Immigration is a subject that almost every resident of Antigonish has bumped into in some way. Walk into a local Tim Hortons, visit Parkland or the RK, or stroll through the StFX campus, and the town’s growing diversity is immediately visible. But behind that visible change is a complex and increasingly uncertain legal and policy landscape that is affecting real people in our community right now.

Justin and Anuj (freshly returned from travels in Kenya and India) sat down with Peter Goldie, a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC) and Antigonish neighbour, to untangle what’s going on.

What Changed and Why

To understand the current situation, Goldie says, you have to go back to COVID. When the pandemic created widespread labor shortages, the federal government loosened immigration policies to bring more workers into the country. Pathways that allowed temporary residents to become permanent residents were expanded, and the result was a significant influx of people.

Then came the backlash. With housing costs soaring and healthcare wait times growing across the country, the government began pointing to the elevated number of temporary residents — currently around 6.5% of the total population, against a stated target of 5% — as a contributing factor. The response has been a steady tightening of immigration programs over the past two years.

“What we’re seeing is a restriction on immigration programs,” Goldie explained. “They’re reducing the number of foreign nationals that can access these programs... and restricting the options for them to renew their immigration status.” The implicit goal, he said, is that as temporary status expires and renewal becomes harder, people will return home.

It’s a policy direction that Goldie — and many in his field — finds troubling.

The Local Labor Paradox

For a community like Antigonish, the consequences of tighter immigration policy are particularly pointed. The county has an aging population, which means a shrinking tax base alongside growing demand for services — elder care, continuing care attendants, healthcare workers. That workforce has to come from somewhere, and increasingly, it has been coming from abroad.

“Even with younger Canadians stepping up to fill these roles, there still is a genuine shortage,” Goldie said.

The frustrating irony is that the jobs most in need of workers in a service-oriented community like Antigonish — retail, hospitality, continuing care — are precisely the ones the government has deprioritized for immigration purposes. For nearly two years, workers in hospitality and accommodation have been unable to use those jobs as a pathway toward permanent residency through Nova Scotia’s provincial nominee program. The government’s focus, Goldie noted, has shifted toward resource extraction and industrial sectors — jobs that don’t yet exist here in meaningful numbers.

“Right now, the people that are currently here and are currently working are filling labor needs, but they’re not being given access to permanent residency,” he said.

Nova Scotia’s PR Programs: Fewer Options Overnight

Adding to the uncertainty, changes to immigration programs can happen with little or no warning. As a stark example, Goldie noted that just recently, Nova Scotia condensed its ten provincial nominee program streams down to four — without publicly announcing the change in advance.

“It can happen at any time and it can create a real problem for a lot of people,” he said.

For the foreign nationals affected — international students on post-graduate work permits, Ukrainians who came here fleeing conflict, temporary workers who have built lives here — that uncertainty is deeply stressful. Many arrived with the reasonable expectation that a clear pathway to permanent residency existed. For a growing number, that path has narrowed or disappeared entirely.

“I see a lot of stress,” Goldie said of his clients. “There was a lot of young people that have come to Canada from other countries. It’s been a long-term family decision oftentimes to come here, to expend a lot of resources.”

The Credential Recognition Problem

One issue that runs alongside the immigration question is the broader challenge of credential recognition. Goldie pointed out that many foreign nationals working in relatively low-wage positions here are significantly overqualified for those roles.

Canada’s difficulty recognizing foreign education and professional credentials keeps highly trained people in roles well beneath their qualifications. The example discussed most personally in the conversation was dentistry: Goldie noted that his own fiancée, a trained dentist from abroad, is currently unable to practice in Canada, and that the pathway to doing so — or even to working in a supporting dental role in the interim — is filled with regulatory roadblocks.

“There is a huge shortage of dental professionals,” he said. “Very hard if you’re a foreign-trained dentist to become licensed in Canada.”

What Antigonish Can Do

While federal and provincial immigration policy is largely out of local hands, the conversation surfaced several practical ways the community can respond constructively.

For employers facing labor shortages — particularly in healthcare and social services — Goldie emphasized that many of the workers they need are already here, ready and willing. The barrier is often simply a lack of awareness about how immigration programs work and how employers can support their workers’ long-term residency goals. Businesses that actively help employees navigate these processes are far better positioned to retain good workers.

More broadly, Goldie called for greater communication between the various groups navigating this moment — employers, newcomers, and long-established residents alike. He noted that Antigonish has a proud history of welcoming people from around the world, from its deep roots as a university town to the international work of the Coady Institute. That tradition of openness is a community asset worth building on.

On the policy front, his recommendation was clear: rather than focusing on reducing the number of temporary residents by pushing people out, the government should be creating more pathways for people already here — who are already paying taxes, already embedded in communities — to stay permanently.

“If people are here and they’re paying taxes, they should have a better chance,” he said.

By June of this year, an estimated 1.5 million temporary residents in Canada may face an uncertain immigration status. As Anuj put it during the episode, “This is showing up in our town and county in real time.”

Getting Help — and Staying Informed

For those with immigration questions, Goldie is also considering offering a free public information seminar in collaboration with the Antigonish library and ACALA — a space where community members could come to better understand how the system works without needing to retain a consultant.

His parting advice for anyone navigating immigration questions on their own: go to the official IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) website for accurate information, and be cautious about unverified sources.

Peter Goldie has been a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant in good standing since 2021. His practice focuses on Economic Immigration pathways both temporary and permanent.

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