Manitoba's Premier has announced a new advisory council on immigration in order to recommend improvements to current policies and programs.

The Immigration Advisory Council will be co-chaired by Advanced Education, Skills and Immigration Minister Jon Reyes and Dr. Lloyd Axworthy. They will review the entire continuum of immigration, from promotion to retention of newcomers. It will provide clear recommendations and concrete actions to the Manitoba government including strengthening the Canada-Manitoba Immigration Agreement by looking at options to include new annexes or memoranda of understanding.

Additionally, the advisory council will focus on:

  • building on promotion to attract and recruit more immigrants and business investors to the province;
  • streamlining the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program, especially with regard to setting the right balance between the province’s regional labour market, economic development and community needs; and
  • fostering Manitoba’s settlement and integration programs and services, as well as foreign credential recognition programs, to encourage labour market attachment, improve foreign credential recognition and bolster immigrant retention.

According to Reyes, Manitoba's Provincial Nominee Program nominated 6,275 applications in 2021. This was the highest number of nominees since the program was established in 1998.

Approximately 21 per cent of nominees chose to settle outside the Winnipeg capital region in 2021. Manitobas' top regional immigration destinations for nominees were Brandon, Neepawa, Steinbach, Winkler, Thompson and Portage. The top occupations for nominees last year included transport truck drivers, food-counter attendants, food service supervisors, cooks and other customer service representatives.

Francophone immigration to Manitoba is also increasing due to strong collaboration with francophone community partners. More than 2,000 French-speaking immigrants have arrived in Manitoba since 2015, and 1,400 of these were provincial nominees.