http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1098310213923

Ottawa must stop wasting people

Every now and then, a newspaper story touches a nerve. My Oct. 9 column about Claudia Quiroga and Leo Ospina opened a vein.

Dozens of people sent in messages, almost all echoing the despair in the Colombian couple's original letter about the difficulties they've faced making a start in Canada.

Quiroga and Ospina have threatened to sue the federal government to try to recover some of the life savings they spent chasing the Canadian dream. They say they were misled by an immigration system that gives applicants little or no warning about the obstacles they are likely to face. Instead, the couple contend, the system actively recruits highly skilled, well-educated professionals who often have great difficulty integrating into the Canadian workplace.

A number of government studies indicate that newcomers find it increasingly difficult to make their way. Ottawa's response was to raise the bar, to try to recruit more highly skilled and trained immigrants, the type of people officials believe are more likely to hit the ground running.

There is reason to question whether that strategy is working. A quick glance through my e-mail suggests that the human capital represented by immigration is being wasted.

The debate has been all about intake — the selection of immigrants — and very little about absorption. We are badly in need of a thorough review of our system — or lack thereof — for integrating newcomers.

One reader who responded to the Oct. 9 column, a family doctor in his homeland, says he is encouraged that someone is speaking out, rather than "suffering silently like countless immigrants across Canada."

After immigrating, he did a medical laboratory technician diploma at a Scarborough college and took the Ontario Society of Medical Technologists exam, getting high marks with both. Meanwhile, he continued with "fruitless" job interviews and volunteering at Canadian Blood Services and a local hospital. In the end, he took a job as a security guard, where he earns just enough to avoid going on welfare.

"I think there is no better way to represent our demoralized and degraded souls than to take this to the highest authorities in Ottawa," he wrote.

Another writer, a Canadian who returned home after 15 years abroad, encouraged her francophone husband to leave his management position to move to Canada for the sake of their children's education. "Big mistake," she writes. "Last week, after two years of job hunting, my husband has returned to the French West Indies. We have reached the end of our rope and he has to find employment quickly. The children and I are staying here to wait this out....

"I am very disappointed and confused as to why a bilingual and well-educated person has so much trouble finding work. I was feeling sorry for myself until I met an East Indian doctor who is pumping gas in Port Perry....I pity all the new immigrants full of hope and government promises."

An immigrant from Europe writes: "I also invested a lot of energy, time and money to come to this country from a peaceful and secure European home. I have two Master's degrees and an excellent command of six foreign languages. No one wanted them here. I have binders of files and documentation about how I was applying for jobs that I was absolutely qualified for and I did not even get an interview, sometimes not even feedback. I had to learn that the only thing that matters here is whom I know and not what I know."

"Ottawa does not seem to realize that it shoots Canada's own foot," writes one woman, who struggled to find the words to express her anger. "Since writing is not my strongest part, I'll try to find a friend to write to you what I have to say....I would advise the couple to sue on behalf of all newcomers. Maybe then the government will notice what actually is happening outside the ivory tower."

From a British-trained pharmacist: "I have a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in pharmacy, a post-graduate qualification in health service management, a teaching qualification and 15 years experience as manager of pharmacies in hospital and community positions. However, like Quiroga and Ospina, I have no Canadian experience. Can anyone define this and explain how it differs significantly from my experience in England?

`God knows why I had the impression everybody gets equal opportunities here. For me, it was a disaster.'
"I was aware before coming to Canada that I would be unable to work as a practising pharmacist. But my experience could be beneficial to both hospital and community pharmacies. I have been accepted as a volunteer in a Toronto hospital and in a care home, so I am not sitting around moping. But I could be contributing more. Canada needs to value the qualifications, experience and innovative thinking that newcomers bring to this country."

A number of writers wish they had heard about the experiences of people like Quiroga and Ospina before making the decision to come to Canada. "I suggest that the (Oct. 9) article should be made part of the information package and be sent along with application forms by the immigration department," one reader says.

"It is the duty of Ottawa to give a balanced view of the job market to prospective immigrants before they disturb their settled life."

A woman who is originally from Egypt shared the painful story of how the attempt to make a life in Canada destroyed her marriage. "I graduated from nutrition and food science and I was working as a sales representative in the pharmaceutical field for more that six years and my husband was a chemistry teacher for more than 12 years." She now works in a restaurant, trying to figure out how to re-qualify to work in her field here in Canada.

"So I lost my good job, I lost all my savings trying to survive and pay for rent and the most horrible thing is that I lost my family. I used to have a loving husband but he could not handle the crisis we are in and he left me with my son in misery struggling for survival. I used to have everything and I thought that Canada is the land of milk and honey. It was my dream and I wake up now and I find myself in a nightmare, crying all night, afraid for tomorrow."

Another writer says reading about Quiroga and Ospina "was like reading our own experiences in Canada. We landed in Canada three months back with four children and already we are broke and our marriage is already under a lot of strain. We have come from the United Arab Emirates where the life was pretty comfortable for us. My husband has gone back to U.A.E., not finding the job market very fruitful here....

"God knows why I had the impression everybody gets equal opportunities here. For me, it was a disaster. Goodbye to a comfortable life, and now even my husband is not supportive. I have never felt so lonely and so low as I am feeling now. Still, I pray for a miracle."

Others who shared the same experience urged newcomers to persevere. "One has to start from somewhere and move forward and stop living in the past. You can't just transfer your past beautiful life to somewhere else just like that," writes a chemical engineer from the Philippines who arrived in 2001. He and his wife took low-paying jobs in the food service industry, found a way to buy a small home and just forged ahead.

That sentiment was echoed in another response. "It took me nine wasted years to get the same job I had before I came to Canada. But my children are university graduates and professionals in the field of science today with jobs in reputable companies. I, personally, have had several managerial positions once I broke the wall of the several prejudices I faced, especially being a professional and a woman."

And ,finally, this note of frustration on the vicious circle of trying to get Canadian work experience when no one will hire you without it: "If there's someone out there who has an idea how to get `Canadian experience' in one's own field of work, without actually working in that field — because nobody wants to touch you with a 10-foot-pole — please get back to me. I, for one, am at my wits' end trying to figure it out. Believe me, it's worse than rocket science."

The sad thing is, this shouldn't be rocket science. For generations, this country took in waves of immigrants chosen primarily for their burning desire to come to Canada.

In the 1970s, '80s and early '90s, the majority of those immigrants were selected because they had family members already here. But beginning in 1993, successive Liberal governments changed the mix of immigrants to select more skilled workers.

A government currently obsessed with fixing medicare should also address another crucial government program: immigration. There is more than one social need that is worthy of attention.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
I once made a mistake, but I was wrong about it.

When people buy a lottery they have some idea what their chances of success are to win.

So lets see what the chances of success are if you win the Canadian immigrant lottery game.


Lets say 250,000 people immigrate to Canada every year, of which roughly 70% are skilled workers with advanced degrees (170,000). Now the GDP of Canada is growing at 3% per year. So lets say that the Canadian job growth is 3% every year.

Now half the immigrants are coming to TO so say about 85,000 to TO. The population of Toronto is 5 M, of which about 50% are in the workforce roughly. So thats 2.5 M. Job growth is 3% so 75,000 jobs are created in the GTA every year.

If we assume that 50% of these jobs are going to newly graduating students that leaves 37,500 jobs. If from the remaining jobs, if half are filled from people who have Canadian expereince and qualifications that leaves about 18,000 jobs.

Now how many of these jobs are open to immigrants is open to debate. But VERY VERY VERY roughly there is a 1 in 5 chance that you will get a job . Now this may be a McDonalds job or a executive position, but more likely a McDonalds job. In general I would say the odds decrease dramatically for high paying jobs.

NOTE: THIS IS A VERY CRUDE ATTEMPT AT PUTTING SOME OF THE NUMBERS TOGETHER AND I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OF THE NUMBERS. READER BEWARE. BELIEVING EVERYTHING YOU READ IS INJURIOUS TO WEALTH.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
I have only 2 cents to contribute, not a cent more, not a cent less ;-)

My2cents,

Lots of numbers there, wait for the number police to come in.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
I once made a mistake, but I was wrong about it.

Lets take a shot at this........

Quote:

---

Orginally posted by my2cents
Lets say 250,000 people immigrate to Canada every year, of which roughly 70% are skilled workers with advanced degrees (170,000). Now the GDP of Canada is growing at 3% per year. So lets say that the Canadian job growth is 3% every year.

---

Quote:

---

Orginally posted by my2cents
Now half the immigrants are coming to TO so say about 85,000 to TO.

---

Quote:

---

Orginally posted by my2cents
The population of Toronto is 5 M, of which about 50% are in the workforce roughly. So thats 2.5 M. Job growth is 3% so 75,000 jobs are created in the GTA every year.

If we assume that 50% of these jobs are going to newly graduating students that leaves 37,500 jobs. If from the remaining jobs, if half are filled from people who have Canadian expereince and qualifications that leaves about 18,000 jobs.

---