Eight recommendations and 24 possible solutions: this is the result of eight months of work by the commission set up by the municipality and the economic development organization AcadieNor.
The two commissioners, Jacques Dugas and Léo-Paul Pinet, have concocted a 50-page document that will guide Caraquet towards its goal: to become a healthy, safe, welcoming community focused on the future
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The SKY recommends a single point of entry for the reception and support of newcomers, the development of a portal of available jobs with international visibility, the creation of a reception center and integration into community life as well as as the promotion of the attractiveness of the self-employed worker and the remote worker for Caraquet.
It adds to this the development of a housing policy with the hiring of a manager, the development of indicators for citizen participation and the establishment of a biannual meeting on the evolution of a feeling of belonging to the city.
” It’s a roadmap for the next four or five years. This report must be received through two angles. The first is that all our dialogues were expressed according to the Caraquet of 2021. The second angle concerns the Caraquet of 2023. Our report does not take into account the citizens, the communities that will join Caraquet in 2023. »
Mayor satisfied
The mayor of Caraquet, Bernard Thériault, said he was impressed by the work accomplished by the commission.
The commissioners cast a wider net than one would have thought at the start of their mandate. They touched on employment, immigration and newcomers, but above all on integration into the community and the need for the community to prepare for these important changes that are coming.
he assessed, acknowledging the fact that the commissioners have thought about what Caraquet will be like from January 1, 2023.
The mayor continues that being welcoming can also bring fear of the unknown.
” I see this fear in the eyes of workers in seafood processing plants. They have uncertain professions. To see foreigners arriving and saving factories generates fear. We must not only attract newcomers, but also improve the lot of our workers so that they can participate in this integration. »
Acadie-Bathurst MP Serge Cormier looks forward to reading the report and seeing how it can help implement the recommendations.
I am convinced that the report contains good points that will facilitate the arrival of newcomers in the region.
says the MP. We must give credit to the city, to the two commissioners and to all the participants of this commission. I know they will need a little help. Immigration is a social project and with the new municipal entities, it will be important to address the issue of affordable housing.
The commissioners of the SKY listened to 42 individual collaborators and socio-economic organisations. Four working tables dealing with immigration, housing, employment and the community, in addition to open house days, served as raw material for the drafting of this document.
This reflection exercise was carried out in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the reform of local governance, which will soon see the birth of the Regional Municipality of Caraquet, with more than 8,000 citizens.
With information from journalist Mario Mercier
Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca