Immigration Canada

Best employers for new Canadians for 2013

DSC_0120 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

AltaGas Ltd., Calgary. Natural gas distribution. 530 employees. Participates in Immigrant Services Calgary’s Integrated Women’s Mentorship Program and pairs work placement students with employees who offer support and guidance.

Assiniboine Credit Union Ltd., Winnipeg. Credit unions. 457 employees. Participates in the Immigration Integration program. Created in 2004, the program includes four weeks of paid pre-training on credit union practices, work culture and communication, followed by a 12-week paid work experience at one of the credit unions. Participants who successfully complete the program are offered permanent employment.

BC Hydro, Vancouver. Hydroelectric power generation. 5,735 employees. Maintains an in-house multicultural society. Encourages managers to hire skilled newcomers at junior-level positions and provide them with a defined career advancement plan.

Bell Aliant Inc., Halifax. Wired telecommunication carriers. 7,000 employees. Partners with Immigrant Settlement and Integration Services to help newcomers expand their knowledge of Canadian hiring practices, provides training on résumé writing and interview skills.

Business Development Bank of Canada,Montreal. Banking. 1,958 employees. Offices work with local community agencies across Canada, such as ACCES Employment in Toronto and the Edmonton Region Immigrant Employment Council, connecting new Canadians to vacancies in their communities.

Christie Digital Systems Canada Inc.,Kitchener, Ont. Audio and video equipment manufacturing. 688 employees. Recognizes foreign credentials and hires newcomers based on relevant industry experiences. Also covers the costs of having credentials formally recognized in Canada.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce,Toronto. Commercial banking. 33,965 employees. Participated in a pilot program organized by Algonquin College to help internationally trained professionals bridge their finance credentials. The bank played host to students for the internship portion of the program.

COM DEV Ltd., Cambridge, Ont. Search, detection, navigation, guidance, aeronautical and nautical system and instrument manufacturing. 960 employees. Participates in mentoring programs offered by the Local Immigration Partnership Council and YMCA to help newcomers understand Canadian culture.

Dalhousie University, Halifax. Colleges, universities and professional schools. 3,328 employees. Provides training to managers on hiring new Canadians. Offers practice interviews for new Canadian job seekers on campus and also conducts informational interviews to match applicants with prospective employment opportunities.

Deloitte & Touche LLP, Toronto. Certified public accountants. 8,992 employees. Has participated in the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council’s Mentoring Partnership program since 2005 with hundreds of employees serving as mentors to new Canadian job seekers. Employees act as mentors for a four-month period.

Ernst & Young LLP, Toronto. Certified public accountants. 4,427 employees. Supports York University’s Internationally Educated Professional bridging program. Offers an in-house Chartered Accountant Reciprocity Exam program to assist employees with foreign credential recognition.

Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP, Toronto. Lawyers. 1,437 employees. Sponsors the University of Toronto Faculty of Law’s Internationally-Trained Lawyers program, which supports foreign-trained lawyers during the Canadian certification process and provides them with resources such as placement opportunities, employment counselling and language referrals.

Health Canada, Ottawa. Administration of public health programs. 10,615 employees. Participates in the federal Internship for Newcomers program, organized by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. CIC works with a variety of local community organizations such as ACCES and MicroSkills to screen new Canadian job seekers for employment, after which eligible candidates apply for positions based on the needs of participating departments. In 2011, Health Canada hired eight interns as a result of the program and matched each with a mentor.

Home Depot Canada, Toronto. Hardware stores. 13,580 employees. Stores partner with local community organization such as COSTI, the New Canadians Centre, Employment Projects of Winnipeg, Employment Solutions of Immigrant Youth, Saskatchewan Open Door Society and Immigration Works to support the employment efforts of new Canadians.

Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning,Toronto. Colleges, universities and professional schools. 1,355 employees. Is a member of the Consortium of Agencies Serving Internationally-Trained Persons, a group of community-based agencies and colleges that provide employment and training services to internationally trained job seekers.

KPMG LLP, Toronto. Certified public accountants. 5,778 employees. Is working to further partner with the Consortium of Agencies Serving Internationally-Trained Professionals to match new Canadians with opportunities within the firm’s client administration group. Has also built additional partnerships with Skills for Change, ACCES, MicroSkills & Social Capital Partners.

Loblaw Cos. Ltd., Brampton, Ont. Supermarkets. 29,725 employees. In partnership with the University of Toronto, offers international pharmacy students internships for a period of four months while they complete their course. Once students are fully licensed, they are offered permanent positions.

Manitoba Hydro, Winnipeg. Hydroelectric power generation. 5,980 employees. Participates in the University of Manitoba’s Internationally Educated Engineers Qualifications Program, which helps internally educated engineers become accredited in Manitoba. Manitoba Hydro provides funding for the program, bursaries for students and has hired students from the program.

Medtronic of Canada Ltd., Brampton, Ont. Electromedical and electrotherapeutic apparatus manufacturing. 437 employees. Works with community organizations including ACCES Employment, the Newcomer Centre of Peel and the Dufferin-Peel Adult Learning Centre to connect with new Canadians.

Mississauga, City of, Mississauga, Ont. Legislative bodies. 3,983 employees. In association with the Dufferin Peel Adult Learning Centre, hires new Canadians for an unpaid eight-week term and has offered some participants permanent positions within the city.

Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto. General medical and surgical hospitals. 2,302 employees. Supports the Centre for Internationally Educated Nurses (CARE4Nurses) project, a program to help nurses bridge international education and experience and prepare them for practise within Ontario.

National Bank Financial Group, Montreal. Commercial banking. 15,009 employees. In partnership with ALLIES Montreal, participated in a pilot mentoring program with employees acting as mentors to help the integration of new Canadian employees.

New Flyer Industries Ltd., Winnipeg. Heavy duty truck manufacturing. 1,238 employees. Provides work placement opportunities for students enrolled in the Employment Solutions for Immigrant Youth program. The government agency has placed 140 students within the company and 90 of them have been hired into term and permanent positions.

Nordion Inc., Kanata, Ont. 485 employees. Electromedical and electrotherapeutic apparatus manufacturing. 485 employees. Is part of the Ottawa and Vancouver Multicultural Achievement Program for Learning Employers, an organization dedicated to creating employment opportunities for newcomers. Nordion participates in their 12-week internship program that includes cross-cultural training, mentorship and on-the-job training.

NTT Data Canada Inc., Halifax. Computer systems design services. 620 employees. Forwards vacancies to Immigrant Settlement and Integration Services and utilizes resources offered by the organization such as free English-as-a-second-language training.

Ontario Public Service, Toronto. General government support. 62,441 employees. Launched the Ontario Public Service Program for Internationally-Trained Engineers, which provides work placements of 12 to 15 months to help internationally trained engineers meet Canadian licensing requirements.

Provincial Health Services Authority, Vancouver. Medical and surgical hospitals. 7,320 employees. Partners with Skills Connect to help new Canadian job seekers access employment opportunities.

Pythian Group Inc., Ottawa. Computer systems design services. 136 employees. Is a member of Hire Immigrant Ottawa’s working group and has organized and played host to coaching and networking events for internationally trained professionals in the IT industry.

Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto. Commercial banking. 52,815 employees. In partnership with Career Bridge, offers newcomers paid internship opportunities to help them gain work experience. Maintains an employee resource group for visible minorities and new Canadian employees called MOSAIC.

Saskatoon Regional Health Authority, Saskatoon. Medical and surgical hospitals. 6,379 employees. In collaboration with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health and Health Canada, developed a five-year strategy to promote the retention of current and future Internationally Educated Health Care Professionals.

SaskPower, Regina. Hydroelectric power generation. 2,769 employees. Works with the Saskatchewan and Regina Open Door Society to provide work placement opportunities to help newcomers gain Canadian experience.

Shaw Communications Inc., Calgary. Cable and other program distribution. 12,666 employees. Works with community organizations to support the employment efforts of new Canadian job seekers including YWCA, Women in Film and Television and Calgary Immigrant Services.

St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto. Medical and surgical hospitals. 3,469 employees. Manages a dedicated website for the recruitment of Internationally Educated Professionals and forwards vacancies to a variety of multicultural media outlets.

Toronto-Dominion Bank, Toronto. Commercial banking. 43,850 employees. Recently participated in a conference for internationally educated professionals and also forwards vacancies to Equitek, which connects the bank to a variety of diversity agencies and schools including Career Bridge, Microskills, Costi and Skills for Change.

TELUS Corp., Vancouver. Wired telecommunications carriers. 24,443 employees. Has worked with community organizations such as Skills for Change, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, ISS BC, ACCES Employment and Prospect Calgary, which has resulted in participation at a number of events including speed networking sessions, career fairs, webinars and lunch-and-learn sessions to support the employment efforts of new Canadian job seekers.

TransCanada Corp., Calgary. Natural gas distribution. 2,605 employees. Participated in the Calgary Region Immigrant Council’s mentoring collaborative program, with employees acting as mentors for newcomers.

University of Ottawa, Ottawa. Colleges, universities and professional schools. 3,008 employees. In 2008 launched “Access UOttawa” in partnership with Hire Immigrants Ottawa. The initiative provides new Canadian job seekers and other equity group applicants with temporary administrative roles until suitable full-time positions become available.

Vancouver, City of, Vancouver. Legislative bodies. 6,898 employees. In 2010, embarked on the creation of a pilot mentorship project with the Immigrant Employment Council of British Columbia, SUCCESS, MOSAIC and ISSofBC.

Xerox Canada Ltd., Toronto. Computer peripheral equipment manufacturing. 3,588 employees. Participates in Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council’s mentoring partnership program and provides job seekers who are new to Canada with one-on-one time with a Xerox employee.

York, Regional Municipality of, Newmarket, Ont. Legislative bodies. 2,759 employees. Created York Region Immigration Portal, a website to provide resources, such as settlement and employment information, to newcomers.

Policy change affects immigration numbers

English: Flag of Manitoba Français : Drapeau du Manitoba Русский: Флаг Манитоба (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In recent years, Canada's immigration system has undergone radical change. Have these changes resulted in the 16 per cent drop in new arrivals, or are there specific Manitoba problems that have caused this decrease?

Until recently, the majority of immigrants to Canada could qualify to immigrate without having a job offer from a Canadian employer. Today, priority is given to foreign nationals already working in Canada, who have been recruited to fill vacant jobs, or who have studied in Canada. In essence, Canada's immigration system has gone to one where employers choose immigrants from one where immigrants choose Canada.

From 2007 to 2011, less than one-third of Manitoba's immigrant nominees came in categories for which a job and job offer were required. During this period, almost 70 per cent of nominees did not require jobs or job offers. To this extent, Manitoba is out of step with the rest of Canada.

The move to an employer-driven immigration system has many positives. It ensures foreign nationals coming to Canada not only have jobs waiting for them, but they fill positions for which Canadian employers face shortages. While some have criticized employer-driven immigration, charging that this causes Canada to focus on fixing short-term work shortages as opposed to bringing in future Canadians who can generate a long-term economic benefits, the fact is the old system often brought in individuals who arrived unemployed and struggled to make ends meet.

An employer-driven system allows businesses to fill jobs to better meet the demands of their customers. With the increase in globalization, it is important that Canadian companies are able to compete on the world stage. The ability to access talent from anywhere is key to allowing Canadian companies to compete globally.

While there are advantages to employer-driven immigration, what is being sacrificed is family reunification -- a key to Manitoba's immigration program. While Canadians and permanent residents can still sponsor spouses and children, it is getting tougher to assist one's siblings, cousins, parents and other relatives unless they have jobs or job offers. For those who do qualify without job offers, the number of available spots has been reduced.

On a provincial level, family reunification used to be a large component of provincial nominee programs. As late as last year, four provinces had immigration streams that allowed for overseas relatives to come to Canada without job offers. Since May 2012, three of those provinces, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island, changed or eliminated their family programs. While family members can still immigrate to those Canadian provinces, a job connection or business investment is necessary.

Manitoba is the only province with a viable program that still allows family members and friends to immigrate to Canada without a job offer, previous work in Canada, or previous study here. This allows Manitoba to strike a balance between employer-driven immigration and family reunification.

Manitoba, however, is redesigning its program to make it more restrictive. When the final details are announced in April, Manitoba may be criticized by those wanting to see more family reunification. When compared with what is happening in the federal system and in other provinces, however, Manitoba should be congratulated for keeping the immigration program open to a form of family reunification.

With Manitoba offering a form of family reunification, there is a potential that other Canadians will move here for the purpose of assisting their relatives to immigrate. Before changes were made to family immigration in Saskatchewan, it was reported some Canadians moved there to take advantage of its program. After their relatives arrived in Canada, they returned to their original province. Manitoba must guard against this to maintain program credibility.

While the current federal system does not provide for a great deal of family reunification, there is still some hope. Ottawa is scheduled to roll out its new skilled-worker stream in May and is also scheduled to lift the freeze on the ability of Canadians and permanent residents to sponsor parents and grandparents in the fall.

The final rollout will go a long way to determine the openness of the federal government to family reunification.

R. Reis Pagtakhan is a

Winnipeg immigration lawyer.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 21, 2013 A15