Tackling northwestern Ontario’s labour market challenges by helping newcomers find a sense of belonging

By EMILY DONTSOS

With an unemployment rate that’s significantly lower than the provincial average, Northwestern Ontario has a lot of jobs to offer.

The problem? With a population that isn’t growing fast enough, “we actually don’t have enough people to meet our job needs,” says Dr. Kathy Sanderson, an associate professor of human resources and organizational behaviour at Lakehead University. 

Dr. Sanderson says the key to closing that gap lies in attracting newcomers to northwestern Ontario. But many employers find it difficult to retain newcomer employees, leading to a cycle of instability and uncertainty. 

Several years ago, Dr. Sanderson—who also serves as the associate director of EPID@Work, a research institute at Lakehead focused on workplace wellness—decided to tackle this challenge. 

“We started with the question, ‘How can we make sure newcomers want to stay in northwestern Ontario?’ And from there, we asked: ‘How can we make newcomers feel more welcome?’” 

Opening Doors to Welcoming and Belonging

With funding from the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training, and Skills Development, Dr. Sanderson and an interdisciplinary team of researchers and graduate students launched a research project seeking to understand how newcomer men and women experience welcoming and belonging in the workplace. 

As a community-based study, the team worked closely with the Thunder Bay Multicultural Association and the Community Economic Development Corporation to recruit newcomer participants and receive ongoing guidance and support. 

The main finding from this study is striking. 

“We discovered that newcomers were looking for friendships within the community, to understand workplace culture and norms, and feel safe, while employers were more focused on cultural competence training and short-term integration,” Dr. Sanderson says. “This points to serious gaps that can cause newcomers to feel disconnected from their communities and workplaces.”  

Based on these initial findings, the team turned its attention to the experiences of newcomer women, who face unique barriers to labour participation and belonging. 

“Rates of labour participation and income for newcomer women lag behind both Canadian-born men and women as well as newcomer men,” Dr. Sanderson says. “We wanted to find out exactly what their experiences are and what supports they need to feel a higher degree of belonging and job security.” 

The team found that many newcomer women struggle with a lack of information—and they’re often unsure how to make lasting friendships in a Canadian context. 

“Many of their challenges relate to limited information on Canadian workplace norms and cultures, occupational health and safety standards, and human rights—many of the things that Canadian-born employees are familiar with and take for granted,” Dr. Sanderson says. 

When it comes to building relationships, newcomer women shared that while their Canadian colleagues are friendly towards them, those friendships often don’t extend beyond the workplace. 

“This can cause newcomer women to feel quite isolated,” Dr. Sanderson says. “They aren’t feeling that full sense of belonging in the community, which can make it really hard to adjust to their new life.”   

Now that this three-year study has wrapped up, the team is focused on harnessing its findings to change northwestern Ontario’s labour landscape—including the development of an online training program designed to introduce newcomer women to workplace norms and culture.

“This was one of the key recommendations that emerged from our research,” Dr. Sanderson says. “We are now seeking additional funding to create this program, which would be available to employees throughout northwestern Ontario. We’ll then evaluate its impact on workers’ sense of welcoming and belonging.” 

A New Area of Focus: The Impacts of Artificial Intelligence and Digitization 

In addition to ongoing studies related to welcoming and belonging, Dr. Sanderson has recently received funding to explore another area of critical concern for newcomer women and for the region: the emerging impacts of AI and digitization. 

“We’re already seeing that AI and digitization will first target the most precarious jobs, and most of those jobs are held by women—both newcomers and Canadian-born women alike,” she says. 

Dr. Sanderson’s new study will look at how technology is affecting employment in northwestern Ontario, and what these impacts mean for the future of the labour market and community well-being in the region. 

“Ultimately, this work relates to my original research interest—how are we going to retain people in northwestern Ontario? If technological advancement renders certain positions obsolete, our labour market will face substantial challenges.” 

Dr. Sanderson says her new project aims to identify the most vulnerable occupations and develop strategies that enable workers to enhance their adaptability. “This will help ensure they maintain viable employment alternatives in an evolving job market.” 

Building a Strong and Thriving Future 

Dr. Sanderson says that her research as a whole—which directly contributes to several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including gender equality, decent work and economic growth, and reduced inequalities—aims to help northwestern Ontario communities truly thrive, today and long into the future. 

“I hope that as we enhance our capacity to ensure all employees feel valued and develop a sense of belonging, we’ll see a more stable and flourishing labour market and stronger communities,” she says. “There are many areas of recruitment and retention where I think improved approaches to welcoming could be beneficial for our region.”

Research in Action highlights the work of Lakehead University in various fields of research.