choicesVol. 13, no. 3, May 2007 ISSN 0711-0677 www.irpp.org

Imm

igration and Refugee PolicyIIRRPPPP

Naomi Alboim Elizabeth McIsaac

Making the

Connections Ottawa's Role inImmigrant Employment

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This publication was produced under the directionof Geneviève Bouchard, Research Director, IRPP.The manuscript was copy-edited by MaryWilliams, proofreading was by Francesca Worrall,production was by Chantal Létourneau, artdirection was by Schumacher Design, andprinting was by Impressions Hébert 2001.

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To cite this document:

Alboim, Naomi, and Elizabeth McIsaac. 2007.“Making the Connections: Ottawa's Role inImmigrant Employment.” IRPP Choices 13 (3).

The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IRPP or its Board of Directors.

About the Authors

Naomi Alboim is a fellow, adjunct professor, and vice-chair of the Policy Forum at the School of Policy Studiesat Queen’s University. She is also an active public policyconsultant, advising governments and NGOs acrossCanada and abroad. Naomi is an associate of theMaytree Foundation, and in that capacity she works onissues pertaining to the integration of skilled immigrantsinto the Canadian labour market. She is on the board ofthe Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council(TRIEC) and is the chair of its IntergovernmentalRelations Committee. Prior to this, Naomi worked atsenior levels in the federal and Ontario provincialgovernments for twenty-five years, including eight yearsas deputy minister in three different portfolios, one ofwhich was the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship. She is amember of the Order of Ontario and a recipient of theQueen’s Jubilee Gold Medal for public service.

Elizabeth McIsaac is the executive director of TRIEC.Elizabeth has worked with TRIEC since it was launchedin 2003 as a project of the Maytree Foundation. She hasheld various positions at the Maytree Foundation, mostrecently as the director of policy. Before joining thefoundation, Elizabeth was executive director of theAssociation of International Physicians and Surgeons ofOntario, advocating for policy changes to improve accessto licensing for immigrant doctors in Ontario. Prior tothis she worked in direct service with immigrant andrefugee communities, as well as in various roles inresearch and teaching.

Shaping Canada’sFuture: Immigration and RefugeePolicy / Bâtir l’avenir : la politiquerelative à l’immigration et auxréfugiésResearch Director / Directrice de rechercheGeneviève Bouchard

T his series comprises individual IRPP Choicesand IRPP Policy Matters studies on Canadianimmigration policy and its challenges, and also

on other countries’ immigration and refugee policies.Issues discussed in this research program include therelationship between sovereignty and economic inte-gration, security and border control, and reconcilia-tion of economic and humanitarian objectives.

C ette série comprend des études Choix IRPP etEnjeux publics IRPP qui portent sur la poli-tique canadienne d’immigration et ses nou-

veaux défis, mais également sur les différentespolitiques d’immigration et de protection de réfugiésà travers le monde. Les questions abordées dans ceprogramme de recherche touchent aux rapports entresouveraineté et intégration économique, sécurité etcontrôle des frontières, conciliation des objectifséconomiques et humanitaires.

Contents2 Introduction

6 The Current Landscape

8 Promising Practices

13 A Strategic Role for the Federal Government

19 Conclusion

20 Notes

21 References

List of AcronymsCIC Citizenship and Immigration CanadaCLB Canadian Language BenchmarkEI employment insuranceELT Enhanced Language TrainingFCRP Foreign Credential Recognition

ProgramHRSDC Human Resources and Social

Development CanadaLMDA Labour Market Development

AgreementLMPA Labour Market Partnership AgreementPNP Provincial Nominee ProgramPROMIS PROMotion-Intégration-Société nouvelleRNEN Regional Newcomer Employment

NetworksTRIEC Toronto Region Immigrant Employment

Council

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Making theConnectionsOttawa's Role in ImmigrantEmployment

Naomi Alboim andElizabeth McIsaac

Introduction

I mmigration levels for 2007 have been set for anincreased range of 250,000 to 265,000 new perma-nent residents.1 This is 10,000 above the projec-

tions for 2006, and it signals an ongoing commitmenton the part of the Canadian government to seek inimmigration solutions to ever-widening gaps in thelabour market and to demographic pressures.

As the government adheres to the traditional viewof immigration as a cornerstone of nation building, itsdecision to increase immigration levels is an unre-markable one. What requires consideration, however, isthe policy architecture that is being constructed tosupport this direction. As an element in the broadercontext of human capital development, the positioningof immigration as a solution to labour market short-falls can only succeed if it is systemically articulatedwith related policy developments — that is, labourmarket development and education and training.

In the 2006 federal budget, the government com-mitted $18 million toward establishing an agency “toensure foreign-trained immigrants meet Canadianstandards, while getting those who are trained andready to work in their fields of expertise into thework force more quickly” (Finance Canada 2006,chap. 3). The mandate, structure and governance ofthe proposed agency were left to be determinedthrough consultations with the provinces and otherstakeholders.

In the 2007 federal budget, the governmentannounced that a foreign credential referral officewould be created by late spring with a $13-millioninvestment over two years, funded from existingsources. “This new Office will provide prospectiveimmigrants overseas and newcomers already inCanada with information about the Canadian labour

landed in 2005, 45.9 percent had a university degree.Within the economic class, or skilled-worker category,79.5 percent of principal applicants had at least oneuniversity degree (CIC 2006b).

The change in continents from which immigrantsare coming — the most significant source shift is fromEurope to Asia — has altered the face of Canada, and ithas also been identified as one of the causes of thenegative labour market outcomes that these immigrantsexperience (see Sweetman 2005). Related factors mayinclude reduced official language competency, lack ofcredential recognition and discrimination. The top foursource countries in 2005 were China, India, thePhilippines and Pakistan.

As well, immigrants to Canada have a high propen-sity for settling in cities — in particular, Toronto,Vancouver and Montreal: in 2005, 43 percent settled inthe Greater Toronto Area (CIC 2006b). Recent immi-grants identify the most important factors influencingtheir choice of destination as the presence of familyand friends and the existence of established immigrantcommunities (Statistics Canada 2005).

Although the immigrants who have arrived sincethe 1990s are the most educated to date, their labourmarket outcomes are not comparable with those ofprevious cohorts of immigrants or their Canadian-born counterparts. These reduced outcomes seemincongruous in light of the labour and skills shortagesexperienced throughout Canada. The expectation isthat by 2011 immigrants will account for 100 percentof net labour market growth. There is therefore agrowing imperative to develop policy responses thatfacilitate improved labour market performance forskilled immigrants. While immigrants, includingrecent ones, had higher labour market participationrates than Canadian-born individuals in the early1980s, by 1991, the situation had reversed so that theparticipation rate for immigrants fell below thenational average, and the gap grew even wider forrecent immigrants. This gap has persisted, despite eco-nomic recovery in the latter half of the 1990s.

With respect to levels of earnings, immigrants havehistorically caught up with their Canadian-borncounterparts within 10 years of arrival. However, thistrend has not continued for immigrants who arrived inthe 1990s. Although some recent immigrants havefound jobs in high-skilled occupations, especially in thefield of information technology, many, regardless ofeducation, are employed in low-skilled occupations.There is an overrepresentation of university-educatedimmigrants in low-skilled jobs, and many recent

market and credential assessment and recognitionrequirements. As well, it will provide immigrants withpath-finding and referral services to identify andconnect with the appropriate assessment bodies”(Finance Canada 2007, 24). The office is yet anotherresponse to an already cluttered arena of policyinstruments, funding programs and jurisdictionalarrangements. As such, it will either be a useful toolto clarify and coordinate the landscape or merely addto the noise and confusion.

There are many players involved in the domain ofskilled immigrant employment.2 Within government,Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and HumanResources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC)are the lead players at the federal level, and then thereare their provincial counterparts. For skilled immi-grants who belong to regulated professions, provincialregulatory bodies play a significant role, as do post-secondary educational institutions and credentialassessment services, all of which are under provincialjurisdiction. In addition, community-based serviceorganizations — and, of course, employers — are keyplayers. This multiplicity of stakeholders makes find-ing policy solutions a complex task.

This paper focuses particularly on the role of thefederal government in finding solutions to skilledimmigrant employment in Canada, with special atten-tion to foreign credentials and skills recognition andeffective labour market integration strategies. To pro-vide a context, we will briefly review the current expe-rience of skilled immigrants in the labour market andCanadian labour market demands. We will thenexplore the current federal policy landscape for bothimmigration and labour market issues and review pro-grams and practices that provide examples of suc-cesses upon which we can build. Finally, based on theexisting context, relationships and promising practices,we will recommend ways in which the federal govern-ment can play a strategic role in resolving this issue.

Profile of skilled immigrants and their labourmarket experiences The profile of immigrants arriving in Canada hasshifted dramatically over the last three decades, par-ticularly in terms of levels of education and countriesof origin. The proportion of university graduatesamong all categories of immigrants — includingrefugees, family-class immigrants and economicimmigrants — is substantially higher than that amongthe Canadian-born in the same age group. Amongpermanent residents over the age of 15 who were

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this new labour market, the types of programs neededto facilitate settlement — and, more specifically,labour market entry — have not been changedaccordingly. To a great extent, these programs con-tinue to focus on the reception needs of new arrivalsand not on communication and labour market entrysupports. Most commonly cited by immigrants as abarrier to the labour market is lack of Canadian workexperience. This barrier creates a vicious circle fornew labour market entrants and leads many highlyskilled immigrants to take survival jobs. Research hasshown that this can have negative longer-termimpacts on labour market performance. For profes-sionals, prolonged under- or unemployment can leadto deskilling, seriously affecting their prospects of re-entering the profession. It can also result in chronicoccupational dislocation, lower income and down-ward social mobility (see Ontario Ministry ofTraining, Colleges and Universities 2002). Therequirement of Canadian work experience adopted byemployers and some occupational regulatory bodiescan be bona fide where specificities of the Canadianprofession and/or context demand a knowledge ofparticular laws, practices or ethics. However, it isoften used as a means to mitigate risk when a candi-date’s experience is unknown or unfamiliar, and it issometimes exploited in a discriminatory fashion toexclude candidates.

The second most common barrier cited by immi-grants is credential recognition. According to theLongitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada, ofthose immigrants who had their credentials assessed,56 percent were fully accepted, 19 percent were par-tially accepted, 15 percent were still in process and11 percent reported that their credentials were notaccepted (Statistics Canada 2005). However, havingone’s credentials assessed does not mean having themrecognized and valued by an end-user — that is, anemployer or occupational regulatory body.

One of the challenges of credential recognition inCanada is that there is no standardized approach toassessment, and therefore no portability. There is a vari-ety of service providers — including colleges, universi-ties, occupational regulatory bodies and independentassessment service agencies — but there are jurisdic-tional limitations on the recognition of assessmentsacross provinces and institutions. In addition, there areno standardized methods for allowing immigrants todemonstrate their competencies and experience.

Furthermore, in many cases, employers are notfamiliar with the value of the assessment. The

immigrants with university degrees are employed injobs that typically require a high school education orless. The Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants toCanada, which surveyed approximately 12,000 immi-grants who arrived in Canada in 2000-01, found thatonly 40 percent of skilled principal applicants areworking in the occupation or profession for whichthey were trained, effectively making 60 percentdownwardly mobile (Statistics Canada 2005).However, there are variations in these figures, asstronger or weaker labour market opportunities inparticular sectors create different outcomes. As well,skilled principal applicants — the only categoryselected on the basis of the point system — have beenfound to have better long-term economic outcomesthan other immigrant classes (Hiebert 2006).

The economic recession of the first part of the1990s had a significant impact on the labour marketperformance of newly arrived immigrants, and theirperformance did not rebound in the same way as thatof their Canadian-born counterparts. Overall, therehave been deteriorating labour market outcomes forall new labour market entrants; among recent immi-grant men, for example, this accounts for 40 percentof the decline in entry-level earnings (Picot andSweetman 2005, 20).

Barriers and challengesThe barriers to appropriate immigrant labour marketparticipation in Canada include, but are not limitedto, a broad range of issues that relate to employerand regulatory requirements for Canadian work expe-rience, credential recognition, licensing for regulatedprofessionals, lack of labour market language train-ing, lack of customized upgrading and supportopportunities, and lack of information overseas andin Canada. But contextual factors also affect thesebarriers and challenges. While the immigrants whoare arriving have more education, they must competewith a better educated Canadian labour force.Research has found that competition from theCanadian-born is also a contributing factor to labourmarket outcomes for new immigrants, especially in aknowledge economy that supports credentialism (seeReitz 2001) and relies heavily upon communicationskills. And within this knowledge economy are thejobs for which many immigrants, selected especiallyfor their education and skills, are striving.

There is also the challenge posed by the fact thatwhile immigration selection criteria now focus oneducation, language competency and skills that fit

(Teelucksingh and Galabuzi 2005). But, again, the issueis complicated by associated factors — foreign creden-tials, foreign work experience, and language — whichmake definitive causal linkages difficult to identify.

The shift in source countries may also have animpact on qualifications recognition. Institutions thatformally or informally undertake assessments of immi-grant qualifications (occupational regulatory bodies,colleges, universities, employers) may not be familiarwith the qualifications earned in certain countries, andthey may not have the capacity to assess their equiva-lence appropriately. There may also be real gaps in thequalifications being presented — gaps that must befilled before an equivalency is granted.

Immediate and impending labour marketdemands Skill and labour shortages are being felt acutely in par-ticular regions and industries across Canada. In itsstudy of long-term vacancies in small businesses, theCanadian Federation of Independent Business foundthat the persistent shortage of qualified, skilled labourchallenges small-business owners and threatens theirgrowth potential. When polled at the end of 2005, onein two small-business owners in Canada (52 percent)named employee shortages as a point of concern(Bourgeois and Debus 2006).

Skill shortages are particularly evident within thebooming oil industry in Alberta, where the shortfall ofskilled labour is expected to reach 100,000 workersover the next 10 years. British Columbia is not farbehind in its growing need for particular skill sets, withan emphasis on the trades. These demands put mount-ing pressure on policy-makers to facilitate workerrecruitment and develop policies to effectively integrateskilled immigrants into the economy.

A key challenge in this regard is represented by thefact that close to 500,000 applications (for 800,000people) to immigrate to Canada have been submitted,and there is a four- to five-year wait for processing.Employers are frustrated that there is no means to fast-track applicants whose skills are needed immediately;the process is largely paper-based, so the possibility ofconducting searches is limited. They have put pressureon Ottawa to increase the capacity and speed of theTemporary Worker Program, which is jointly adminis-tered by CIC and HRSDC, in some cases using that pro-gram inappropriately to circumvent the Skilled WorkerPermanent Immigration Program. The TemporaryWorker Program was designed to either fill short-termneeds or bring in temporary personnel until permanent

Conference Board of Canada has calculated that non-recognition of immigrant credentials costs theCanadian economy $3.42 billion to $4.97 billionannually.3 Another study, published in 2001, demon-strated a similar impact, estimating that immigrantswith foreign credentials earned $2.4 billion less thannonimmigrant Canadians with formally comparableskills. The reason provided was that immigrantsworked below their skill level. The study further sug-gested that at least two-thirds of their unutilizedskills, worth $1.6 billion, were in fact transferable tothe Canadian context (Reitz 2001).

However, while credential recognition is cited as akey problem, research shows that it has not worsenedover the last two decades (Picot and Sweetman 2005).This suggests that it is not the primary causal factorin the falling employment rate and widening earningsgap experienced by immigrants. Other important fac-tors include the discounting of foreign experience,the change in immigrant source countries and theimpact of macroeconomics on immigrants.

Recent research that looks at the return on foreignwork experience and education shows that foreignwork experience is particularly discounted by thelabour market: one year of it is worth only aboutone-third of a year of Canadian work experience.Similarly, foreign education is worth only about70 percent as much as Canadian education. However,immigrants with a foreign education who also obtaina Canadian credential receive a higher return on theirtotal education, suggesting that a Canadian credentialcan convert a foreign degree into a more valuableone (Alboim, Finnie and Meng 2005). These findingshelp to explain some of the variance in earningsbetween similarly educated immigrants and theCanadian-born.

As we have noted, the shift in source countries forimmigration has important implications for labourmarket performance — Canada now receives far moreimmigrants from Asia than from Western Europe.This shift results in changes in language capacitiesand the ethno-racial composition of immigrants.Research suggests that one-third of the decline inearnings among immigrants is attributable to changesin source regions and home language (Picot andSweetman 2005). Although the source country issueinvolves a complex blend of factors that are difficultto separate, there is ample research that documentsthe correlation between race and poverty in Canadiansociety (Ornstein 2000) and, increasingly, that pointsto racial discrimination within the labour market

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The Current Landscape

L abour markets are inherently local in natureand have particularities that require responsiveand flexible policies and programs. The current

reality in the Calgary-Edmonton-Fort McMurray cor-ridor is profoundly different from that in Miramichior in Hamilton or in Winnipeg. What works inToronto may not be relevant in Vancouver. Industriesvary, labour market shortages are distinct, and condi-tions for growth are unique. Despite this, however, werequire pan-Canadian policies that allow for thedevelopment of all our human resources and theinterprovincial mobility of workers.

New labour market entrants — youth, women,Aboriginal people or immigrants — need appropriatetraining and linkages to employers. Each group hasparticular challenges and may require special inter-ventions that address the barriers it faces. In the caseof skilled immigrants, it is essential to involve abroad array of stakeholders in the design, develop-ment and delivery of such interventions. These stake-holders include post-secondary educationalinstitutions that provide skills assessment, languagetraining or bridging programs; credential assessmentservices that validate qualifications obtained over-seas; occupational regulatory bodies that certify andlicense for some professions; community agenciesthat implement federal, provincial and municipallabour market programs; and, of course, all three lev-els of government, which design, resource and imple-ment immigration and labour market developmentpolicies and programs. The existence of this complexweb of stakeholders gives rise to the challenge ofensuring coordination, collaboration and coherencewhile also allowing an effective response to localneeds within a pan-Canadian framework.

The complexity of this policy area is the result ofthe policy silos that have been established for each ofthe various elements of human capital development.There are discrete areas of responsibility andaccountability within departments and ministries fed-erally and provincially, and this makes vertical andhorizontal coordination challenging.

ImmigrationAccording to section 95 of the Constitution, immigra-tion is a shared federal and provincial responsibility.CIC has the federal responsibility for both selectionand settlement. In terms of settlement, its

employees could be found; it was not intended to bea stepping stone in a permanent immigration process.

In 2006, almost 100,000 workers with temporaryresident status arrived in Canada. This number hasbeen steadily growing over the last decade and isexpected to rise even higher, given the new initiativesannounced in the 2007 budget. A two-year investmentof $51 million will be made to improve the TemporaryForeign Worker Program, and a significant policy shiftaccompanied by a two-year, $33.6-million investmentwill allow skilled foreign workers and Canadian-educated foreign students who are already in Canadato apply for permanent residence without leaving thecountry. It is expected that these two measures willgreatly increase the number of people entering andstaying in Canada through “temporary” programs.

While there are certainly some positive aspects tothese policy changes, the fact that there will beincreased numbers of people in Canada with tempo-rary status hoping to become permanent residentscould have some negative repercussions. Theseinclude the potential exploitation of temporary work-ers, suppression of wages in certain sectors, and ineli-gibility of temporary workers and their families forservices. In addition, there will be less incentive foremployers to train or hire those immigrants alreadyhere and other under- or unemployed individuals.Another potential difficulty of granting permanentresidence to an additional 25,000 people from withinCanada (as estimated in the 2007 Budget [FinanceCanada 2007, 218]) is that because they will beaccommodated within current immigration levels, the800,000 people currently applying for permanentresidence directly from abroad will have to wait evenlonger to come to Canada.

Another mechanism being used to address theneed for quicker processing of workers is theProvincial Nominee Program (PNP), which allowsprovinces and employers to identify particular labourmarket needs and the people who can fill them.Provinces are also using the PNP to attract immigra-tion to areas other than Montreal, Toronto andVancouver in order to address their economic anddemographic needs.

Immigration remains a core element of Canada’shuman capital strategy, although there are variationsin the specific needs of regions and sectors. The fed-eral government therefore has a Canada-wide priorityto deliver clear leadership on this issue.

Provincial nominee programs allow provinces todetermine immigration initiatives that respond to theirparticular labour market needs. These initiatives caninvolve nominating immigrants to fill shortages, ornominating those who have been specifically identifiedby employers, whether or not they fulfill the point sys-tem criteria for federal skilled workers; they can alsoprovide for international students to work in theprovince for two years after completing their studies. Inmost cases, provincially nominated immigrants arefast-tracked by CIC, since the nominating province hasalready conducted the selection screening.

Labour marketAt the federal level, labour market programming,including implementation of the EmploymentInsurance Act, falls under the jurisdiction of HRSDC.The Act delineates the benefits and supports availableto individuals who have lost employment and are seek-ing to re-enter the labour market. Most of the resourcesallocated are destined for those individuals with a pre-vious significant Canadian labour market attachment,and they are not generally available to new labourmarket entrants. In fact, the EI (employment insurance)program has been roundly criticized for covering onlya very small percentage of the unemployed (22 percentin Toronto; 25 percent in Vancouver). HRSDC, as notedearlier, is also responsible for the administration of theTemporary Worker Program.

In the 1996 Speech from the Throne, theGovernment of Canada made a commitment to with-draw from providing labour market training directlyand to create new partnerships with the provinces andterritories in the form of Labour Market DevelopmentAgreements (LMDAs). These agreements were intendedto improve labour market program objectives, such asservicing clients, reducing duplication of federal-provincial programs, and meeting more effectively theneeds of regional and local labour markets.

LMDAs have been concluded with all provinces andterritories using one of two models. Under the coman-aged model, HRSDC delivers employment benefits andsupport measures but shares responsibility for thedesign, management and evaluation of these programswith the provinces and territories. Newfoundland andLabrador, Prince Edward Island, British Columbia, theYukon and Nova Scotia have comanaged models; NovaScotia’s is structured as a strategic partnership — avariation of the comanagement model. The remainingprovinces and territories have transfer LMDAs, accord-ing to which the provinces and territories assume

responsibilities are constrained by its mandate — thatis, it must provide programs and services that relate tothe settlement of immigrants (language training andsettlement counselling) but nothing explicitly relatedto labour market integration. In a broad sense, someof the recent developments in language programminginclude labour market orientation and involve estab-lishing connections with employers, but this is asclose to labour market linkages as CIC gets. In fact,the expansion of current settlement programming toinclude labour market activity would require a changein the terms and conditions of the programs, but thatwould be welcome. As well, CIC has joint responsibi-lity with HRSDC for determining policy on temporaryworkers and is a partner in the implementation ofprovincial nominee programs.

Provincial ministries with responsibility for immi-gration are cast variously, based on the province’svision and organizational imperatives. Someprovinces, like Manitoba, place immigration withlabour; others situate it within ministries of employ-ment, human resources or economic development.The provincial linkages of immigration with labourmarket responsibilities indicate the need for closealignment between these areas in both policy devel-opment and program delivery. However, someprovinces, like Ontario and Quebec, have separateministries that mirror the federal construct.

In order to enhance vertical coordination in thedelivery of services, CIC has signed immigrationagreements with British Columbia, Saskatchewan,Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick,Newfoundland and Labrador, the Yukon and PrinceEdward Island. The Canada-Quebec Accord is themost comprehensive of these agreements. Signed in1991, it gives Quebec full authority to select skilledworkers and control over its own reception, languagetraining and integration services. The agreementswith Manitoba and British Columbia transfer federalfunds and responsibility for settlement services tothose provinces. The other agreements focus prima-rily on information sharing, provincial nominee pro-grams (with the exception of PEI and the Yukon) andinternational students. The November 2005 agree-ment with Ontario is the most recently signed; itsimplementation and funding began in January 2007.While it does not transfer funds to the province, it iscomprehensive, covering settlement and languagetraining services and a provincial nominee program,and, importantly, it is the only agreement thatincludes recognition of the role of municipalities.

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emphasis on the training needs of the immigrant pop-ulation, and the amount of funding allocated is likelyinadequate to serve all of those not eligible for EI.

The federal government has also created theForeign Credential Recognition Program withinHRSDC to address some of the problems faced byskilled immigrants, but it is limited in size and scope:$68 million over six years has been allocated toimplement the program and to develop tools forassessing and recognizing the credentials of foreign-trained individuals, although the federal governmentwill not actually conduct credential assessment. Still,the challenge of integrating skilled immigrants intothe labour market requires a more comprehensive andsystemic approach.

Other federal departments also play a role here,including Canadian Heritage and Industry Canada. Aswell, Health Canada has devised a strategy to supportthe integration of internationally educated health pro-fessionals. The federal government has a vital role toplay in ensuring that immigration continues to be animportant nation-building project and a contributor toa thriving pan-Canadian labour market, and it musttherefore find effective ways of responding to thelabour market integration needs of immigrants.

Promising Practices

W hile much attention is paid to statistics andsurveys that document the labour marketfailures of skilled immigrants, some pro-

grams, initiatives and practices have met with suc-cess. Although six out of ten skilled immigrants maybe deemed downwardly mobile, their skills under-utilized, four out of ten find appropriate employment— some independently and some through intervention(Statistics Canada 2005). This section reviews severalpractices that are making a difference.

Work experienceThe most commonly cited barrier to employment forskilled immigrants is the requirement of Canadianwork experience. An immigrant may have all theacademic credentials, language skills and technicalskills necessary to practice an occupation but stilllack a sufficient knowledge of the Canadian work-place — knowledge of, for example, employmentstandards and occupational health and safety legisla-tion, workplace cultural expectations and practices,

responsibility for the delivery and management oflabour market programs, which are funded under part2 of the Employment Insurance Act. The 2007 budgetcontains the federal government’s offer to negotiatefull-transfer LMDAs with provinces and territoriesthat do not yet have them.

The employment benefits delivered under theLMDAs help unemployed EI-insured individuals gainwork experience (Job Creation Partnerships), improvejob skills or start new businesses as well as encourageemployers to provide opportunities for work experi-ence (Targeted Wage Subsidies). The funding is alsoused to address human resource, labour market andlabour force issues.

The gap in horizontal coordinationWhile both the immigration agreements and theLMDAs recognize the need for vertical collaborationand coordination, the same level of formalized co-ordination does not exist horizontally betweendepartments and ministries within a particular orderof government. As noted earlier, neither set of agree-ment focuses specifically on the labour market inte-gration needs of immigrants. Immigration agreementsdo not focus on the labour market, and while LMDAsfacilitate reentry into the labour market for EI-insured individuals, there is a gap in labour marketprogramming for new immigrants, who do not havethe same level of Canadian labour force attachmentas other EI-eligible workers.

This lack of funding, targeting and coordination inthe planning, development and delivery of labourmarket services and programs for immigrants has adirect impact on the experience of the immigrant andon our ability to maximize available human capital.It challenges the existing policy architecture anddemands remedies. Should existing programs andservices funded in accord with part 2 of theEmployment Insurance Act4 and delivered either atthe federal or provincial level be expanded to includeimmigrants? Or should a new stream of program ini-tiatives targeted at immigrants and funded by othersources be developed?

The federal government has chosen a third path. Inthe 2007 budget, it announced its intention to estab-lish (beginning in 2008-09) a program to invest $500million annually through bilateral arrangements witheach province and territory to address the gap inlabour market programming support for those who donot currently qualify for training under the EI pro-gram. While this is a start, there is no particular

positions. At Career Bridge, close to 1,200 qualified andscreened candidates for internships remain in the data-base. A measure of success for such an initiative mustbe the number of internship-providing employers it canenlist, and on that front, there is still much room forcreative policy work — incentives for employer partici-pation are required.

Social capitalAs we pointed out earlier, the profile of skilled immi-grants has changed dramatically in recent years.Today’s immigrants to Canada are more educated, andso they seek more skilled positions in the labour mar-ket. Many have the education, experience and languageskills to excel in the workforce but lack the social capi-tal — the connections and networks — they need toincrease the prospects of a successful job search.

Mentoring is one way of overcoming this barrier(Affiliation of Multicultural and Social ServiceAgencies of British Columbia 2006). The objective ofthis strategy is to give under- or unemployed, skilledimmigrants access to a person employed in the occupa-tion for which they are trained. The mentor shares pro-fessional networks and offers guidance through the jobsearch and/or licensing process; the job-seeking immi-grant gains a greater understanding of a specific occu-pational context and its trends. The objective is notnecessarily to find employment for the immigrant inthe mentor’s place of work, but participating immi-grants often secure positions in their field. Mentoringprograms have been undertaken through a number ofcommunity-based agencies. Successful programs focuson growth sectors in the labour market. They alsoensure that a close occupational fit exists betweenmentor and skilled immigrant worker and that bothparties have clear expectations of the match. Finally,they provide training, support and monitoring ofmatches. However, creating a strong pool of mentorshas been difficult. This may be due to the fact thatwhile successful mentoring programs are remarkablycost-efficient, there is a lack of funding for marketingand mentor outreach.

The Mentoring Partnership in the Toronto region, aninitiative of the Toronto Region Immigrant EmploymentCouncil (TRIEC), has addressed these challenges directly,mounting a broad-based initiative to consolidate effortson mentor recruitment and standardizing the servicedelivery model. In the first year of the program, 1,000skilled immigrants were matched with mentors. This wasa big step forward in taking the mentoring interventionto scale — previously, individual programs would pro-

organizational structures and effective communica-tion styles. Immigrants can acquire this type ofknowledge and experience through co-op placements,internships, job-shadowing or on-the-job training.

Of the wide array of employment support pro-grams, the most successful are work experience pro-grams that directly involve employers.5 These yieldprofessional references and provide Canadian experi-ence, both of which reassure risk-averse employers.As we have mentioned, HRSDC funds a number ofgeneric programs that provide work experience atsome level through Targeted Wage Subsidies, JobCreation Partnerships or projects funded throughEmployment Assistance Services. However, only EIclients are eligible for these programs, and so theyhave limited relevance for new immigrants.

In Toronto, Career Bridge, an internship programdesigned by the Career Edge Organization, has beeninitiated to address the Canadian work experience bar-rier confronting immigrants; it was funded as a pilot bythe Ontario government. The program offers four-to-twelve-month paid internships to recent skilled immi-grants who have been screened for languagecompetency and job readiness. Employers pay a pro-gram fee that covers administrative costs and give amonthly stipend to the intern. Since the pilot waslaunched, in the fall of 2003, over 500 internships havebeen filled; as of January 2007, more than 80 percentof participants have found permanent employment intheir field. Projet d’immersion is a Quebec internshipprogram for immigrants who are looking for their firstCanadian work experience. It places approximately 360people per year in Montreal-based positions, providinga six-month wage subsidy to the employer that covers50 percent of the employment cost. This initiative is acomponent of the Immigrant and Visible MinorityEmployment Integration Assistance Program adminis-tered by Emploi-Québec. PROMIS (PROMotion-Intégration-Société nouvelle), a community-basedorganization serving immigrants, is one of the deliveryagencies; in 2005, it placed 48 people. The organizationmonitors the experience of participants, conductingfollow-up visits one month and three months after theinitial placement. Ninety percent of program partici-pants secure permanent employment (Birrell andMcIsaac 2006). In addition, projects funded by the CICEnhanced Language Training (ELT) Program mayinclude workplace experience.

The challenge for such interventions is to take theprogram to scale. The demand for internships far sur-passes the number of participating employers and

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Higher-level language training is sometimes pro-vided by school boards, community colleges, univer-sities and private schools. It is generally available fora fee, and can include instruction in advanced writ-ing, public speaking and business communicationskills. These programs are not available in all com-munities, and their quality and content varies. Not allprivate training schools are regulated, and non-regulated programs are not aligned with CLB levels,which makes portablity difficult.

In 2004, CIC implemented the ELT program. ELTprojects address CLB levels 7 to 10 and offer employ-ment-related language training at these levels. Theprogram combines language training with labourmarket support — such as information on Canadianwork culture and the labour market, job search, licen-sure preparation, bridge-to-work and mentoring com-ponents. Program costs can be shared amonggovernments, employers, educational institutions andnongovernmental organizations. The problems withthe ELT program are that it has a much smaller budg-et than basic language training, it is project-basedand it requires employer investment wherever projectdelivery is workplace-based.

Bridge training with a workplace componentA number of occupation-specific and sector-basedbridging programs have been developed and imple-mented. In them, key stakeholders — employers, occu-pational regulatory bodies and educational institutions— work together to assess immigrants’ skills and com-petencies, to deliver training (including occupation-specific language training) and to provide workplaceexperience. The objective is to integrate professionalsmore quickly into the labour market and to avoid com-pelling them to duplicate their foreign training.

Bridge training projects funded to date involve var-ious sectors. Within the health care sector, there havebeen projects for nurses, midwives, medical radiationtechnologists, medical laboratory science technolo-gists, respiratory therapists, dieticians and pharma-cists. There have also been projects for those inengineering, precision machining and tooling, infor-mation technology for the financial services sectorand health informatics, teaching, biotechnology, andapprenticeship preparation for construction and themanufacturing trades. Most bridging programs havebeen funded by provincial ministries with responsibil-ities for training, education and/or immigration.

An example from Manitoba is the Early ChildhoodEducator Qualifications Recognition Project. Initially

duce fewer than 50 matches per year. The employmentoutcomes have also been encouraging. To date, of the700 participants who have completed the mentoringprogram, 68 percent have found full-time employment,46 percent of them in their field.

Funding for the service delivery side of the MentoringPartnership was made available by HRSDC under theEmployment Assistance Services stream, an importantpolicy allowance in making the program available tonon-EI-eligible clients. On the mentor recruitment andmarketing side of the program, funding was provided byTD Bank Financial Group, the Ontario TrilliumFoundation, and the Maytree Foundation. However, theMentoring Partnership will have to develop a sustain-ability model to continue mentor recruitment.

Enhanced language and communicationWhen the profiles of skilled immigrants selected underthe current point system are compared to labour mar-ket needs, there are some matches. The most commonoccupations among principal applicants are computerprogrammer and systems analyst; engineer (electronic,mechanical, civil, computer); financial investor andanalyst; financial auditor, analyst and accountant;and business services professional. However, theseoccupations require not only specific technical skillsbut also — given the level of education and workexperience that most skilled immigrants bring withthem and the type of work for which they are mostsuited — well-developed communication skills.

Such skills are a key to successful employment.Employers have identified lack of language proficiencyas a significant barrier to hiring skilled immigrants.6

Increasingly, immigrants need more specialized lan-guage training to improve their communication skillsand occupation-specific language skills for the work-place. Skilled immigrants seek employment that is rel-evant to their education and experience, oftenprofessional and mid-management positions. However,most language training programs do not prepare themadequately for this level of employment.

There are many government-supported English-and French-language training programs, and theseare funded primarily by CIC through LanguageInstruction for Newcomers to Canada and provincialministries. While much of the available funding isdirected toward basic language training up toCanadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) levels 6 to 7,immigrants and employers have indicated that mostpositions require language and communication skillsthat exceed this level.

recruit and retain skilled immigrants. In fact, while thevast majority of new jobs are in small- and medium-sizedenterprises, a recent survey by the Canadian Federationof Independent Business found that employers in thissector do not recognize immigrants as an importantresource to be tapped (Bourgeois and Debus 2006).

Web sites have been developed to make informationand assistance easily available to employers. For exam-ple, hireimmigrants.ca provides employers with the toolsto improve their human resources practices as theyrelate to skilled immigrants. The site includes a compila-tion of employers’ stories and strategies related to thesuccessful hiring of skilled immigrants. Companies likeDeloitte, RBC, Apotex and Teshmont Consultants areprofiled. Similarly, lookingahead.bc.ca, funded by theGovernment of British Columbia, provides case studiesand links to useful tools for BC employers.

The case of hireimmigrants.ca exemplifies the wayin which a series of government funding bodies canbring an initiative to life. Canadian Heritage providedthe initial funding to research and document promisingemployer practices. CIC funded the primary develop-ment of the site. The Ontario Ministry of Citizenshipand Immigration funds the ongoing development of thesite and its active engagement with employers. Thissupport includes a grant to mount an employer aware-ness campaign and to create strategies for building thecapacity of small- and medium-sized enterprises, whichoften lack human resources management structures.

Local coordinationAs immigrant labour market integration is increasinglyrecognized as a local issue, there is a growing imperativefor cities and regions to provide services that will allowthem to reap the social and economic benefits of immigra-tion. New arrangements and relationships are needed ifcities and regions are to develop and deliver local strate-gies for the economic integration of skilled immigrants andprovide input on policy direction. For municipal andregional governments, this means a seat at the policy table— or, in some instances, formal agreements that outlinetheir participation. In the case of the recently negotiatedCanada-Ontario Immigration Agreement, a memorandumof understanding on immigration and settlement wassigned in September 2006 that formalizes the collaborationof three orders of government on this issue.

Cities and regions must also be given the means toconvene businesses, educational institutions, immigrantgroups and other stakeholders in order to identifywhich programs and services are needed to facilitateindividual and community growth and thus attract and

developed to address a local shortage of child care pro-fessionals, and funded by ELT, the project is a 14-weekbridging program for internationally trained earlychildhood educators. It includes mentoring and work-based assessment using a competency assessmentframework. Trainees, employed as registered child careassistants, complete a work placement in a child carecentre and have their skills assessed on the job.Assessors use standards and a learning outcome frame-work that was adapted for the project in consultationwith local colleges, professional associations and otherstakeholders. The project also works with the ManitobaAcademic Credential Assessment Service, provided bythe province’s labour and immigration department toassess trainees’ previously acquired qualifications. As ofMay 2006, 22 people had successfully completed theprogram (Birrell and McIsaac 2006).

While the outcomes of this and many other bridgingprograms have been promising, the programs are onlyaccessible to a small portion of the population and arenot yet self-sustaining. Bridging programs do not qual-ify for the same financial resources for training or aca-demic upgrading as other post-secondary degree ordiploma programs. There is a need for a loan programthat will enable immigrants to pay for courses, equip-ment and materials and give them some income supportwhile retraining. This year in Ontario, one such programwas announced by the Ontario Ministry of Citizenshipand Immigration, building on a program funded anddelivered by the Maytree Foundation, and it is an excel-lent start.

Nevertheless, funding formulas for post-secondaryeducational institutions must be adjusted to supportand encourage the development of bridging andmodularized initiatives in a way that is sustainableand integrated into the broader systems of trainingand education. While many colleges across the coun-try have recognized their role in providing labourmarket preparation programs for skilled immigrants,most universities have not yet acknowledged this aspart of their mandate.

Employer capacity Employers are critical stakeholders in the integration ofskilled immigrants into the labour market. All relatedpolicies, programs and initiatives should lead to a moreeffective connection between these two sets of players.While most energy, thinking and investment has so farbeen focused on immigrant needs, it is equally impor-tant to address the shortcomings and requirements ofCanadian employers; they need to be better equipped to

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collaboration and new mechanisms for funding, pro-gram delivery and policy input.

As a local initiative, TRIEC is well positioned toact as a generator of, and incubator for, ideas andsolutions related to immigrant labour market access.Its role is to act as convener, facilitator and solutionseeker. Funding for the secretariat function of thecouncil has been provided by CIC and the MaytreeFoundation, a private charitable institution. However,the CIC funding was granted on an exceptional basis.Communities that want to replicate or adapt thismodel of local coordination must establish a dedicat-ed stream of funding to support the activity7 —despite the fact that many departments and ministriesdo not prioritize funding for collaborations and areoriented toward project-based contributions.

TRIEC has not proactively introduced itself toother cities or regions; to date, neither expansion norreplication has been part of its mandate. However,similar initiatives have developed elsewhere, indicat-ing a local imperative: the Waterloo region has awell-developed immigrant employment network host-ed by the Chamber of Commerce; Ottawa haslaunched a multistakeholder initiative to engageemployers; Vancouver has been convening stakehold-ers in the issue for a number of years; and there areother examples across Canada that demonstrate vary-ing degrees of capacity and impact.

An important lesson that we can draw from theTRIEC experience is that for an effort in local coordi-nation to be successful, certain basic criteria must bein place. These include, first of all, a strong rationalefor engaging in the issue. This would exist in cities orregions that have received large numbers of immi-grants, or those that have the potential for economicgrowth but are experiencing skills and labour short-ages and are having difficulty attracting immigrants.A second criterion is an indication of support andreadiness. This would be found in cities or regionswhere there are corporate champions, a host organi-zation with the capacity to convene the relevantstakeholders, and a catalyst to mobilize and lead theinitiative, whether individual or organizational. Theneed for local solutions is well recognized. The chal-lenge is to find the policy and funding instruments tobring local coordination and collaboration to life.

Elements of successTo summarize, success is achieved when policies, pro-grams and initiatives directly address the barriers thatskilled immigrants face. When these immigrants are

retain all kinds of people — not just immigrants.Local coordination can also be used as a mechanismfor both vertical and horizontal coordination,between and within governments and stakeholdergroups. But developing the multistakeholder mecha-nism to envision and effect local solutions to theproblem of integrating immigrants into the labourmarket requires convening capacity.

In September 2003, the Toronto Region ImmigrantEmployment Council (TRIEC) was established with amandate to identify local ways of improving accessto the labour market for skilled immigrants. TRIEC isa multistakeholder council, led by the private sector,in which over 65 stakeholders from assessment serv-ices, community organizations, post-secondary insti-tutions, the employer community, occupationalregulatory bodies, labour unions and all three ordersof government participate.

While the overall mission of TRIEC is to facilitatethe integration of immigrants into the Toronto-regionlabour market, it has three specific objectives: • To increase access to value-added services for

skilled immigrants: While there are many servicesavailable, most do not address directly the particu-lar barriers that immigrants face, they do notmatch the skill levels of today’s immigrants, orthey have a limited capacity.

• To change the way stakeholders value and workwith skilled immigrants: Educating, encouragingand assisting stakeholders — especially employers,post-secondary educational institutions and occu-pational regulatory bodies — to understand the issueand to create and promote best practices for inte-grating skilled immigrants into the labour market.

• To change the way government works on thisissue: Generating better labour market outcomesfor skilled immigrants through enhanced coordina-tion and collaboration, efficient investments, andadjusted policies and practices across and betweenall three levels of government. This third objective involves creating a new envi-

ronment for intergovernmental cooperation. While thiskind of coordination does happen at various levelsamong federal departments and across provincial min-istries, before TRIEC there had been no coordinatingeffort on the issue of immigrant labour market integra-tion at the local level. TRIEC’s IntergovernmentalRelations Committee consists of representatives of alldepartments and ministries in all three orders of gov-ernment that have an interest in the issue. The com-mittee meets regularly and seeks opportunities for

The limitation of immigration agreements is that theydo not include labour market programming, becausethat falls under the purview of HRSDC. LMDAs are lim-ited in that the programs they fund are available only toEI-eligible clients, who, by definition, have significantprevious Canadian labour market attachment. As indi-cated earlier, the current EI program only covers a smallpercentage of unemployed persons. Skilled immigrantsare new labour market entrants, and they therefore fallthrough the cracks of these two instruments. A federal-provincial innovation on this issue was to have beenLabour Market Partnership Agreements (LMPAs), whichwould have provided labour market programming fornon-EI-eligible clients, including new immigrants.

LMPAsIn November 2005, the federal government negotiatedand signed LMPAs with the provinces of Saskatchewan,Manitoba and Ontario. These agreements were in addi-tion to the existing LMDAs in Manitoba andSaskatchewan and the LMDA signed with Ontario at thesame time. The purpose of the agreements was to sup-port six areas of labour market programming: expan-sion and enhancement of apprenticeship; labour marketintegration of recent immigrants; literacy and essentialskills; workplace skills development (such as incentivesto upgrade skills of existing workers); assistance forAboriginal Canadians; and assistance for others facinglabour market barriers (such as older workers, displacedworkers and persons with disabilities).

Then minister of finance Ralph Goodale commentedthat these agreements represented “a major departure infederal support for an innovative and collaborativeapproach with provinces and territories. This new part-nership agreement will change the architecture oflabour market programming and focus on prioritiesthat both levels of government have identified”(Human Resources and Social Development Canada2005). Funded through general revenues, the financialcommitments contained in these agreements were sig-nificant: Ontario would receive $1.368 billion over sixyears, with $292.5 million for recent immigrants;Saskatchewan would get $109.2 million over six years,with $4.35 million for recent immigrants; andManitoba would get $128.9 million over six years, withjust over $7 million for recent immigrants.

Under the terms of the agreements, there were threegoals for the labour market integration of recentimmigrants: • To provide better information: Develop labour mar-

ket information, including provincial occupation

provided with Canadian work experience, labourmarket communication skills, specific gap-fillingtraining and mentoring; and when employer capacityis developed; then the critical barriers that preventeffective labour market entry are removed. Also, ini-tiatives that are conceived, developed and imple-mented with the active participation of all therelevant stakeholders are obviously more likely togenerate success, and in the case of immigrant labourmarket integration, this means employer involve-ment. Another key to success is the alignment of ini-tiatives with labour market needs. An ongoingchallenge for immigrant selection and economic inte-gration has been the dearth of good labour marketinformation. Historically, it has been extremely diffi-cult for employers and governments to accuratelyforecast labour market needs and for the immigrationprogram to process immigrants expeditiously so thatthey can bring their skills to the labour market whenthey are needed. Yet another key to success is theapplication of a local lens that will permit locallabour markets to identify their particular needs.

A Strategic Role for the FederalGovernment

G iven the current landscape, and in light ofwhat we have learned about which policies,practices and interventions actually work, we

will explore in this section possible roles for the federalgovernment in creating solutions that are sustainableand that benefit both the immigrant and the country.First, we will consider how the federal governmentcollaborates with other orders of government to facili-tate the labour market integration of immigrants. Next,we will review existing federal programming andopportunities for enhancing outcomes for immigrantsentering the labour market. Finally, we will look at thecurrent government’s proposal to create an office offoreign credential assessment and recognition andconsider the ways in which the new federal initiativecould be positioned to bring about more effective sys-temic change and enhanced outcomes.

Collaboration with other levels of governmentAs we noted in the second section of this paper, twomain instruments of federal-provincial collaborationhave been implemented: immigration agreements andLabour Market Development Agreements (LMDAs).

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grams and services required to effect the labour mar-ket integration of immigrants.

The Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement is thefirst federal-provincial agreement to include a formalrole for municipalities. Annex F outlines the way inwhich the federal and provincial governments willwork with Ontario municipalities and lists theirshared priorities. Cities will be represented by theAssociation of Municipalities of Ontario. The agree-ment also recognizes that the City of Toronto hasunique experience and expertise with respect toimmigration; for this reason, the federal and provin-cial ministers signed a separate memorandum ofunderstanding with Toronto in September of 2006that details the framework in which they will worktogether. Toronto now sits as a full member at a vari-ety of intergovernmental tables charged with imple-menting the Canada-Ontario Immigration AgreementStrategic Plan for Settlement and Language Training.Similar models for ensuring municipal involvement,adapted for different contexts, should be consideredfor other federal-provincial immigration agreements.

Enhanced federal programmingAs outlined earlier, federal programming in this areais divided primarily between CIC (language training)and HRSDC (labour market programming). Within thecurrent landscape of programs and services, there isopportunity to enhance and expand the role of thefederal government to deliver better outcomes. Herewe offer suggestions for these expansions andenhancements.

Language assessment and trainingAssessmentA variety of language assessment tools are available,which are recognized by different end-users (educa-tional institutions, for admission purposes; regulatorybodies, for licensure; language training providers, forplacement purposes). Language assessment foremployment purposes (CLB levels 7 and above)should be made available through existing languageassessment networks. Employment assessment toolsshould be portable, they should be recognized byend-users and they should provide a certificate with acertified benchmark level. As the primary funder oflanguage training and assessment in Canada, CICshould take the lead, in collaboration with its provin-cial partners, in designing and implementing suchtools. Assessments for employment purposes shouldinclude additional components — they should have

requirements for immigrants prior to, and upon,their arrival in the provinces.

• To improve access to employment-need determina-tion and counselling on relevant employmentopportunities: Strengthen the capacity to provideappropriate services for immigrants, includingassessment, occupation-specific language trainingand workplace-based essential skills training.

• To expand bridge-to-work programs: Increase thescope of existing bridge-to-work programs andcreate new ones that include training, work place-ments, mentoring, self-employment support andskills upgrading. The LMPAs, however, were never implemented, as

funding for them was not included in the newConservative government’s 2006 budget. This meantthe loss of an investment of more than $300 millionin programs and services that would have directlyaddressed the needs of new immigrants and thelabour market in three provinces.

It remains to be seen what the impact on immi-grants will be of the new program funding announcedin the 2007 budget: $500 million annually for thosewho do not qualify for training under the EI program.Given that the program is not slated to begin until2008-09, and funds will only flow once bilateralagreements have been negotiated and signed, at leasttwo years of funding for immigrants under the LMPAshas already been lost. No dollars are targeted specifi-cally at immigrants, so a province’s per capita alloca-tion does not take into account its proportion ofimmigrants — which would be high in a province suchas Ontario. The competition for these new dollars willbe stiff, as the vast majority of unemployed personsare ineligible for LMDA-EI funded programs.

Municipal governmentsImmigration is an increasingly important urban factin Canada, and there is a growing imperative formunicipalities to have greater capacity and resourcesfor planning and providing services if they are torealize fully the social and economic benefits ofimmigration. The Canadian constitutional frameworkdoes not technically allow for direct federal-municipal relationships, but there is a practical needfor new arrangements and relationships. Cities needto be able to participate in the development of policydirection on issues that are local in nature. They mustalso have the capacity to work productively withbusinesses, educational institutions, immigrantgroups and other stakeholders to identify the pro-

cessful, such as mentoring and work experience oppor-tunities, should be made available. The new federalfunding beginning in 2008-09 could potentially allowfor the development and enhancement of labour marketprogramming (such as that detailed in the followingsections) geared to this population group.

A national mentoring programBuilding on the model of the Mentoring Partnership,HRSDC should create a federally funded mentoringprogram that matches established professionals withnewcomer colleagues. Since the service delivery sideof the Mentoring Partnership was funded through theEmployment Assistance Services stream, this can bereplicated across the country. Ideally, the programwould be embedded within existing local employ-ment services and infrastructure for skilled immi-grants. Alternatively, it could be funded by CIC aspart of a modified host program, which would matchnewly arrived immigrants with Canadian volunteerswho would help the immigrants to learn the lan-guage and the culture of their new community andto participate in it.

Bridge trainingWhile most bridge training programs are funded byprovincial ministries with responsibility for trainingand education, there is now an opportunity, given thefederal government’s renewed interest in investing inpost-secondary education, to create a sustainableinvestment stream for bridge training programs. A fed-eral program could create opportunities for coordinatedprogram development across provinces.

Loan programsOften, immigrants participating in bridge training pro-grams at colleges and universities are not eligible forstudent loans because the programs are not degree ordiploma oriented. The federal government shoulddevelop a loan program that would allow immigrantsto pay for these courses — as well as assessments,equipment, uniforms and materials — and to have someincome support while retraining. The loan programrecently announced by the Ontario Ministry ofCitizenship and Immigration is an excellent start, butsuch a resource should be available in all provinces,and the federal government should play a role in sup-porting its replication, either by complementingprovincial student loan programs or by establishing afederal fund similar to the current transportation loanfund for refugees.

the capacity to measure broad communication skills(presenting, reporting, and so on) as well as technical,occupation-specific vocabulary.

TrainingLanguage training programs should be evaluated inlight of the needs of a changing, highly skilled andeducated immigrant population. Language trainingprograms should be better tailored to skilled immi-grants who are seeking immediate access to the labourmarket in their fields. A number of program deliveryenhancements are therefore required: the expansion offederally funded language training programs to CLBlevel 10; the expansion of ELT; inclusion of compo-nents in these programs that address broader work-place communication skills; the provision of exitstandards that are relevant to employers; the linkageof language training to bridging and work experienceprograms; and an increase in program flexibility toensure accessibility to immigrants prior to, and dur-ing, employment. Federally and provincially fundedprograms must be made complementary and capableof providing the range of language/communicationtraining courses necessary to meet the needs of a var-ied clientele.

Employer awarenessEmployers need to be made more aware of the waysin which language training programs and assessmentbenchmarks reflect workplace skills and competencies.Also required is employer feedback on how workplacecommunication and language training can be betterdesigned to serve their needs. CIC, in partnership withprovincial governments, should design, develop andimplement a language/workplace communicationtraining marketing strategy aimed at employers.

Labour market programmingMuch of the labour market programming funded bythe federal government that is currently available toimmigrants without previous labour market attach-ment is limited to job search support programs. Theseprograms, whether funded by CIC or HRSDC, shouldoffer a better response to the employment needs andobjectives of skilled immigrants; they should beenhanced to prepare skilled immigrants for appropri-ate employment opportunities. From resumé prepara-tion to networking, skilled immigrants require accessto more sophisticated services — those that take intoaccount their level of education and professionalism.Additional features that have proven extremely suc-

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already available on a variety of Web sites, but it is achallenge to locate and access the relevant informa-tion and ensure that it is up to date. There is certainlya need for better navigation tools to assist immi-grants in their search for occupation- and sector-pecific information — such as educational orregulatory requirements to practice in Canada,employer information, and material on job opportu-nities and the transferability of skills.

PortalsSeveral years ago, the federal government created anational portal — called Going to Canada — which isa complex collaborative effort among several depart-ments intended to serve a number of audiences. Now,some provinces are developing their own portals forimmigrants, and some cities and regions are doinglikewise. The challenge is to ensure that coordinationmechanisms are in place to facilitate and enhance theexchange of information between these portals.Existing and new portals should provide multiplepoints of access to accurate, integrated, generic andoccupation-specific information, as well as to on-linetools to begin the process of credential recognitionand labour market connection.

In order to make these various portals effective, acoordinated marketing strategy to increase awarenessand facilitate access to information both abroad andin Canada will be required. Potential immigrantsshould be made aware of information resources whenthey apply to come to Canada. As well, a strategicinitiative should be undertaken to ensure the flow ofgood information to informal channels and ethno-specific communities. Given the overwhelmingreliance of new and prospective immigrants onfriends and family for information, these people arecritical conduits, and connecting with them moreeffectively is a necessary part of the solution.

Direct serviceThere are two opportunities to provide informationand services directly to skilled immigrant applicants:when they first apply to immigrate to Canada, andwhen they receive confirmation of their acceptance.On average, these events are separated by more thanfive years. Upon application, immigrants should bereferred to credential assessment services and be fur-nished with information on the licensing require-ments for regulated occupations in all provinces, theCanadian labour market, programs for targeted occu-pations, self-assessment tools, ways to make their

Work experienceEmployer-led programs that offer work experience toimmigrants should be supported with a nationalstrategy that offers a variety of program instruments,including paid internships; wage subsidies; and taxcredits, which may be needed to encourage the par-ticipation of small- and medium-sized businesses.The work experience should earn the immigrant aCanadian competency credential. The Ontario govern-ment has implemented a paid internship program forskilled immigrants, employing 70 people to date,some of whom have already graduated to permanentemployment inside and outside government. Thiscould be replicated across the country.

The federal government will not appear credible inits appeal to employers to provide work experience toimmigrants if it does not do so itself. It should there-fore undertake the necessary policy changes to leadby example and offer internships and other workexperience opportunities to immigrants.

A new federal officeIn the campaign leading up to the January 2006 feder-al election, the Conservative Party promised to estab-lish a Canadian agency for the assessment andrecognition of foreign credentials. Once in power, thenew government followed through on its promise andcommitted $18 million in the 2006 budget to theestablishment of this agency over a two-year period. Itwas determined in the consultation process that fol-lowed that the new entity would have two objectives:to enhance information available to immigrants beforeand after they arrive in Canada; and to create effectivepath-finding and referral services. The 2007 budgetconfirmed the government’s intention to establish thisentity, called the Foreign Credential Referral Office.The development process continues, and the govern-ment intends to open the office in the late spring. Inthe following section, we discuss activities that couldfulfill the office’s objectives and suggest ways in whichthese objectives could be positioned.

Objective one: information The information gap experienced by immigrants isnot caused by a lack of information. In fact, there is aplethora of information, but not all of it is accurate,well coordinated or effectively disseminated.Individuals planning to immigrate to Canada needgood information about the context of their profes-sion in this country, practicing requirements andlabour market realities. Much of this information is

assessment recognition, but rather to take on a facilita-tive role. In fact, this is a logical extension of an infor-mation coordination role. Offering referrals to provincialregulatory bodies, assessment services, bridging pro-grams, or municipal and community services appropriateto the individual immigrant is a deeper and more inter-active form of information provision. A consideration ofwhere in Canada the person plans to live, as well as hisor her particular occupation and the requirements forassessment and practice, would direct the referral. Froma jurisdictional point of view, this approach wouldrespect current responsibilities, and it would help to ful-fill the need for clear messaging and pathways for skilledimmigrants. However, if the office is to be a successfulprovider of such referrals, it must work closely withprovinces and stakeholders to organize a national clear-ing house for materials on requirements, programs andservices, and information access mechanisms.

Proposed objective three: developing tools forstakeholdersAlthough it was not included in its announced man-date, the office should have a third objective: thedevelopment of instruments to improve the process ofcredential recognition in Canada. Some of this work iscurrently the responsibility of the Foreign CredentialRecognition Program (FCRP), which is presently housedin HRSDC. While the first two objectives have to dowith meeting the needs of immigrants in the area ofcredential assessment and recognition, the third objec-tive should involve those institutions and sectors thatare responsible for this: assessment service providers,occupational regulatory bodies, post-secondary institu-tions and employers. This could be the most excitingcomponent of the office’s role.

Credential assessment servicesProvincially mandated credential assessment serviceshave already organized themselves within the Allianceof Credential Assessment Services of Canada. Thealliance is well positioned to provide enhanced porta-bility of assessments and to strengthen the existingframework of credential assessment services. It hasalready begun forming relationships with other creden-tial assessment providers and end-users such as regula-tory bodies, employers and post-secondary educationalinstitutions, in order to establish common standardsand portability. With assistance from the office, a com-mon database of international universities could becreated, joint evaluation missions could be undertakento immigrant source countries by credential issuing

profiles available to Canadian employers, on-line dis-cussion boards on working in Canada, and recog-nized language and upgrading programs offered byinstitutions in their home country or on-line throughCanadian institutions. Immigrants should be informedthat they can initiate academic credential assessmentand even some licensing examination processesbefore they leave their home country and then con-tinue with the relevant assessment body in Canada.

Once an individual has been approved for immigra-tion, he or she should be given access to Canadianemployment applications and on-line mentors. TheForeign Credential Referral Office could develop a modelfor this in collaboration with provincial governments,professional regulatory bodies, post-secondary educa-tional institutions, service-providing organizations andemployer associations. This project could be linked withthe pilot project funded by HRSDC, currently beingimplemented in India, China and the Philippines by theAssociation of Canadian Community Colleges, that pro-vides information and path-finding sessions to approvedimmigrants who are still in their home countries.

A databaseResearch shows that the sooner after arrival immi-grants find work appropriate to their skills and edu-cation, the better it is for them, their employers andthe economy. However, there are currently no systemsin place that allow employers access to inventories ofpeople being processed to come to Canada or ofnewly arrived immigrants. Nor is there a database onwhich immigrants can post their resumés to beaccessed by employers. Therefore, it is nearly impos-sible for employment matches to be made earlyenough to expedite labour market entry.

A searchable database for employers containingimmigrants’ voluntarily posted resumés could matchemployers with applicants for immigration as well asimmigrant visa-holders still overseas and those alreadyin Canada. It would allow employers to tap into a verylarge labour pool and to make offers of employment;this, in turn, would expedite the processing of appli-cants whose skills are needed in the short term. Anincentive for employers to use the database would be arequirement that they use it before they can receiveauthorization to bring in temporary foreign workers.

Objective two: path-finding and referral services Given the jurisdictional complexities of credentialsrecognition in Canada, the proposed office is correctlypositioning itself not to participate in the actual task of

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work with employer associations to develop newtools for employers.

All tools for assessment (of language, academiccredentials or occupational competencies) should havethe confidence of employers and other stakeholders.The office could convene sector councils, other sector-specific employer associations and regulatory bodiesto participate in the development, recognition andpromotion of sector-specific language and occupa-tional competency assessment tools. In addition, theoffice could undertake (in partnership with the otherstakeholders) a marketing strategy aimed at employersthat would build employer confidence in the assess-ment tools. In the human resources management field,promising practices and policies are emerging relatedto recruiting, retaining and promoting skilled immi-grants; the office could also help to increase employerawareness in this context.

Is an office within CIC the right idea?Given the challenges presented by the HRSDC andCIC silos, the Foreign Credential Referral Officeshould be structured in a way that will enhance thecoordination and collaboration of these departmentsand their policies and programs. The office shouldtherefore be an integrated unit that combines thenew information and referral functions for immi-grants with the stakeholder-focused initiatives of theFCRP; it should have dual reporting relationshipswith each department and minister, and a commonbudget to which each department contributes. Thisstructure will signal accountability and create amechanism for coordination. Separating the infor-mation and referral functions from the policy andprogram levers of the departments would be a recipefor ineffectiveness. It will be necessary for the officeto monitor the trends and gaps in service identifiedthrough direct contact with clients (immigrants andstakeholders) and to to communicate them to thepolicy and program arms of the departments in orderto respond to changing needs.

The priority of any new federal initiative must beto clarify the issue and improve the situation forimmigrants, not to further complicate existingprocesses. A broad but central problem that emergesin relation to skilled immigrant employment is dis-connection. A new federal unit addressing the issuemust forge connections. There are multiple stakehold-ers at every jurisdictional level. Sometimes they playcomplementary roles and sometimes they play com-peting ones in their joint objective to achieve immi-

bodies, agreements could be developed among serviceproviders on assessment standards and mutual recog-nition, and a central referral source could be estab-lished to direct immigrants to the appropriateacademic credential service before they arrive inCanada. There is also value in reviewing internationalpractices of assessment and credentialing in order todetermine their relevance for Canada.

Occupational regulatory bodiesOccupational regulatory bodies, responsible for creden-tial recognition and professional licensing, are account-able to provincial governments. Their assessment,recognition and licensing practices, including their useof standards and accountability frameworks, thereforevary from province to province. Compiling and dissem-inating best practices and tools would be a valuablerole for the office. In addition, the office could workwith the provinces and the occupational regulatorybodies in developing standards and establishingaccountability frameworks, building on models alreadyin place — such as the interprovincial mutual recogni-tion agreements for occupational mobility, other suchagreements in Quebec, or the Fair Access to RegulatedProfessions Act, which was recently passed in Ontario.

Post-secondary educational institutionsSimilarly, the office could work with the umbrellaorganizations of post-secondary educational institu-tions to support the development of tools and bestpractices for recognizing immigrant qualifications.These might include prior learning assessment tools,bridging initiatives, modularized learning, co-op andclinical placements, and skills upgrading, which wouldfacilitate replication. A model for College Centres ofExpertise in Immigrant Integration has recently beendeveloped by the Association of Canadian CommunityColleges, and it could be supported by the office.

EmployersEmployers are key stakeholders in the issue, as it isthey who ultimately recognize or reject the creden-tials and skills of job applicants. There are manyways for the office to work with employers. Forexample, it could increase employer awareness ofthe value of immigrant skills and help employers toforecast their own labour needs. The office couldalso introduce employers — particularly small- andmedium-sized ones — to the programs and supportsthat can help them to be more effective in hiring andretaining skilled immigrants. As well, the office could

ments work with one another and with other orders ofgovernment, and the way in which they respond tolocal needs. The initiatives announced in the 2007 fed-eral budget regarding temporary workers, the newlabour market training architecture and the ForeignCredential Referral Office may make some headway inaddressing these issues. However, if they are badlyimplemented, or if opportunities are not taken to bringcoherence to the federal policies and programs, theymay actually exacerbate the problem.

Although Canada is often defined by its competingregional priorities, the federal government still has aleadership and coordination role in the area of immi-grant employment. The economic union and competi-tiveness of Canada is dependent on a human capitalstrategy that works, and a key element of this strategyis immigration. For this reason, the federal governmentmust offer stewardship and solutions. However, there isno silver bullet. Instead, there is a complex policy land-scape that requires navigation and coordination.

Past governments, the current government and, inall likelihood, its successors will look for answers to theissue of immigrant employment. A successful resolu-tion will depend on the federal government’s capacityto facilitate coordination not only within and amonglevels of government, but also across sectors and stake-holder groups. The federal government must make theconnections and guide the various parties toward sus-tainable solutions.

grant employment. The challenge is to bring to thisissue coordination and collaboration — to connectplayers and objectives, and, ultimately, to connectimmigrant and employer.

The goals that follow from this vision should be toidentify gaps in programming and services and towork actively with federal, provincial and local part-ners to develop ways to fill those gaps. Connectionmust be facilitated at a local level: labour marketsand employers operate at this level, and it is here thatreal connections are made and that immigrants findemployment. In order to work with employers in astrategic way, the new federal office must have thecapacity to coordinate locally. The office shouldtherefore be designed to serve as a funder and facili-tator of local coordination. By positioning it as a fed-eral reference point on the issue of immigrantemployment and as a facilitator of solutions, the gov-ernment would significantly enhance accountabilityon this issue at a national level. Finally, and impor-tantly, as an office within the federal government — alarge Canadian employer — the new entity shouldmake the federal public service itself more accessibleto immigrants entering the Canadian labour market.

Conclusion

W e have attempted to describe the lack ofpolicy and program coherence that cur-rently exists in Canada in relation to the

labour market integration of immigrants in theCanadian economy. Labour market programs donot specifically address the needs of immigrants,and immigration programs do not effectivelyrespond to labour market needs. Despite this, thereare positive initiatives that could be expanded orenhanced to ensure better labour market outcomesfor immigrants. These include interventions specif-ically targeting immigrants, such as enhancedlanguage/communication training, mentoring,bridge training programs, work experience pro-grams and loan programs.

However, these immigrant-focused interventionsalone will not resolve the bigger systemic issues.Initiatives directed at assisting employers, profes-sional regulatory bodies, post-secondary institutions,and other stakeholders to integrate internationallyeducated immigrants into the workforce are alsorequired, as are changes to the way federal depart-

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Notes1 These numbers include three broad classes of arrivals:

economic immigrants (141,000-158,000), family-classimmigrants (67,000-69,000) and refugees (25,900-30,800). Within the economic class — those selectedfor their skills and/or economic investment — thelargest category is made up of skilled workers (90,000-100,500). However, this number also includes spousesand dependants, who may not be labour market des-tined, and only the principal applicant of these familyunits is actually assessed on the basis of the point sys-tem. It is important to bear in mind that potentiallabour market entrants do arrive under all categories.

2 For the purposes of this paper, skilled immigrants aredefined as individuals who have immigrated to Canadaafter having acquired a post-secondary educationand/or professional training and experience and whoare labour market destined — they are not exclusivelypeople who have been selected under the skilled-worker category of the economic class.

3 The figure cited in Bloom and Grant (2001) is evenhigher, as it includes credential recognition of allCanadians. The figure cited in the present study for theimpact of immigrant credentials was provided byMichael Bloom (personal communication, 2004).

4 Part 2 of the Act allows for contributions collected fromemployers and workers to be used only for labour marketre-entry programs and services for EI-eligible clients.

5 The vast majority of employment preparation pro-grams available to new immigrants without previouslabour market attachment are limited to job-searchsupports and workshops, and these do not offer directconnections to employers.

6 The Public Policy Forum found that 46 percent ofemployers think that immigrants face language andcommunication barriers in the application phase, 36percent during the interview phase, and 22 percent dur-ing the second interview job offer phase (2004). As well,Canadian HR Reporter has found that 81.9 percent ofemployers have concerns about language issues (2005).

7 In The Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement:Strategic Plan for Settlement and Language Training,support for employer engagement through RegionalNewcomer Employment Networks (RNENs) was identi-fied as an action area for funding (Citizenship andImmigration Canada 2006a).

Capital Research.” Journal of International Migrationand Integration 2 (3): 347-78.

Statistics Canada. 2005. Longitudinal Survey of Immigrantsto Canada: A Portrait of Early Settlement Experiences.Ottawa: Statistics Canada.

Sweetman, A. 2005. “Canada.” In Immigration as LabourMarket Strategy: European and North AmericanPerspectives, edited by J. Niessen and Y. Schibel.Brussels: Migration Policy Group. Accessed April 13,2007. http://www.migpolgroup.com/multiattachments/2547/DocumentName/CanadaImmigrationLabourMarketStrategySweetman.pdf

Teelucksingh, C., and G.E. Galabuzi. 2005. WorkingPrecariously: The Impact of Race and Immigration Statuson Employment Opportunities and Outcomes in Canada.Toronto: Canadian Race Relations Foundation.

ReferencesAffiliation of Multicultural and Social Service Agencies of

British Columbia (AMSSA). 2006. Business Mentoring forImmigrants: Literature Review and Inventory, March.

Alboim, N., R. Finnie, and R. Meng. 2005. “The Discountingof Immigrants’ Skills in Canada.” IRPP Choices 11 (2).

Birrell, B., and E. McIsaac. 2006. “Integrating Immigrants inCanada: Addressing Skills Diversity.” OECD LocalEconomic and Employment Development Programme,From Immigration to Integration: Local Solutions to aGlobal Challenge, November.

Bloom, M., and M. Grant. 2001. Brain Gain: The EconomicBenefits of Recognizing Learning and Learning Credentialsin Canada. Ottawa: Conference Board of Canada.

Bourgeois, A., and A. Debus. 2006. “Help Wanted: Long-Term Vacancies a Major Small Business Challenge.”CFIB Research, April. Accessed April 13, 2007.http://www.cfib.ca/research/reports/rr3018.pdf

Canadian HR Reporter. 2005. “Reality Check: Survey onSkilled Immigrants.”

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). 2006a. TheCanada-Ontario Immigration Agreement: Strategic Planfor Settlement and Language Training. Ottawa: CIC.

_____. 2006b. Facts and Figures 2005: ImmigrationOverview — Permanent and Temporary Residents.Ottawa: CIC.

Finance Canada. 2006. 2006 Federal Budget Plan. Ottawa:Finance Canada. Accessed April 19, 2006.http://www.fin.gc.ca/budget06/bp/bpc3ce.htm

_____. 2007. 2007 Federal Budget Plan. Ottawa: FinanceCanada.

Hiebert, D. 2006. “Beyond the Polemics: The EconomicOutcomes of Canadian Immigration.” RIIM WorkingPaper Series 06-15. Vancouver: Research onImmigration and Integration in the Metropolis.

Human Resources and Social Development Canada(HRSDC). 2005. “Canada and Saskatchewan SignLabour Market Partnership Agreement Worth $109Million.” Press release, November 23. Ottawa: HRSDC.

Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities(OMTCU). 2002. The Facts Are In! A Study of theCharacteristics and Experiences of Immigrants SeekingEmployment in Regulated Professions in Ontario.Toronto: OMTCU. Accessed April 6, 2007.http://atwork.settlement.org/sys/atwork_library_detail.asp?doc_id=1003038&passed_lang=EN

Ornstein, M. 2000. Ethno-Racial Inequality in Toronto:Analysis of the 1996 Census. Toronto: Institute forSocial Research, York University.

Picot, G., and A. Sweetman. 2005. The DeterioratingEconomic Welfare of Immigrants and Possible Causes:Update 2005. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.

Public Policy Forum. 2004. Bringing Employers into theImmigration Debate: Public Policy Implications of theSurvey Findings. Ottawa: Public Policy Forum.Accessed April 13, 2007. http://www.triec.ca/docs/PPFSurveyAnalysis.pdf

Reitz, J.G. 2001. “Immigrant Skill Utilization in theCanadian Labour Market: Implications for Human

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Shaping Canada’s Future:Immigration and Refugee Policy/ Bâtir l’avenir : la politiquerelative à l’immigration et auxréfugiés

Études publiées / Studies Published

“Controlling Irregular Migration in Canada: ReconcilingSecurity Concerns with Human Rights Protection”François Crépeau and Delphine NakacheIRPP Choices Vol. 12, no. 1 (February 2006)

“The Discounting of Immigrants’ Skills in Canada:Evidence and Policy Recommendations”Naomi Alboim, Ross Finnie and Ronald MengIRPP Choices Vol. 11, no. 2 (February 2005)

“Tapping Immigrants’ Skills: New Directions for CanadianImmigration Policy in the Knowledge Economy”Jeffrey G. Reitz IRPP Choices Vol. 11, no. 1 (January 2005).

Related Publications

“Beyond Harmonization: How US Immigration RulesWould Have Worked in Canada”Alan G. GreenPolicy Matters Vol. 5, no. 4 (July 2004)

“Economic Integration and Security: New Key Factors inManaging International Migration”Hélène PellerinChoices Vol. 10, no. 6 (July 2004)

« Intégration économique et sécurité : nouveaux facteursdéterminants de la gestion de la migrationinternationale » Choix Vol. 10, no. 3 (Avril 2004)

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Résumédonner des résultats, et, dans le cas de l’intégration desimmigrants au marché du travail, cela implique de façontoute particulière la participation des employeurs.

Étant donné la situation actuelle, et en se basant sur lespolitiques et les mesures qui ont déjà fait leurs preuves, lesauteures concluent en faisant quelques recommandationstouchant le rôle stratégique du gouvernement fédéral.• Une meilleure collaboration est nécessaire parmi les dif-

férents paliers de gouvernement. Les ententes fédérales-provinciales actuelles doivent être revues pour que lesbesoins spécifiques des immigrants sur le marché du tra-vail soient pris en compte. On doit aussi reconnaître lerôle des municipalités, et leur donner les capacités et lesressources nécessaires pour offrir des services.

• Dans le cadre des programmes et services actuels, il estpossible d’améliorer et d’étendre le rôle du gouvernementfédéral pour gagner en efficacité — par exemple en ce quiconcerne les services d’évaluation et de formation enmatière linguistique, la sensibilisation des employeurs, lementorat, la formation pour faciliter la transition, lesprêts étudiants et les programmes de stages rémunérés.

• Le mandat du Bureau de reconnaissance des titres decompétences étrangers, qui ouvrira au printemps de 2007,doit être clarifié et élargi. Le premier objectif de l’orga-nisme étant de fournir une meilleure information auximmigrants, les auteures recommandent que l’accent soitmis sur la coordination des réseaux d’information exis-tants et sur l’établissement de liens efficaces entre euxtrès tôt dans le processus d’immigration. Elles recomman-dent également qu’il facilite la création de réseaux entreles futurs immigrants (avant leur arrivée au pays) et lesemployeurs. Concernant le deuxième objectif du Bureau— offrir un service de référence sous forme de guichetunique —, les auteures insistent sur l’importance de lacollaboration étroite entre le fédéral, les provinces et lesautres intervenants pour mettre sur pied un centrenational qui recueillirait l’information sur les exigencesprofessionnelles des différents secteurs d’occupation, lesprogrammes et les services disponibles, et dont les pointsd’accès seraient facilement repérables. Les chercheusesproposent enfin un troisième objectif pour le Bureau :créer des outils pour améliorer la reconnaissance destitres et des compétences au Canada. Pour ce faire, lesinstitutions directement concernées (fournisseurs de ser-vices d’évaluation, organismes de réglementation profes-sionnels, institutions d’enseignement postsecondaire etemployeurs) devront s’impliquer davantage. L’ensemble des politiques publiques actuelles touchant l’accès

à l’emploi des travailleurs immigrants qualifiés est très com-plexe, et requiert une meilleure orientation et plus de coordina-tion. Cette tâche repose sur la capacité du gouvernement fédéralà accroître la collaboration des différents paliers de gouverne-ment mais aussi la coopération entre tous les intervenants con-cernés. C’est le gouvernement fédéral qui doit faciliter ces lienset guider les parties dans la recherche de solutions durables.

T out indique que le Canada continuera d’encourager l’im-migration de façon soutenue ; il est donc important dese demander si l’ensemble des politiques actuelles dans

ce domaine est efficace et produit les résultats visés — en par-ticulier celui de permettre aux travailleurs immigrants d’occu-per un emploi. Des données récentes indiquent que ceux-cidoivent surmonter d’importants obstacles pour trouver unemploi qui correspond à leur expérience et à leur formation.

Comme plusieurs intervenants sont impliqués dans latâche de faciliter l’accès à l’emploi des immigrants qualifiés,l’élaboration des politiques dans ce domaine et leur mise enœuvre sont fort complexes.

Les deux derniers budgets fédéraux prévoyaient desinvestissements spécifiquement destinés à améliorer l’intégra-tion des travailleurs immigrants. Plus récemment, le gouverne-ment a annoncé la création du Bureau de reconnaissance destitres de compétences étrangers (avec un investissement de13 millions de dollars sur deux ans). Voilà un acteur supplé-mentaire dans un domaine où les moyens d’action et les dispo-sitions en matière de financement sont déjà nombreux, et larépartition des compétences n’est pas aisée. Avec le mandatqu’on lui a confié, cette nouvelle instance pourrait ajouter à laconfusion à moins de devenir un instrument utile pour éluciderla situation actuelle et y introduire plus de cohérence.

Dans cet article, Naomi Alboim et Elizabeth McIsaac sepenchent sur le rôle que doit jouer le gouvernement fédéralpour favoriser l’intégration des travailleurs immigrants qual-ifiés au marché du travail. Plus particulièrement, les auteuress’intéressent à la reconnaissance des titres de compétencesétrangers et aux stratégies visant à accroître l’employabilitédes immigrants.

Les chercheuses tracent d’abord un portrait des immi-grants qualifiés, de leurs expériences de recherche d’emploi etde l’état du marché du travail, et analysent ensuite les poli-tiques actuelles. Elles constatent que les programmes gou-vernementaux dans ce domaine fonctionnent en silos : il y ad’un côté le développement de l’emploi et de l’autre, l’immi-gration. Les responsabilités et l’obligation de rendre descomptes sont répartis entre différents ministères et paliers degouvernement, ce qui crée des problèmes de coordination à lafois verticale et horizontale. À ce titre, les auteures constatentqu’aucune entente fédérale-provinciale et aucun progammeinterministériel ne concerne de façon spécifique les besoinsdes travailleurs immigrants, en tant que groupe distinct, rela-tivement à leur intégration au marché du travail.

En examinant la multitude de programmes et de pra-tiques, les auteures font le point sur certaines réussites, quipeuvent servir de base pour établir des façons de faire plusefficaces. Elles notent que les initiatives qui obtiennent leplus de succès sont celles qui s’attaquent aux obstacles aux-quels font face les travailleurs immigrants et visent lesobjectifs suivants : aider les immigrants à acquérir uneexpérience de travail au Canada, leur offrir une formationprécise pour combler certains besoins en matière de compé-tences et améliorer leur habileté à communiquer ; créer desréseaux professionnels ; et accroître la capacité desemployeurs à intégrer ces travailleurs. Les initiatives quisont conçues et mises en œuvre avec la participation activede tous les intervenants concernés sont plus susceptibles de

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Summaryerate positive outcomes, and in the case of immigrantlabour market integration, this entails very specificallythe participation of employers.

Given the current situation, and based on the policies,practices and interventions that actually work, theauthors propose a number of recommendations, with afocus on the strategic role of the federal government. • There must be better collaboration among all levels of

government. Existing federal-provincial agreementsmust be enhanced so that the specific labour marketneeds of immigrants can be effectively addressed.There is also a need to recognize municipalities’ roleand to improve their capacity and resources for plan-ning and for providing services.

• Within the present landscape of programs and servic-es, there is an opportunity to enhance and expand thefederal government’s role in order to deliver betteroutcomes. This includes improving services for lan-guage assessment and training, employer outreach,mentoring, bridge training, student loans, and subsi-dized work experience programs.

• The stated mandate of the Foreign Credential Referraloffice, scheduled to be opened in spring 2007, needs tobe clarified and further developed. Regarding the newOffice’s first objective, which is to provide better infor-mation to immigrants, the authors recommend that thefocus be first, on coordinating existing channels ofinformation and providing effective links between themearly in the immigration process, and second, on facili-tating the creation of networks among prospectiveimmigrants and employers while the immigrants are stilloverseas. With respect to the second objective of theoffice, which is to provide a one-stop referral service, theauthors stress that the government will have to workclosely with provinces and stakeholders to organize anational clearing house to collect information on occu-pational requirements, programs and services, with clearpoints of access. The authors propose a third objectivefor the office — to develop tools to improve credentialand skills recognition in Canada. They argue that toachieve this there should be more involvement by theinstitutions that have direct responsibilities in this area:assessment service providers, occupational regulatorybodies, post-secondary institutions and employers. The current policy architecture for facilitating skilled

immigrant employment is a complex landscape thatrequires navigation and coordination. Finding successfulsolutions will depend on the federal government’s capac-ity to improve collaboration not only within andbetween levels of government, but also across sectorsand stakeholder groups. The federal government mustmake these connections and guide the various partiestoward sustainable solutions.

W ith strong indications that Canada will main-tain its commitment to sustained levels ofimmigration, it is important to consider

whether the current public policy architecture functionseffectively and produces the desired outcomes. One ofthe most important of these is successful immigrantemployment. Recent evidence indicates that skilledimmigrants face significant barriers to finding employ-ment commensurate with their experience and education.

There are many players involved in the task ofimproving employment opportunities for skilled immi-grants, and this multiplicity of stakeholders makes find-ing and implementing policy solutions a complex task.

The last two federal budgets made explicit invest-ments aimed at improving labour market outcomes forskilled immigrants. Most recently, the proposed ForeignCredential Referral Office, with a $13 million investmentover two years, represents yet another response to analready cluttered mix of policy instruments, fundingarrangements and jurisdictional complexities. As such, itcould either become a useful tool to help clarify thelandscape and improve its coherence, or it could add tothe noise and confusion.

In this paper, Naomi Alboim and Elizabeth McIsaacfocus on the federal government’s role in improvingskilled immigrants’ employment integration, paying spe-cial attention to foreign credential and skills recognition,as well as effective labour market integration strategies.

Following an overview of the profile of these immi-grants, their experiences in finding employment, and thelabour market context, the authors survey current poli-cies. Government policies and programs on immigrantemployment are characterized by silos for labour marketdevelopment, on the one hand, and for immigration, onthe other. The existence of separate areas of responsibilityand accountability between federal and provincial depart-ments and ministries produces challenges in coordination,both vertical and horizontal. One challenge is the factthat neither the horizontal nor the vertical agreementsfocus specifically on the labour market integration needsof immigrants as a particular population group.

In reviewing the existing array of programs, projects,and practices, Alboim and McIaac provide examples ofsuccesses upon which we can build. The most successfulinitiatives are the ones that directly address the barriersfaced by skilled immigrants — helping them gainCanadian work experience, get training to fill specificskills gaps and enhance their communication skills; cre-ating professional networks; and building employercapacity. Initiatives that are conceived, developed andimplemented with the active participation of all the rele-vant stakeholders are obviously better positioned to gen-

Summary Making the Connections: Ottawa's Role in Immigrant Employmentby Naomi Alboim and Elizabeth McIsaac