Municipality to host immigration conference

The Municipality of Chatham-Kent will host the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration’s Municipal Immigration Information Online (MIIO) conference in Chatham this year. The ministry’s MIIO funding has allowed Chatham-Kent to create the Newcomers’ Portal at www.chatham-kent.ca/newcomers. The municipality’s Youth Retention and Immigration division works to attract and keep newcomers to Chatham-Kent by providing them with wide-ranging information on their new home.

The two-day conference takes place on November 27 and 28, 2012 at the Chatham-Kent John D. Bradley Convention Centre. The MIIO conference brings together representatives from many levels of government including municipalities across Ontario that see value in attracting new immigrants.

“This conference provides a great opportunity to showcase Chatham-Kent and show how proactively our community is working to attract and retain newcomers,” said Mayor Randy Hope.

Two-way learning and knowledge-sharing will be key components of the conference. Youth Retention and Immigration will then bring that learning to Chatham-Kent to enhance what the community does to attract and retain newcomers.