Visit of the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to the CDEM

On October 18, 2024, the teams of the CDEM, the AMBM and the elected officials and general managers of Manitoba’s bilingual municipalities received a visit from the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship and the Honourable Dan Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs, Minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada and Minister responsible for the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.

Uplifting meetings

The objective of this visit is to provide the two Ministers with the opportunity to meet with CDEM clients, newcomers who have succeeded in their careers in Winnipeg, demonstrating the impact of CDEM’s services and results made possible thanks to IRCC funding.

A meeting with Awa Soumbounou, owner of the company Awa Bissap and client of the business support sector took place during this morning. The Honourable Marc Miller had the opportunity to chat with Awa about her business in her kitchen.

Other meetings with clients of CDEM’s employability programs also took place. The Honourable Marc Miller and the Honourable Dan Vandal met with Mr. Tchen Koffi, a fraud and investigation officer at RBC Royal Bank and a business owner.

A round table with elected officials

Finally, this ministerial visit also demonstrated the importance of CDEM’s focus on Manitoba’s 16 bilingual municipalities to support economic immigration, and discussed the needs, challenges and commitment to Francophone immigration during a roundtable discussion with elected municipal officials from these municipalities.