Irish moving to remote Canadian area of Saskatchewan to start new lives

Canadian province alluring for Irish desperately looking for work

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Sinead and Howard Morrissey with their daughter Cara. The family moved from Tipperary to Saskatchewan province in Canada in 2010.

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Saskatchewan Province in Canada is growing as a popular destination for the Irish, thanks in part to a healthy economy and the demand for work. Despite partly sub-arctic winter temperatures, the province is attracting huge numbers of Irish.

The Irish Times reports on the Morrissey family who relocated to Saskatchewan from Tipperary in 2009. The Morriseys  emigrated to Saskatchewan in 2009 after attending a Working Abroad Expo in 2009. In March of this year, a similar event attracted nearly 20,000 people.

The Morriseys attended that one as well, but instead of looking for work abroad, they were there to help teach people about Saskatchewan and share their experiences.

A spokesperson for the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program says that around 300 Irish families are currently in the process of moving to the region after receiving offers from employers at these jobs fairs.

Up to recently, the destination was next to unheard of in Ireland. However, the Morrissey’s - Sinead, Howard and their 11 year old daughter Cara - have seen an upswing in the Irish population in Saskatchewan.

Upon arriving in 2009, Howard, a carpenter, remembers not knowing of any other Irish people in the area. That however has now changed, as Howard says he hears of Irish people arriving nearly every week for either short term or long term stays in the Canadian province.

While the capital,  Regina, is lacking an Irish centre that could serve as a meeting place for Irish immigrants, a new Facebook page is proof of a new era of immigration and is being deemed “invaluable” for newcomers to the area. An array of people - single, married, families, even some married men who have branched out on their own in hopes of having their families join them later - are all chatting away on the New Regina Facebook page.

John Hopkins, chief executive of Regina’s Chamber of Commerce, calls the labor market in Saskatchewan a “perfect storm.” While the economy there is expanding, the workforce is also aging, providing an opening for new jobs and high demand for workers. It is likely that the scenario will remain the same for the next 20 years.

Recruitment for the projected 75,000 to 90,000 jobs in Saskatchewan will mainly be in the areas of technology, construction, mineral exploration, agriculture and petroleum.

Hopkins said “Ireland makes a lot of sense as a human resource because cultures, law and language are largely the same. The cuisine is similar, the education too, so people will fit in easily. The skills and trades credentials appear to be on par with Canada. The major hurdle standing in the way is immigration.”

While the current cap on the number of people who can enter the Saskatchewan province under a program that recommends applicants for permanent residency sits at 4,000 people, many are calling for the total to be bumped up to 6,000. So far, the central government has denied Saskatchewan’s calls for a larger cap.

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