Thank you, Andrea.
Since May 2020, we've had 77 West Kootenay employers use RNIP to retain existing employees or attract new employees. Some employers have used RNIP multiple times. Our community steering committee has recommended 129 primary applicants since May 2020 for permanent residency, and that total rises to 198 people when we include the spouses and children of the primary applicants.
The primary jobs that are receiving RNIP recommendations in 2020 are registered health care aides, transport truck drivers, early child care educators, community support workers, carpenters and welders.
Our first overseas applicant and his family arrived from Austria in early June 2021. He started working as a structural metal and plate fabricator at Traditional Timber Framing Company, located just outside of Nelson. We look forward to continuing to retain and recruit skilled employees and their families to the West Kootenay region over the balance of the pilot, which continues until December of 2022.
We would like to recommend that the Government of Canada extend the rural and northern immigration pilot, as well as provide funding for the implementation of the pilot.
Thank you very much.