Latest Policy Bytes

January 2023 - If you’ve been reading the news lately (or maybe you’re experiencing this first-hand), you’ll know that unemployment rates are low and businesses are facing difficulties hiring qualified employees. If you’re a job seeker, this is great news. If you’re an employer looking to hire more workers to keep up with demand, or fill gaps caused by former employees switching industries or retiring, the current situation is less than ideal.

December 14, 2022 - If you live in a Northern Ontario community – or any community for that matter – you either a) were born there and stayed, or b) left one community and settled in another.  Multiple factors can influence your decision to stay in a community: the presence of family and friends, educational and/or job opportunities, and a sense of welcoming and belonging. But the same factors that can influence a person to stay in a community, can push someone else away from a community where there is absence of family and friends, educational and/or employment opportunities, and a sense of welcoming or belonging.

November 2022 - One of the most unique – and important – acts of reconciliation and political innovation in Canada is currently underway in Northern Ontario.  Three First Nations – Animbiigoo Zaagi’igan Anishinaabek, Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek, and Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation are seeking to rebuild their nations after years of being unable to use their reserve lands to build a stable foundation that can spur economic growth.

Here we are again. Another summer finished with our Experience North summer placements. You’d think we’d have toughened up by now, but if you could pass the tissues to us, that’d be great, thank you.

August 2022 - If you feel like you see a lot of “we’re hiring” signs around your community these days, you would be right. That’s because Northern Ontario has a shrinking labour force due in part to baby boomers reaching the age of retirement but also low birth rates and youth out-migration.

May, 2022 - This article first appeared in The Walleye Magazine, May issue.

April 2022 - All roads lead home: Immigration flows into Ontario’s north and what this means for RNIP impacts, lays out current immigration levels and characteristics in Northern Ontario’s five largest cities: North Bay, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, and Greater Sudbury.

March 2, 2022 - This article first appeared in The Walleye Magazine, March issue.

February 24, 2022 - An aging population, low fertility rates, and high levels of youth out migration: we’ve heard it all before. But what does this demographic shift mean for minority groups already in Ontario’s northern regions? Well, for the French-speaking population, it could impact the availability of French services such as access to a French-speaking nurse or the supply of French school teachers.

February 15, 2022 - Conversations about racism and discrimination are not supposed to be easy. There can be a frankness to them that is easy to turn away from and file “For Later”. The paper Addressing the Cuts Left Behind, spotlights those conversations.