Skilled worker - Job prospects in Canada

Canada Immigration Forum (discussion group)

Subject: Skilled worker - Job prospects in Canada

Socialist Worker 446, April 6, 2005 ? www.socialist.ca

NEW IMMIGRANTS LANGUISH IN POVERTY

Canada has long prided itself on being a "multicultural" country, one that is a "champion of equal human rights" that welcomes immigrants from all walks of life with open arms. But a closer look at the reality of life for newcomers shows a harsh and soul-destroying lifestyle, one that has these highly qualified professionals wondering why they came here in the first place. Here, in the first of a series of articles, Ayesha Adhami examines the struggles of New Canadians in seeking jobs, obtaining settlement services and accessing healthcare.

Part One: The New Immigrant Jobless Blues

With the country?s population in decline, the government of Canada is aggressively "poaching" the best and the brightest foreign-trained professionals from a variety of countries, luring them to the land of the maple leaf with the promise of amazing job opportunities in existing and burgeoning employment markets.

To immigration incumbents, Citizenship and Immigration Canada?s website joyfully boasts: "Every year over 90,000 foreign workers enter Canada working temporarily to help Canadian employers address skill shortages in Canada. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) ensure that these workers will support economic growth in Canada and create more opportunities for all Canadian job seekers."

But when new Canadians and their families arrive, they are reduced to accepting "survival jobs". They "support economic growth" by filling out a growing sub-class of highly skilled foreign-trained professionals working for minimum wage in unskilled jobs. In virtually any Canadian urban centre, it is now common to find a cab driver with a Ph.D in nuclear physics or a short order cook with a Masters in Biochemistry. And it doesn?t seem to be getting any better.

According to a study by June Ying Yee, Associate Professor, School of Social Work and Helen Wong, Project Director for the Internationally Educated Social Work Professionals Bridging to Employment and Registration, both at Ryerson University, the employment success of newly arriving immigrants is not improving, but actually declining.

The fact is that immigrants to Canada are not coming for "a better life". In truth, the majority of immigrants entering Canada under the "skilled worker" class have obtained professional success and satisfaction in their home countries, but are barred from gaining access to the same opportunities in the Canadian professional job market through such barriers as educational and credential recognition, licensing bodies, official language knowledge and discrimination. The study also found that six in 10 immigrants no longer worked in the same occupational field as before coming to Canada.

Many immigrants are misled by Canada?s immigration points system into believing that if they are "qualified" to immigrate, that their professional experience and qualifications will be accepted in the Canadian job market. But of course, the number of points granted to an immigrant by a visa officer and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration has

no bearing on an individual?s ability to practice their profession in Canada.

In a radio show interview on Toronto?s CIUT radio station, Yee and Wong identified racism as an influential factor undermining new immigrant integration.

"The most current wave of immigrants also shows that the majority of immigrants who are coming to Canada are visible minorities from predominantly Asian and South Asian countries who face systemic racial barriers to job opportunities based on stereotypes and misconceptions about other cultures. People are also put under the scrutiny for their ?soft skills? ? whether their

personality, cultural norms or adaptability will make them ?fit? into the employment environment."

No Hijab Permitted Here, a study produced by Women Working With Immigrant Women, supports this assessment by citing numerous cases in which Muslim women lost access to jobs based on their wearing of a hijab.

In addition, in April, national pollster Ipsos-Reid revealed that racism is alive and well in Canada?s workplaces, with nearly 15 per cent of those surveyed saying that skin colour makes a difference at work, with the biases targeting predominantly those from Arab, Aboriginal, African/Black, East Indian, Jewish or Hispanic backgrounds.

Another oft-repeated complaint about getting a job in Canada is employers? demands for "Canadian experience."

"This is, of course very problematic as there is no definition of what ?Canadian experience? really is; it is actually a way to screen out undesirable candidates without accountability," says Yee.

The Institute for Research on Public Policy echoes this sentiment in its report: "The Discounting of Immigrant Skills in Canada: Evidence and Policy Recommendations" and laments the lack of bridging programs, competency-based qualification assessments, specialized workplace internship programs and more comprehensive foreign education evaluations as a way to counter systemic discrimination and assist newcomers with integration into the Canadian work environment.

Even those who manage to get jobs, are often stuck in the organizational ghetto. "Our studies show that the higher you go up the management ladder, the lighter the skin colour remains," Yee explained.

Yee?s research shows that immigrants face three key problems in the Canadian job market ? unemployment, underemployment and poverty.

"Newcomers face a substantial wage gap when they arrive, which we?ve seen to close slightly over a 10-year-period; however, there is still some question as to whether that wage gap will ever really close. The fact is that over 52 per cent of new immigrants live in poverty."

Estimates of the cost to the Canadian economy each year because of unrecognized qualifications and skill underutilization range from around $2 billion to up to between $4.1 and 5.9 billion annually.

The federal Liberals have forever portrayed themselves as "friends" to recent immigrants to Canada.

But the joblessness, poverty, and humiliation that is the reality facing so many new immigrants to Canada is a product of years and years of Liberal rule in Canada.

* Information used in this article is taken from a forthcoming report (August, 2005) entitled Individual and Systemic Barriers Faced by Ethno-Racial Minority Social Workers: A Community Project, Funded by Canadian Heritage, Human Resources Skills Development and Ryerson University, Faculty of Community Services. By June Ying Yee, Associate Professor, Ryerson University, School of Social Work and Helen Wong, Project Director for the Internationally Educated Social Work Professionals Bridging to Employment and Registration. This research was initiated by Access Alliance Multicultural Community Health Centre.

Socialist Worker 446, April 6, 2005 ? www.socialist.ca

[30-07-2005,12:58]
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Niketh