Professional networks help immigrants help themselves

 February 10, 2012 at 8:29AM

www.NetworksForImmigrants.ca is a new website built by the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC), the Government of Canada and Scotiabank to assist professional immigrants and connect them with employers and communities as well as help create new opportunities.

 Professional immigrant networks are not new, but the dozens of associations of immigrants helping immigrants in the GTA have been operating mostly under the radar - until now.  At an event at theToronto Board of Trade today, the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC), the Government of Canadaand Scotiabank are introducing a vital new website as part of the Professional Immigrant Networks initiative (PINs) to forge connections between immigrants, employers and community agencies - all with the goal of advancing immigrant employment.

Professional immigrant networks are organized by profession or ethnicity or both - from the Latin American MBA Alumni Network to the Chinese Professionals Association of Canada and the Association of Filipino Canadian Accountants. Collectively they serve more than 30,000 members. The new PINs website will help newcomers access these professional immigrant networks and through them build the connections they need to find meaningful employment.

"Lack of professional connections and understanding of Canadian corporate culture are the primary obstacles to meaningful employment for skilled immigrants," says Gabriel Leiva von Bovet, President of the professional immigrant network HispanoTech and a TRIEC board member. "But thousands of newcomer professionals are using immigrant networks to help themselves and each other get ahead. Our new website capitalizes on this resourcefulness."

Funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and sponsored by Scotiabank, PINs benefits employers as well as immigrants. With the diversifying population and the growth of the knowledge economy, recruiting internationally experienced and multi-lingual personnel is becoming a priority in most workplaces, both from the talent management and business perspectives. As a case in point, PINs is jointly sponsored by the human resources and business development arms of Scotiabank. According to Pankaj Mehra, Director, Multicultural Banking, India and South Asia Markets, the bank's investment in PINs meets the objectives of both aspects of the business.

"We recognize that professionals coming into our country are not just prospective employees and managers, but also customers," says Mr. Mehra. "Immigrant employees can be important ambassadors for the bank by not only helping us grow our business, but also helping us strengthen our ties to their communities."

PINs connects employers to professional immigrant networks and allows them to communicate directly and efficiently with target markets. Last year alone, TRIEC disseminated 100 job postings out to the professional immigrant networks from 25 employers through PINs. The new website will make these connections even easier, with a searchable directory of networks and a messaging function for employers to post jobs.

To access the new website, visit www.NetworksForImmigrants.ca.

About TRIEC. The Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council creates and champions solutions to better integrate skilled immigrants in the Greater Toronto Region labour market. For more information visit www.triec.ca

Census numbers prove Canadians need to accept more immigration or more sex

By Andy Radia | Canada Politics – 18 hours ago

If the census figures released Thursday prove anything, it's that there's not enough of us in Canada.

There's not enough young people to support an aging population and there's not enough skilled workers to keep Canada's companies competitive.

According to CBC.ca, between now and 2020, baby-boomer retirements coupled with declining birth rates are expected to produce labour deficits of approximately 163,000 in construction, 130,000 in oil and gas, 60,000 in nursing, 37,000 in trucking, 22,000 in the hotel industry and 10,000 in the steel trades.

Notwithstanding the current headlines that trumpet high unemployment rates, governments must deal with this enduring problem now or face a future of economic stagnancy.

Our country's primary strategy to cope with our labour problems has been to attract workers from other countries.

In 2010 Canada welcomed a record number of immigrants (280,000), plus a record number of temporary foreign workers (182,000) and foreign students (96,000).

Yet to maintain even a nominal level of growth in our labour force, that number needs to increase in the coming years.

The challenge however, is that other industrialized jurisdictions around the world are feeling the same labour pinch and like Canada, have also chosen immigration as their policy solution.

The U.S., U.K., and Australia, in particular, have been proactive in luring skilled migrants and thus have made the business of immigration increasingly competitive. Moreover, the two countries that we have traditionally relied on for new workers -- China and India -- have fairly robust economies themselves, resulting in fewer people wanting to emigrate.

It's clear Canada needs to find alternative solutions. A more sustainable strategy might be for governments and businesses to focus on developing a 'homemade' labour supply; maybe it's time for governments to tackle the problem of slumping fertility rates.

But as Licia Corbella of the Calgary Herald explains, Canadians don't like having babies.

"Since the late 1960s — the sexual revolution of birth control and rising abortion rates — the number of births in Canada declined, and by 1976, fertility had fallen to less than 1.8 children per woman, when the replacement level is 2.1 children per woman," she wrote.

University of B.C. family policy professor Paul Kershaw recently released a survey suggesting a crucial factor in declining birthrates is the increasing cost of raising children in Canadian cities.

Unfortunately, Canadian governments and business have historically done little to assist new parents with financial aid. Despite common perceptions, Canada trails behind much of the developed world in offering the maternity and family benefits that would facilitate a homegrown solution to our labour shortage.

A 2008 study conducted by McGill University found that 106 countries provide mothers with 100 per cent wage replacement while on maternity leave; in most provinces, women are only guaranteed 55 per cent.

Thirty-nine countries have implemented laws that guarantee women paid leave to address their children's health needs; in Canada, no province or territory provides such an allowance.

Canada can no longer ignore that it's becoming less efficient for us to import people; worldwide demand of the scarce "human resource" will only continue to increase. As a result, governments must do a better job to encourage the "manufacture" of babies.

Media Advisory - New Canadians Say Diversity Policies Aren't Working

Bosses Need to Step Up

TORONTO, Feb. 8, 2012 /CNW/ - A new study suggests that, despite their good intentions, Canadian employers have been slow to embrace diversity policies in the workplace.

The study, commissioned by the Progress Career Planning Institute (PCPI) is being released just as new census figures are expected to show a sharp decline in immigration in Ontario that could affect the province's economy.

The study focused on mid-career immigrants with six to 15 years experience in the workplace. It found fewer than half were working in companies that have policies welcoming new Canadians.

The full study will be released at the 9^th Annual Internationally Educated Professionals Conference hosted by PCPI and funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. This is the largest networking event of its kind - bringing together over 120 business leaders and over 1,000 internationally educated professionals from 100 countries to share their experience and strategies in helping newcomers succeed in Canada's workforce.

According to the Conference Board of Canada, Canada loses anywhere from $3 to 5 billion annually by not hiring the thousands of internationally trained professionals who come to Canada.

Foreign workers fill agricultural labour shortage

Nicholas KeungImmigration Reporter

They pay income tax and contribute to Canada’s employment insurance and pension plans, just like Canadian workers.

But the 24,000 migrant agricultural workers who come here yearly — 90 per cent destined for Ontario — live at the mercy of Canadian farm owners and must leave the country once the planting and harvesting in fields, orchards and greenhouses is done.

Migrant workers who come through the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program help grow Canada’s farm products, from tobacco to vegetables, fruits, flowers and sod, earning the provincial minimum wage or the so-called “prevailing” wage set by Ottawa.

The program began in 1966 when Jamaican workers were brought in for work through a bilateral agreement.

It was later expanded to other countries, with the majority of migrant farm workers coming from the Caribbean and Mexico to work across Canada.

“The Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program matches workers from Mexico and the Caribbean countries with Canadian farmers who need temporary support . . . when qualified Canadians or permanent residents are not available,” Service Canada says on its website.

With an increasingly knowledge-based economy, Canada relies on foreign farm workers. Their annual number has grown by more than a third in the last decade, from 18,500 to 24,000.

In Ontario, employers request workers through Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Services, with the approval of Service Canada.

Migrant workers, selected and screened by their countries, sign a contract with individual farm owners detailing their rights, obligations and length of employment, usually from three to eight months.

Service Canada says airfare is shared by the workers and employers, who must provide free housing and a kitchen with pots and pans if migrants choose to make their own meals. (Employers offering meals can deduct up to $6.50 a day from a worker’s wages.)

Farm owners are also responsible for registering workers with the provincial health insurance plan and provide compensation such as “free, on-the-job injury and illness insurance,” said Service Canada.

The program isn’t without its controversies.

A policy paper by Justice for Migrant Workers, an Ontario-based advocacy group, detailed key concerns raised by these farm workers:

 •  Working 12 to 15 hours without overtime or holiday pay.

 •  Denial of necessary breaks.

 •  Use of dangerous chemicals/pesticides with no safety equipment, protection or training.

 • Unfair paycheque deductions for EI and other services in cases where workers get little or nothing in return.

“Migrant workers perform rigorous and often dangerous rural labour that few Canadians choose to do,” the policy paper said. “Many workers are reluctant to stand up for their rights since employers find it easier to send workers home instead of dealing with their serious concerns

New Web site to help skilled immigrants find jobs in Toronto

A new online network with the goal of connecting immigrants with jobs is set to go live tomorrow, according to the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC).

With funding from Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Scotiabank, the Web site will highlight existing networks of professional immigrants, and showcase them in front of Greater Toronto Area (GTA) employers. The URL of the site will be revealed early tomorrow, says Racquel Sevilla, manager of program development at TRIEC.

“It's one way for employers to find the talent out there,” she says. “Especially for a niche role. This allows them a broader talent pool they haven't looked into before.”

The Web site's goal is to raise awareness of immigrants with professional skills that are looking for jobs. It will focus on collaboration between the various immigrant networks in the Toronto area already trying to do this along industry and ethno-cultural lines.

Related Story | Canadian experience not required 

Immigrant networks are typically volunteer-run, membership associations that are created to help connect newcomers with quality jobs. Examples in the GTA include theInternational Doctors Network, Hispanotech, and the Association of Filipino Canadian Accountants.

A survey conducted in 2009 of immigrant networks found 70 such groups in the GTA, and the Web site is launching with more than 30 of them in a searchable directory.  The public site will allow employers to search through associations by alphabetical listing, profession, or ethno-cultural group. It will also feature news stories and success stories.

The members-only version of the site will provide a place for network leaders to talk on discussion boards and with a messaging function. “It's kind of like LinkedIn,” Sevilla says. “I could use the messages to make a job posting for free.”

There will also be a free classifieds section and a community calendar on the site, she adds. 
 
Almost one in five employers in the Greater Toronto Area has hired a skilled immigrant specifically to target local cultural communities to find new business opportunities, according to an EKOS poll conducted for TRIEC in spring 2011. Also, one in five employers brought an immigrant on board to diversify their company's global client base. The vast majority of employers agreed that their immigrant employees were effective at meeting these objectives.

Funding provided by the government and Scotiabank is part of a $100,000 budget provided to The Professional Immigrant Networks initiative. PINs was launched in 2009 with a mandate to work with immigrant networks and help them connect skilled immigrant members with jobs, according to TRIEC.

TRIEC will be reaching out to its counterparts in other areas and offering use of the platform, Sevilla says. It has the potential to become a national destination.