Immigration minister tasked with attracting health workers to rural areas, developing anti-racism legislation

Alberta's minister of immigration and multiculturalism will be working on boosting the number of newcomers and handling anti-racism programs for the province. 

Muhammad Yaseen's mandate letter, released Wednesday, outlines the specific tasks for those two pillars of his ministry. 

Foremost on his to-do list from Premier Danielle Smith is streamlining immigration for health care workers, with a particular emphasis on attracting people to rural communities plagued by doctor and nurse shortages. 

"We will target needed professions. For example, physicians, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and clinical social workers," Yaseen told CBC News in an interview. 

"The ministry is working closely with the healthcare system to ensure we understand needs as we develop this stream."

Yaseen is also supposed to coordinate with the federal government to increase the number of provincial nominees Alberta gets each year. 

Immigration is generally a federally controlled file, but it has some provincial crossover. Provinces can select people who have applied to come to Canada for express entry based on specific training or qualifications.

For example, the premier has asked the minister to establish a dedicated immigration stream for tourism and hospitality workers. Yaseen will also monitor and improve settlement services.

In 2022 Alberta received 6,500 fast track nominee spaces. This year the minister says that number is at 9,750.

"We're doing whatever we can and we're also making sure that when people come here, they have the necessary training ... with respect to language issues, childcare, [and] other related things," he said. 

"We want to make sure that they are fully helped with respect to moving forward with the least amount of time to make sure they reach their full potential here in this province."

But recognizing foreign credentials has been a continuous problem in filling labour gaps in Alberta — something immigrant services workers have flagged and the minister of advanced education has been asked to fix. 

"The number of people coming in and the supports provided are not quite in balance at the moment," Shirley Phillips, the interim CEO of Immigrant Services Calgary, said. 

She complimented the mandate letter's focus on language services and its nod to boosting supports for newcomers. 

"We just got a lot of opportunity there and I think a greater focus on accreditation, employment counselling, [and] training would be very positive."

Multiculturalism and anti-racism

The second part of Yaseen's mandate letter focuses on multiculturalism and anti-racism. 

The minister has been asked to develop and pass anti-racism legislation. Alberta already has an anti-racism advisory council, which provided a list of recommendations to the government in 2021. An action plan was released last summer, which was criticized for leaving out certain recommendations. 

Yaseen said there's no timeline or details for that legislation yet.

Increasing funding for engaging and promoting Alberta's ethnocultural communities is also on Yaseen's plate.

The mandate letter for immigration and multiculturalism also includes: 

• Ensuring access to English as a second language training for newcomers

• Supporting settlement services for Ukrainian refugees

• Developing legislation that allows people more flexibility to observe cultural holidays more easily, while not disadvantaging businesses

In a statement sent to CBC News on Wednesday, the Alberta NDP criticized the mandate letter, saying it doesn't do enough to meet the "urgent" need to provide funding to settlement organizations to support the influx of newcomers to the province.

"This letter fails to provide a plan to create a welcoming environment where newcomers feel welcomed, find meaningful work, and build a life in Alberta," Sharif Haji, the NDP critic for Immigration and Accreditation said in the statement.

"The recent layoffs at the Centre for Newcomers in Calgary and other organizations across the province is a very sad example of this."