Peterborough formed a partnership council to develop and implement local immigration strategy

Following a partnership between the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration (MCI) to strengthen the role of local and regional communities in serving and integrating immigrants, the city of Peterborough has recently formed a council to draw immigrants and sought funding from federal and provincial governments to plot their integration plan.

The Peterborough Partnership Council (PPC) includes more than 25 representatives from Peterborough city, economic development agencies, law enforcement, education, and the industry. This Council will not only prepare a strategy to increase immigration to Peterborough area but also develop a resettlement strategy for comprehensive integration and retention of newcomers to Peterborough. This Council will also prepare an application to demand federal and provincial funding for the development and implementation of local solutions and take ownership of social and economic integration of new immigrants.

Other associations which are playing a major role in the partnership process include the Greater Peterborough Area Economic Development Corporation (GPAEDC), Community and Race Relations Committee, Trent University and the New Canadians Centre Peterborough. The role of these associations in the partnership council is to help ensure a strong labor force for the future by focusing on different areas such as settlement services, language training, international students and labor market integration.

Peterborough has the second oldest workforce in Canada but one of the lowest attractions of immigrant rate. Statistics Canada's 2006 census population numbers, released in December 2007, show that 12,450 immigrants live in Peterborough and area. That's about 10 per cent of the 131,520 total populations. Of the more than 12,000, about 10,000 are from Europe and the United States, and only 2,625 are visible minorities from Asia, Africa and Latin America. According to Statistics Canada, immigrants living in the Peterborough region had a median wage 3.5 per cent more than all residents.