BMO Newcomer Workforce Integration Lab
BMO Newcomer Workforce Integration
Leveraging the skills and talents of newcomers to Canada
The BMO Newcomer Workforce Integration Lab (BMO Lab) is a specialized research lab through which the Global Migration Institute conducts the majority of its research on labour migration, made possible through a generous gift of $3 million from BMO. The Lab is dedicated to advancing research on labour migration and creating practical, evidence-based tools that businesses can use to strengthen their recruitment, hiring, and onboarding practices. By equipping employers with strategies to better leverage the skills and talents of newcomers to Canada, the BMO Lab contributes directly to building a stronger, more inclusive workforce.
Canada鈥檚 future prosperity depends heavily on immigration. With nearly one in five Canadians born abroad and an aging workforce poised to exit the labour market in large numbers, newcomers are essential to filling critical roles across sectors such as health care, construction, and technology. Yet despite ambitious immigration targets and a growing pipeline of highly skilled immigrants, employers often lack the resources to effectively attract, integrate, and retain this talent. This gap places significant strain not only on businesses but also on newcomers seeking meaningful employment that matches their skills and experience.
Led by Lab Director Marshia Akbar, the BMO Lab works at the intersection of research and practice. With BMO as its champion, the Lab has a unique opportunity to develop and test new insights and methodologies that can have a lasting impact on immigrant workforce integration in Canada.
The BMO Newcomer Workforce Integration Lab will seek to address pressing questions which consider both the newcomer and the employer perspectives:
- What immigration policies and settlement services do skilled newcomers look for when deciding to choose Canada as their destination? And what are the experiences and service needs of recently arrived newcomers seeking to enter the Canadian workforce?
- What are the challenges or barriers that skilled newcomers face in entering Canada鈥檚 workforce?
- What are the skills and labour gaps Canadian businesses are facing, and how do the skills of newcomers match?
- What are the challenges that employers face in hiring and onboarding foreign talent?
- What best practices do businesses need to follow to successfully attract, hire and onboard skilled newcomers, and how can they support the work-life integration experience of newcomer employees to ensure maximum success in their new country?
The BMO Newcomer Workforce Integration Lab conducts research, synthesizes data, and develosp a package of evidence-based, actionable recommendations that can support businesses in their recruitment strategies, and hiring and onboarding practices to better leverage the skills and talents of newcomers to Canada.
Lead action-oriented roundtable discussions and workshops聽
Develop a toolkit that businesses can use to guide their processes for hiring and onboarding newcomers across provinces and industries
Build partnerships across employment, government, not-profit and service sectors聽
Publish white papers and peer-reviewed journal articles, policy briefs and other publications on key research findings
Test the toolkit through applied approaches (e.g. hiring events, job fairs)
Anna Triandafyllidou
Scientific Director, Global Migration Institute
Chair, CERC in Migration and Integration Program
Marshia Akbar
Director, BMO Newcomer Workforce Integration Lab and Research Lead on Labour Migration
CERC in Migration and Integration Program
Asma Atique
Research Fellow
CERC in Migration and Integration Program
Rupa Banerjee
Research Affiliate
Ted Rogers School of Management
Evelyn Siu
Manager, Partnership Engagement
CERC in Migration and Integration Program
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