Thank you.
I'll come back to some of the comments I made previously.
In this one, it was the role of the employer, but you can't have the role of the employer without having the role of the community. That direct role and that direct stake in wanting to retain the employees who were coming in, the newcomers who were coming in, was key to the success of the program.
The other thing I would say is that—albeit it wasn't quite how we set it up, but how it has worked—there is good co-operation by the provinces. The four Atlantic provinces have been terrific partners in the Atlantic immigration pilot. We've negotiated carefully with them in a very collaborative way as we have been taking the Atlantic immigration pilot from a pilot to a permanent program. It's running through the regulatory process now.
As for other things I would point to as key hallmarks, I've talked about the important role of employers and the community on this, and how you designate an employer, and an employer's understanding of what their responsibilities are in looking at newcomers who are coming in.
There are also a couple differences back at the ranch, back at the department. One is something called the “dedicated service channel”. If we expected employers to step up, then we needed to step up our game vis-à-vis employers. What we created was a dedicated service channel so that employers had a place to call and had somebody to talk to who could help guide them through the immigration process and guide them through what their responsibilities are. We have received a lot of positive feedback on how well this has worked. It works well for big employers, and it works well for small employers.
The other lesson I would come back to is that when you have a number of players in the process—community groups, employers, the provinces and territories, the federal government and settlement agencies—the field gets a little crowded. One of the things we'll want to look at as we go forward is our governance around this to make sure that everybody understands their roles and responsibilities. Program integrity is always an issue for us in the immigration system, and we want to make sure that continues in how we move forward around it.
This is something that's not in the evaluation, so perhaps these are more my own thoughts on this. Having communities understand the importance of immigration and having that strong burning platform about why it's important that I revitalize my community and that I have newcomers coming into my community and how that contributes to the vitality of my community are key to creating a welcoming society. When the players understand the positive benefits of immigration, their communities are more welcoming of people coming in.