Overview of the Rural Renewal Stream
The Rural Renewal Stream encourages and retains newcomers to rural Alberta through a community-driven program that meets local economic development requirements and contributes to community progress. The Rural Renewal Stream enables rural towns to attract and retain foreign nationals to live, work, and settle in their areas.
Before they can recruit and endorse candidates for the Rural Renewal Stream, communities must apply for and be designated. Candidates who have received an endorsement letter from a designated community can apply through the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program portal.
Alberta Rural Renewal Stream Communities
Table 1. List of designated communities and designation date.
| Community | Designation Date |
|---|---|
| City of Brooks (including: Town of Bassano, Village of Duchess, County of Newell, Village of Rosemary) | May 13, 2022 |
| City of Grande Prairie | July 6, 2022 |
| Town of Whitecourt | July 20, 2022 |
| Town of Taber (including: Municipal District of Taber, Town of Vauxhall, Town of Coaldale, Town of Picture Butte, Lethbridge County, Town of Cardston, Town of Milk River, Town of Raymond) | July 20, 2022 |
| Town of Innisfail (including: Town of Olds, Town of Bowden) | September 9, 2022 |
| Municipal District of Smoky River (including: Town of Falher, Village of Donnelly, Village of Girouxville) | September 9, 2022 |
| County of Grande Prairie (including: Town of Sexsmith, Town of Wembley, Town of Beaverlodge) | September 9, 2022 |
| Town of Trochu (including: Village of Acme, Town of Three Hills, Village of Linden) | September 9, 2022 |
| Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo | September 9, 2022 |
| Municipality of Jasper | September 13, 2022 |
| County of Barrhead (including: Town of Barrhead) | November 8, 2022 |
| Town of Hinton | November 8, 2022 |
| Town of Fairview (including: Village of Hines Creek) | January 13, 2023 |
| City of Medicine Hat (including: County of Forty Mile, Cypress County, Town of Bow Island, Town of Redcliff) | January 13, 2023 |
| Town of Fox Creek | February 13, 2023 |
| City of Cold Lake | March 10, 2023 |
| County of St. Paul (including: Town of St Paul, Town of Elk Point, Summer Village of Horseshoe Bay) | March 10, 2023 |
| Town of Drayton Valley | March 10, 2023 |
| Town of Slave Lake (including: Sawridge First Nation, Municipal District of Lesser Slave River) | March 10, 2023 |
| City of Lloydminster | March 29, 2023 |
| City of Lethbridge | March 29, 2023 |
| Town of Westlock | March 29, 2023 |
| Municipal District of Greenview No.16 (including: The Town of Valleyview) | March 29, 2023 |
| Town of Peace River | June 14, 2023 |
| Town of Sylvan Lake | June 14, 2023 |
| City of Wetaskiwin | August 2, 2023 |
| Special Areas 2, 3, 4 (including: Town of Hanna, Town of Oyen, Village of Consort, Village of Empress, Village of Veteran, Village of Youngstown, Municipal District of Acadia No. 34) | August 2, 2023 |
| Growth Regional Economic Development Alliance (including: Woodlands County, Town of Swan Hills, Town Mayerthorpe) | September 22, 2023 |
| County of Northern Lights (including Town of Manning) | September 22, 2023 |
| Town of Bonnyville | September 22, 2023 |
| Town of Two Hills | September 22, 2023 |
| Lac La Biche County (including: Hamlet of Lac La Biche, Hamlet of Plamondon & Greater Region) | October 4, 2023 |
How to apply
Before you apply
To participate in the Rural Renewal Stream, communities must be able to attract, recruit, and welcome immigrants who are newcomers to Canada. A candidate for the Rural Renewal Stream is a foreign individual who does not have permanent residence or Canadian citizenship. This person could be in or out of Canada.
Community requirements
Communities will be responsible for:
- identifying and working with community employers that have permanent (minimum of 12 months, full-time, non-seasonal) jobs that need to be filled
- connecting with a settlement providing organizations to identify and plan for some of the settlement needs within the community
- developing additional criteria (optional) to recruit foreign nationals
- this could include narrowing down the occupations that the community is interested in recruiting
- responding to foreign national inquiries while community is actively recruiting
- collaborating with employers on selecting and endorsing the foreign national
- developing and implementing a plan for welcoming and settling foreign national(s) to the community
Complete the application form
An economic development organization fills out the application in partnership with the community.
Download Rural Renewal Community Designation Application form here
Note: Incomplete applications and/or applications that do not have all of the mandatory requirements will not be evaluated.
Endorsement support letter from participating town or municipal councils
The letter should outline the following on the official letterhead:
- name and address of the participating town or municipality supporting the application
- participating town/municipality acknowledges support for this project and the meeting date that this project was discussed
- participating town or municipality acknowledges that their community name will be posted on the Government of Alberta website should their community become designated
- name, title and contact information of the person issuing the endorsement lette