Workers around the world see Canada as a chance to use their
education and start a new and better life for themselves and their families.
However in recent years this has not been true. Over the past few years
educated immigrants have not been able to utilize their education and their
skills. Some of this has been a result of the current economic recession.
Even though the economy is not in
a good state it is not the only reason “70% of newcomers said they had
encountered problems or barriers in the job finding process” (CLBC Immigration
Handbook). Some examples of issues that immigrants have to face when trying to
find a job that matches their education and skill set are; “Lack of Canadian work experience, transferability
of foreign credentials, and lack of official language skills were the most
critical hurdles to employment” (CLBC Immigration Handbook). The chart below
shows the main problems that immigrants and employers face when looking for a
job and when hiring new employees.
| (CLBC Immigration Handbook) |
-John
References:
Canadian Labour and Business Centre. Immigration Handbook. Retrieved from:
http://www.clbc.ca/files/reports/immigration_handbook.pdf
CBC News. Canada's Skilled Immigrants Backlog to be Eliminated soon. Retrieved from:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/11/02/pol-kenney-backlog-skilled-workers.html
I definitely agree that there are barriers to employment once immigrants arrive in Canada. I have taken an immigration class in college and from what I learned, there are many categories of immigrants. Basically, business immigrants (those who are entrepreneurs, investors and the self-employed)have a greater chance at becoming Canadian citizens as they have proven their ability to becoming economically established. For example, en entrepreneur will be admitted if they have a net worth of at least $300,000 (along with some other qualifications). Also, economic immigrants are also more valued as they can contribute to Canada's economy. What I think is crazy is that we value those who contribute more to the economy than, say, immigrants who were once doctors in their country. There are still many places in Canada that are short on doctors and other professionals, yet we refuse to acknowledge their credentials because they don't live up to our western ideals. I definitely believe racism plays a big part in these barriers as well. However, there are programs in place in order to help newcomers to to Canada find jobs in their fields, such as hireimmigrants.ca.
ReplyDeleteShannon
This post is very interesting, especially as I have just read Alannah's post, which speaks to the idea that Canada is an extrememly desirable location due to the opportunities and diversity here. This perspective, from the point of view of employment, greatly differs from that.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a very valid point. I agree that there are many barriers to finding suitable employment, some of which you mentioned. From the articles I have read, and in my conversations with people who have worked with immigrants and refugees, I have discovered another major obstacle. This obstacle is the bitterness of the local people towards immigrants who are supposedly 'stealing' jobs from Canadians. This could contribute to the lack of viable employment options for immgigrants because employers may be either consciously or subconsciously neglecting to hire immigrants or foreigners based on this bias.
I hope that this situation improves and that immigrants feel very welcome in Canada, as they have different skills and perspectives that can and do greatly enrich the culture in Canada.
-Selina
I have seen the difficulty with some people immigrating to Canada. The career transition can be very strenuous and frustrating, not only to transfer credentials but also on the pride of the person immigrating.
ReplyDeleteI was once in a class studying dental hygiene and one of my fellow peers was a dentist who had just immigrated and was unable to practice his profession. After being a dentist for so long in his home country, to then come here and not be able to continue practicing was very hard to accept. He spoke to a few members of the class about the personal struggles and frustrations he had to overcome in this situation.
I can see how Canada under circumstances such as these would seem to be a less desirable place to live. It would be very frustrating to find out that all the work and education someone has done, isn't as valuable here as it was in their home country. I would hope that changes could be made to better recognize credentials, or assist immigrants to quickly regain their professional status when it is not recognized upon their entry to Canada.
- Denise
I think that the main problem concerning immigrants and jobs is that many Canadians are afraid that immigrants will take "all of the Canadian jobs". So many immigrants come to Canada to make a better life for their families and they hope they will be able to find a good job supporting them. Many of these people have degrees that qualify them for good paying jobs. There are many people who are qualified to work as doctors for example, that are working in care staff positions because their degrees are either not transferable, or they must wait long periods of time before being able to work. Society could be greatly benefited by their contributions, but we do so much to keep them from working which is so sad.
ReplyDeleteJohn,
ReplyDeleteThis was a really good topic to post about. I took a two-semester law class with Dr. Julien Hermida and we spent two lessons on this topic. He actually gave us the application for immigration to attempt to fill out. No one in the class was qualified for immigration. The process alone to immigrate to another country is extremely specific. If you're able to fill out the application successfully it means things like you're able to speak more than one language, and you've completed an impressive amount of schooling. The application process allows us to see that people who do immigrate are more than capable of obtaining and maintaining a job here in Canada.
Unfortunately the reality is that there is no guarantee of them getting a job.
An example of this that I am sure more than a handfull of our classmates are familiar with is cab drivers. Have you ever heard a cab driver tell you that he was a doctor where he was from? Chances are he was and came here to live the same life but wasn't able to. A lot of the time, if you practice a career where you're from you're unable to go to school to practice it here. Those experiencing this usually have to choose another career route.
Geraldine
I think this is an important issue to our country, as we rely more on immigration than we do on repopulation. As Geraldine said, we hear stories of people all the time coming to Canada for a better life, only to find that the career they receive is not equal to the level of training or education they have. Canadians seem to have a stigma against people coming to our country, but they don't realize how necessary immigration is for our population. I think this was an important issue that you raised in your blog post.
ReplyDeleteJessica