Immigration Partnership Waterloo Region requests support for new immigration strategy

Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Representatives of Immigration Partnership Waterloo Region and its partner organizations delegated before councils across the region recently, including at council meetings in both Wilmot and Wellesley Oct. 27 and 28, to request support for a new immigration strategy.

Speaking before both councils, the organization that helped settle more than 10,000 newcomers across the region last year – the highest influx of immigration the partnership has seen to date – with the support of its more than 70 partner organizations said it is working to implement a new, three-year immigration strategy developed with the expertise of almost 1,700 immigrants, its partner organizations and the wider community.

“Through our strategy, local partners will work together to help local services meet the needs of a changing population, help employers have the tools and resources that they need to leverage the skills of immigrants and help our regional communities be increasingly welcoming,” past immigration partnership chair Tracey Hare told Wilmot council. “Our work with the immigrants directly often happens particularly through our service providers – those 70 organizations and 120 volunteers.”

Hare told the two councils the immigration partnership has developed four shared priorities as part of this new strategy, all of which are aimed at supporting townships like Wilmot and Wellesley in leveraging immigration as important drivers of the local workforce and population growth.

Those priorities include:

• • Gathering insights and evidence to develop a shared understanding of immigration and its ecosystem and build support for immigration.

• Mobilizing partners and community leadership to improve access to information and supports for partners and immigrants, and to make changes addressing the primary needs and integration of immigrants.

• Influencing public, private and non-profit decision makers to make changes and investments that improve immigrant settlement, work and belonging, and guide employers to actively improve immigrant employment.

• And building organizational resilience by engaging partners and staff with appropriate skills and influence, and ensuring immigration partnership funding, governance and structures optimize performance.

At the same time, the immigration partnership said it is trying to address a roughly $230,000 cut in federal funding this year, something Hare told Wellesley council is related to recent efforts by the federal government to reduce immigration across the country.

“There are a few different reasons. Ultimately, the federal government also cut back on immigration overall and, essentially, the process of intake of immigrants,” Hare said. “In step with that cutback, in immigration partnerships across the country there have been cutbacks as well. We, as a partnership, are one of the strongest immigration partnerships across the country; others look to us for guidance and see the success that we’ve had regionally.

“Ultimately, the funding that we receive, if we think about last year’s intake of immigrants for our region – that 10,000 people number that I mentioned is, in fact, last year’s number – it was the highest number of immigrants we’ve taken in as a region to date. So, the funding has not aligned, necessarily, with the federal government’s strategy around slowing the inflow of immigration. The services that are needed to support the immigrants even that are already here are still quite essential and will be for quite some time.”

With that in mind and the fact that immigrants accounted for 10.4 per cent of the population of Wilmot (2,200 people) and 5.4 per cent of the population of Wellesley Township (615 people) in 2021, Hare asked both councils to consider an annual $5,000 contribution to Immigration Partnership Waterloo Region.

While both councils agreed to consider the request during 2026 budget deliberations, Wilmot councillors Stewart Cressman and Harvir Sidhu spoke highly of the work the immigration partnership does for the township and beyond.

“My parents were immigrants, so I see the importance, and I know the importance of helping immigrants when they come here and helping them thrive,” Sidhu said. “Being a small business owner, previously owning a small business, I see the need for immigrants to fill a gap of certain roles and jobs. … If you look at the small, rural townships, there are more and more immigrants than before and there is a need for a workforce to fill those gaps, so I do thank you for making that presentation tonight.”

Coun. Lilliane Dunstall, however, spoke against providing a $5,000 annual contribution to the immigration partnership, suggesting there aren’t enough resources for those residents who already live in Wilmot Township, including the more than 2,200 newcomers who already call Wilmot home.

“Immigration has real, human stories and I respect that. My duty is to the residents of New Hamburg and Wilmot, and I hear from my constituents all the time that schooling and doctors and housing and hospitals are at their breaking point, and I can tell you that our taxpayers have been stretched to the limit, and that’s why every single dollar counts for us. … My focus is to be fiscally responsible and provide services for the residents that we have here now, and that includes the 10 per cent of new immigrants that we’ve welcomed into our community.”

Dunstall also noted that Wilmot Township already contributes to the Region of Waterloo annually. Since the region contributes $50,000 annually to the immigration partnership, Dunstall suggested Wilmot residents are, by extension, already contributing to the work the organization does.

“The immigrants and newcomers are here; they are also the talent source for many of the businesses in Waterloo Region,” Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce CEO Ian McLean interjected, speaking out of turn in response to Dunstall’s comments. “So, the federal government cutting the work of the immigration partnership is very shortsighted. I recognize the challenges around all those things because at the chamber of commerce, we’re certainly working on all those things. … But there is still a responsibility to recognize our workforce of the future is newcomers to the country. … There will be newcomers here and it’s important for them to have a sense of belonging, get them settled and get them jobs to make sure they’re productive and helping the economy grow here.”