Immigration Canada

BY TOBI COHEN, POSTMEDIA NEWS MARCH 29, 2012

In an effort to address issues surrounding foreign credential recognition, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has proposed a plan to assess skilled workers before they arrive in Canada.

For instance, immigrants applying to come to Canada as federal skilled workers would have their education credentials verified by a third party.

If adopted, the plan would give newcomers a sense of how their credentials stack up against someone with a similar Canadian education. It's also expected any new policy would screen out those who don't have adequate levels of education.

Kenney ultimately hopes it will address the problem of immigrants arriving in Canada only to discover they can't work in their respective field.

"Our government is building an immigration system that is focused on economic growth and ensuring that all Canadians, including immigrants are able to contribute to their maximum capacity," Kenney said Wednesday. "By having their foreign education credentials assessed before their arrival to Canada, foreign skilled workers will have a better sense of how their credentials fit into the Canadian labour market and will be able to contribute their full skill set to the economy more quickly."

The pre-arrival assessment does not guarantee the applicant will find work in Canada commensurate with their skills nor does it guarantee they'd become licensed in their field.

Brunell Way. This is Brunell Way part of a large business park to the north of Colchester. The mainly service industries based here have to some degree helped alleviate the unemployment caused by the closure of Colchester’s traditional engineering employers such as the lathe company. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

OTTAWA, March 29, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Currently, immigrants represent only 13% of the total labour force in Canada's utilities industry (the electricity and renewables sector being a key component) - well below the national average of 19% of immigrants employed in all industries. This means other industries are facing similar challenges with skill shortages and are pursuing Internationally Trained Workers (ITWs) as a source of talent.

In this context, the ESC developed a resource kit to support employers to more effectively reach this valuable talent. The kit provides pragmatic resources to enable employers to become more effective at recruiting, hiring, and retaining ITWs.

"The ITW resource kit will be of huge help in terms of navigating the processes with hiring International workers. With so much growth in this industry it is important to reach out to skilled workers all over the world. This kit is a resource for both industry and workers as well and contains a collection of tried and tested ideas and resources from industry across Canada," says Lynn Meloney, Project Chair and HR Specialist at Emera Utility Services.

The ESC's 2011 Labour Market Information report, Power in Motion, revealed that there are many reasons for employers in the electricity and renewable energy industry to employ ITWs including help meet labour needs and connect employers with other workers.

Funded by the Foreign Credential Referral Office of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the material is available in hard copy, and electronically with hyperlinks to other useful resources and websites at www.brightfutures.ca/international .

SOURCE Electricity Sector Council