Researcher Commends Integration of Canadian Immigrants

Will Kymlicka is the Queen's University Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy and author of several books on the topic of multiculturalism. In a recent interview Canada's Globe and Mail news organization, he suggested that Canada has demonstrated and unprecedented level of integration of new immigrants into its society.

Some of the facts that Kymlicka points to in asserting Canada's success with immigration include:

• that, unlike many nations promoting immigration, most Canadian immigrants move on to become citizens;
• that the children of immigrant families tend to outperform those of non-immigrant families in regard to education - an anomaly in any Western democracy;
• Canadian immigrants comprising visible minorities tend to demonstrate very high levels of pride in Canada.

Kymlicka does identify some areas in which Canada can improve its immigration integration. He suggests that facilitating the recognition of academic credentials and employment experience will help economic integration.

Canadian Immigrant Agency Receives $1.9 million

An Ottawa organization has received a CAD$1.9 million provincial grant that will assist it in expending its services to Canadian employers. The organization works with local employers in order to assist them in removing barriers to hiring and retaining skilled workers who immigrate to Canada. Part of the near-term plan of the organization is to create a new working group which concentrates on the biotechnology sector; current programs currently focus on health-care, IT, finance, and public sectors.

The agency presently predicts that local labour requirements will exceed the supply of workers by 2014. It predicts that Canadian immigration will be responsible for all labour market growth in the region by the year 2011.

The Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration states that "Programs like United Way Ottawa's Hire Immigrants Ottawa have proven effective in getting newcomers jobs that match their skills, expertise and qualifications."

Province of Quebec Funds Employment Resource

The province of Quebec has announced CAD$6 million in funding for programs intended to assist new Canadians to successfully settle in Canada. The money will go to local community groups that provide services and guidance to immigrants to aid them in getting their credentials and training recognized or upgraded so they can find work related to those skills.

The province has announced that the first CAD$900,000 of the available funds will be contributed to a group of nine community grounds in the municipalities of Villeray, St. Michel, Ahuntsic-Cartierville and the east of Montreal Island. Some of the services that these groups provide include improving language skills, assisting in the preparation of resumés, preparation for employment interviews, and more.

Canadian Immigration Officials Launch Campaign Against Unscrupulous Representatives

As part of ongoing efforts to protect the public from unethical and dishonest immigration representatives, Citizenship and Immigration Canada is launching a campaign to teach Canadians and potential immigrants how to protect themselves. “I’ve heard a lot of unsettling stories of how people have been taken in by dishonest immigration consultants or unethical representatives, such as labour, student or live-in care-giver recruiters,” says the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism.

The government is presently in the process of meeting with victims and their families and conducting surveys in order to better understand the problem. The information collected will give the government a broad view of the scope of the problem and aid in their goals of preventing this kind of fraud.


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