Sydney, NS - Wednesday April 13, 2016

Building on the work of the Rural-Urban Immigration Task Force at Cape Breton University, New Dawn Enterprises is excited to announce today the launch of the Cape Breton Island Immigration Centre.

“The leadership of the Rural-Urban Immigration Task Force at CBU has led us to this place – we know now more than ever what is needed here on the Island and we are honoured to be part of filling those gaps,” says New Dawn Director of Communications and External Relations, Erika Shea.

The Centre, supported by the Nova Scotia Office of Immigration, will hire two full-time settlement workers to provide referral, settlement, and integration services to newcomers across Cape Breton Island.

The Centre is schedule to open in early May 2016 and will work alongside existing services to newcomers, including those offered at the YMCA and the language training provided by TIE and LINC .

“The Task Force report was very specific in its findings. We need additional one-on-one face-to-face services, more group programming for newcomers, and workshops with businesses and in communities across the Island to talk about the benefits of immigration and connect newcomers with their new community and new opportunities,” says Shea.

Cape Breton Island loses more than 1,000 people every year. In order to sustain current levels of services and a sense of community cohesion and vibrancy, there is an urgent need to increase interprovincial immigration, intraprovincial immigration and international immigration.

“Cape Breton needs new people. This Centre and its new employees are one piece of the puzzle. Let’s ensure that the levels of services available here in Cape Breton are sufficient to meet the needs of our newcomers. We want everyone, those recently arrived and those yet to arrive, to be able to access local services, organizations and opportunities. And we want to ensure that as an Island we are doing our best to welcome newcomers and support their integration and ability to thrive and contribute as valued members and leaders in Cape Breton.

Funding for the Centre is being provided by the Nova Scotia Office of Immigration. The Centre will operate out of the New Dawn Centre for Immigration.

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For more information, please contact Erika Shea at 902-578-9272 or [email protected]