Website welcomes immigrants to city
Posted By ANDREA HOUSTON/Examiner Staff Writer
Updated 7 months ago
The website
Immigrant Services Peterborough Portal
- www.welcomepeterborough.ca
Peterborough is welcoming immigrants to the area with a new website that offers information and links to community resources in the hopes they choose the city as their new home.
Yesterday at the Peterborough Public Library, MPP Jeff Leal announced $158,000 in funding for the Immigrant Services Peterborough Portal.
The funding is provided through the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration.
Leal said he hopes the web portal helps to attract more newcomers who will bring their skills, culture and vibrant diversity to the area.
“It’s about population growth, diversity and it’s about taking advantage of skills that many new Canadians have to offer,” he said. “Peterborough has always thrown open its doors to newcomers.
“As a medium-size Canadian city, we have a lot to offer for new Canadians instead of going to the larger jurisdictions in Ontario.”
Once on the website, newcomers can surf through several topics, such as immigration success stories, employment, health care, housing, education, transportation, recreation and business.
Leal said the website is a one-stop shop for prospective immigrants to find out about the area.
“They want to become aware to our shopping services, how to get an OHIP card, how to go to the various agencies that will assist them in developing resumes for employment,” he said. “With the portal they can get all the information they need.”
The concept for the Immigrant Services Peterborough Portal is already being offered in other Ontario municipalities, said Nick Fauset, a social resource assistant with the Community Opportunity and Innovation Network (COIN).
Although the website is live now, it is still a work in progress, he said. Fauset didn’t know when the website will be complete.
Fauset said he would like to see the content of the site be offered in as many languages as possible, unlike sites for other cities.
The portal allows Peterborough to compete against other municipalities such as Toronto, Niagara, Timmins and Ottawa for skilled newcomers, he said.
Carmella Valles, outgoing executive director of the New Canadians’ Centre, said she is very excited about the website.
“This is a great resource for newcomers to Peterborough,” she said. “It will put us on the global map to showcase all we have here to overseas people.”
Valles said one in 10 people in Peterborough are from outside Canada.
COIN’s general manager, Linda Slavin, said the idea for the website was born from the Peterborough Partnership Council on Immigration Integration.
Slavin said labour market trends indicate a growing need for immigrant skills.
Immigration currently accounts for two thirds of Canada’s population growth, she said.
“Peterborough is a great destination and we all know the face of the city is changing for the better,” Leal said. “It’s becoming a more diverse and multicultural population.”
NOTE: There will also be a link for the website through the city of Peterborough website (peterborough.ca).
ahouston@peterboroughexaminer.com
