441-01671 (Citizenship and immigration)

The Government of Canada is committed to attracting the best talent from around the world to fill skill shortages and drive local economies in rural Canada, for the benefit of all Canadians.

Testing a new community-based economic development approach, the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP) is a Ministerial Instructions (MI) pilot that supports smaller and more remote communities to access the economic and demographic benefits of immigration. These pilots are designed to test innovative approaches to meet specific needs, provide learnings to help shape future immigration programs and policies, and are typically issued for limited periods of time.

RNIP communities were selected at the outset of the pilot through an expression of interest process, open to all communities across Canada and that looked into characteristics such as economic vitality and growing economy, economic development plans, support from local stakeholders, existing infrastructure, and settlement and integration capacity. The 11 selected communities required extensive training and onboarding support at the beginning of the pilot.

Given the above, and that the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act sets a limit of five years on pilots, there are no plans to add additional communities to the pilot at this point.

Recognizing that the pilot is set to expire in August 2024, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is reviewing the performance of the RNIP to assess whether it is meeting its objectives of attracting and retaining newcomers to participating communities to support local economic development.

The Government of Canada remains focused on supporting immigration strategies that spread the benefits of immigration to communities across the country, including rural and northern communities, to grow their economies and enhance their social and demographic vitality. Specifically, the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) provides provinces and territories, including British Columbia, a means to address their local economic development needs and distributes the benefits of immigration across Canada. The PNP has skilled worker and international graduate streams to fill labour needs at all skill levels and has been proven to be an invaluable tool in filling labour market needs in communities of all sizes.