When you register, you have to give a confirmation that you either have the visa or a PPR or a MR. They will ask you for information on your intended destination, short and long term goals, qualifications, experience - basically that would cover most of the information about you. Once they have it, they will enroll you for a full day workshop followed by a one hour action plan session. During the full day session, they will tell you basics about Canada and what preparations should be done before arrival and what to do after arrival. My learning was that pre-arrival work is really critical in terms of assessing your language and educational credentials, checking out whether you need a licence to work or not, how to work towards acquiring it, upgrading your educational skills through a bridge course / internship among other things. They will give you a feel of what costs are like in different provinces, how to search for job opportunities. You should do a little homework in terms of identifying the province / city you would like to go to and this full session may help you change your mind if that is not suitable in term of your work profile.
From the Canadian Government's perspective, they want to encourage people to go to other places rather than just the usual suspects - Toronto / Vancouver and Montreal. At some point in time, in the not so distant future, life will get even tougher in these three places and the purpose of immigration will be defeated.
Also, I heard a very interesting story the other day - this is third hand information and I don't know the party involved. I was told about an immigrant family who upon acquiring citizenship moved to Dxb and have been here for over 5 years. Apparently they have been issued a notice by CIC to return or lose their citizenship. I have no way of verifying this but am certain that over the next few years, rules will be tightened even further.
