‘Very substantial:’ Minister touts immigration changes, outlines more

Saskatchewan is now poised to welcome a lot more people from around the world.

The federal government has increased the province’s allotment for its Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) and has taken itself out of the process by removing the requirement for a federal review of the applications.

Saskatchewan Immigration Minister Jeremy Harrison said there were some good discussions at meetings with his provincial, territorial and federal counterparts and he was able to garner support — something he says he has found you need when trying to advance an agenda with these kinds of things.

“We’ve worked very hard on building those relationships with other provinces and territories in order to move forward on the immigration accord agenda, which I think in fairness is an agenda that a lot of other provinces have an interest in pursuing as well,” said Harrison.

On the allotment increase, Harrison says that amounts to an increase from 6,000 now to 8,500 people in 2025, which is a 42 per cent increase and 5,700 more people over the next three years.

“That is very, very substantial. We have not seen an increased number allocation for a number of years,” said Harrison.

Harrison also said getting rid of the federal review requirement is a big deal and will benefit the provinces, but also people wanting to become permanent residents.

There is more the province wants, however. For one, Harrison said the province wants control over settlement funding.

“We’ve made some very good progress on that, I would say, and some very good discussions on that,” he explained.

“The purpose for it is to improve outcomes for settlements and ultimately keep people, because they’re settling successfully in the jurisdiction from which they’re nominated for permanent residency.”

The province also wants authority over the family class of immigration as well; currently, the federal government has exclusive authority on that front.

These changes will require some increased investment on the provincial government’s part. Harrison said the province is committed to making sure the processing times for applications are good; the times for the federal government can run up to four years while the province’s processing times are measured in weeks, according to Harrison.

“We want to keep it that way and that obviously means we’re likely going to have to put more resources behind that,” he said.

Harrison said the budget will have more information on that front. The provincial budget is to be released March 22.