About WRIEN

The Waterloo Region Immigrant Employment Network (WRIEN) was a community network launched in 2006 to address concerns employers in Waterloo Region had about the aging workforce and the impending shortage of skilled workers. To ensure Waterloo region's  future growth and prosperity, the attraction and integration of skilled immigrants was critical. 

Prior to the launch of WRIEN, Waterloo Region held an Immigrant Skills Summit that brought togehter a cross-section of 179 community members to develop a local strategy to address immigrant issues. Read more from the Summit report.

Hosted by the Greater Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber of Commerce and in partnership with the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, Canada's Technology Triangle, Communitech, local education institutions, all four levels of government and service providers, WRIEN was a  classic example of how multiple stakeholders come together and rally around community wide economic development challenges and opportunities.

Since its launch to July 2011, WRIEN's primarily goal was to strengthen Waterloo Region's economic prosperity through the engagement of employers, skilled and professional immigrants and the community to address emerging skilled and professional shortages.

Based on the overall success WRIEN has achieved through its collaborative approach, the WRIEN Immigrant Support Working Group (ISWG) asked other organizations to get together to develop a collaborative strategy that would include solutions for successful settlement and integration of immigrants and refugees in Waterloo Region. It was in response to a Request for Proposals (RFP) from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and the Ontario Ministry Of Citizenship.

Therefore, a new community initiative, called LIPC was created to enhance existing partnerships, to establish a comprehensive Local Immigration Partnership and develop a collaborative strategy that includes solutions for immigrants and refugees' settlement and integration challenges and issues.

At the April 2010 Community Forum, it was broadly affirmed that the Waterloo Region Immigrant Employment Network (WRIEN) could best achieve its employer engagement mandate by being part of the broader Immigration Partnership.

In August 2011 WRIEN's activities became the foundation for the work pillar under the Local Immigration Partnership recently named Immigration Partnership. WRIEN thanks all those involved over the past five years and congratulates them on the success they achieved developing impactful programs and engaging employers.

To get more information about the Immigration Partnership, please click here