County Website Hopes to Attract Immigration to Local Communities

Simcoe County is working on a website for newcomers.

The Local Immigration Partnership (LIP) is working on an Internet portal intended to attract, integrate and recruit immigrants to the county’s municipalities.

The website will launch in March.

Irena Pozgaj, research analyst for Simcoe County, said the area is often more of a secondary location than an immigrant’s landing area.

“Immigrants are twice as likely than Canadian-born residents to move to rural areas, but also twice as likely to leave,” said Sandra Lee, LIP project manager.

“They’re looking for a place to belong,” Lee said, noting after moving from oversees, a move within the province doesn’t look like a big deal.

Pozgaj said that should have bearing on the content development of the site.

“It should communicate that Simcoe County is a great place to live, a great place to work,” she said.

The LIP is developing the resource with the help of community partners, which include Georgian College, school boards, community health centres, the Local Health Integration Network, libraries and community resources and non-profit organizations.

With 36 LIPs in the province and 24 websites already in action, Pozgaj said there is plenty of information to review and build upon.

The country’s immigrant population has increased quicker than the general population. According to 2006 census data, the immigrant population increased 18% from 2001, while the population increased by 12%. Immigration data is not yet available from the 2011 census.

“We’re seeing a continued trend of increase in the growth of our immigrant population,” said Pozgaj, who noted the trend is expected to continue.

She said the information will likely be organized into five categories: living, working, doing business, learning and connecting with communities.

“We want to make the website a little bit of fun,” Pozgaj said, noting they will also include videos, widgets and multi-lingual welcome messages.

Denise Fraser, second language consultant with the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board, said she appreciates the welcome message being offered in different languages.

“If I was a newcomer and didn’t speak English, this would be useless to me,” said Fraser, who often sees parents and children who don’t yet speak a word of English.

Pozgaj said since the majority of Simcoe County’s immigrant population isn’t freshly landed, many will have some English-language skills, and for those who don’t,­­­ the welcome message will include direction to translation services.

She said access is an important aspect to the project, but they don’t have the funding to translate the entire website.