Ontario is set to prioritize workers in six northern and rural communities to boost economic development.

• Greater Sudbury/Grand Sudbury.
• Kenora District.
• Nipissing District.
• Rainy River District.
• Renfrew County.
• Thunder Bay.

Through the Regional Economic Development through Immigration (REDI) initiative, the province will reserve dedicated nomination spaces for eligible workers in these communities under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) streams.

As of now, the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream (OWPS) is the sole active provincial immigration pathway for foreign nationals.

The relaunched REDI initiative will assign nomination quotas to each of the six communities involved, running until December 31, 2027.

Statistics Canada defines each community’s boundaries based on census divisions.

The OINP introduced the new round of REDI through its Program updates web page.

Thunder Bay is the only community retained from the previous REDI participants, which included Lanark, Leeds and Grenville, and Sarnia-Lambton.

The OWPS’s launch in June 2026 marked the first phase of Ontario’s immigration program restructuring, with the second phase launch date pending announcement.

The earlier version of the REDI initiative functioned through the OINP’s Employer Job Offer streams.