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Immigrants wanted for Canada’s small towns

In the picturesque but isolated community of Powell River, daycare operator Marjorie Jones is trying to figure out a way to help six nurses, who are completing their maternity leaves, get back to work at the local hospital. “They need daycare spots for their children but I don’t have the workers,” said Jones, who runs the Second Nature Childcare Centre and Nature’s Way Childcare Centre in B.C.’s Sunshine Coast community. “I can’t find anyone locally so I hired a lawyer to look for foreign workers but the visa processing delays and immigration red tape has left me frustrated…there are simply not enough workers in any of the small towns like ours,” Jones told NCM. “In addition to the nurses, I have police officers and paramedics here looking for childcare and I can’t get them spots until my foreign workers are processed,” said Jones, adding the entire region is facing the same predicament.