ATAMANENKO: Immigration
By Alex Atamanenko
New immigrants to Canada face a number of challenges in their lives. While they are adjusting to a new country, a new community and a new culture with new habits, they may also be struggling to find how they can best apply their skills to the Canadian job market.
Immigrants with professional credentials from their countries of origin often face long waiting times to have their training recognized, or need years to upgrade and re-qualify for professional life in Canada.
According to the Conference Board of Canada, Canada is losing $5 billion of potential earnings from immigrants because of its failure to recognize foreign credentials. And Statistics Canada says six out of ten immigrants work in jobs in a field different from the one in which they worked in abroad.
While some oppose assisting immigrants in times of higher unemployment, a recent Manpower Inc. survey indicates that Canada has one of the most acute labour shortages in the industrialized world, an assessment echoed by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. As the economy grows, Canada will need workers to fill those gaps, so new models of attracting and retaining workers both domestically and internationally are keys to the success of the economy.
Minister of Human Resources Diane Finley announced in November 2009 that beginning in December 2010, foreign-trained architects, engineers, financial auditors and accountants, pharmacists and registered nurses will be among the groups that will have their applications for credentials processed within a year.
Other professionals, including doctors, will be covered under the one-year timetable by the end of 2012.
But NDP Citizenship and Immigration critic Olivia Chow says that the new government policy is a case of too little, too late.
“The Conservatives are taking way too long to bring fairness to new immigrants,” said Chow. “I urge the government to speed up the process of recognizing foreign credentials. The majority of professionals won’t see concrete results until December 2013. That is a long time to wait.”
New Democrats proposed a comprehensive foreign credential reform plan in 2007 and have been calling for its implementation ever since. The plan includes coordinating with various professional bodies and provincial accreditation offices to ensure a uniform and expedited recognition process throughout the country.
In BC, a provincial and federal government partnership program was recently introduced that provides employment support services for skilled immigrants. The Skills Connect for Immigrants program is open to immigrants who have become permanent residents of Canada within the last five years, and are unemployed or underemployed.
Susan Vellutini at the Greater Trail Community Skills Centre is the service provider for the Skills Connect program in the West Kootenay. She said that her clients are excited to hear of the program, because of the difficulties they have encountered in the credential recognition process.
“Getting their credentials recognized is a big part of it,” said Vellutini, “but I help my clients realize there’s more than just credentials involved in getting a job in their field.” The Skills Connect program can also help find short-term retraining in related professions for participants. “For example, I might recommend an AutoCAD course for an architect, or Early Childhood Education for a teacher,” said Vellutini. The program will pay up to two-thirds of the cost of retraining for courses of study of ten months or less.
For more information on the Skills Connect for Immigrants program, contact the Trail Skills Centre (250) 368-6360, or the Penticton Multicultural Society (250) 492-6299. For more information on the proposed Human Resources Canada foreign credential recognition program, go to www.rhdcc-hrsdc.gc.ca.
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