Montreal Inclusive au Travail 2022-2024: Promoting Migrant and Refugee Integration Through a City-Led Podcast
Montréal
Mayor
Soraya Martinez Ferrada
Start of Project
09/27/2023
End of Project
03/31/2024
Overview
Led by the City of Montréal and implemented in partnership with the Quebec government, the business community, and academia, the Montréal Inclusive at Work initiative aimed to make the city more attractive and inclusive in terms of the professional integration of immigrants, thereby contributing to the promotion of immigrant expertise and talent and to its economic growth.
Produced as part of the City of Montreal’s Montréal Inclusive at Work initiative, the podcast aims to equip Montreal companies to develop winning strategies for welcoming immigrants and making their workplaces more diverse and inclusive.
Available in 2 seasons of 6 episodes each, the podcast provides a better understanding of the challenges faced by immigrants and explores solutions to help them succeed in their professional integration. Season 2 covers such themes as the evolution of immigration to Montreal in recent years, the job search from an immigrant's point of view, the importance of building inclusive and diverse organizational cultures, tips for reducing barriers to integration, and practical tools for hiring and retaining immigrants.
The objectives of the project are to engage employers in diversifying their teams, to offer concrete solutions to talent acquisition specialists in order to facilitate the attraction, hiring, progression, and retention of immigrants, and to raise employee awareness of their role in the integration of their immigrant colleagues.
The initiative was rolled out using three approaches: raising awareness of the added value of professional integration for immigrants; contributing to the creation of coordinated approaches; and transforming hiring, integration, and retention practices.
Expected Impact
Through the reflections of experts, the real-life experiences of entrepreneurs, and the testimonials of immigrants, the podcast identifies the obstacles to integrating immigrants and offers concrete solutions to include them in the job market in positions commensurate with their skills.
More specifically, the expected impacts are:
The acquisition of knowledge and tools by executives and talent acquisition specialists to strengthen corporate capabilities in the hiring, integration, retention, and advancement of immigrants.
Encourage companies to make significant, concrete changes to their organizational culture, and to accelerate the pace of such changes;
Combat discrimination and barriers experienced by immigrants, and promote their socio-economic contribution.
Lessons Learnt
For this 2nd season of the podcast, the initiative has placed greater emphasis on testimonials from immigrants, so that their personal and professional journeys are at the heart of our reflections. We called on immigrants with different migratory statuses (asylum seeker, temporary worker, permanent resident) to identify the obstacles to integration experienced by each of them.
We also wanted to offer solutions for SMEs, which do not always have the necessary tools to implement concrete actions for the professional integration of immigrants, despite their willingness to do so.
Reported Impact [as of November 2025]
The initiative has led to a series of innovative projects and community-building events, including the Pact for the Integration of Immigrants into the Workplace, the EDI community of practice, the Biais d'entrée podcast, the dissemination of data, and activities to mobilize the metropolitan business community. By positioning labour market integration of immigrants, employers, staff, and citizens of Montréal have been sensitized to see this as a shared responsibility. In addition, new inclusion practices and action plans have been developed by companies in various sectors.
Today, Montréal is continuing the process begun with this initiative through its partners and continues to assert its leadership in employment inclusion and diversity.
Priority Objectives
Eliminating all forms of discrimination and promote evidence-based public discourse
Protecting those most vulnerable
Realising socio-economic inclusion
“We’ve brought together some passionate and exciting people around Déborah Cherenfant’s microphone. They are experts, entrepreneurs, and immigrants with fascinating and inspiring backgrounds. Including immigrants in your Montreal business creates a collective wealth we can’t do without.”