We are confident that by obtaining the support of the Province, we will be able to structure and succeed in our immigration to rural areas, where everything is still to be built.

In reading the report, we note that many of the recommendations are directly in line with the 2022-2025 Strategy to Support Economic Immigration in Manitoba’s Bilingual Municipalities. It is suggested that there are many areas of potential collaboration between the Province of Manitoba and the AMBM, including the establishment of favourable conditions for successful immigration (housing, transportation, connectivity and early childhood services) and the promotion of togetherness.

Among the concrete actions suggested for immigration outside the capital region, we particularly welcome the willingness to share landing statistics by region with municipalities. This sharing of evidence clearly demonstrates the Province’s intention to strengthen the partnership between our two orders of government to encourage economic immigration to our rural communities.

We are also pleased that the report recognizes that the bilingual nature of our province makes it more attractive to Francophone candidates for immigration and that the suggested courses of action include increasing the capacity of the Manitoba government to process immigration applications from French-speaking source countries.

The report explicitly mentions the predominant role played by the Economic Development Council for Manitoba Bilingual Municipalities (CDEM) in identifying and facilitating the immigration needs of Manitoba’s Francophone community by coordinating the Francophone strategic substream of the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP), better known as Invitation au Manitoba. We are confident that, based on this report, the Province of Manitoba will work to strengthen the capacity of our subsidiary, the CDEM, to process immigration applications from French-speaking candidates.

Minister Reyes and his team have been long-time allies of the AMBM and its municipalities. As president of the AMBM, I reiterate our desire to continue our fruitful collaboration in support of the objectives of our Strategy to Support Economic Immigration and to maximize the leverage effects of the CDEM’s role in Francophone economic immigration and employability, so that together we can build ever stronger and more prosperous bilingual communities.

Information: Office of the Chief Executive Officer (O-CEO), 204-289-4077, [email protected].