WESTLOCK — The Town of Westlock is extending their pause on the Rural Renewal Program, following the province’s announcement last month about changes to the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (AAIP) that will affect the Rural Renewal Stream.
The Expression of Interest system is a new application process that is set to launch Sept. 30, and as a result, AAIP will not be proceeding with the remaining monthly application acceptance dates for the remainder of 2024.
Town of Westlock director of planning and development Danielle Pougher, provided a brief update on the program to councillors at the Sept. 9, regular council meeting.
“We did receive word from the province that they will be moving to a new Expression of Interest system as of the end of this month. They don’t have many details available yet, to release about what that new system is going to look like,” said Pougher noting they are hoping to have more information from the next AAIP community meeting later this month.
Pougher added because of the uncertainty, the town has “placed that (rural renewal) program on further hold just until that new process is finalized.”
“We don’t want to be issuing endorsement letters and then not (have them) be able to be reviewed through the new process,” she said, pointing out the process is still backlogged at the provincial level.
“The last call we got to verify an endorsement letter was for the fall of last year (2023) so they are still quite backlogged,” explained Pougher.
The town paused intake and processing of applications under the Rural Renewal Stream (RRS) earlier this year between July 1 and Aug 31, to better accommodate town staff and allow them to focus on other areas of priority over the summer, while giving the province time to catch up with the existing application pool.
The new system will allow for ongoing intake of expression of interests. After a candidate submits an expression of interest, they will be placed in a selection pool and AAIP will invite selected candidates from that pool to apply based on candidate ranking and provincial labour market needs and priorities.
As of Sept. 4, the province’s Rural Renewal Stream had 1,802 unprocessed applications and are currently assessing applications received on or before Feb. 14.
The Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (AAIP) - Rural Renewal Stream is part of the province's effort to combat Alberta’s labour shortage. The RRS facilitates the attraction and retention of newcomers to rural Alberta through community-driven initiatives that address local economic development needs and fosters community growth. It helps employers in rural communities recruit foreign nationals, encouraging them to live, work, and settle within rural areas.
The Town of Westlock became a designated community under the program in March 2023.
