St. John's Amongst Best As Magnet for Newcomers

The City of St. John’s has received an A grade and is ranked as the sixth most attractive city in Canada for newcomers, according to the latest study from the Conference Board of Canada. City Magnets is a study conducted by the Conference Board of Canada that grades and ranks cities according to the features that make them attractive to mobile populations.
 
“We are very pleased to have maintained our status nationally as a leading city for attracting migrants,” said Mayor Dennis O’Keefe. “We value the contributions that newcomers make to our city and we recognize the importance of ensuring that we not only attract but also retain new citizens for St. John’s.”
 
City Magnets III: Benchmarking the Attractiveness of 50 Canadian Cities, analyzes and benchmarks the features that make Canadian cities attractive by measuring their performance in seven categories and 43 indicators. St. John’s performed well in most categories, scoring top marks in Health, Economy and the Environment; a B in Housing; and Cs in Society, Education and Innovation. (see backgrounder)
 
“Despite our high ranking, we acknowledge that there is work to do, particularly in the Society and Innovation factors,” said Mayor O’Keefe. “Councillors and staff will examine this study closely to see how we can support improvement in areas of weakness and continued investment in our strengths.”
 
In June, the City of St. John’s launched a Local Immigration Partnership which is a multi-sectoral program designed to help improve the integration of immigrants as well as to strengthen the City’s ability to attract immigrants.
 
The city is also looking to support diversity training for employees, particularly front line/customer service to enhance the interaction between the city and its newcomers.
 
Economic Roadmap 2021 supports all efforts to enhance the city’s attractiveness to migrants, including working with Memorial University to support newcomers - both faculty and students - to connect better with the City of St. John’s.
 
Media Contact:
Susan Bonnell
Manager, Marketing and Communications
City of St. John's
Phone: 709-576-3906
Cell: 709-690-9285
Email: sbonnell@stjohns.ca 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BACKGROUNDER: City Magnets III
 
About City Magnets:
City Magnets is a study conducted by the Conference Board of Canada that grades and ranks cities according to the features that make them attractive to mobile populations. The report states that cities failing to attract new people will struggle to stay prosperous and vibrant. This is the third such report, with the last one completed in 2010. St. John’s rank has not changed.
 
Our Results:

• According to the Conference Board of Canada, St. John's is amongst the top six most attractive cities to live for newcomers in Canada.
• St. John’s received a Grade of A overall along with Waterloo, Calgary, Ottawa, Richmond Hill and Vancouver.
• St. John’s ranks sixth out of 50 cities, and is the second smallest of the cities to receive an A.
• This is the same grade St. John’s received in 2010.
• St. John’s is one of only 2 cities to receive an A in Health.
• St. John's has the second-best ratio of general practitioners and specialists per 100,000 people.
• St. John’s ranked second out of 50 cities in the category of full-time employment (2011 data).
• St. John’s is one of only six cities where air quality advisories are not issued at all; we are generally seen as a place where there is clean air and water, making us very attractive to migrants.
• St. John’s scored a B on the theme of Housing, placing 15th nationally. The City of St. John’s Affordable Housing Business Plan, launched in 2014, aims to create 500 affordable homes in the City of St. John’s by 2017, and other housing issues are being considered by the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Affordable Housing.
• St. John’s received C scores Innovation, Education and Society.
• While the City of St. John’s is considered a cultural capital generally, the Conference Board gave it a C grade in the area of “proportion of population employed in cultural occupations.”
• The City received D grades in the categories of: “diversity of population” and “evidence of multilingualism”, “population density” and “travel to work by public transit, walking and cycling.” “Incidence of violent crime” and “population with low income” also received poor grades.
• While St. John’s received a C grade overall in Education, it was ranked fifth of 50 cities in the category of “University professors and College instructors per 1000 adult population.”
• The C grade for Innovation reflects poor scores in areas of productivity growth and level as well as well number of graduates in engineering, math and science.
• The City received a D score for the proportion of population employed in computer and information systems occupations.
• While the City has some work to do in the Innovation category it is important to note that it was ranked third out of 50 cities on productivity levels, behind Calgary and Edmonton.
• The City will be addressing some of the issues in the Society category in the context of the City’s new municipal plan, which notes that effective urban design supports population density and more livable, walkable cities; and issues of crime are being considered by the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Crime Prevention.