I was happy to see integration to Algonquin territory and indigenous culture related programming in 2014 WOW. Please continue to involve local Aboriginal organisations and…

Linda Manning
WOW 2014 participant, Senior Fellow, University of Ottawa
Canada has been shaped by people who came from all over the world to build this country. WOW offers a platform for us to celebrate this history and the future it will help…

Alex Munter, Chair of the OLIP Council and President and CEO of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and Ottawa Children’s Treatment Centre
The WOW seminar on immigrant women’s nutrition and health was a step in the right direction towards closing the gap between academic researchers and service providers.

Josephine Etowa
Associate Professor, School of Nursing, University of Ottawa
I’m really impressed with the level of energy and commitment around the Health and Wellbeing table and look forward to continuing collaboration between OLIP and OPH.

Marcela Tapia
Ottawa Public Health
The work and expertise that OLIP brings to our community is so important as it helps us to build bridges and break down silos.  I look forward to our continued work together. 

Jim Watson, Mayor of Ottawa
All the WOW events that I went to were great – WOW does give a sense of a community trying to improve its attraction and retention!

Caroline Andrew
Professor, University of Ottawa
The OLIP Council is committed to leadership.  In only a few years, we have a common vision and priorities, and are up to the task of implementing the Ottawa Immigration Strategy.

Salimatou Diallo
OLIP Council Vice Chair, Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario
My nomination is an indication that our hard work in building Canada is recognized. All we do is to serve the community in return for embracing us when we needed it.  

Mehdi Mahdavi
Ottawa Immigrant Entrepreneurship Awards Nominee
In our city’s history, immigrants have always played an important role. They build our economic prosperity, diversify our culture, contribute to our social vitality.

Jim Watson
Mayor of Ottawa
OLIP helps to unite and share scarce resources for greater impact by working together in the field of student education.

Walter Piovesan
Associate Director of Education, Ottawa Carleton District School Board

OLIP’s Input to the Mayor’s Economic Rebound Roundtable

February 25, 2021

On February 9th 2021, the City of Ottawa hosted a virtual Economic Rebound Roundtable led by Mayor Jim Watson with the participation of the City’s General Manager Office, City Councillors and the Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development Department.

The purpose of the roundtable was to gain a firsthand understanding of the economic priorities, challenges and opportunities related to the COVID-19 pandemic from diverse economic development partners and to identify opportunities for collaboration and shared advocacy to advance Ottawa’s economic rebound efforts over the coming years.

Over 20 participants representing diverse sectors such as housing, transportation, high technology and innovation, post secondary education, real estate, construction, retail, tourism, film, music, to name a few, gathered to present best practices and strategies to overcome the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

OLIP took this opportunity to highlight the key role immigration has in the City’s and Canada’s economic growth and recovery. With an ageing population and low fertility rate, Ottawa is growing primarily through immigration with almost a quarter of the city’s population being foreign-born residents, according to Statics Canada. Assuming it maintains its pre-COVID share of newcomer attraction (3% of Canada’s new PRs), we should see Ottawa eventually welcome about 12,000 newcomers per year in the next three years.

OLIP’s inputs were collected at the last Economic Integration Sector Table meeting during which key recommendations to make leveraging the contribution of immigrants to the city’s prosperity were brought forward. Those recommendations were provided to the City to enable immigrants to continue contributing as investors, business owners, innovators, front-line and essential workers and students. It is their diverse and rich experience that boosts innovation, scales up businesses and improves productivity while generating a prosperous vibrant city and inclusive values of multiculturalism and multilingualism. You can find OLIP’s input here.

There was an agreement between the City and sector representatives that talent attraction and immigration will be at the heart of the strategies moving forward for recovery and rebound; while multi-sectoral collaboration will be the vehicle to enable the fastest recovery for all.

For example, a triangular collaboration between post-secondary education institutions, employers and immigrant integration services can help connect training/education with jobs and newcomers candidates to fulfill the labour market demands.

The City of Ottawa will process all the input provided during the session to create a summary report that will include action areas with a possible follow-up session during the Fall of 2021. The recently created Economic Recovery Task Force will advise on how the City can help the business community as the pandemic evolves. Several economic support tool kits that can be accessed through the City’s website.