First of all, I see immigration as a continuum, starting with the selection of candidates and ending with the stage of integration, or settlement, of these people on the ground. It's a very lengthy process.
We need to ensure, for example, that our organizations providing immigrants with settlement services have enough resources to properly support newcomers in their new environment.
One of the key elements is housing. I recently attended a conference on immigration. The issue that kept coming up was housing. People are wondering where they're going to house these new arrivals and how they're going to give them the tools they need to integrate linguistically into the workplace.
If we can't integrate them into our communities by offering this type of program, immigrants may leave these communities and settle elsewhere. We've often seen this in many of our regions.
One thing that's important is that people who move here are looking for a community. They don't want to feel alone in another community. So it's important to have a critical mass of immigrants in our communities.
Also, I think there's the whole issue of employability and recognition of prior learning. I recently read that immigrants' diplomas aren't always recognized and that they work in fields that are completely unrelated to their own specialty.