Following are the perspectives about Canada from two different persons.

Hi I am not an immigrant. I was born in Canada. My parents immigrated from Germany in the 50s. Many of my friends are new immigrants from India, Pakistan and Japan. The most unfortunate thing I've found is people who have huge expectations and are extremely disappointed when they actually live here

The difference between immigration in those days and now is:

1950s
- immigrants are poor people from poor countries or refugees.
- Immigrants - Their education is minimal but they are willing to work hard, sacrifice and save.
- Refugees - may have been rich and educated but are happy to be alive. There is no going back as certain death or imprisonment awaits
- there are no jobs for them in their homeland
- they are willing to take the dirtist, hardest most dangerous jobs
- probably don't speak english but it doesn't matter as they will work in construction or factories
- their wages are very good compared to home. Their pay may be 5 times higher than in their homeland. They can save, support relatives back home, raise a family

Today
- immigrants are rich and well educated people from poor countries they represent the top 5% of educated/wealthy people in their country. They are respected and may have servants.
- Some believe they can fit into the top part of Canadian society. Canada may be attractive for its safety or kids education.
- Some can go into their profession (IT types)
- All Others (doctors, lawyers, teachers etc) will end up delivering pizza, driving taxi cabs and flipping burgers at least in the short term. They will live in high rise or basement apartments in bad areas, their kids who may have gone to private schools back home, but now hang around with the wrong crowd in Canada.
Instead of the top 5% they are now in the bottom 25% of Canadian society. They definitely will not have servants and will need to do everything themselves.

Why is this?
- The government allows professional associations and unions to regulate themselves. It is in the associates and its members interest to keep competing workers out of their fields. This includes not just immigrants but professionals from other provinces. (Did you know that unionised Ontario construction workers are not allowed to work in Quebec?)
- Everyone today is more educated so having a univerity degree is no longer a rare thing but is now the minimum for a job
- Employers do not trust immigrant resumes and have no way of checking them. If someone claims degrees of great job expoerience in their homeland how can this be checked? Canadian experience can be checked with a phone call.
- Canadian experience. Immigrants hate this phrase but the truth is all of us (including Canadian born) have worked through factory, construction, retail, hamburger jobs. In the case of Canadians we do it during summers in high school and university and in part time jobs. By the time we graduate we have worked in many places that can serve as references.

The truth of immigration is:
If you start from nothing and make something you are satisfied.
If you start from something and become nothing you are bitter.

Before you leave your country ask yourself these questions:
- Am really bad off here?
- Have I done my research about how easy/hard life is in Canada? Can I trust my sources (Canadian government, friends who immigrated). Sometimes your friends in Canada are failures but portray themselves as successes to save their pride. Don't let them fool you.
- Am I willing to start from the bottom?
- What is so great about Canada?
- Is there another place where I can make a new life or get enough money to come back as a hero?

Regarding starting a business:
A friend from India was rich in India. His dad owned a factory as did all his and his wife's relatives. Running the bussiness was just a question of playing golf and asking for contract from acquantances.He came to Canada and tried repeatedly to start businesses. Repeatedly he failed. Those businesses already exist. He has no contacts here and no one has an obligation to give him anything.

Sorry for the depressing reality check but I hope it helps someone out there.

Regards,
George
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Think about this :
- USA, with 300 million population accepts legally only 100,000 immigrants/year, most of them with good jobs contracts ready under H1-B visas.
- Canada, with only 30 million population accepts 320,000/year !, with no contracts and very low job offer because of oversupply.

BUT I WOULD ALSO ARGUE that intellectually Individuals have to realize and recognize that there are more skilled workers available globally than there is need for them in the marketplace.

All OECD countries, almost simultaneously, publicized a skilled worker shortage to attract immigrants to their shores in the hope to meet professed demand indicated by employers. But such demand has not been adequately demonstrated and key statistics are not revealed to the public detailing the number of annual job openings by profession versus the number of degrees conferred in those professions or migrant numbers with those skills. The result has been an overwhelming oversupply of skilled workers resulting in depressed/lowered wages, weakened labor unions and protections and more competition. Increased competition has expressed itself through professional associations increasing credential requirements, universities expanding program lengths, employers asking for more experience or local experience, decreased morale, workplace stress and stagnant “real” productivity. It would be wrong to blame an average Canadian citizen for this policy because our government did not consult people over this decision - but consulted corporations.

Many posters on this site seem to think that Canada is somehow more culpable for its failure to utilize immigrants skills in the workplace; however the USA accepts much fewer skilled workers per year (<100,000 USA H- visas per year) compared to 320,000 in Canada. USA skilled worker visas (below masters level) requires employers prove that local residents are not available or do not have the skills required to perform the job; no such restriction exists in Canada. The difference is made even more significant by the relative population levels and the relative education levels of citizens in both nations. In the USA, with a jobless recovery, there are also many local citizens speaking out against immigration policies that adversely affect American workers.

I agree that Canadians should do whatever they can to ensure new immigrants are welcomed into Canadian society; however I do think there should be a broader recognition that the problem we face results from a global oversupply of skilled workers and that if Canada continues to increase the number of labour-ready individuals without demand for their services then there will be a no-win situation for all Canadians.

I would also add, under this horribly overloaded system environment, Canadians born still keep discriminative barriers and practices and they actually win: they enjoy the good positions and income that this high immigration-boosted economy generates. Finally, mostly innocent immigrants are the ones who pay for the income of the mainstream.

Good luck.
Paul

http://www.bcbc.com/Documents/LE_20070412_Submission_LIFE.pdf

While I agree with you that there is much need systemically to increase the opportunities for foreign trained professionals, I think its important to recognize efforts that are being made - at every level.

Talk to various immigrant serving organizations and they can likely give you better information about initiatives and movements to integrate Immigrants into the workforce.

I think its naive to assume that the issue of immigrant integration into the professional fields is a new issue. However changes take so much time. The frustration I feel is that the beauracracy is a barrier at times.

The above link is a study done by the BC BUsiness council on comparing Immigrants to a few different nations and how Canada and especially BC can stand to learn from their policy and practices.

I am not an immigrant but am very interested in the Immigrant condition.

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~ Morning rain

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Originally posted by GPS

Instead of the top 5% they are now in the bottom 25% of Canadian society. They definitely will not have servants and will need to do everything themselves.

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Are you there?

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Originally posted by BlueLobster

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Originally posted by GPS

Instead of the top 5% they are now in the bottom 25% of Canadian society. They definitely will not have servants and will need to do everything themselves.

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oh boy! No servants!! Now that's a HUGE sacrifice immigrants are having to make for choosing on their own to shift countries. Doing your own work is a humiliation that no immigrant should be subjected to.

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~ Morning rain