One of the guest speakers at the recent Rural2Rural conference in Blyth believes a significant number of immigrants living in Toronto would actually be much happier living in Huron County if they had some idea of what Huron County had to offer.
David Reycraft, the Director Dixon Hall Housing Services in the east end of Toronto, said there was a time when he assumed that most of the immigrants coming to Toronto came from large urban centres in their home countries.
"From the work that I've done over the last couple of decades, I've discovered that a significant percentage of those people come from rural communities and are more comfortable in rural communities and Toronto is a daunting experience for them," he said.
Reycraft said getting some of those people out to Huron County would be a real asset to Huron County communities.
"A lot of these people are agronomists, they come from rural communities where they have knowledge that could be shared with the agricultural communities in Huron County and beyond and we could learn a new way to do the business that we've been doing here for generations as well," he said.
Reycraft said part of the challenge is letting immigrants in Toronto know there are opportunities here for them. He said another challenge is helping immigrants living in Toronto feel comfortable about moving to rural communities that are not as diversified as Toronto is, and convincing them they would be welcomed in a rural community.
