Sask. expands immigrant nominee program to fill lower-skilled jobs

Saskatchewan has expanded its options under the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) by 279 occupations to support a growing economy. (John Flatters / CTV News)

The provincial government is expanding the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) to allow more workers to apply for permanent residency.

The province wants to support an expected 112,000 jobs over the next five years by adding 279 medium and lower-skilled occupations to the program.

Sask. Party MLA Terry Jenson was at a Saskatoon restoration business Wednesday to announce the expansion.

“When you start growing the population from different countries, that in itself lends to people staying longer or staying permanently,” said Jenson. “That’s the goal of this is to open up more employment opportunities for permanent residency to occur. And as that population grows, people stay.”

In the past, only newcomers in high skilled positions and designated trades were eligible for the existing work permit stream.

Now, more occupations will be included, and to address the growing need from the field of medicine to construction, more employers are hiring newcomers who want to stay.

“We have a lot of medical professionals that have arrived through the CUAET (Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel) program to Saskatchewan,” said Danilo Puderak, executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress of Saskatchewan. “Doctors, nurses and some specialists that we know of. And they want to work as specialists.”

“Especially in the construction industry, skilled or unskilled labour has been difficult to find,” said Brennen Mills, partner with Saskatoon Fire and Flood.

Mills says this announcement helps employers plan and support newcomers while filling vital positions. Twenty-two per cent of his company’s workforce are newcomers, mostly from Ukraine.

“We have the work, we need the employees,” said Mill. “The matter of helping them transition into Canada is the piece that we’re learning right now.”

And newcomers say the announcement helps them set down roots and call Saskatchewan home.

“Sometimes I’m scared because it’s hard to start life from zero again,” said Kateryna Shevchenko, who has been with Saskatoon Fire and Flood for a little over a year.

“After two, three months I have a little stress, depression and I don’t want nothing and I’m going home, I have this period,” said Khrystyna Skrynska. “But now I’m feeling like it’s my home. It’s like my city in Ukraine.”

Workers can now apply for permanent residency as long as they’ve worked in Saskatchewan and fulfill other program criteria such as meeting language requirements and having a full-time, permanent job offer.