Professor Suzanne Mills presented her report, Shifting Grounds: Understanding Recent Interregional Migration to the Maritimes and Northern Ontario, to the Board. She thanked FONOM for its assistance in connecting her with participants in Northeastern Ontario. She outlined how longstanding patterns of internal migration toward major urban centres shifted during the COVID-19 period, with increased movement to more affordable regions such as Northern Ontario and the Maritimes. Her study, based on census and administrative data and interviews with inter-regional migrants and community stakeholders, found that migration to Northern Ontario between 2016 and 2021 was concentrated in the Near North and
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Northeastern Ontario. She noted that migrants were generally similar to the pre-existing population, though somewhat younger, more highly educated, and more likely to work remotely. Key motivations included housing affordability, proximity to family, quality of life, and health and well-being, rather than higher-paying employment. Professor Mills reported that while many migrants experienced improved quality of life, others faced challenges related to employment, housing availability, access to healthcare, and community integration. Community leaders viewed in-migration as bringing both economic and social benefits, while also creating pressures on housing, services, and infrastructure.