2010 IEP Research Study

8/9/2019 2010 IEP Research Study

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Foreword

On behal o Progress Career Planning Institute (PCPI), I am pleased to present this research study to thestakeholders o the IEP Conerence. The conerence was conceived to bring together business, education,government, community and accreditation bodies in order to share practical inormation on how IEPs canaccess the Toronto job market in their eld o work.

The research study takes the event to the next level by validating the international perspectives andexperiences o IEPs and by examining the critical issues hindering them rom lling the skills gap in theToronto labour market.

It is the hope o PCPI that by embarking on this study we will bring new levels o understanding about theissues acing IEPs in integrating into the Canadian labour market and engage decision makers, so they cancollectively work on enhancing strategies that will speed processes and systems in place to break down thebarriers to integrating IEPs into the labour orce.

PCPI is grateul to Citizenship and Immigration Canada or unding this research, George Schrijver,WCM Consulting or undertaking the study and to all the respondents or their participation.

Silma H. RoddauPresident, PCPI


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Contents

Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................... 3

Background and Context ..................................................................................................................... 5

Methodology .......................................................................................................................................... 6

Findings rom the Study ........................................................................................................................ 7

Conclusions........................................................................................................................................... 15

Recommendations ................................................................................................................................ 23

Reerences ............................................................................................................................................ 24

Appendices ........................................................................................................................................... 25





Executive Summary

PCPI is working to bridge the gap between employers’ desires and reality, as well as the gap between employees’credentials and their job situations. Their goal is to “oer career development services or people to realize their ull

potential.” As part o this commitment, PCPI seeks to use research, resources and expertise to help employers andInternationally Educated Proessionals (IEPs) identiy and implement eective strategies to attain and retain meaninguland protable employment.

In examining the issues a perspective drawn rom the discipline o economic development may shed light urther onthe situation. The project purpose was to assess the recent experience o IEPs when integrating into the Greater TorontoArea Labour Market at a level (sel-dened) appropriate to their qualications and to build upon two previous PCPIcommissioned studies. What is changing or the better and what is not, with recommendations towards achievingthe goal, and encouraging the deployment o the ull capabilities o the IEP into the economy o the Greater Toronto Area, optimizing the prosperity o businesses, the community and the IEPs themselves .

To conduct the research IEPs, employers and service providers were interviewed to obtain a qualitative assessment asseen by those on the ront-line o the current situation. Then, an extensive literature search was conducted to determinewhat is being done by those charged with removing the barriers to the successul integration o the IEP into the economy.

At all times in the review, conclusions and recommendations, the ocus was on opportunities, to be gained or lost, withrespect to the uture prosperity o our economy. The IEP is examined as an ‘asset’ to the economy which, as with allother assets, should be deployed to the maximum benet o the prosperity o the community. With the predicted declinein the uture availability o Canadian-born, working-age persons, coupled with the urgent necessity to raise educationand skills levels to meet the rapidly emerging economic challenges, the IEP oers a ‘ready-made, available now’solution.

The conclusions identiy that, while much is being done by those clearing the path between the employer and the IEP,

the ull benecial eects o the eorts to date have not yet been elt by the under-employed IEP. Further, while largerrms have recognized the value o the IEP, appreciating the diverse capabilities that they bring to their employerorganizations, smaller rms have not yet embraced this opportunity to the same extent.

Many smaller rms perceive risks as being high, especially in an uncertain economy; ironically, the IEP may be parto the solution. While this uneven uptake is understandable, the situation must be improved. As the backbone o oureconomy and the source o most growth, small and medium-size companies must develop and grow suciently toensure sustainable community prosperity.

The recommendations will provide signicant impetus towards achieving the objective o deploying the IEP, a vitalresource in the challenge o ensuring our uture prosperity. Encouraging the smaller rms to appreciate the competitiveadvantages o diversity, through low-risk or no-risk mechanisms, is a vital consideration.

In removing the unnecessary barriers while maintaining the essential hurdles, we urge a ‘zero-based’ approach: createa streamlined process, devoid o inter-organizational silos, which is ocused on achieving the overall objective, ratherthan on maintaining the status quo. Then port the essential elements o the existing processes into the new, leaving thenon-value added aspects behind.



Executive Summary

Economic Development is an investment, not a cost, and good investments deserve the maximum possible unding inorder to obtain the maximum return. Resource-limited thinking must be replaced with the drive to achieve the required

objectives, with the commensurate level o investment.

In the present economic situation, some o these recommendations may not be popular with many in the public. This iswhen leadership must come to the oreront: doing always what is needed, not always what is popular.



Background and Context

Canada has one o the world’s highest rates o immigration, welcoming between 200,000 and 300,000 newcomerseach year. Canada prides itsel on being one o the top destinations or immigrants and has a strong record o helping

newcomers integrate into Canadian society while remaining richly multicultural.These high rates o immigration strengthen the Canadian economy and deepen the talent pool available to Canadianemployers. Newcomers bring an understanding o new markets, new ideas on doing business and enhance the culturalintelligence o an organization. Most importantly, they bring skills and education.

Two IEP studies by PCPI had revealed that there are disconnects between the IEPs’ experience in getting a job and theemployers’ perspective on strategic workorce planning. Additionally, research conducted by the Conerence Board oCanada has revealed that employers still ace challenges in attracting and recruiting skilled people, in spite o the vastnumber o skilled immigrant proessionals seeking employment in occupations deemed as having skill shortages.

Employers in Canada have good intentions when it comesto hiring and retaining IEP talent. The research report romPCPI demonstrates that the vast majority o employersare avourable to IEP-related policies and programs withnearly hal having such policies in place. In particular,employers were most interested in establishing mentoringprograms, supporting Canadian accreditation andlicensing, and implementing acculturation courses.

Despite these good intentions, employers have not beenable to implement many o these identied best practices.Even i they see the best practice as desirable, rms,especially small rms, ace challenges when it comes

to easibility. These include the tight global economicsituation, insucient resources, and other demandson executive time. Additionally, there was widespreadconsensus that senior managers are largely unaware othe business case or hiring and integrating IEPs.

PCPI is working to bridge the gap between employers’ desires and reality, as well as the gap between employees’credentials and their job situations. Their goal is to “oer[] career development services or people to realize their ullpotential.” As part o this commitment, PCPI seeks to use research, resources and expertise to help employers and IEPsidentiy and implement eective strategies to attain and retain meaningul and protable employment.

In examining the issues, a perspective drawn rom the discipline o economic development may shed urther light on the

situation. The project purpose was to assess the recent experience o IEPs when integrating into the GTA Labour Marketat a level (sel-dened) appropriate to their qualications and to build upon two previous PCPI commissioned studies.What is changing or the better and what is not, with recommendations towards achieving the goal, and encouragingthe deployment o the ull capabilities o the IEP into the economy o the Greater Toronto Area,optimizing the prosperity o businesses, the community and the IEPs themselves.

“Immigration is one o the most

pressing issues acing the labour market

today. Canada’s population is not

increasing naturally, and our employees

are aging. Immigrants have the

skills and expertise to enhance

and expand our labour market ,

and it’s critical that we break down any

barriers to this integration.”

– Dominic D’Alessandro, CEO and President of Manulife Financial and Co-Chair of TRIEC http://www.torontoalliance.ca/media/quotes/, taken from the TRIEC website on June 11, 2009.



Methodology

The methodology was as ollows:

The conduct o primary, phenomenological rst-person research with IEPs, companies and service providers.

A literature review o the extensive body o existing reports and inormation. Synopses and extracts areincluded in Appendix 2.

A determination o what has changed and what has not, with respect to connecting the IEP to the workplace atthe appropriate level.

Drawing conclusions rom the research and review.

Providing recommendations to enable PCPI, as well as the Government o Canada, the Province o Ontario,agencies, service providers and employers, to apply this research, their resources and expertise to help

overcome the remaining barriers and bridge the remaining gaps



Findings rom the Study

Primary Research

The detailed results rom the IEP respondents are contained in Appendix I o this report.

A point known as data saturation arrives in most surveys. This point was reached very quickly in the primary researchand was corroborated with recent secondary research sources.

From the IEP respondents:

•Slightlymorethanhalfhadfoundworkintheeld,but not at the level , in which they had been educated.

•Approximately30%feltthatthepositionobtainedwascommensuratewiththeirqualicationsandanequal

number, although working in their eld, elt that they were over-qualied and not able to realize their ullpotential.

•Two-thirdsstatedthattheyhadbeenadvisedtoobtainfurthereducationinCanadainordertoachievetheir

proessional employment goals. The range was rom:

o Acquiring English as a second language.

o Obtaining a Canadian education in ‘business’.

o Obtaining engineering qualications in Canada since the original credentials are not accepted here.

•Lessthanonequarterfeltthattheycouldreachtheirprofessionalgoalinthiscountry,workingatalevel

commensurate with their view o their credentials. The balance elt that they could not and cited various reasons:

o Too old to return to school and not worth the investment o time and money (many lower skilled workers

in Ontario are acing just this challenge today due to the restructuring o the manuacturing sector)

o Cannot aord to. The imperative o sending money ‘back home’ and the necessity to hold downtwo jobs to accomplish this, precludes schooling. This is a vicious circle since obtaining the requiredschooling could permit them to earn more in less time.

o Feeling discouraged, disappointed and, most o all, disempowered.

The actor most common to either not being able to nd suitable employment or dissatisaction with the employmentthey had, is a lack o recognition or their education. Some respondents had not interviewed or positions or whichthey elt qualied because they had been told by the governmental body that their education wasn’t “rom a recognizeduniversity or equivalent.”

Others mentioned issues common to all jobseekers (not only IEPs), including having to upgrade skills in using technologyor keeping their education “current”.

Some claimed that immigrants must do more to help other immigrants, while others identied senior governmentsas having to do more to help new immigrants to the country. The general overtone rom the interviewees includeddiscouraged and disempowered eelings about coming to Canada and the lack o opportunity or people withcredentials similar to their own.




Secondary Research

Nearly hal o all immigrants who arrived in Canada between 1980 and 1996 did enter the workorce. During the1990s, the average level o education or the Canadian-born population was already lower than that o the immigrantswho came to Canada (Alboim, Finnie & Meng, 2005). Now, the largest groups o immigrants who decide to come toCanada are proessionals, o whom more intend to work in occupations with dened requirements or their proession(Citizenship and Immigration (CIC), 2003a).

Canada’s growth, prosperity and diversity have been shaped by immigration. Increasing numbers o internationallyeducated proessionals choose Canada due to workorce opportunity and a growing labour market, especially orskilled and regulated occupations (Citizenship and Immigration (CIC), 2003a). Recent immigrants, however, havesuered lower rates o employment and labour success compared to immigrants rom previous decades (Alboim et

al, 2005). Integration o internationally educated proessionals must be realized in order to ensure a sustainable anddiverse work orce (von Zweck and Burnett, 2006).

Internationally educated proessionals may choose to leave their home countries or many reasons. Low wages, careeradvancement or opportunity limitations, poor working conditions, discrimination and oppressive or dangerous socialor physical environments are all valid reasons or looking to Canada or a place to make a dierence or themselvesand others. Immigrants cite reasons o improved wages and benets, better work environments and qualities o lie orthemselves and their amilies or choosing Canada as a place to live (Diallo, 2004; Grondin, 2004).

Workorce integration is promoted by Canada as the acculturation goal or individuals who come to Canada to work(CIC, 2005b). Using this type o integrative approach allows proessionals to respect and retain their social and culturalidentities while entering into their elds o expertise. Despite this noble goal, real workorce integration has not been

attained or many internationally educated proessionals. Many immigrants are unable to nd and win jobs matchingtheir qualications, especially those with ormally mandated skills and education. In 2002, less than hal o proessionallyeducated and trained new Canadians were able to work in their respective elds o expertise (Delaney, 2005).

Canada promotes and identies itsel as a country which is welcoming to people rom around the world, especiallyin our “World Class Cities” o Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Indeed, Canada’s cultural diversity ranks as the mostethnically diverse in the world (Gilgo, 2009). These cities are described as hubs o creativity and talent, attractingpeople rom around the world (Gilgo, 2009). Participation in the “Canadian experience” is inclusive, encouragingall to celebrate and contribute to our society and realize the benets o diversity (Gilgo, 2009). The Canadian valuesystem implies that all individuals should be encouraged and supported to nd and achieve their true potentials. Alarger and more productive Canadian economy requires that all Canadians participate and contribute their creativityand talent.

As Canada moves rom a resource-based economy to a talent and creativity based economy, how well Canadaintegrates and manages diversity will have an important bearing on Canada’s social and economic success, and thequality o our communities, both social and business (Gilgo, 2009).

Attracting and retaining talented immigrants as global competition or creativity and innovation intensiy is vital toensure Canadian businesses can achieve innovation and growth (Gilgo, 2009). Whether intentionally or not,employers will lose opportunities i they continue to discredit or ail to recognize the potential o all groups in Canadiansociety. Canadian businesses must make the best use o the talent and experience that immigrants bring with them.




Despite being able to attract and bring internationally educated proessionals to Canada, successul integration is notbeing realized (Gilgo, 2009). Tax-unded programming to help internationally educated proessionals has decreased,

and many cannot gain recognition or the education, work experience and skills that they oer (Gilgo, 2009). Notrealizing the ull potential o internationally educated proessionals comes at a signicant cost. Billions in lost wages,lowered productivity, diminished creativity and output are refected in these untapped opportunities (Gilgo, 2009).

Many studies reinorce the need to improve how proessional organizations should co-ordinate policies on accepting,placing and integrating internationally educated proessionals (Gilgo, 2009).

At the same time some Canadian businesses are ailing to take advantage o the potential contributions ointernationally educated proessionals. The disappointing experiences o some o these highly skilled immigrantsmake Canada less attractive to other immigrants, especially when competition to attract and retain is increasing.Improved methods to address oreign certication and recognize work experience is needed, including easier accessto inormation rom oreign educational institutions (Gilgo, 2009). Being able to secure and productively employ

top talent rom all sources is vital to business success, and this goal is compatible with diversity (Gilgo, 2009). Firmsthat adopt a diversity agenda will be more successul at coping with labour and creativity shortages (Gilgo, 2009).Also, businesses that embrace diversity will nd previously hidden talents and perspectives, while attracting top talentrepresentatives rom other cultures and countries. Trade-oriented businesses do not maximize international tradingconnections and opportunities i they do not eectively integrate internationally educated proessionals into theirorganizations (Gilgo, 2009).

Canada as a country already has characteristics attractive to immigrants – deep cultural and racial tensions are oundless here than in other countries, and we have enjoyed some success in building a cultural mosaic o people withdierent backgrounds, experiences and cultures. This should make it easier or Canada to attract talented internationallyeducated proessionals rom other countries. However, obstacles including diculty in obtaining recognition or oreign

credentials and equivalent educational experience orce them to accept less infuential and lower creativity positions,while their talent, education, skills and experience are wasted (Gilgo, 2009). It would be oolish to assume thatthese disenchanted IEPs would not tell others about their experiences and disappointments, spreading word o theirdiculty and encouraging others to “think beore you come” and “don’t bother – it is no better here” (taken rom tworespondents in our IEP interview study). Canadian businesses risk losing some o the positive impressions that peoplerom other countries have o Canada, making it more dicult to attract the talented people that are needed. Given thatthe growing international competition or talent and market holds, Canadian businesses must prove that opportunityexists here, and it is more attractive than the opportunities that exist elsewhere.

Perhaps due to disappointing experiences in nding work with Canadian businesses, more internationally educatedproessionals and immigrants are becoming sel-employed. Young visible minorities have higher rates o ownership osmall and medium sized businesses than their Canadian-born counterparts (Gilgo, 2009). Internationally educated

proessionals may choose to become entrepreneurs because they eel that Canadian employers cannot oer them thesame skills utilization, opportunity to be creative and productive, room or advancement and challenge they desire.This should not be surprising, since internationally educated proessionals exhibit entrepreneurial characteristics whenthey decide to come to Canada, and it may be that these internationally educated proessionals represent the mostentrepreneurial members o their original countries. Canadian companies will suer i they cannot recognize theentrepreneurial resources and abilities o newcomers, with education and experience, seeking employment(Gilgo, 2009).



0 The Power o Dierent | The race to bridge the skills gap in the Toronto Region


Skilled and ambitious internationally educated proessionals may not tolerate having their talents and contributions“wasted”, and the “brain drain” suered by Canada and the Canadian economy is uelled by the loss o skilled immigrants

(Schalm & Guan, 2009). Increasing global competition and the aggressive strategies o emerging economies temptinternationally educated proessionals to leave Canada or more prosperous opportunities. For example, China providesmany incentives including ree housing, child education unding and research and development grants to attract their ormerresidents back home (Schalm & Guan, 2009). India, another emerging economy, has created a program allowing lielongvisas to people who were born in India, or rom Indian-born parents and grandparents, making it easier or them to return tolive and work in India.

Schalm and Guan identiy our “integration barriers” in their 2009 study: labour market exclusion, systemic discrimination,communication and language perception, and the devaluation o social capital. . These barriers are described as obstaclesto the successul integration o internationally trained immigrants into Canadian workplaces.

A study conducted by Alboim and The Maytree Foundation or the Caledon Institute o Social Policy explores the poor

relationship between regulatory bodies or proessional associations and recognition or international credentials and workexperiences o internationally educated proessionals (2002). Canada has been successul in attracting many internationallyeducated proessionals, but has not yet been able to take ull advantage o their talents due to barriers including ailure oregulatory bodies to recognize and advocate or proper learning and educational assessment.

Ideally, an internationally educated proessional should be enabled to assess their educational attainment, languageabilities, technical skills and knowledge o “Canadian” workplace customs beore coming to Canada. Being aware o whatto expect and possibly tackling some o the “upgrades” beore coming may lead to increased satisaction with the processand positive outcomes (Alboim, 2002). Criteria to be assessed should be related to the nature o the work desired, andocused to identiy opportunities or prior learning recognition and potential gaps inclusively. I an internationally educatedproessional is ound to have skills or educational decits, they should be able to easily identiy what would need to be

achieved in order to develop a path to meet the standards in question. Also, advocating or hands-on, demonstrated skillsassessment, as opposed to paper credentials, should be encouraged (Alboim, 2002).

Having access to a single and all-encompassing service (as opposed to the multitude o general and specialized, perhapswell-connected but not necessarily integrated, scattered services and sometimes incongruous and contradictory inormationthat exists now) would ensure that each potential newcomer receives accurate inormation about what they are bringing toCanadian businesses and what they can expect rom regulating bodies. Being able to “hit the ground running” increasescompetitiveness or potential employers and employees as well as reducing the time that an internationally educatedproessional requires to enter specialized elds. Alboim states “…no matter where an immigrant rst looks – to a Visa oce,immigration consultant, lawyer, licensing body – ideally he or she would be directed to the portal… provid(ing) access toas much inormation as possible to enable skilled immigrants or the Canadian labour market (starting overseas), creatingrealistic expectations and helping with decision-making” (2002).




What has been and is being done and where?

In a 2007 speech, the Minister o Human Resources and Social Development Monte Solberg stated that Canada mustdo a better job o recognizing the credentials o internationally educated newcomers.

He explains the purpose o the newly created Foreign Credential Reerral Oce, which has been designed to inormpotential immigrants about where to nd correct inormation about job prospects, is to reer them to have theircredentials assessed, and inorm them o what, i any, upgrades are required to ensure that they can succeed in theirchosen elds. Solberg reers to the “Knowledge Advantage”, which he says will ensure that Canada is known orhaving the smartest workorce in the world. The Knowledge Advantage consists o having “the best educated, withthe knowledge to innovate, the ability to collaborate, and the wisdom to keep on learning.” Also, the most skilledworkorce, with elements o cratsmanship, quality and ingenuity. Finally, he reers to adaptability, which will ensureCanada’s lead in changing economic times.

A Canadian Internet portal has been created to assist prospective immigrants in making an inormed choice about theirmigration to Canada. This portal provides inormation on provincial occupational licensing requirements, local labourmarkets in communities Canada-wide, courses available rom academic institutions (bridging and upgrading), andcommunity-based organizations providing integration services.

It has been suggested that academic and proessional networks be used overseas to provide inormation to prospectiveinternationally educated proessionals about the labour market in Canada and licensing procedures. Many studies(including ours) have emphasized how important it is or IEPs to have clear and accurate inormation about credentialassessment as well as licensing requirements and standards beore they come to Canada. This will help to ensure thatIEPs can make appropriate and inormed choices about coming to Canada, and set realistic expectations about labour

markets in their respective elds.Some Canadian academic institutions oer bridging programs or internationally educated proessionals. These aredesigned to “ll the gaps” in educational credentials and also provide language skills assessment. Bridging programsinclude on the job work experience, training in occupation-specic terminology, and upgrading courses. One drawbackis that these programs tend to be costly and not well unded. Also, or the IEP who needs to begin work and earn payquickly, the option o going to school again may not be easible.

There is already some work being done nationally with regards to a coordinated eort among all three levels ogovernment, non-governmental organizations, employers, proessional associations, and licensing bodies, amongothers, to develop a successul nation-wide standard to oreign credentials recognition. A more coordinated system orimmigrant services, eliminating unnecessary overlap and setting clear jurisdictions or dierent service providers would

be benecial in making the process more streamlined, economically ecient and easier to navigate.Competency based testing may oer an alternative or adjunct to educational credential assessment.

Actively involving employers through cultural education, incentives and illustrating the value o the IEP, increases thelikelihood o overcoming the more intangible barriers.





Senior Government Initiatives

This is a brief highlight of the initiatives which relate most closely to the IEP.

Under the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement, the Government o Canada, through Citizenship and ImmigrationCanada, will provide $920 million in new immigration unding, over ve years, to help newcomers integratesuccessully into Ontario communities and achieve their ull potential. This agreement includes a provision to involvemunicipalities in planning and discussions on immigration and settlement. Canada and Ontario will work with theCity o Toronto, as well as the Municipal Immigration Committee, which has been established with the Association oMunicipalities o Ontario.

Under the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement, Ontario will develop a pilot Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).Similar to programs already in operation in other provinces, the PNP gives the Province o Ontario the opportunity to

nominate immigrants who will help to meet provincial economic priorities and specic labour market needs.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) recently allocated 25$ million over ve years to addressoreign credential recognition or regulated occupations, and 10$ million or non-regulated occupations.

HRSDC also established the Foreign Credential Recognition (FCR) program, with the goal o developing a consistent,pan-Canadian approach to FCR (initially ocusing on nursing, medicine and engineering)

Across the country, governments at all levels, credential evaluation agencies, non-governmental organizations,employers, among others, are already engaged in some aspect o these initiatives aimed at improving thelabour market integration o immigrants. A national strategy that includes multi-stakeholder involvementand policies that eectively address employment discrimination against immigrants, ll in training gaps,

increase employer awareness o the benets o hiring immigrants and provide higher levels o language andoccupational-specic training is needed (HRDC, 2003).

Under the Temporary Foreign-Workers Agreement, the Government o Canada and the Province o Ontario have signedan agreement that gives Ontario a role in managing the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in that province. Theagreement is an annex to the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement and is an important step in making this programmore responsive to Ontario’s particular needs and priorities. It emphasizes support or Ontarians rst, and complementsthe Province’s strategy o training and retraining Ontarians through programs such as the Skills to Jobs Action Plan.As part o the agreement, the governments o Ontario and Canada will work more closely to educate employers andpotential temporary oreign workers about their rights and responsibilities.




Ontario has set up a website, www.ontarioimmigration.ca, which includes links to guides to living, working and doingbusiness as a new immigrant in Canada. Included in this is “Global Experience Ontario”, which provides:

•Contactinformationandreferralstotheregulatorybodyintheappropriateeldofexpertise

•Linkstoeducationandassessmentprogramstoprovidetimelyaccesstothebestservicesavailable,asclose

to home as possible

•Informationaboutthelicensureandregistrationprocesses

•Knowledgeaboutalternativeprofessionalavenuestocomplementskill-sets

•Informationoninternshipsandmentorships

Global Experience Ontario also assists internationally trained and educated individuals in regulated non-healthproessions nd out how to qualiy or proessional practice in Ontario. It contains links to other websites with “e-careermaps” to provide steps towards working in Ontario regulated non-health proessions.





In other jurisdictions

British Columbia has a “systems” approach to integrating newcomers: providing proessional work experience, newtraining, policy and procedure review or proessional regulations, and improving understanding o qualication issuesand the local job market. A public campaign raising awareness to employers and workers o the benets o workplacediversity has also been implemented. Programs include an internationally educated engineer pilot, a transition to nursingpilot and an immigrant loan program. These programs ocus on capacity building, inormation services and networking.

Quebec has worked to increase available inormation or IEPs, improve access to additional training and internships,and strengthen partnerships between bodies assessing oreign credentials.

They have implemented bridging programs or IEPs in the elds o nursing, medicine and engineering and thesebridging programs are in high demand. Far more IEPs need courses than can attend, and these programs are both

expensive to sustain and dicult to coordinate.

Australia conducts language (common and technical) and occupational skills testing prior to newcomers immigratingto that country. Since implementation in the late 1990s, economic outcomes or skilled internationally educatedproessionals have improved. Australia has also created partnerships with academic institutions in oreign countriesto oer Australian regulation-specic course modules or prospective immigrants. For example, someone in a partnercountry can attend an institution and earn courses that lead to an Australian degree in a technical or skilled eld.



Conclusions

Economic Development is concerned with the most eective deployment o ASSETS in order to create PROSPERITY.

Once, prosperity-driving assets were:

•Land

•Accesstomarkets

•The“ThreeR’s”:Rivers,RoadsandRailways

•Rawmaterials

•Geographicalpositioning

•Lowcost

For the most part, people migrated to areas that had these advantages, since that is where they could nd work. Ocourse, i those advantages ade, then the community may be beret o the ounding source o that prosperity.




Conclusions

We can see this eect in Ontario today:

•Landforagricultureisyieldingever-lowerreturnsforthetraditionalfamilyfarm.Largescalecompetitionand

the attendant economies o scale have created crushing price competition or commodity products. Further,emerging countries with ar lower costs have become major sources o supply or many o these commodities.

•Thesameappliestorawmaterials,suchasthosederivedfromforestryandmining.NorthernCanadian

communities have struggled with this reality or several decades and the challenges are growing.

•Geographicalpositioningisanotherevolvingfactor.WhiletheUnitedStateswillremainthelargestmarketfor

most Canadian businesses or many years to come, the relative importance o the U.S. market will diminishin the uture as the ‘population-rich’ countries o China and India, (amongst others) become more afuent andcreate demand or more imported products. Those markets are not next door to Canada.

•Lowcostwillremainastheultimatefactor,ifallelseisequal.Wecannotreadilycompeteonlowcostbutwe

can ensure that nothing else is ever equal. This means continuous improvement; this means continuous andcreative adaptation.

The term ‘global economy’ has been used over the past two decades but, todate, this has meant largely that the Western World sold goods and servicesto the Third World. The present economic downturn may trigger a permanent,structural change, creating a true global economy and one or which we havenot yet prepared.

The Martin Prosperity Institute report on ‘Ontario in the Creative Age’, speakseloquently to this matter. There is no need or urther study. The old playing eldis becoming hostile; a new playing eld awaits, the Creative Economy. It is likelythat more jobs in the uture will require higher degrees o education, higherlevels o certiable skills, more adaptable skills, a broader range o skills, as wellas more fexible attitudes. Those who turn challenge into opportunity win, and the imperative is to become prepared.

This is not a ‘doom and gloom’ scenario, unless we do not respond to thechallenges. It is, in act, a golden opportunity, i the right steps are taken tocompete in the rapidly emerging global economy.

“There is a bulldozer

o change sweeping

the planet .

I you don’t become part

o the bulldozer, you become part o the road”

– Frank Ogden, Futurist



Conclusions

The nature o the ‘asset’

It has long been common-place or civic leaders to talk about their local people as being the most valuable asset o thecommunity. While this always had a component o political rhetoric to it, the statement is becoming more o a realitythan ever and the trend is unlikely to abate. In act, the ormer condition o people migrating to jobs will ‘turnabout’.More and more, jobs will come to people; but only those with the required levels o education and training .

Recently, governments in many countries have invested very heavily in hard inrastructure, in order to stimulate saggingeconomies. I a raction o these billions o dollars were to be spent on this important asset, highly educated and skilledpeople, then those countries would reap the rewards, decade over decade.

Further, unlike concrete and steel, these assets do not ‘depreciate’ with age. People are one o the ew sel-improving

assets available to a community and the investment can be paid back with large advantages. People learn, grow andcreate; put many people together and the sparks o creativity can fy, oten due to their dierences . I we all sitaround the coee shop with the same ideas, born rom our similar backgrounds and shunning anything dierent, thennew ideas are less likely to emerge. There are communities with that characteristic, but, ortunately, the Greater TorontoArea is not one. The GTA has a remarkable mix o diversity and this is the key to uture prosperity. Simply, we mustdeploy the assets eectively and eciently by engaging the best and brightest in moving the economy orward into theCreative Economy.

Consider that an inadequate supply o the right asset is a detriment to prosperity. Allprojections show that the Canadian-born population demographic is clearly on a ‘downward’ spiral. We havean insuciency o younger persons with the required levels o education and skills to meet the challenges o the

emerging economies. Consider that an ineective or inefcient deployment o the right asset is a waste o that

asset. Employing highly educated and skilled persons in jobs well below their potential is very wasteul.

I it is vital to our uture prosperity to have the most capable people working in our economy to meet the needs o theuture, and i higher levels o education and skills are indicative o that capability, then IEPs represent a vital part o thesolution to this dilemma. Fully credentialed or not, they are the ‘cream’ o their original population, and ‘ready-made’,with perhaps some polishing and ne-tuning being all that is required.

This is not a plea or air and equitable treatment or IEPs. This is driven entirely by the competitive needs o theeconomy and, by extension, the needs o employers that comprise the economy.

I IEPs are not valuable to the economy, then why encourage them to come? I IEPs are valuable, then eective and rapid deployment o this asset is paramount.




Conclusions

Businesses are responding, although unevenly

Larger businesses are responding better to the advantages that the IEP can oer and this is not surprising.

•Largerrmsaremorelikelytohaveaninternationalcomponenttotheirenterprise.Asaresult,theysee

the IEP certainly as a culturally-amiliar asset to be deployed to assist in business development in variouscountries. These same rms are also experiencing the eect o the IEP as an agent o creative change, whichis a ar more vital eect and an even better reason to hire them.

•Thecultureofthelargerorganizationisalreadydiverseandmoreacceptingofdifference.

•Theperceived‘risk’isdiluted.IfthearrivalofanIEPisfearedtohavenegativeconsequences,thenthe

percentage impact is more readily absorbed by the larger number o people in the organization. This posture

is driven by ear, rather than reality, in the majority o cases.

Smaller rms are oten less internationally ocused and the riskdescribed above is proportionately higher, or eared to be. I the IEPdoes not perorm, then the company does not wish to be accusedo discrimination i that person must be let go. Further, smaller rmstend to hire through less ormal means, oten recruiting riends andothers known to their existing employees. Cultural mixing is not so aradvanced that a broad range o candidates, rom diverse origins, aremade available in this manner. This is not a criticism o these smaller

rms, since the concerns are understandable, and means must beound to alleviate this perceived risk taking.

We have researched no evidence to support this last contention.Regrettably, although prejudice exists within people in all sizeso enterprises, large and small, the rules enorced in the largerorganizations tend to suppress some o this abhorrent eect. In the lessormally structured smaller rms, this may not always be the case.

Closing “the learning

recognition gap” among

immigrants would add tens

o thousands o skilled workers

to the labour orce resulting in

a $4 to $6 billion boost per year

i these positions are flled.

– Conference Board of Canada –“Findings fromSecuring Our Future Case Studies”, June 2008



Conclusions

Much is being done in many areas

Based upon our research and the many previous studies conducted, the IEP respondents are not seeing changes in theiroutcomes. Yet we know that much is being done by the various institutions charged with eliminating the barriers andsmoothing the path:

•…tounderstandthegaps

•…tobridgethegaps

•…tocreateanunderstandingofthedifferencesandtopromotethisverydiversityastheadvantagethatit

truly is

What causes this apparent disconnect in these two realities? An analogy, with which all manuacturers and manyservice businesses are amiliar, will serve well. In the 1960’s it was common or a given production part to spend threeor our weeks in the production line. The actual time spent being worked upon (adding value) was oten an hour or lessand the rest o the time (non-value added time) was spent waiting to be worked on, beore each o the many processstages. There are many reasons or this, one o which was a ear in the mind o the station supervisor that he or shewould have to send people home i they did not have such a waiting inventory o work.

Now imagine that an improvement is introduced at the very start o the production line. In order or the nal processstage to see the benets o the improvement, weeks must pass, since the line is replete with the stock o previouslyproduced unimproved assemblies. Driven by the success o the Japanese automakers in the 1970’s, new systems havebeen put into place over the decades which have reduced the waiting time rom weeks to mere hours. Thus problems

are ound more quickly, solutions are implemented sooner and the end o the line sees the benets with little delay.Manuacturers did not simply introduce incremental improvements to eect this change. The older systems, with theattendant ‘silos’, barriers and sel-protection mechanisms, had to be torn down and replaced with a system that wasdesigned to achieve the new goals, rather than to protect the established system. Part o this process was to reassureall concerned that an empty work station was not a cause to send an employee home.

We believe that the parallels are strong, and, once more, no criticism o those involved is intended. Collectivelywe need to move beyond the gradual and limited changes that take place within established systems that werenot designed to achieve the new goals and re-implement our systems with those goals in mind. We do not have ageneration or a decade or even many years to accomplish this. The rate o change in the economy has never beenso high and it is unlikely to abate. We need to move with the speed o the economy and get ahead o

that curve .Bear in mind that this is not, and never should be, a matter o lowering the bar o Canadian standards to admitpeople who, in another country, met dierent standards. It is a matter o providing support to capable and experienced people to meet the standards and to then deploy these people to improve our prosperity .




Conclusions

A most vital asset must not be squandered

Canadians have very positive attitudes toward diversity. We can widen this advantage in the current economicdownturn, as US attitudes toward skilled immigrants may harden. I Ontario businesses do not hire these skilledworkers – many o whom have more education and experience than Canadian-born – you can be sure that competingjurisdictions will. The quoted Conerence Board o Canada gure o $4 to $6 billion is a loss , i we do not remove theunnecessary barriers rapidly.

The unintended consequences o not improving the present situation may be:

•DiscouragingnewIEPsfromevenconsideringCanada,thuslosingtheirpotentialtalenttoothercountries,and

missing the intended objective. Bad news travels fast .

•EncouragingIEPstocometoourcommunitiestoserveaswell-educated,frustratedanddisillusionedworkers,employed ar below their capacities. The restructuring o our economy that is happening daily, and theconsequent impacts on employment or the lesser educated person, is already a very tough challenge and wilbe so or some time to come.

•Agreaterpropensityforaddingthesepersonstotherollsrequiringsocialassistance.

•Creatinga‘nextgeneration’,thechildrenoftheunder-employedIEP,equallydisenchantedwiththe‘system’,

and who may not meet their ull potential either.

In economic development, we deplore such a waste.



Conclusions

The Super-Examination

The act o passing an examination alone does not provide a credential. Examinations are generally based upon asampling o the course o study o the student. The concept is that, without knowing what the test will entail, the studentmust study all aspects o their courses.

Is a ’super-examination’ possible within a eld o study that is not a ‘sample’ but one which covers every aspect o therequired course o study. Would this provide the credentials? This ‘super-examination’ can be used to cull those whohave not engaged in the ull course o study. While it would be a very long test, likely divided into stages, taken overseveral weeks, it is still ar shorter and less costly than repeating a two, three or our year course o study.




Recommendations

The issues to be addressed require actions that are ‘simple, but not easy’. Over-complicated solutions to simple issuesrarely have eect and long lists o actions are only implemented selectively. Our recommendations are ew, but may

have a proound eect i implemented with vigour.

For Employers

•…whorecognizethehighvalueoftheIEPandtheimperativetodeploytheIEPintheirorganizations:

Speak with passion on the competitive advantages o the IEP to your customers, suppliers,

sector association colleagues and riends at the chamber o commerce.

•…whoseetheIEPasariskinuncertaineconomictimes

Dierent is good; appreciate the dierences in order to leverage the advantages. Take the

IEP on a ‘test drive’ by hiring them on a defned term contract and add 20% to their ees

to cover beneft costs.

I things do not work out as planned, then the contract ends and the costs associated with thetermination o an employee are avoided.

I, as is more likely, the experience is positive, then hire them as you would any other employee.

For those ‘smoothing the path’, take the zero-based approach

Sometimes it is better to tear down the old house, rather than use it as the base or the new dwelling since the problemsassociated with the old structure may undermine the eort to build the new structure.

The same applies to institutions and systems designed to achieve a particular goal. Quite naturally, but inadvertently,walls and silos are built in an attempt to protect the nature o the work being carried out. These same walls will impedeprogress and change. Necessary hurdles act to ensure that skills and capabilities can be vetted, while unnecessarybarriers achieve nothing positive. Organizational silos and barriers can be impediments to eective, ecient and rapid

action. They are also very costly, directly and in their implications.It is essential not to engage in resource-limited thinking. The latter traps us in the present, with the resources andcapacities that we have today. Instead, we must examine the ‘ideal, simple path’, determine how to best achieve this,irrespective o the mechanisms available today, and then bridge the gap between today and the requirements. As withmany problems, the issue is ‘simple, but not easy’.



Recommendations

We recommend taking the ‘zero-based’ approach. Most businesses will be amiliar with this in their planning cycles.Essentially:

•Assumethatthereisno‘system’todaybywhichtoachievethegoalsefciently

•Donotyetconsiderwhohastodowhat;justwhathastobedoneandwhen

•Identifythenecessary,value-addedstepstoenabletheIEPtohelpoureconomytoprosper

•Identifythebarriers that must be removed and the required hurdles that must be maintained, in order tosaeguard necessary standards. Please note the emphases.

•Implementthissystem,drawingthenecessaryresourcesfromtheexistingstructures,butnotimportallofthe

old methods and processes, unless these are proven to be necessary and valued-added in achieving thecurrent objectives

The only barrier is the concerted will to carry this out and the cost to do so. The latter must be an assessment o thepublic investment versus the public gain. Else why would we do it?

Economic Development is an investment, not a cost

Include the means to enable the IEP to benet rom the newly identied mechanisms, by the provision o unds toport them through the tailored upgrading process, while still supporting themselves and their amilies. Using the assetanalogy once more, this is no dierent than upgrading inrastructure; the investment is repaid through the prosperity thatit creates.

Political will

Finally, all o this may be a tough sell in hard economic times. The majorityo the public who are uninormed may not appreciate the critical uture need.“Why don’t we do that or our own people” is one such sentiment. Although anunwelcome response, the act that the IEP has already undergone many rigours othe higher education system somewhere, might imply that they have the disciplineand ambition to do so again. That is, their chances o succeeding may be higher,with commensurate higher returns or the investment made by Canada. The act

o emigrating is in itsel indicative o high risk tolerance and entrepreneurshipcharacteristics – these are business creating characteristics .

Leadership IS needed.

“Leadership is

doing always

what is needed,

not always what

is popular”




Reerences

(2003). Human resources and skills development and the metropolis project. Current success and continuing challengeso oreign credentials recognition. Retrieved January 2, 2009 rom

http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/cs/sp/hrsdc/lmp/publications/2004-002605/SK-SP-602-06-04.pdISBN : 0-662-37383-9.

Alboim, N. 2002. Fullling the promise: integrating immigrant skills into the Canadian economy. MayTree Foundation.Retrieved January 2, 2010 rom http://www.torontoalliance.ca/docs/FulllingPromise.pd

Alboim, N., Finnie, R., & Meng, R. (2005). The discounting o immigrants skills in Canada: evidence and policyrecommendations. Institute or Research on Public Policy Choices. Retrieved March 17, 2006, romhttp://atwork.settlement.org/sys/atwork_library_detail.asp?passed_lang=EN&doc_id=1003783

Citizenship and Immigration. (2008). Immigration Overview: Permanent and Temporary Residents. Retrieved December28th, 2009, rom http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pd/research-stats/acts2008.pd

Delaney, J. (2005). Doors opened or Canadians with oreign credentials. The Epoch Times. Retrieved December 8,2009, rom http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-5-1/28344.html

Diallo, K. (2004). Data on the migration o health-care workers: sources, uses, and challenges. Bulletin o the WorldHealth Organization, 82(8), 601-607

Gilgo, D. (2009). Investing in Diversity. U.S. News & World Report, 146(10), 72-74. Retrieved rom Military &Government Collection database

Global experience Ontario: an access and resource centre or the internationally trained. (2005). Retrieved romhttp://www.ontarioimmigration.ca/english/geo.asp

Grondin, D. (2004). Well-managed migrants’ health benets all. Bulletin o the World Health Organization, 82(8), 561

Immigration and settlement in Ontario. (2006). Retrieved romhttp://www.cic.gc.ca/EnGLIsh/department/laws-policy/agreements/ontario/can-ont-index.asp

Schalm, P, & Guan, J. (2009). Integrating internationally educated proessionals: documenting university bridgingprograms in Ontario.

Manuscript submitted or publication, The G. Raymond Chang School o Continuing Education, RyersonUniversity, Toronto, Ontario.

Solberg, M. (ormer Minister o Human Resources and Social Development) (2007). The knowledge advantage.Proceedings o the Knowledge Advantage meeting at Brooks, Alberta,http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/corporate/newsroom/speeches/solbergm/2007/070405a.shtml

Von Sweck, C. and Burnett, P. (2006). The acculturation o internationally educated health proessionals in Canada.Occupational Therapy Now, 8(3), 20-24



Appendices

Appendix I Consolidated Results o Primary Research with IEP Respondents

Attempts were made to contact IEPs, primarily through telephone and, in a small number o cases, through aceto ace discussions.

The results were:

Number o attempted contacts: In excess o 250

Interview declined: 42

Interviews conducted:127

Inormation collection ocused on the ollowing questions, with the summary results shown:

1. Have you been able to fnd work in the feld in which you were educated back home?

Yes 43%

No 57%

2. Are you satisfed with said work ie. hours/challenge? Is it a suitable position or someone with

your educational background and credentials?

Yes 21%

No 76%

Unsure 2%




Appendices

3. Were you asked to or told that you should upgrade your skills? Which skills were you asked to or told to upgrade?

i) skills related to the proession itsel (ie. technical skills upgrade, proession specic skills like newprogramminglanguage-18%

ii) skills related to mandates rom proessional organizations (ie. certication requirements, includingeducationalrequirements)-14%

iii)skillsrelatedto“culture”(ie.“Canadian”business,customs,culture)-18%

iv)skillsrelatedtolanguage(ie.EnglishorFrenchasasecondlanguage,otherlanguages)-11%

v) educational requirements (ie. education not rom a recognized Canadian equivalent, not recognizedatall)=39%

Yes,asked/toldtoupgrade:76%

No,notasked/toldtoupgrade:19%

Notaskedbutdidanyway:5%

Other-seebelow:10%

“companies wanted me to but I can work in my own business and make more money anyway”

“I wasn’t asked to upgrade to Canadian education, but haven’t ound jobs that are hiring or myeducation level” (Master’s degree in Arts)

“no I never get any interviews or business positions so I don’t know i I would be asked to upgrade”

“not at all because I haven’t been able to speak with anyone who would interview me and ask me togo back. I the job wanted me to go back I would while I worked there but nowhere is hiring me orthat to start”

4. Do you eel that you are able to ulfll your proessional ambitions? I no, why not? What barriers do you eel are standing in your way?

Yes 29%

No 71%

I not, why not? What barriers do you eel are standing in your way?

*** note - more than one reason may have been cited as being a barrier by each inormant

i) organizationallimitations(ie.licensing,requirementsforcertication):13%

ii) otherpriorities(familytosupport,newfamilymembers):18%



Appendices

iii)culturalissues(ie.ethnocentrism,culturalbiasesandnegativity):0%

iv) educational(ie.needmoreeducation/”Canadian”education):16%

v) time(ie.“Iamtoooldnowtogobacktoschool”-“ittakestoolongtobecertied”:9%

vi) careerchange(ie.chosenewprofession/eld):11%

vii)money(ie.doesn’tmakeenoughmoneyinthatjob):7%

viii)other:4%(seebelow)

ix)languagedifculties:7%

x) specializededucation(ie.educationtoospecialized/too“much”):4%

xi) labour/jobmarketissues(ie.notenoughjobsintheirsector/toospecializededucation):11%

Other responses

a) “It’s the exposure - or what I am trained in there are nine companies in Canada who use me. I have theskills and the knowledge; but the sectors or my job are not available, that is, they are in the hidden jobmarket.Networkingis40-50%ofthetask.”

b) “No way - I work in a very low paying position to pay my rent and I can’t wait to go home.”

5. Why do you think that you have not been or have been successul?

Thinktheyhavebeen/willbesuccessful:38%

Thinktheyhavenotbeensuccessful:62%




Appendices

Why they think that they have been successul:

Personal

“I gained condence… a lot o newcomers don’t think we can do it but ater taking that co-op I understood that I havewhat it takes and was able to get the job.”

“I am a very, very hard worker. “

“I am riendly and outgoing which is what you need to sell. I am only selling in a store though, not rom an oce.”

Networking

“I am very positive and have taken a job at a company where a lot o people rom my culture work.”

Nature o Job/Skills

“For what I do the skills are always the same. Once you know how to do it, you know how to do it.”

“I am a good people person. Knowing how the business works is important to hiring the right people or my teams.”

“I know my eld very well. I didn’t have to worry about my amily back home so I concentrated on nding good work.”

“I know my business.”

Other

“I was not successul with working because I couldn’t nd a job but I am successul as a parent.”

“I haven’t really been successul yet but I will be soon.”

“I decided to start my own business instead and get to choose my own hours now and pick which things I do.”

Educational

“I am upgrading my resume and skills by attending night time classes.”

“My diploma is recognized here. I went to the best school in the Philippines and (have) many years o experience.”

“Actually it worked out better because I can take a degree here and work when it’s done.”

“I have been successul because I have applied to and am attending college and then looking or real work.”

“I picked a job that is in demand and ast-tracked to get certied here. It cost a lot but it was worth it. I got OSAP andam still paying it o.”



Appendices

Why they think that they have not been successul:

Education

“My school is not recognized. It is one o the best schools back home but it means absolutely nothing here.”

“I guess my schooling wasn’t good enough and I should have gone somewhere else i I wanted to practice, or learnedsomething dierent.”

“You need more education here to be an architect and nd work than at home.”

“I would have taken something dierent back home, or rom a school that was recognized here.”

“I have to go back to school all over again to learn exactly what I know now!”

“…because my education is not equivalent they do not allow me to write my licensing exam and I cannot practice

here.”

“I think to be able to do sales in Canada you need to be Canadian, like be able to understand how business and salesare done here. It’s dierent rom home.”

“Economics? I don’t know. My education means nothing here.”

Job Market

“I think there are too many people who want to be university proessors here so all I can do is what is available to me.”

Certifcation

“Nobody told me beore I came that this would be the case that I couldn’t practice here like I could at home.”

Over qualifcation

“You never know what to write on your resume - sometimes they tell me in the interview that I am overqualied. I neverknow whether to put everything or not.

Culture/Language

“I have called places that I apply to and they tell me that I don’t have enough Canadian experience to work in business

with their rms and concerns.”“Well my English is bad so I need to work on that.”

Regrets

“Stay home! Go into a dierent eld or come here or school instead.”

“Don’t come. It is no better here.”

“I can’t wait to get out o here and back to my own country.”




Appendices

6. What could YOU bring to a company? OR reestyle

“I speak our dierent languages, including English. I understand the markets in India and Pakistan and these are hugepartners or Canada! I understand the customs and how people there think and work.”

“I’m a hard, hard worker.”

“I love being an RMT (Registered Massage Therapist) - it’s my passion. I can still do it on my own but I can’t call myselregistered, so that means that people can’t have their insurance cover my services.”

“All o my education and experience.”

“I think people need to nd where jobs are needed and then apply or those. Immigrants should work together to helpeach other to nd jobs too. More businesses are being started here by immigrants - they should work towards hiring

other immigrants.”

“I wish it was easier to practice law here but it is a competitive eld… I can still work with law doing what I do now.”– had taken lower position than hoped

“Sales techniques are the same, the fow is dierent here and the expectations o a salesperson and customs aredierent.”

“I am open to hiring all sorts o people and having experience with dierent job markets makes me aware o the skillspeople bring.” – now working in human resources management

“I’m young and a ast learner and I am going to university.”

“I love working with people.”“We are a very good team at my job.”

“People rom dierent places can understand others rom those same cultures and share the insight with other peopleas well.”

“Well the skills are pretty much the same so i they need health care workers I don’t understand why they make itso hard.”



Appendices

Appendix II Consolidated Results o Secondary Research

There is a vast body o research upon which to draw. The case or the economic importance o the IEP is made time andtime again with no voices o reason raised in contrary opinion.

Title: The acculturation o internationally educated health proessionals in Canada

Authors: Claudia von Zweck and Pamela Burnett

Journal: OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY NOW. MAY 2006. VOLUME 8(3), p 22-25

– Canada now has one o the highest rates o immigration among the thirty member countries o the Organizationor Economic Co-operation and Development (Ruddick, 2000). The aging Canadian population and alling ertilityrates have lead to a large dependence upon immigration or the growth o the workorce. Between 1991 and 2001,

approximately 1.8 million immigrants came to Canada, an increase rom 1.2 million in the 1980s (McIssac, 2003).Over 70 percent o labour orce growth in Canada was attributable to immigration in the 1990s, a rise rom 13percent a decade earlier (Ruddick, 2000)

– Proessionals are now the largest group o immigrants coming to Canada, with increasing numbers intending towork in occupations that have dened requirements or entry to their proessions (Citizenship and Immigration (CIC),2003a)

– Despite Canada’s acculturation strategy, workorce integration has been unattainable or many proessionals comingto this country. Many recent immigrants to Canada have not been able to access jobs that match their ormalqualications, particularly those immigrants who belong to visible minorities. Less than hal o the proessionallytrained new Canadians who arrived in 2002 were able to work in their eld o expertise in Canada (Delaney, 2005).

The education received by immigrants outside o Canada requently does not obtain the same market value in Canada(Metropolis Project Team, 2003). As a result many proessionals coming to Canada have become marginalized intheir attempts to work in their area o expertise.

– The Conerence Board o Canada estimated that the economic impact o not recognizing the credentials o newCanadians is approximately $2.3 billion in lost productivity (Delaney, 2005). Diculties with acculturation in Canadaalso have been linked to negative outcomes such as lower motivation and community participation, reduced healthstatus and increased social deviance and confict (Berry, 1997)

– Approximately 40 percent o recent immigrants have incomes less than hal o the median income o Canadian-bornresidents (CIC, 2001)




Appendices

Title: Xerox Canada survey: Immigrants bring innovation

Authors:

Journal: Copyright Laurentian Technomedia Inc. Oct 2007

– Xerox Research Centre o Canada released this week a survey showing that many Canadian businesses associatediversity with innovation, despite the ongoing hiring diculties aced by skilled immigrant workers in the real world.

– Companies oten cite roadblocks to employing oreign workers, including language barriers and cost. While HadiMahabadi (vice-president and manager o the Xerox Research Centre o Canada) does have to ront the cost oimmigration lawyers and English training, he said that there is plenty o ROI to be had rom increasing the diversityin one’s business. (And, he pointed out, there are government programs available that pay or an immigrant’s initialtraining, allowing companies to “test-drive” their oreign hires.)

– Many anecdotes o IEPs submitting two very similar resumes, where one had their real name, and the other a more“Canadian-sounding” name - most o the time, the Canadianized resume got a call-back, while the resume submittedunder their own name was ignored.

– Earlier this year, IT industry advocacy group CATA released a report entitled “On the Road to Building an ICTFramework or Internationally Educated Proessionals (IEP),” which was based on two national surveys and six ocusgroups separately involving IEPs and employers.

– Said CATA vice-president o research Kevin Wennekes, “Instead o making a concentrated eort to hire [internationallyeducated proessionals, or IEPs], they instead preer to build or develop their Canadian contacts.”

– Xerox Centre has reaped the reward o bucking this trend, however. Boasting a sta comprised o 50 percentimmigrants rom 35 dierent countries, Mahabadi said that his scientists average 1.5 patents per year; the Centre

itsel has racked up over a 1,000 patents already.

– One benet is a stronger global connection. Said Mahabadi: “Diversity is a big help in business success, especiallynow that we have to compete on a global level. (Foreign workers) can understand customer needs in their part othe world. They can satisy the needs o the culture o another world.” For example, the power goes out regularly incertain parts o the world, a act that a company might not have clued in on unless a oreign worker rom there wasable to share that act with them-and then adjust design specications accordingly.

– Said Mahabadi: “Canada has to switch rom a resource-based economy, and to do that, we need to have multi-talented people in science and technology, and that means diversity.”



Appendices

Title: Integrating Internationally Educated Proessionals: Documenting University Bridging

Programs in Ontario

Authors: Schalm and Guan

Journal:

– Canada’s economic apartheid has resulted in the growing social exclusion o racialized groups.

– Socially constructed opportunities and barriers within Canadian organizations and institutional processes impact thelabour market integration and the overall social integration o immigrants. From the IEP’s point o view, social inclusionshould be the realization o ull and equal participation in the economic, social, cultural and political dimensions olie in their new country

– Barriers that skilled immigrants ace are structural and systemic rather than individual and incidental




Appendices



Appendices




Appendices

–In2001-2006,51%ofimmigrantsaged25to64hadauniversitydegree,comparedto20percentofCanadians.

Some 25 percent o recent immigrants had a degree in engineering, compared to just 6 percent o Canadian-born

degree holders. And 6 percent o recent immigrants had studied computer and inormation sciences, compared to2 percent o Canadian graduates.

– The Employee Survey was conducted in 2007 among managers, proessionals, and executives rom the FP500companies; top Canadian law rms; and Catalyst Canada member organizations. A total o 17,908 individualscompleted the survey. The questionnaire was designed to cover three main categories: demographic inormation,career indicators, and work environment. Demographic inormation included gender, age, race, immigration status,educational level, and international credentials. Career indicators included earnings, organizational rank, years inorganizations, and questions on career satisaction. Work environment included questions on industries. The industriesincluded: nance, accounting, law, manuacturing, retail, utilities, technology, and others.



Appendices




Appendices

Federal, provincial and territorial governments speed up oreign credential recognition ornewcomers to Canada

TORONTO, Ontario, November 30, 2009 - Under the new Pan-Canadian Framework or the Assessment and Recognitiono Foreign Qualications, oreign-trained workers who submit an application to be licensed or registered to work in certainelds will be advised within one year whether their qualications will be recognized. The Honourable Diane Finley, Ministero Human Resources and Skills Development and Co-Chair o the Forum o Labour Market Ministers, and the Honourable

Jason Kenney, Minister o Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, today endorsed a new ramework to enhanceoreign qualication recognition or internationally trained workers.

The Pan-Canadian Framework or the Assessment and Recognition o Foreign Qualications is part o the Government oCanada’s strategy to have the best educated, most skilled and most fexible workorce in the world. Recognizing oreigncredentials is part o the strategy, and oreign qualication recognition is the process o veriying that knowledge, skills,work experience and education obtained in another country are comparable to the standards established or Canadian

proessionals and tradespersons.

“Attracting and retaining the best international talent to address existing and uture labour market challenges is criticalto Canada’s long-term economic success,” said Minister Finley. “Ensuring that oreign credentials and qualications areassessed and recognized in a timely manner will enable newcomers to maximize their talents.”

Minister Finley and Minister Kenney thanked the Forum o Labour Market Ministers, consisting o ederal, provincial andterritorial representatives, or its work on the Framework.

“This ramework is another important step in paving the road to success or Ontario’s newcomers,” said the HonourableMichael Chan, Ontario Minister o Citizenship and Immigration. “This builds on the plan our government already has inplace to help newcomers get licensed in their eld and get jobs.”

The Framework ollows the Government o Canada’s commitment in the 2008 Speech rom the Throne to “work with theprovinces to make the recognition o oreign credentials a priority, attract top international students to Canada and increasethe uptake o immigrant settlement programs.”

The Framework states that governments across Canada will work towards better pre-arrival services, assessments that areair, transparent, consistent and timely across Canada, and improved workorce participation services or newcomers. Theseservices will help internationally trained workers put their training and knowledge to work sooner.

“A priority o this government has been to make our immigration system more competitive globally and more responsiveto Canada’s needs,” said Minister Kenney. “This ramework complements initiatives such as the Action Plan or FasterImmigration, as they make our immigration system better meet the needs o our labour market. We want newcomers to beable to use their skills and work to their ull potential. It’s good or them and good or the Canadian economy.”

Minister Finley and Minister Kenney also met with community leaders in the Greater Toronto Area to discuss oreigncredential recognition and its place in Canada’s economic recovery. In particular, the discussion highlighted thecommitments made by the Government o Canada to improve the process or newcomers to get their education, skills andexperience assessed and recognized.



Appendices

The Economic Action Plan committed $50 million to work with the provinces and territories to address barriers to credentialrecognition in Canada. This investment will do our things:

– Develop the principles o timeliness, transparency, airness and predictability that the ederal, provincial and territorialgovernments set out to guide the process;

– Develop standards or the timely handling o requests;

– Identiy the priority occupations or developing recognition standards; and

– Help people who want to come to Canada start the assessment process beore they arrive.

The Foreign Credential Recognition Program and the Foreign Credentials Reerral Oce are the key ederal initiatives inplace to support pan-Canadian implementation o the Framework.

http://news.gc.ca/web/article-eng.do?nid=499119

New ramework or determining validity o oreign credentials

By ALTHIA RAJ, SUN MEDIA

Last Updated: 30th November 2009, 11:45am

OTTAWA – The ederal government has announced plans to speed up oreign credentials or new permanent residents.

Foreign-trained workers who submit an application to be licensed or to work in certain proessional elds will be advised

within one year whether their qualications will be recognized, Human Resources Minister Diane Finley said.Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said every year more than 250,000 newcomers arrive in Canada with hope andexpectations, a dedication to work hard to build a bright uture or themselves and their amilies but too many ndthemselves “locked out” o economic opportunity in the regulated proessions.

Kenney said the announcement signals “real, practical, concrete” co-operation between the ten provinces, the ederalgovernment and 400 proessional licensing bodies.

The program will take three years to be ully implemented.

By Dec. 31, 2010, eight proessions will be included: architects, engineers, nancial auditors and accountants, medicallaboratory technologists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, physiotherapists and registered nurses.

By Dec. 31, 2012, six occupations will be added, including: dentists, engineering technicians, licensed practical nurses,medical radiation technologists, physicians and elementary and secondary school teachers.

The Pan-Canadian Framework or the Assessment and Recognition o Foreign Qualications was developed with theprovincial labour ministers to help Canada adopt better pre-arrival services and improve workorce participation bynewcomers.

The ederal government has pledged $50 million to help proessional bodies assess and recognize oreign credentials.




Appendices

From the 2006 PCPI “Think Tank” document

This outlines what participants thought needed to happen in 2006 to create “an ideal uture” or 2009:

– Overhaul the immigration point system to match labour required

– Accelerate the co-operation between all three orders o government

– Create web portals with inormation on accreditation, licensing, personalized coaching and mentoring, language training

– Provide access to customized geographic and labour market inormation

– Create tighter bridging and training programs

– Develop processes through proessional associations and regulatory bodies that enable certication when immigrants arestill in countries o origin

– Simpliy credential recognition processes so that they are easy and quick

– Make sector-specic language training available to all (and available in countries o origin)

– Develop social and proessional networks or IEPs

– Provide networking opportunities and orientation to Toronto – mandatory orientation beore immigrants arrive (WelcomeWagon)

– Connect high school students with IEPs – students could be mentors or assist IEPs to get to know their community

– Create holistic programs

– Take a “No wrong door” approach where service providers make accurate reerrals i they cannot provide relevant

inormation themselves

From an article in the Hamilton Spectator (opinion/editorial article)

Virtually all o us have run into variety store owners who were veterinarians in their homeland, taxi drivers who used to bedoctors, or gas-pump jockeys with engineering degrees. There’s nothing wrong with any one o those jobs; what is wrong iswhen the person doing it is only doing so because he or she cannot break through into their proession here in Canada.

I Canada does not make use o internationally educated proessionals , it will not only be a waste o humanresources, but will also send a message overseas that Canada is not hospitable to proessionals seeking a new home andlie. That would be disastrous or the country’s immigration strategies.

It is not and never should be a matter o lowering the bar o Canadian standards to admit people who, in anothercountry, met dierent (and, it must be said, sometimes lesser) standards. It is a matter o providing support to capable andexperienced people who are willing to work hard to achieve Canadian certication.



Appendices

Title: Re-accreditation and the occupations o immigrant doctors and engineers

Author: Monica Boyd and Grant Schellenberg

Journal: Canadian Social Trends: Statistics Canada — Catalogue No. 11-008

– The collision o national immigration policies with proessional accreditation thus creates a paradox: while highlyeducated immigrants are recruited on the basis o their potential proessional contributions to Canadian society, the re-accreditation requirements they must meet oten act as barriers to the ull utilization o their skills.

Title: Enhancing policy capacity on the issue o oreign credential recognition

Author: Ian Donaldson

Journal: Canadian Issues; Spring 2007; CBCA Reerence pg. 55

– Problems related to oreign credential recognition are not simply labour market issues but rather can serve as an indicatoro Canada’s “institutional openness” and acceptance o newcomers

Title: Non/Recognition o oreign credentials or immigrant proessionals in Canada and Sweden:

A comparative analysis

Author: Guo & Anderssen

Journal: PCERII Working Paper Series - Prairie Centre o Excellence or Research on Immigration and Integration

– The term ‘immigrant’ becomes a codied word or people o colour who come rom a dierent racial and culturalbackground, who do not speak fuent English, and who work in lower position jobs.

– The social construction o ‘immigrant’ uses skin colour as the basis or social marking. These individuals’ real andalleged dierences are claimed to be incompatible with the cultural and social abric o ‘traditional’ Canada, and theyare thereore deemed undesirable. Immigrants are also oten blamed or creating urban social problems and racial andcultural tensions in the receiving society.

– The social construction o immigrant places uneven expectations on immigrants to conorm over time to the norms, values,and traditions o the receiving society.




Appendices

– Canada’s immigrant selection system awards points to applicants with advanced educational qualications. Priorto arriving in Canada, immigrants do not normally receive any reliable inormation about the recognition o oreign

credentials. Upon arrival, they need to navigate through a complex and possibly lengthy, costly and rustrating process ontheir own. There is no central or national place where they can go to have their credentials evaluated. Depending on thepurpose o the evaluation, immigrants may need to approach one or all o the ollowing organizations:

1) provincial and territorial credential assessment services;

2) regulatory or proessional bodies;

3) educational institutions; and

4) employers.

The outcomes o the evaluation may serve one o the ollowing purposes: general employment; studying in Canada; andproessional certication or licensing in Canada

– Small licensing bodies may need help rom these organizations to determine the equivalency o oreign credentials.However, large proessional associations (or example, the College o Physicians and Surgeons) usually conduct theirown assessments and determine whether applicants need urther training or tests in order to re-enter their proessionsin Canada. While proessional and regulatory bodies determine the proessional standing o the qualication, theassessment o oreign credentials or the purpose o academic study resides rmly in the hands o education providers(such as universities and colleges)

– Immigrant proessionals may encounter a number o barriers in the process o having their oreign credentials recognized.First, they get poor inormation on accreditation procedures. Second, there is no national body responsible or theevaluation o oreign credentials. Third, there is no agreed-upon national standard. Educational and proessionalstandards vary by province.

– Document verication oers no guarantee o license to those ound to have equivalent education. Some accreditationprocesses require oreign-trained proessionals (or example, in medicine) to take a certication examination incombination with language testing and/or to undertake a period o internship or practicum in the licensing country.Although successul immigrant proessionals will obtain a certicate or license to practise their proession, they thenneed to nd an employer who is willing to oer them a job. Moreover, assessments o the same credentials by dierentinstitutions are oten inconsistent.

– The most important actor or lack o admission to proessional occupations, and resulting downward social mobility, wasthe non-recognition or devaluation o oreign credentials. Basran and Zong urther point out that immigrant proessionalsare usually caught in a ‘double jeopardy.’ In the rst place, non-recognition o oreign credentials prevents them rom

accessing proessional jobs in Canada and acquiring Canadian work experience, which subsequently makes it dicult orthem to become qualied or other proessional jobs

– There are wide variations in earnings among immigrants rom dierent origins. In general, immigrant men rom originsoutside Europe earn anywhere between 15 and 25 percent less than most o those rom European origins. However,origin-group earnings dierences or immigrant women are much less than or men



Appendices

– I oreign education explains part o the origin-group earnings dierences, it means that Canadian employers treatschooling in certain countries o origin, mostly Asia, Arica, the Caribbean, and Latin America, dierently rom schooling

in other (mostly European) countries– The issue is particularly acute or immigrants with qualications rom anywhere other than Europe or North America

– While some studies have suggested causes or the under-valuing o oreign credentials, many have ailed to questionthe root cause. Given the impact o undervaluation on individual identities (Gottskalksdottir, 2000), an understanding othe problem in terms o the economy is not enough. Many critical questions remain. We need to nd out: Why do suchinequities occur in democratic societies like Canada where democratic principles are upheld and where immigrants are,at least in policy, ‘welcome’?

– As this issue has been identied in numerous studies over a number o years, we must ask why the situation has notimproved. Thus a key question is: What prevents us rom moving orward?

– The ollowing observations are oered in an attempt to provide more in-depth answers to this question. The rst twoconsiderations pertain to epistemological misconceptions o dierence and knowledge; the second two relate to theontological oundations o the assessment and recognition o oreign credentials

– Non-recognition o oreign credentials and prior work experience can be attributed to a decit model o dierence. Oneo the articulations o multicultural societies like Canada is a commitment to cultural pluralism. However, a number ocommentators (Cummins, 2003; Dei, 1996; Fleras & Elliott, 2002; Ghosh & Abdi, 2004; Moodley, 1995) argue thatpluralism is only endorsed in supercial ways. The tendency is to preer ‘pretend pluralism,’ which means to ‘toleraterather than embrace dierences’ (Fleras & Elliott, 2002, p. 2). In practice, dierences are exoticized and trivialised.Minor dierences may be gently armed in depoliticised and decontextualized orms such as ood, dance, and estivities.Substantive dierences, however, tend to challenge hegemony and resist co-option. As a result, these are perceived bymany as decient, deviant, pathological, or otherwise divisive. It could be argued that one o the hurdles preventing theull recognition o immigrants’ educational qualications and proessional experience is the prevailing attitude towarddierence. In act, negative attitudes and behaviours toward immigrants co-exist with commitments to democratic principlessuch as justice, equality, and airness. Henry et al. (2000) reer to the co-existence o these two conficting ideologies as‘democratic racism.’ According to these authors, democratic racism prevents governments rom changing the existingsocial, economic, and political order, and rom supporting policies and practices that might ameliorate the low status opeople o colour, because such policies would be perceived as in confict with, and a threat to, liberal democracy.

– Secondly, knowledge is used as power to keep out the ‘undesirable’. Critical theorists and postmodern scholars(Cunningham, 2000; Foucault, 1980; McLaren, 2003) maintain that: knowledge is power; knowledge is sociallyconstructed, culturally mediated and historically situated; and knowledge is never neutral or objective. The natureo knowledge as it pertains to social relations prompts us to ask the ollowing questions: What counts as legitimate

knowledge? How and why does knowledge get constructed in the way it does? Whose knowledge is consideredvaluable? Whose knowledge is silenced? Is knowledge racialized? Studies (Mojab, 199; Reitz, 2001) have clearly shownthat, while immigrants rom Third World countries encounter diculties with their oreign credentials and work experience,those rom developed countries (in Canada countries such as the USA, Australia, Britain or New Zealand; in Swedenthe Nordic countries, Germany or the USA) have relatively successul experiences. It can thereore be speculated thatknowledge has been racialized. As Li (2003) rightly points out, the term ‘immigrant’ becomes a codied word or peopleo colour who come rom a dierent racial and cultural background, and who do not speak the language o the receivingcountry fuently.




Appendices

– Power relations are embedded in social relations o dierence (Dei, 1996, p. 63). In Canada, this hierarchy o knowledgeand power is rooted in an ethnocentric past, where immigrants rom Europe and the USA were viewed as the most

desirable, and those rom Third World countries as undesirable.

Title: Companies embrace a diverse workorce

Terrence Belord.

Star - Phoenix. Saskatoon, Sask.:Nov 28, 2009. p. F.13

– “At the start o the next decade, the baby boomers will start to retire and leave the workorce,” Silvera says. “That meansthe shortage o skilled people we already ace will become worse. We simply have to make best use o all the resourcesat our command, and that means removing any articial barriers that can impede the entry o any Canadian into theworkorce, and once there to ensure they have rewarding careers.”

– To address the lack o language skills among new Canadians, UHN sponsors English-as-a-second-language courses romthe Toronto District School Board. About 41 staers have beneted rom them so ar, she says. Silvera is launching apilot project to help new Canadians gain Canadian work experience. For 26 weeks a young Guatemalan man studyinghuman resources management at George Brown College will work with her on a volunteer basis to investigate incidents ohostility arising rom diversity issues. The goal she says is to break down all barriers to inclusion.

Title: America’s best leaders - The leadership gap

Investing in Diversity

– Biases about who’s qualied or the top jobs can also keep mid-career minorities and women rom being plucked orthose posts. With ew minorities in upper management, it can be dicult or employers to picture them there. “We see it asmore a sticky foor than a glass ceiling,”



Notes


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/2010-iep-research-study 49/50he Power o Dierent | The race to bridge the skills gap in the Toronto Region

Notes



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