From Taiwan to Hickman's Harbour: These newcomers are hoping to build a life in rural Newfoundland

Less than 12 hours after arriving in Newfoundland and Labrador, Amiel Vincent Navarra sayshe's nervous but excited.

"I am happythis is the opportunity for me to come here in Canada," he said in an interview with CBC News in St. John's on Thursday.

Navarra who worked as an engineer in Taiwan said he cameto Canada to provide for his three young children, in hopethey can one day move here too.

Navarra is one of 13 temporary foreign workers, all originally from the Philippines, who have travelled from Taiwan and will be working at a crab processing plant in Hickman's Harbour, a village on Random Island.

Work Global Canada is the international recruitment and immigration agency that connected the workers withGolden Shell Fisheries, the company which operates the plant in Hickman's Harbour.

Wanda Cuff Young, vice-president of Work Global Canada, said temporary foreign workers and immigrants are in high demand in Newfoundland and Labrador. The organization helps with settlement including housing, cellphones, insurance and opening a bank account.

"And, of course, they're going through a transition because we have a 12-hour time zone difference. So all of these things there's a bit of acclimatization," she said.

Watch: Newcomers from the Philippines headtowork at a fish plant in Hickman's Harbour

Demand for temporary foreign workers is growing in N.L.

2 years ago

Duration 2:38

More than a dozen newcomers from the Philippines have made it to St. John's, and are heading to work at a fish plant in Hickman's Harbour.

Newfoundland and Labrador's crab fishery ison hold, withharvesters refusingto fish for the price of $2.20 a pound. Cuff Young said she's confident the pause won't ruin the season,and addedthe organization has contingency plans for the workers.

"The federal government and the provincial governments have phenomenal programs, we have great relationships with them," she said. "We'll come up with a plan to take care of them."

Cuff Young said each case is differentbut there will be opportunities for workers to remain in Canada after their temporary permit expires.

High demand

The provincial government has turned to other countries, including India and Ireland, to recruit health-care workers like doctors and nurses.

John Reynald Escasinas will be working in the fish plant toobut hopes one day to return to his career as a nurse.

"If they will have me, I mean if I will undergo some seminars, training or something like that, I would love to," he said.

Rob Greenwood, director of the Harris Centre, said years of outmigration and a lowfertility rate has been seriously detrimental to the province,especially in rural areas.

"After the fisheries moratorium, we lost a lot of people to the mainland biggest layoff in Canadian history. And it never really has come back in population terms," he said.

The province did experience a population increase last year,which government officials attributed to immigration. Greenwood said that immigration is a positive signbut has been largely confined to more urban areas, like the St. John's region.

He said rural areas can do more to make migrants feel welcome,and that work is already ongoing in some communities.

"Employers need to be talking to local grocery stores, service providers. Municipalities can play a really important role in this," he said.

Michelle Joy Llarena, a former early childhood educator,one of the vocations in high demand in Newfoundland and Labrador, said she'd welcome the chance to return to education, but for now, she'll be working at the fish plant and sending money back to her daughter in Manila.

Llarena said she's heard good things about Canada but there is one thing she's nervous about.

"Maybe the weather. Because here in Canada it is very cold."

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