It was a day of quality networking, important announcements, inspiring keynote, celebration of newcomers, and good food for newcomers in Alberta.
It was the annual Premier’s Summit on Fairness for Newcomers which took place on March 17, at the Best Western Premier Calgary Plaza Hotel & Conference Centre, bringing together immigration stakeholders from across Alberta to discuss actions to support newcomer success and drive economic growth.
The theme for this year was “Creating pathways to success for newcomers: Fairness, professional licensing, immigration and settlement”.
Participants from across the province listened to newcomer experiences, read success stories of newcomers sandwiched board on every table, listened to perspectives of regulatory bodies and colleges involved with foreign credential recognition during the panel discussions, engaged with panelists on a variety of issues relating to creating pathways for success for newcomers to Alberta, as well as, give feedback to make the system better.
There were also two inspiring keynote speeches from visible minority trailblazers in their fields; Toronto Raptors basketball team Superfan, Nav Bhatia, and Calgary base Dragon Den venture capitalists TV personality and co-owner of Minhas Breweries, Manjit Minhas.
There was quality networking with other newcomers and some important announcements from Premier Danielle Smith, Deputy Premier, Kaycee Madu, the Minister of Trade, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Rajan Sawhney, and Muhammad Yaseen, Parliamentary Secretary for Community Outreach.
“…..Our population is going to grow through immigration….last year the number of provincial nominee certificates that was allocated to Alberta was 6,500…….we did get an allocation that is much higher than what the other jurisdictions received……We had almost 9,800 allocations in the upcoming year, more than 10,000 nominations for the year after, and almost 11,000 for 2025…,”Minister Rajan Sawhney made this announcement when she took to the stage, promising more announcements to come.
Minister Sawhney added, “…..prioritizing those individuals who have family members here in Alberta in the express entry portal…..when we have social support, we turn do much more better….,”
At the end of the event, we tracked down the busy Kaycee Madu, whose ministry was one of those who put put the event together to get his reaction, “……it’s been a fantastic day, I want to thank all the guests, panelists, regulatory bodies, for an enlightening conversation on how to make sure that we continue to knock down barriers for new Canadians, newcomers, new immigrants who have chosen Alberta as home….”
