Canada proposes improved opportunities for workers despite the current economic slowdown

To address the impact of global economic crisis on Canadians, the present Conservative government has presented a plan to stimulate the Canadian economy and to help workers and businesses in hard-pressed sectors such as manufacturing, the automotive industry and forestry.

Whereas the Economic and Fiscal Statement 2008 is basically a set of actions that government will undertake to strengthen Canada’s economic and financial fundamentals over the coming quarters, but this statement also announces a number of steps to improve the opportunities for workers and to encourage the full participation of immigrants and Aboriginals in the economy.

For example, it has been proposed that government will encourage the provincial premiers and territorial leaders to achieve their goal of amending the Agreement on Internal Trade by January 1, 2009 so as to achieve "full mobility for all Canadians" by April 1, 2009. Similarly, increasing labor market participation, especially of under-represented groups such as immigrants, continues to be a government priority. In particular, the government will seek opportunities to reach out to a growing Aboriginal population to match the demands created by resource development and the overall tightening of the national labor market over the next decade.

The government will also continue to explore ways to ensure the immigration program is aligned with labor market needs. These efforts will be in addition to Action Plan for Faster Immigration, which has been delivered recently and help improve the processing of immigration applications under the federal skilled worker category.

Efforts will also be made to improve the recognition of credentials that foreign workers bring with them, and for this purpose, it has been proposed that a comprehensive and consistent approach will be adopted across the country, starting with regulated professions where shortages are the most acute. Furthermore, efforts will also be done to attract top international students to Canada and to increase the uptake of immigrant settlement programs.

To improve the opportunities for workers, government is currently investing in education and training by providing long-term support for post-secondary education, introducing the new Canada Student Grant and modernizing the Canada Student Loans Program.

The government is also implementing a comprehensive labor market training architecture announced in Budget 2007, including the $3 billion over six years provided to provinces and territories for new Labor Market Agreements to address the gap in programming for those who currently do not qualify for training under the Employment Insurance (EI) Program.

Overall, the government has committed that it will continue to work in cooperation with the provinces and territories and Aboriginal leaders to reduce barriers to labour mobility, enhance skills development, and encourage the full participation of immigrants and Aboriginals in the economy despite the current economic slowdown.

A new top 20 listing shows which Canadian employer is struggling in hiring and integrating newcomers

Canada’s largest publisher of employment-related periodicals and online directories, Mediacorp, and the editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers competition, in partnership with the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC), have released a list of country’s Top 20 Employers who are setting the standards in hiring internationally trained immigrants, and ensuring their smooth transition into the Canadian workplace.

The Best Employers for New Canadians is an exceptional list of employers chosen out of 200 Canadian companies representing employment fields such as financial, high-tech, engineering, healthcare and academics. Large or small, all of these 20 employers are leading the way in opening their doors to newcomers.

Here are the top 20 best employers along with a brief overview of their policies for new Canadians:

i3 DVR International Inc. (Toronto, ON): i3 DVR hiring policy dictates that they hire the most qualified applicant by testing his/her technical skills, no matter what school, country or length of time in Canada. i3 DVR encourages new Canadian hires to develop their English skills on the job. The 50 per cent of i3 DVR head office workforce comprises of new Canadians.

Wardrop Engineering Inc. (Winnipeg, MB): Wardrop helps new Canadian employees obtain their professional engineering (P.Eng.) designation with formal technical mentoring and development programs.

University Of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, SK): UoS recently introduced an international medical graduate residency program to help new immigrant physicians obtain their licenses in Saskatchewan.

Toronto Transit Commission (Toronto, ON): TTC encourages internationally trained employees to have their credentials assessed by World Education Services (WES). TTC has recently joined TRIEC's Mentoring Partnership program while conducts regular outreach employment presentations for community centers, programs and agencies that aid new Canadians.

TD Bank Financial Group (Toronto, ON): TD provides the largest number of relationships in TRIEC's Mentoring Partnership program and has hired more than half of their Career Bridge interns since the program's inception in 2003. TD has also developed the financial services industry component of Ryerson University's new Professional Communication for Employment program, which helps new Canadians improve their soft skills. In TD’s management associate program, 50 per cent of trainees are internationally trained professionals.

St. Michael's Hospital (Toronto, ON): St. Michael’s runs in-house mentorship program, which provides internationally trained professionals with interview and communication skills’ training, and job shadowing opportunities in fields such as HR, laboratory technology, library science, IT and finance. St. Michael’s is a founding member of CARE Centre for Internationally Educated Nurses, an agency that offers mentoring, job shadowing, work-related experience and exam preparation services to help foreign-trained nurses enter the nursing field more quickly. It also published mentorship guidebook called "Making Connections: A New Model of Mentoring or Internationally Trained Professionals."

Replicon Inc. (Calgary, AB): Replicon provides six-week work placements in a corporate training program, which helps immigrants gain Canadian work experience in their field of expertise. It also provides on-site testing during the hiring process to evaluate the practical skills of new Canadian candidates in addition to considering their international credentials.

Providence Health Care (Vancouver, BC): PHC encourages new Canadian hires to get their international credentials evaluated at point-of-hire by referring them to a provincially recognized evaluation service, and includes international work experience when determining the starting wage rate of new Canadian employees. PHC provides an intensive orientation and training program for internationally trained nurses, and provides ESL tutoring.

Manulife Financial Corp. (Toronto, ON): Manulife serves as a host employer with the Career Bridge internship program since its inception in 2003. It is currently hosting five Career Bridge interns and serves as a host employer in TRIEC's Mentoring Partnership program.

MDS Nordion Inc. (Ottawa, ON): MDS Nordion serves as an inaugural member of the employer council of champions for Hire Immigrants Ottawa. It provides intercultural training and language programs to employees.

Keane Canada Inc. (Halifax, NS): Keane recognizes international education and work experience through local agencies, provides an English-in-the-workplace program for new Canadian employees in conjunction with the Halifax Immigrant Learning Centre and the Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement Association. It also manages an employee buddy program to help new hires adjust to life in Halifax.

KPMG LLP (Toronto, ON): KPMG serves as a host employer with TRIEC's Mentoring Partnership program for more than two years. It reimburses the cost of CA equivalency courses or assessments for new Canadian employees writing the CA reciprocity exam and operates a training pilot program on how to manage a culturally diverse workforce.

Island Hearing Services (Victoria, BC): IHS helps new Canadian employees obtain certification with Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (CASLPA) or other bodies through supervisory work agreements and pays the licensing fees for new Canadians seeking to gain certification in Canada. It also provides supplementary training to help new Canadians achieve Canadian equivalency.

Enbridge Inc. (Calgary, AB): Enbridge evaluates international credentials and education of new Canadian job applicants using services like WES and manages internal mentorship program that pairs new Canadian employees or interns with a mentor. Enbridge hired former Career Bridge interns to senior-level positions as project leaders, financial analysts, revenue analysts and IT and system support specialists. It also provides an on-site multi-faith room.

Ernst & Young LLP (Toronto, ON): Ernst & Young screens candidates on technical skills prior to interview in order to eliminate cultural barriers during the hiring process. It provides inclusiveness training workshops to all their recruiters and provides an in-house CA reciprocity exam for employees with international credentials. Ernst & Young also participates in TRIEC's Mentoring Partnership program.

CIBC (Toronto, ON): As an active participant in TRIEC's Mentoring Partnership program, CIBC have hired several former Career Bridge interns as senior financial analysts. It created newcomers to Canada internet portal on its careers website, which provides information on foreign credential assessment while works with WES to speed up foreign credential assessment and verification. CIBC also provides ESL classes to employees as part of the corporate training program.

Christie Digital Systems Canada Inc. (Waterloo, ON): Christie attends recruitment fairs and networking breakfasts specifically for internationally educated professionals and provides on-site ESL tutors to help internationally trained engineers develop their technical vocabulary. Christie has also revised interview process to accommodate cultures that have difficulty talking about their strengths.

CAE Inc. (Montreal, QC): CAE pays educational course fees for new Canadian employees looking to improve their skills or obtain Canadian equivalency, offers free in-house English- and French-language courses on weeknights, and recognizes international undergraduate degrees on par with Canadian undergraduate degrees.

Business Development Bank of Canada (Montreal, QC): BDC recognizes foreign credentials and experience when screening newcomers’ applications.

Associated Engineering Group Ltd. (Edmonton, AB): AE provides training and educational support to internationally educated employees obtaining their professional registration. It also provides mentoring so employees can receive Canadian experience to become registered.

Canada investing in immigrant integration and skills enhancement in the Atlantic Provinces

Besides encourging the immigration in all four Atlantic provinces through the renewal of immigration agreements, federal governemnt of Canada, in partnership with settlement providers, is also providing necessary funding to support the settlement and integration needs of newcomers to these provinces.

During the last few weeks, a settlement funding of over $95 million has been announced for several partner agencies in the province of Nova Scotia. A most recent of these fundings is an investment of over $10.3 million for next three years, which is being provided to several Halifax-area partner organizations and help an estimated 3,000 immigrants in accessing basic settlement services such as language training, counseling and help finding a job. The funding to YMCA Community Outreach and Family Services, Halifax Immigrant Learning Center, Halifax Regional School Board, Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement Association and la Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse will be provided under the Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s (CIC) prominent services including Immigrant Settlement and Adaptation Program (ISAP), Language Instruction for newcomers to Canada and the Host Programs.

Through a new Labour Market Agreement (LMA), federal government will inject approximately $85 million over the next six years into the Nova Scotia labour market for provincial programs to help Nova Scotians upgrade their skills in a variety of sectors, such as information technology, health care and construction. The funding will be used to help individuals often excluded from the labour force, including Aboriginal people, immigrants, and persons with disabilities, to gain access to the training they need to find good quality jobs.

Under the Workplace Skills Initiative of Advantage Canada plan, government is investing over $560,000 in the Work in Nova Scotia (WINS) project. Nova Scotia designed WINS not only to help integrate newcomers into the workplace but also to address skills gaps and labor shortages in small- and medium-sized businesses. It is estimated that approximately 350 individuals and 250 small- and medium-sized enterprises will benefit from this project. WINS is managed by the Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement Association (MISA) and was launched as a bridging program to help newcomers in Nova Scotia achieve their employment goals. The Nova Scotia Office of Immigration will also contribute $36,275 to support the project.

As part of $1.4 billion ‘additional settlement funding package’ to provinces and territories other than Quebec, the Multicultural Association of Fredericton in New Brunswick will receive about $2.7 million to deliver services that will help newcomers become established in Fredericton and surrounding areas. These services include language training, translation and interpretation, and referrals to community resources. The Association will also provide youth settlement workers who will work with newcomer youth in the community.

Under the same federal package, the Multicultural Association of the Greater Moncton Area (MAGMA) in New Brunswick will also receive $1.3 million funding to help newcomers access orientation and other services, including referrals to community resources and assistance, language training in both French and English, and help establishing contacts in their field of work.

For 2008-09, New Brunswick will be receiving more than $2.7 million in basic settlement funding, an increase of more than $900,000 over the previous year.

Another funding, totalling more than $2.6 million over a three-year period, will go to the PEI Association for Newcomers to Canada, Carrefour d’immigration rurale Évangéline, Holland College and Study Abroad Canada in Prince Edward Island. The funding will help deliver settlement services such as language training, translation and interpretation, job search support and resettlement assistance for refugees including temporary accommodations, food and incidentals, orientation sessions and counselling and referral services. It will also go toward culture-bridging activities and anti-racism programs as well as connecting newcomers with volunteers who will help them access services, establish contacts in their field of work and participate in the community.

For 2008–2009, Prince Edward Island is receiving almost $1.4 million in settlement funding, an increase of more than $239,475 over the previous year.

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.