More immigrants are in Canada's national interest

GEOFFREY CAMERON AND IAN GOLDIN

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

Published Thursday, Aug. 04, 2011 2:00AM EDT

Last updated Thursday, Aug. 04, 2011 4:31AM EDT

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s announcement that he’s launching stakeholder consultations on Canada’s immigration program presents a timely opportunity for a national conversation. How will we adapt to a century of unprecedented mobility? Will we harness migration to build a more dynamic society and economy, or will we quietly recede from the frontiers of globalization, sacrificing innovation and prosperity for a more static society?

With new policies aimed at clamping down on human smugglers and enhancing U.S.-Canada border security, many perceive that Canada’s door is closing. This is false – so far. Canada accepted 17 per cent more migrants last year than in 2005. In a time of recession when other Western governments are imposing strict limits on migration, Canada admitted 50,000 more migrants in 2010 than in 2009.

Over the past 25 years, the total number of international migrants doubled to more than 200 million. We should expect that number to double again in the next two decades. The world is entering a period of hypermobility, the product of a growing supply of potential migrants from developing countries and a burgeoning demand for both low- and high-skilled workers in developed countries such as Canada. Skype, Western Union, low-cost airlines and other advances are enabling an unprecedented scale of movement.

The drivers of mobility will grow stronger in the coming decades for three reasons:

• Intercountry inequality is increasing rapidly. Millions of Europeans left for the Americas in the late 19th century to seek, among other things, wages that were two to four times higher than those at home. Today, migrants stand to earn as much as 15 times more by moving to another country to work.

• The connected processes of economic development, urbanization and population growth in developing countries are positioning more people to seek their fortunes abroad. Those with the greatest propensity to move are educated young people with access to resources and networks for migration. Climate change will also threaten rural livelihoods, pushing more people into cities and some across borders.

• Demand for migrants will increase as declining fertility and population aging create severe labour shortages, often in developed countries such as Canada. The fiscal burden of an aging population will be borne by a shrinking work force, and staff for nursing homes and retirement facilities will continue to be scarce. Just as Canadian farms rely on temporary foreign workers during harvest time, our elderly population will benefit from the care provided by new Canadians.

We should embrace higher levels of migration because it’s in our national interest. High-skilled migrants innovate at a higher rate than the native-born population, and low-skilled migrants meet crucial service sector gaps. On the whole, migrants contribute more to the public purse than they receive in benefits. It’s no wonder the provinces are seeking increased quotas.

We should also increase levels of migration because it can deliver far more for global prosperity than foreign aid and international trade ever will. Completely opening borders, World Bank economists predict, would produce gains as high as $39-trillion for the world economy over 25 years. These numbers compare with the $70-billion that is currently spent every year in overseas development assistance and the estimated gains of $100-billion from fully liberalizing international trade. If we want to revolutionize our foreign aid policy, we can start by giving more people a chance to work in Canada.

The debate on immigration policy is undermined in many countries by partisan agendas and dysfunctional politics. Other governments are tempted to choke off migration in the interest of short-term expediency and political gain. We must resist this trend, remembering that Canada is a society built with the ingenuity and hard work of generations of migrants.

Geoffrey Cameron, a research associate with the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford, works in Ottawa. Ian Goldin is director of the Oxford Martin School and a professorial fellow at Balliol College, Oxford. With Meera Balarajan, they are the authors of Exceptional People: How Migration Shaped Our World and Will Define Our Future.

NEWCOMERS: WHY CHOOSE PETERBOROUGH, ONTARIO?

Posted by Guest Writer on Wednesday, August 3, 2011 · 

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“The community greeted us with open arms. Neighbours and co-workers helped us get settled and find suitable daycare for our young children, which made the transition and move much easier. Peterborough has given us the sense of community that we couldn’t find in a larger city. It’s a great place to raise our children” Binu Jain—Peterborough Resident originally from India.

In Peterborough, you will experience all the advantages of city living, while enjoying the benefits of the natural world.  Home to approximately 80,000 residents, Peterborough offers exceptional quality of life, an affordable cost of living, and access to first-rate educational institutions.  An ideal place to start your own business, offering many resources and programs to help you along the way, Peterborough is also the focal point of many immigration success stories.  Beginning in the 1800’s, successive waves of people moved to the area to build Peterborough into the city rich in history and culture that we know today.

“We are a people who believe that our origins matter less than our destinations.  And that where you come from is not as important as where you are going.” Meet Daryl Bennett—Mayor of Peterborough

WelcomePeterborough.ca contains information for those who are either thinking of immigrating to Canada, or who have recently arrived.  It will help you decide if you want to live in Peterborough and how to get settled here.

• Information about the history of immigration to Peterborough, local weather, and geography can be found in the “About Peterborough” section.

• For help with immigrating to Peterborough, including what to do before arriving and resources to assist you with settling after you arrive; check out the “Immigrating” section.

• In the “Living” section, you will find everything you need to know about housing, food, finance health, transportation, and much more.

• The “Working” section provides important and useful information about finding a job, starting a business, and getting your credentials recognized.

• To learn about Peterborough’s college, university, school boards, and opportunities for lifelong learning, check out the “Learning” section.

Stories from Newcomers at WelcomePeterborough.ca

After a short stay Windsor, Hua Chen and his wife moved to Peterborough in 2005, where they both attended Trent University.  Originally from Beijing, China, Hua struggled initially with his English but soon made Peterborough his home.  Today, Hua describes Peterborough as a welcoming and beautiful city.  For those looking to further their education, Hua recommends Peterborough’s Trent University, saying that “Trent is small but good because the professors are very nice. They know the students and their needs, and are willing to talk to, and help anyone”.

Rene, an accountant, and Maria Ferrer, a copywriter, immigrated to Peterborough in 1989 from the Philippines to pursue better educational opportunities for their son.  Starting over was tough, but with hard work, both Rene and Maria landed their dream jobs.  Twenty-two years later, their oldest son now travels the world as an engineer and their youngest is now studying at Queen’s University.  They are all proud to call Peterborough home!

Shah Mohammad Yousuf moved to Toronto from Bangladesh in 2005.  After working what he refers to as a “survival job” for a period of time, Shah found employment in Peterborough as a Spatial Data Analyst.  When asked what he likes about Peterborough, Shah had to say that “[the] people are great, helpful, and co-operative. It is a quiet and family-oriented community where I can find quality healthcare and recreation. There are also many different agencies that help newcomers and immigrants to settle here”.  Like all newcomers, Shah misses his family but doesn’t have any regrets about moving to Peterborough.  “I like my life here, and I love Peterborough”.

Since 1971, Jim’s Pizzeria has been a Peterborough favourite.  Owners John and Hellen Kostsovos emigrated from Greece to Montreal in 1959, along with their brothers and sisters.  After a few years adjusting to Canadian culture, the doors of the first Jim’s Pizzeria opened in Belleville in 1969; followed by the second in Trenton in 1970.  After opening the third Jim’s Pizzeria in Peterborough, John and Helen decided to stay and raise their family.  When asked about Peterborough, their daughter Effie says that “Peterborough was small enough to feel safe, but large enough to sustain a profitable business”.

Karma Phuntshok and his wife initially emigrated from New York to Toronto in 1999.  His wife was pregnant with their son at the time, and Karma decided that Toronto was too large of a city to raise a child in.  At the suggestion of friends, Karma and his wife moved to Peterborough, where he found work at a local meat packer.  Karma had always wanted to open a restaurant and in 2004 he opened Karma’s Café, a South Asian and Himalayan restaurant on Hunter Street.  If you ask Karma about Peterborough today, he’ll say that he “loves it here”. Excitedly he claims that “Peterborough has the best services, restaurants, art, and music for the size”.

In 2000, Binu Jain and her family emigrated from India to Canada.  Initially, the Jain family lived in Waterloo before moving to Peterborough in 2005.  Her husband Pankaj accepted work at Siemens and Binu began to look for employment in Peterborough and surrounding area.  With a Master’s degree in Applied Mathematics and a Project Management Professional designation, Binu was offer a job at Siemens shortly after.  When asked about Peterborough, Binu says “the community greeted us with open arms. Neighbours and co-workers helped us get settled and find suitable daycare for our young children, which made the transition and move much easier.

Peterborough has given us the sense of community that we couldn’t find in a larger city. It’s a great place to raise our children. They are more in touch with their Indian heritage and culture in Peterborough than they would have been growing up in India. Peterborough has become our home, and is heaven on earth. It’s difficult to imagine living anywhere else”.  Binu advises that “there is a positive trade off to moving to a small community, you have more time to bond with your family and contribute to the community. The community is so open and helpful – the possibilities are endless.”

Full length success stories can be found at WelcomePeterborough.ca 

Source: http://www.muchmormagazine.com/2011/08/newcomers-why-choose-peterborough-ontario/

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Steve Lafleur: Only more immigrants can save Canada’s economy

National Post, National Post
Monday, Aug. 1, 2011

In his immigration policy remarks on July 19, Minister Jason Kenney acknowledged that Canada would need roughly one million immigrants per year in order to maintain the ratio of working age citizens to retirees. Citing a lack of resources for integrating new Canadians, and a concern that accelerating immigration levels too rapidly could lead to a nativist backlash, he said that it won’t happen.

While the Minister’s expressed concerns are valid, they pale in comparison to the demographic reality. The proportion of Canadians aged 60 and over is projected to increase from roughly one-fifth to nearly one-third by 2020. Our national debt stands at over $582-billion, and is increasing at a rate of more than $1,400 per second. This burden doesn’t include provincial government debts, or unfunded pension liabilities such as the $748-billion shortfall for the CPP. For those Canadians hoping to start collecting CPP in the next decade, the question shouldn’t be if we can integrate one-million immigrants per year, but how.

While taking in four times more immigrants than we do now would present some logistical challenges, they are not insurmountable. One criticism against more immigrants is that more immigrants will put greater stress on the housing market. This assumes that the housing stock is fixed, and that all immigrants will go to the hottest real estate markets. Canada’s three biggest cities have admittedly been hostile to new development, which is pricing many out of the market. A healthier attitude toward development will be crucial if those cities are to remain affordable.

However, the immigration question presents a great opportunity not just for smaller metropolitan areas, but for rural areas as well. Rural areas in Canada are often resource rich, but population poor. It is most evident in Saskatchewan, where there are typically 10,000 vacancies in any skilled trade in the province. There are plenty of resources, but not many people. Saskatchewan is twice the size of Germany, with 1/80th the population. There is no shortage of room or resources.

Smaller centres also offer the advantage of lower cost housing, and would require less expensive infrastructure upgrades. Manitoba is leading the country in terms of targeted immigration to smaller centres. Rural Manitoba received nearly 3,200 immigrants in 2008 alone, and the province is clamouring for more. For too long, our immigration policy has been fixated on Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. High levels of rural immigration can revitalize communities, and Manitoba has shown the way.

The immediate costs of immigration have to be acknowledged. Language training, security screening and so forth cost money. Some argue that the costs outweigh the benefits. It is reasonable to require newcomers to our country to shoulder the full cost of their resettlement here, and Canada should consider changing its immigration system to ensure that absorbing a new immigrant does not impose a financial cost on the country as a whole.

Further, rather than relying on the federal immigration system, the federal government should give in to provincial demands for an increase in the number of immigrants admitted through provincial immigrant nominee programs. The programs attract immigrants who come to Canada to fill labour market vacancies, as well as immigrant entrepreneurs.

The federal government has announced that it will increase the quota from 36,000 to 40,000. But this increase is nowhere near enough. The nominee program helps places in lesser demand attract workers and revitalize small urban and rural communities. It also ensures that participants have employment before they arrive in the country. Smaller communities are typically better at welcoming and integrating newcomers, too. If the federal government is concerned about the costs of immigration, and they should be, they could even reduce regular immigration rates and aggressively expand provincial nominee programs.

Regardless of how they go about it, the federal government needs to ensure that we have enough workers to fuel the country’s economic growth where it needs fuelling, and to fund the Baby Boom generation’s retirement obligations. Having made these commitments to retirees, the government must find a way to meet them.

More retirees and fewer workers will make funding unfunded pension liabilities and repaying our national and provincial debts a staggering burden on young workers. Short of forcing people out of retirement, or returning to steady pre-Second World War fertility levels, more immigration is our only option for addressing our demographic decline. The only other option will be steep cuts to social entitlement programs, an option no politician is likely to propose.

National Post

Steve Lafleur is policy analyst with the [external] Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

Steve Lafleur: Only more immigrants can save Canada’s economy

National Post, National Post
Monday, Aug. 1, 2011

In his immigration policy remarks on July 19, Minister Jason Kenney acknowledged that Canada would need roughly one million immigrants per year in order to maintain the ratio of working age citizens to retirees. Citing a lack of resources for integrating new Canadians, and a concern that accelerating immigration levels too rapidly could lead to a nativist backlash, he said that it won’t happen.

While the Minister’s expressed concerns are valid, they pale in comparison to the demographic reality. The proportion of Canadians aged 60 and over is projected to increase from roughly one-fifth to nearly one-third by 2020. Our national debt stands at over $582-billion, and is increasing at a rate of more than $1,400 per second. This burden doesn’t include provincial government debts, or unfunded pension liabilities such as the $748-billion shortfall for the CPP. For those Canadians hoping to start collecting CPP in the next decade, the question shouldn’t be if we can integrate one-million immigrants per year, but how.

While taking in four times more immigrants than we do now would present some logistical challenges, they are not insurmountable. One criticism against more immigrants is that more immigrants will put greater stress on the housing market. This assumes that the housing stock is fixed, and that all immigrants will go to the hottest real estate markets. Canada’s three biggest cities have admittedly been hostile to new development, which is pricing many out of the market. A healthier attitude toward development will be crucial if those cities are to remain affordable.

However, the immigration question presents a great opportunity not just for smaller metropolitan areas, but for rural areas as well. Rural areas in Canada are often resource rich, but population poor. It is most evident in Saskatchewan, where there are typically 10,000 vacancies in any skilled trade in the province. There are plenty of resources, but not many people. Saskatchewan is twice the size of Germany, with 1/80th the population. There is no shortage of room or resources.

Smaller centres also offer the advantage of lower cost housing, and would require less expensive infrastructure upgrades. Manitoba is leading the country in terms of targeted immigration to smaller centres. Rural Manitoba received nearly 3,200 immigrants in 2008 alone, and the province is clamouring for more. For too long, our immigration policy has been fixated on Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. High levels of rural immigration can revitalize communities, and Manitoba has shown the way.

The immediate costs of immigration have to be acknowledged. Language training, security screening and so forth cost money. Some argue that the costs outweigh the benefits. It is reasonable to require newcomers to our country to shoulder the full cost of their resettlement here, and Canada should consider changing its immigration system to ensure that absorbing a new immigrant does not impose a financial cost on the country as a whole.

Further, rather than relying on the federal immigration system, the federal government should give in to provincial demands for an increase in the number of immigrants admitted through provincial immigrant nominee programs. The programs attract immigrants who come to Canada to fill labour market vacancies, as well as immigrant entrepreneurs.

The federal government has announced that it will increase the quota from 36,000 to 40,000. But this increase is nowhere near enough. The nominee program helps places in lesser demand attract workers and revitalize small urban and rural communities. It also ensures that participants have employment before they arrive in the country. Smaller communities are typically better at welcoming and integrating newcomers, too. If the federal government is concerned about the costs of immigration, and they should be, they could even reduce regular immigration rates and aggressively expand provincial nominee programs.

Regardless of how they go about it, the federal government needs to ensure that we have enough workers to fuel the country’s economic growth where it needs fuelling, and to fund the Baby Boom generation’s retirement obligations. Having made these commitments to retirees, the government must find a way to meet them.

More retirees and fewer workers will make funding unfunded pension liabilities and repaying our national and provincial debts a staggering burden on young workers. Short of forcing people out of retirement, or returning to steady pre-Second World War fertility levels, more immigration is our only option for addressing our demographic decline. The only other option will be steep cuts to social entitlement programs, an option no politician is likely to propose.

National Post

Steve Lafleur is policy analyst with the [external] Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

Students flock to Canada instead of Australia

International students are flocking to Canada at the expense of Australia due to uncertainty over visa rules and not because of the high Australian dollar, according to a major education company.

One of the biggest providers of English courses to overseas students, Navitas, says parents in China and Vietnam are confused by changes to Australia's visa rules and are now choosing to send their children to other english-speaking countries.

Navitas says student enrolments in Australia have fallen 14 per cent for the 2011 June/July semester, in line with "similar industry trends".

It comes as the federal government conducts a review of the student visa program.

Among other things, the review is looking at reducing visa assessment levels for Chinese and Indian applicants.

Navitas chief executive Rod Jones said parents, particularly in the lucrative Asian markets, were unsure about visa requirements and were now sending their children to Canada and to lesser extent, the United States.

"They don't understand what it all means," Mr Jones said.

"Canada has been an enormous beneficiary out of this. The numbers there have just gone out of control."

However, he predicts the Canadian government will tighten its visa policies for international students as Australia and the United Kingdom have done.

"They just can't absorb the demand," Mr Jones said.

Navitas reported a 20 per cent increase in full year profit on Tuesday despite a softening of demand for student enrolments.

The education provider has more than 8,500 international students on its Australian books and a total of 14,600 students worldwide.

It says instability caused by the federal election, changing government policy and the strong Australian dollar hit the English division in full year 2011.

But Mr Jones said the strong Australian dollar wasn't the "major impact".

Canada, which also had a relatively strong currency, was doing particularly well with international student numbers while the United Kingdom had experienced a downturn despite the weakness in the pound.

"The biggest things at play here are government policy," he said.

Anecdotal evidence from the Navitas' Asian operations shows China and Vietnam markets were the most worrying, Mr Jones says.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has said the review of the student visa program will look at ways to better manage immigration risk in the student visa caseload and deter breaches and misuse of the program.

It would also consider the suitability of separate visas for different education sectors.

To date, the review has received two hundred submissions and is expected to release its findings in September.

Nexus Canada can assist you in the process of getting your study permit/visa to Canada.

7 Success Secrets for New Immigrants

By Brian Epstein

In March 2010, I attended a conference sponsored by the Newcomer Centre of Peel in Mississauga, Ontario. Nick Noorani, Motivational Speaker, Speaker, Entrepreneur, and Immigrant Advocate was the guest speaker.

His 7 Success Secrets for Canadian Immigrants are:

1) Learn English – Many new immigrants speak English but they need to perfect their English to be well understand by English-speaking Canadians and to excel in the Canadian workplace. Although one may speak English in his/her native country, it may not be at the same level as Canadian born speakers or at the acceptable standards in the Canadian workplace. Be open to do what you can do to improve your English Speaking skills – take upgrading courses, join Toastmasters, listen to English-speaking talk stations including CBC radio and watch English news. Make friends with English-speaking people and try to speak as much as possible.

2) Stay Positive – Coming to Canada and finding work and integrating into a new society can be very challenging. The people who stay positive and look upon their new experiences in a positive light and a new adventure will be in a better situation. You will come across negative people in Canada as there are in every country – for every negative person you have in your life, you need to add a positive person. Surround yourself with positive people – there are many naysayers. These people are not going to help you. The positive people will help your attitude and your outlook.

3) Embrace Canada – You have made a big move to come to Canada – be a part of your new country and know as much as you can about it – whether it be news, sports or politics. This is your country now. Get involved in your community in Canada. Know about your sports teams – whether it is in basketball or hockey or others. Be able to talk at the water cooler about what is going on.

4) Have a Plan B – Everyone has his own skills and experience. One comes to Canada with the goals and hopes of working in a field that is similar to what you have done. To ensure that you are successful, one needs to have a Plan B and as some of the participants at the symposium said, you need to have a Plan C, D and E. Perhaps you may have another passion – it may be in a different career path or a second or third choice related to what you were originally chosen to do. Be open to the idea of taking another risk after doing your research first.

5) Stay Clear of ethnic – Silos – Immigrants who integrate into the Canadian workplace and Canadian life the best are those who make friends with people from all ethnic groups. Canada is a very multicultural country. Don’t limit yourself to be only with people from your native country or from your own language group. Be open to making friends with people from all religious and cultural groups.

6) Take risks – By deciding to come to Canada, you have taken one of the biggest risks in your life. For that you should be congratulated. To continue your road to success, you need to keep an open mind to new ideas and possibilities. This may be a new business venture or a possible job opportunity for you to consider.

7) Volunteer, mentor, network – The way to finding work and succeeding in Canada is being involved in the community, volunteering with different professional associations, charities and causes that are important to you. This will build your network and your friendships/relationships that will help you in ensuring your success in Canada in the present and future time.

Attracting the entrepreneurial immigrant

By:TAVIA GRANT,The Globe and Mail.

With a low birth rate, Canada will need immigrants to help drive economic growth. But does our system reward the immigrants most likely to create that growth?

We want skilled workers, or so goes the mantra. But the set of skills most likely to create jobs – entrepreneurship, or that intangible mix of creativity, personal drive and business acumen – gets short shrift in our immigration system.

Immigrants on both sides of the border have been a driving force behind innovation, job creation and entrepreneurship, from Google's Sergey Brin to Intel's Andy Grove, Research In Motion's Mike Lazaridis and Lee Lau, who started ATI Technologies which has since sold for $5.4-billion.

Canada, however, has done a generally poor job of recruiting the most promising entrepreneurs. The federal government recently suspended its entrepreneur-class immigrant program after waiting times ballooned and the number of successful applications dwindled. It says the program needs an overhaul and is studying how to attract and retain innovative entrepreneurs.

Under former rules, entrepreneurs needed $300,000 in net worth, a threshold that deterred many immigrants, young people in particular. The other challenge: waiting times of up to eight years in the entrepreneur class. Immigration lawyer Sergio Karas says that wait is driving away the best and the brightest.

The review comes amid a growing public debate over the level and mix of immigrants entering the country. The discussion isn't just about immigration, though; it plays into the very notion of what kind of a country citizens want Canada to be.

Mr. Karas believes entrepreneurs with a proven track record in their home country should be vaulted to the very top of the priority list, ahead of every other type of newcomer, including skilled workers.

“We need someone who’s going to create the next RIM, or the next Magna. … We should make a commitment as a nation that this is what we want from our immigration system,” Mr. Karas says.

The first step is to attract aspiring entrepreneurs. In that respect, “Canada has lost a bit of its edge in the past few years,” says Andy Jasuja, founder of tech firm Sigma Group, who is based in Toronto but spoke from a business trip in New Delhi. “It still has a good brand, no doubt about it. But these days, countries are competing for talent, and entrepreneurs are in very, very short supply.”

Promising young people nowadays are drawn to Australia, which is aggressively promoting itself to them, says Mr. Jasuja, who started his business in 1990 and now employs 800 people in Canada and India. He believes Canada should market itself to global entrepreneurs more assertively and create a whole “ecosystem” that nurtures new businesses – for example, giving them a tax holiday for the first few years of a startup.

Canada – an innovation laggard – would see rich rewards from getting it right. At every level of analysis, immigrants boost innovation, the Conference Board of Canada has found. Newcomers have disproportionate success in research, spark business ideas, expand trade relations and bring greater foreign direct investment, it said in a study last fall.

In the U.S, a whopping 25 per cent of all venture-backed public companies started between 1990 and 2005 had at least one immigrant as a key founder, including companies such as eBay. Immigrant-founded venture companies are clustered in the most innovative corners of the economy – high-technology manufacturing, information technology and life sciences.

It's not enough to attract them. The next step is to ensure the soil is fertile for them to flourish once they arrive.

***

Some newcomers arrive in Canada aiming to start a business off the bat. Others turn to entrepreneurship out of necessity, lack of job opportunities or happenstance, and typically face more headwinds. Either way, immigrants are far more likely than Canadian-born people to be self-employed.

Kam Ko fits into the latter category. The Hong Kong engineer started his Ontario business in 1993 by chance, after a customer gave him an extra order to weld parts. The first year was a slog: he couldn’t get a bank loan, so he borrowed start-up money from family. He kept his full-time day job and then toiled in his rented shop as a “janitor, cleaner, engineer, robot programmer and also operator” until one or two in the morning.

The hard work bore fruit. After the first year, he quit his regular job and began to hire others. He got a patent for a new type of ergonomic dental chair. Now his company, Kobotic Ltd., has expanded into robotics and design and exports products worldwide. Nearly all of his 40 employees are newcomers, even though some struggle with English, because he knows how hard it can be to get Canadian work experience.

“I look at entrepreneurs as two types,” he says. “The first have money and experience already. … The second are younger and not as well-to-do, yet they have a lot of ideas and energy. We should make it easier for them.”

Mr. Ko says aspiring entrepreneurs could use something he didn’t have – help navigating the system.

Support needn’t be complicated, or, in this age of austerity, expensive. But so far, much of it has been piecemeal and varies by province and city.

Some schools, such as York University, are running bridging programs to help immigrant professionals adjust to the Canadian labour market. Mentoring and apprenticeships have been shown to improve immigrants’ outcomes, by expanding their networks and giving them Canadian experience.

Social networking sites, such as LoonLounge, which has 52,000 members, make connecting and getting advice easier. This spring, the Business Development Bank of Canada and the Canadian Youth Business Foundation teamed up to announce financing of up to $15,000 for young entrepreneurs who are newcomers. At an entrepreneurial boot camp – aimed at the next 36 young leaders of Canada – half of its inaugural winners are immigrants.

Marion Annau is founder and president of Connect Legal, a new charity that gives legal education and advice to immigrants with few resources who want to start a business. She helps people untangle the complex legalese of contracts, for example, and is seeing demand for her services grow.

“We open the doors to Canada and we say we are the land of opportunity,” she says. “And we get some fantastic talent – the people I deal with are incredibly smart, driven, determined – and we need to harness that talent when it comes.”

By the numbers

291

Number of immigrants who landed as permanent residents last year as entrepreneurs, down from 820 in 2006.

19

Percentage of immigrant workers who were self-employed in the late 2000s, compared with 15 per cent of the Canadian-born population.

33

Percentage of immigrants in 2000 who pursued self-employment because of a lack of job opportunities in the paid labour market.

42

Average age of immigrant entrepreneurs admitted to Canada last year, at the time of their application.

71

Percentage of immigrants who entered self-employment voluntarily, motivated by entrepreneurial values, versus 59 per cent among their Canadian-born peers.

Sources: Conference Board of Canada, Citizen and Immigration Canada, Statistics Canada.