Montreal Inclusive at Work

Summary

The City of Montreal is recognised as a metropolis of immigration. However, it is structurally lagging behind in the professional integration of newcomers. In this respect, in 2021 Montreal still had a higher unemployment rate gap between newcomers and native-born people than in other Canadian cities. In response to this challenge, in 2019 the City of Montreal launched "Montreal Inclusive at Work", an innovative initiative to promote the professional integration of immigrants in Montreal, encouraging their hiring, integration, retention and progression in employment. Deployed in 3 parts (awaken, engage and equip), the initiative mobilised 60 CEOs of Montreal Inc, relied on the creation of a Montreal Employers' Circle, engaged the general public through a "Closed Door Day" awareness campaign, trained through a podcast seen thousands of times and developed a micro-experimentation pathway with cohorts of companies that led to concrete commitments, among others. 

Impact

After a period of consultation and definition in 2021, Montréal inclusive at work 2022-2024 is ready to be implemented. Montreal is once again taking on an important leadership role by aiming, by 2030, to be a more attractive and inclusive host city for the professional integration of immigrants.

To do this, Montreal will:

1. address the policies and programs in the ecosystem that can reduce barriers to the integration of immigrants, and
2. enhance the capacity of employers to hire, integrate, retain and progress (HIRP) immigrants.

Lessons Learnt

Throughout the first edition between 2019 and 2021, we have conducted an independent evaluation of the initiative. We know that we have succeeded in raising awareness among Montreal workers about the obstacles faced by immigrants in their professional integration. We have learned that our approach must be long-term in order to achieve its behavioural transformation targets. In addition, it is essential to ensure that we are flexible and agile, to take into account the evolving nature of the initiative and the influence of external factors. Our initiative is strong in its participatory governance and strong stakeholder engagement and we are confident of achieving significant impact results in the coming years.