Mississauga Chamber of Commerce President's Speech

"Hiring Immigrants Makes Good Business Sense"

May 28, 2020

Good morning and welcome to this morning's event in Mississauga, aimed to speak with employers

in our city about the benefit of hiring new immigrants.

I want you to picture in your heads this scenario:

People in the Canadian workforce are aging and retiring at a rapid rate.

Birth rates have been dropping for decades, so there are less people to fill important positions

in your organizations.

The pool of working age population is shrinking.

Not only is it shrinking, but the skills of the working age population are less than what is

needed to fill the increasing number of positions in your organization and others that require a

high level of skills.

The education system is and has not been able to produce the number of skilled employees

needed to fill many job vacancies.

Your business and organization is likely suffering, because you don't have the skilled labour

you need to sustain and grow.

However, there is a large pool of well educated, experienced and skilled immigrants that are

readily available here in our community to help meet your labour needs.

Today, employers in Canada and Ontario are facing a labour shortage crises. We have a great

opportunity to begin addressing it, if employers can make a strong effort in hiring and successfully

integrating skilled immigrants into our workplaces.

I have had the pleasure of volunteering to mentor skilled immigrants. Through that experience I

began to learn of the tremendous challenges that thousands of skilled immigrants that arrive annually

to our community experience. I also gained an appreciation for their determination to succeed

professionally, to provide opportunities for their families to have a good quality of life, and to

contribute to our economy and society.

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As President of the Mississauga Chamber of Commerce, I also heard from employers about their

challenges attracting and retaining skilled employees.

It is evident that more needs to be done to better connect skilled immigrants with employers seeking

skilled employees.

Our various levels of government should be commended for investing in valuable programs and

services to support newcomers that are being delivered by various settlement organizations and

employment agencies in and around our community. However, we must also support employers to

be proactive in hiring immigrants.

Recent census data has indicated that more than half of our local population are immigrants, with

many having arrived in the past 10-15 years. In an increasingly diverse community like Toronto and

Mississauga, that attracts a large and growing pool of skilled and talented immigrants, it is not only

socially responsible that business welcome immigrants into its workforce, but it makes good business

sense.

Across Canada and most of the developed world, employers are faced with the challenge of a

shrinking labour pool. Baby boomers are retiring and birth rates are falling. Not enough skilled

people are being trained to fill certain positions. Businesses in our community for years have been

experiencing skills shortages and have been having difficulty filling positions, and this trend

continues.

We are very fortunate that the immigrants arriving in Canada and our community today are coming

with the highest academic and professional credentials and experience than at any other time in our

history. In the coming years, immigrants will account for all net labour force growth in Canada, and

all net population growth by 2030.

This means that in the next decade business will be depending on the skills of immigrants in order to

sustain their workforce and to grow and prosper.

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In an increasingly globalized economy, hiring skilled immigrants will be an asset to business in

building international networks, whether with customers, suppliers, or partners. When a business

hires an immigrant, they not only gain the individual's hard skills and experience, they also gain the

language skills and the intimate knowledge that the employee will have of their home country and its

markets.

Businesses are also taking a closer look at the demographics of their consumer market. Mississauga

and the Greater Toronto Area is one of the most diverse regions in the world, and it is becoming even

more diverse every day - just look around this community and you will see. Skilled immigrants are

not only living and working here - they are consumers, buying homes, cars, and other commodities

and services. They are a large pool of potential consumers that all businesses need to tap into. One of

the best ways for a business to gain access to this market is to have its workforce understand it and

mirror it.

There is direct evidence from employers that integrating diversity and immigrants into their

organizations provides diverse ideas, perspectives, and creativity. They help to make our workplaces

more dynamic.

I've only highlighted a few key reasons why the Mississauga Chamber of Commerce is actively

promoting to businesses to bring skilled immigrants into their workplaces. There is much more that I

could add, but hopefully the message is clear - that capitalizing on the skills and employment of

immigrants is and will continue to be critical to the future success of business and our local economy,

for many years to come.

Thank you.

1. Need to Prepare a one-page letter/memo to boss (Ms. Joanne Robinson,

President, Repallets), that explains why you feel strongly about this issue and why it should

matter to them as well. making the case to them about the benefits of hiring

immigrants.