British Columbia builds a regional, multi-sectoral alliance to address immigrant employment issues

To find and implement local solutions for addressing the immigrants’ employment issues in metro Vancouver area of British Columbia (B.C.), a new Employment Council has been created.

The B.C. Immigrant Employment Council will carry out a coordinated action strategy for creating a longer-term and sustainable vision on immigrant employment issues that help break down the barriers immigrants face when looking for work in the region. Employers also face challenges dealing with applicants or new employees from other countries or cultures, including language barriers, adaptation to North American workplace culture and integration of immigrants into work teams.

To achieve this goal, the Council will focus on three objectives: (a) Increase access to and availability of services that help immigrants gain access to the labor market more efficiently and effectively; (b) Change the way stakeholders value and work with skilled immigrants; and (c) Change the way governments relate to one another in planning and programming around this issue.

The Council will engage employers and other stakeholders to come up with solution-based actions, champion the labor market integration of immigrants, and influence related government policy and program development. The Board of Directors of the Council will be composed of 10 to 12 leaders from business, labor, service providers, post-secondary institutions and regulators.

The Provincial Government, along with a start-up grant from the Maytree Foundation, will support the work of the B.C. Immigrant Employment Council toward finding and implementing local, practical solutions on immigrant employment issues, which will ultimately contribute to city’s economy and prosperity in the long run.

Instead of delivering direct service to immigrants, the B.C. Immigrant Employment Council will develop various programs in partnership with key organizations, agencies and corporate partners. It will create new opportunities to match the skills, knowledge and experience of immigrants with the demands of the Vancouver region labor market. Through the development of a range of new initiatives, design and champion by its members, the Council will offer a unique and exciting opportunity to build the capacity of stakeholders to work more effectively individually and collaboratively to integrate immigrants into the labor force.

The genesis of the Council began in October 2008 with the Leaders Summit, a conference of leaders representing the various sectors and communities of the region, held at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. The one-day Summit was held to assess the Vancouver region's strengths and challenges, and shape future directions by identifying strategies to form a regional, multi-sectoral alliance.

The Leaders Summit was convened by the Vancouver Mayor's Task Force on Immigration and Vancouver Foundation, with support from the B.C. Ministry of Advanced Education and Labor Market Development. Participants include leaders from employers, labor, education, government and service providers.

Alberta introduces plan to better recognize the foreign-earned qualifications of skilled immigrants

The Employment and Immigration Ministry of Alberta has released a new plan to streamline the recognition process of foreign-earned qualifications, trainings and experiences, which will help newcomers put their skills to work in Alberta.

Released on Friday, this Foreign Qualifications Recognition Plan for Alberta (FQR) has been developed in consultation with Alberta employers, educational institutions, professional regulatory organizations and immigrant-serving agencies, and involving several provincial government ministries.

Through this plan, government and stakeholders will not only work together to clarify and shorten the path skilled immigrants take to join the workforce but also incorporate and recognize the critical role of over 50 professional regulatory organizations including over 25 educational institutions, a number of industry councils or non-government organizations, and numerous employers (small, medium and large), which are responsible for assessing foreign-earned qualifications to determine labor market entry of skilled immigrants.

By establishing a $1-million fund to promote innovative and flexible approaches to foreign qualifications assessment, FQR plan will include (a) enhancing information and resources for employers, immigrants and potential newcomers; (b) developing International Educational Guides to provide comprehensive information on educational systems and credentials in other countries and comparisons to standards in Alberta; and (c) developing occupational profiles detailing the licensing, certification or assessment process. In general, the 10 actions in the plan focus on three areas including specialized information, assessment standards and resources, and bridging the gap.

Progress of the actions will be reported based on the performance measures developed in the plan - an interim report on progress of actions will be compiled for May 2009 followed by a progress report containing baseline data in April 2010. This plan is expected to help expand Alberta’s labor market, strengthen economy and provide opportunities for immigrants to make the most of the skills they earned outside of Canada.

This plan is publicized after a government-led series of roundtable discussions in May 2007 on issues and challenges related to foreign qualification recognition with 70 participants representing immigrants/immigrant-serving agencies, employers, professional regulatory organizations and educational institutions. Given the global competition for skilled labor, many stakeholders felt that Alberta is primed to develop and establish a competitive position for the province by "defining the path for immigrants and making it straighter and shorter."

In an Assessment Services related recent study by Alberta Employment, Immigration and Industry, skilled immigrants in Alberta reported that they did not have employment related to their previous education (45%); that they were overqualified for their current job (49%) and that their home country education and/or work experience was not recognized (64%).

Another recent statistic by Alberta’s Occupational Demand and Supply Outlook for 2007-2017 warned that Province may experience a labor shortage as high as 111,000 workers in the next 10 years. Although the labor is expected to grow 441,000 while 330,000 workers are expected to join the labor force during this period but it is clear that unless provincial government and industry start finding new ways to attract workers, the statistical prediction of 111,000 worker shortage in the province will become a reality. The province is currently between 30,000 to 40,000 workers short in all fields of employment.

Canada assists graduates in securing quality jobs and gaining valuable work experience in their field of study

To facilitate the entry of post-secondary graduates in economy’s key sectors and help Canadian employers to capitalize on the skills and experience of these graduates, the federal government and the businesses in private sectors have jointly announced a total of $11.3 million in funding for the Sectoral Career Focus Program.

As a national initiative between the federal government, sector councils and cross-sectoral organizations, the Career Focus Program links highly skilled young Canadians with potential employers who can provide them with career-related work experiences. These experiences help young Canadians develop advanced skills and improve their employability.

In this Career Focus network, sector councils are well positioned to develop projects that assist graduates in finding quality employment. These councils are a national consensus-based partnership between business, labour and education stakeholders, in an economic sector (such as automotive, aviation, biotechnology), that identifies and addresses human resources and skills issues in a collective, collaborative and sustained manner.

As project managers and recipient sponsors, sector councils can not only assess potential employers and participants to ensure they meet program eligibility requirements but also assume responsibility for the overall financial management of projects. That is why the new funding announced for the Sectoral Career Focus Program will go to 13 sector councils, which will manage the program for their respective industries and provide at least 406 post-secondary graduates with the opportunity to acquire quality employment and gain valuable work experience in their chosen field of study.

In total of $11.3 million, the federal government will provide $4.2 million while $7.1 million will be contributed by the employers in cash.

Funding like this one shows Canada’s commitment to developing its human capital that is vital to maintaining country’s knowledge advantage, and ensuring Canada has the best-educated, most-skilled and most flexible workforce in the world.