The federal government will have to work with the provinces if it wants to shorten the time it takes to recognize foreign credentials, a parliamentary committee heard on Tuesday.
Devinder Shory, the Conservative MP for Calgary Northeast, provided a first-hand account of the difficulties immigrants face gaining acceptance of their foreign credentials. Shory moved to Canada in 1989 with a law degree from India, but drove cabs and owned small businesses until he was finally called to the bar in Alberta in 1998.
“We get all kinds of professional candidates into Canada but unfortunately because of the conditions they go through rough and tough times,” Shory said.
According to Statistics Canada, only 24 per cent of employed immigrants with foreign university degrees were working in a regulated occupation that matched their field of study, compared to 62 per cent of Canadians.
Leaders from various professional associations testified before the committee on the need for more foreign-trained workers. Christine Nielsen, of the Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science, said that in a few years the need for lab technicians will outweigh the supply of qualified Canadian professionals.
The committee is trying to find ways to make it easier for foreign-trained workers to have their skills recognized so that they can join the work force. The problem is, most professional accreditation is done at the provincial level. Provinces have authority over labour and education issues, and so the federal government would have to work with them in order to change current policies, said Rob Walsh, legal counsel to the committee.
Different provinces may judge foreign credentials for the same job differently, making moving between provinces an issue for immigrants, Walsh said. Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, mobility rights are guaranteed for citizens. Immigrants can apply to become citizens after living in Canada for three years.
While the federal government controls immigration, it has agreements with certain provinces, like Quebec and Ontario, to run their own nominee programs. Such programs give immigration preference to people selected by the province. The committee said it might try and leverage these provincial nominee agreements in order to get the provinces to fast-track foreign credentials.
During the past election, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a campaign promise to speed up the process and provide money for immigrants who need skills training.
But ultimately it’s up to the provinces, Walsh told the committee. Walsh said the best way to get the provinces on board with the federal government’s plan for foreign credential recognition is to use persuasion, not leverage. “The keyword is agreement,” he said.
