The Conference Board of Canada recently released the Small Business, Big Impact: Immigrant Hiring and Integration in Five Canadian Cities report. This report is the culmination of research interviews conducted to understand labour market dynamics and immigrant hiring in Saskatoon and beyond.


Through interviews across five cities, the research concluded that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in various sectors commonly face skill gaps and seek employees who require minimal training and investment after hiring. While SMEs use practical and inclusive strategies to evaluate newcomers' education and experience, they seldom proactively engage with immigrant-serving agencies during recruitment and onboarding. The research also highlighted the need to strengthen local-level connections between SMEs, SME-serving organizations, and immigrant-serving agencies. These organizations including the Saskatoon Chamber expressed a desire to share helpful resources more intentionally and connect businesses with immigrant-serving agencies to improve their experiences with immigration programs. Additionally, the report suggests that SMEs implement flexible workplace policies, such as adjusting working hours to align with transit and childcare schedules, to better accommodate diverse employee needs.


We are pleased to see the release of this report and that Saskatoon is included in the research conducted. To read the full report, click here.