President’s Message: Celebrating 25 Years

Happy New Year and greetings as we start 2018—a key milestone for Tourism HR Canada as we celebrate our 25th anniversary! 2017 was a year of tremendous growth and increased organizational strength. There were several notable accomplishments. We made a major change to our board governance model and elected a new Board of Directors, comprised of some of the most important industry leaders. We established a new Industry Advisory Council, the first thinktank dedicated to discussion and debate on tourism labour market issues. We held our inaugural Annual Labour Market Forum, collecting input from tourism and hospitality stakeholders from across the country—input leading to recommendations on HR strategies and solutions that can be applied sector-wide.

Perhaps more than any other year, the organization was called upon frequently by governments, associations, and business stakeholders to contribute expertise/opinion and information on labour market matters. We benefitted from appointments to the ministerial advisory council for immigration (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) and the Labour Market Information Council (Forum of Labour Market Ministers). Our Vice-President, Labour Market Intelligence, was appointed to the Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA) Board of Directors, and we were invited to serve in an advisory role on Transport Canada’s legislated requirement to set competency standards for people who transport dangerous goods.

We launched HR Insider and published some of the most important and timely information on the labour market. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada called on us to help contribute to the planning of the first Canadian En[tour]preneur Experience and we participated as mentors for the 50 youth that were invited from across Canada. We presented at several industry conferences, and we were asked to respond to many other information requests. This year, we will build on our role as the ‘labour market voice’.

Without change, there is no progress. Looking forward, we will continue to focus on increased flexibility and responsiveness, to further diversify our strategies, and to invest in our people. These aims will remain core to how we work and will inform the updated Strategic Plan that will be launched in June.

Our priorities for 2018 will see us continue to contribute to the creation a more resilient and inclusive tourism labour market.

This is a great organization with an important mandate. Thank you for sharing in our work. We can anticipate a great year ahead, and our team looks forward to accomplishing it with the same enthusiasm and commitment.

With very best wishes,

Philip Signature (2)

Philip Mondor
President, Tourism HR Canada

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