Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot

The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot was launched in 2019 as an initiative to stimulate economic growth in those areas by attracting skilled workers. This program includes communities in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and Yukon.

Canada is a country well-known for accepting high numbers of immigrants. However, under the current immigration system, the vast majority of new immigrants choose to live in major cities like Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot seeks to change this by helping smaller communities to attract newcomers and support their settlement. The pilot program accepts applications from rural and northern communities who want to participate. The communities accepted receive support from the Federal Government to help them identify and select new candidates for permanent residency. The newcomers are expected to have a positive impact on economic development.

This program builds on the successes of the Atlantic Immigration Pilot program (AIP) which was launched in 2017. AIP is designed to increase immigration to Canada’s Atlantic Region by pairing up potential newcomers with employers from the region.