Why Ghulam Rasool, New Immigrant To Canada, Is Calling It Quits!
By Binoy Thomas

The following is a gut-wrenching story of how the dreams of one immigrant to Canada came to naught. Ghulam Rasool is a Mechanical Engineer (1976) with M. E. in Production (1979) and Industrial Engineering (1980) from India with immediate family on both sides of the border. Before he migrated to Canada, induced by the promises held forth by Canada's immigration policy, he had picked up years of experience in machine building industry.

He recently contacted us with his story that he wanted to tell the people through Voice. It was a sort of a last minute 'gift' to thousands of others who suffer silently, having been denied in similar fashion opportunity that they sought in Canada.

When I received his email, I wanted to meet with him not just to empathize with him, but also offer my congratulations on a bold decision that many stay away from - to talk about it openly without shame or fear. Ghulam Rasool is going back home, most probably to Mumbai, and by the time you read his account of his five years in Canada, he will be thousands of miles away, the land that he once held dear. He and his family left town on May 14.

He wrote to Voice: "I may not be able to access my mail anymore now. There is not time left for me. My phone is gone and I am in a basement living on Bread and Water literally, but waiting for the next three days to go by so that 14th dawns. Thanks for taking interest in my case. I am aware of you doing a lot for bettering the lot of immigrants. I would like you to somehow reach this to the Prime Minister and compel him to reply in the Newspapers. As a media you have done well, but probably there are no takers. Good luck to you all. My best wishes for you to prosper here in Canada. Insha Allah, should conditions improve, it will be good for all. The only advantage of Canada is its very little population. But the narrow mind does more harm!" I can certainly bring Rasool's story to you the people, but the Prime Minister? Right now it just might be a tad inconvenient for Martin to be reading the sad tale of a single immigrant!

We all know that Rasool's case is not unique or rare. Among the immigrant community, especially those who come with decent skill sets and qualifications, frustration is building up. Something is drastically wrong with Canada's immigration system. At least for the qualified immigrant, this is proving to be a passport to wilderness. Rasool says that he knows of other families who have quietly decided to move back or go to other destinations to survive. Ghulam Rasool says he realized how it's to live a nightmare. Many in our country, (that include politicians and bureaucrats and of course, those power brokers such as the regulatory bodies and the unions, are either unaware or reluctant to admit this deplorable state). Mercifully, there is some real authoritative statistics coming out of such independent bodies like the Conference Board of Canada on how this country wastes immigrant talent.

Rasool says, "Many articles have been written before. Nothing will come out of this as well, but please try and reach this to as many people as possible." While we wish Rasool and his family the very best in his old/new homeland, here's his account of the great Canadian dream gone bad. It would be an understatement to say he is critical of Canada, but when you have seen your whole life unraveling before you, thanks to a system that's exclusionary, then who are we to nit-pick? The least we can do is to let him blow his steam, hoping that someone somewhere would be moved by yet one more story to do something about it.


CANADA - A NIGHTMARE COME TRUE!!
By Ghulam Rasool

Enough is enough! It's never too late to call it quits. Having realized this after 5 long years, I am going back to my country and for good. The ruling equation here is that while immigrants build Canada, Canada batters and shatters them! The very people who come here drawn by attractively designed websites or on the 'invitations' of immigration consultants' invitations, eager to build a new life while contributing to this country are destroyed and consumed by it!! What an irony!!

Having moved around in this country for long, I have hardly come across recent skilled professional who is happy professionally, barring a very miniscule few, who have just ridden on their luck! Others have resorted to unethical means to get rich quick in. Skill, talent, knowledge, wisdom, hard work, honesty, discipline, loyalty etc., seem to have no place here! All that matters is how many dollars you can sponge out of the other, and how soon! This is the only measure of success. Rest is all lip service!

I had brought with me as my money, a sum of just over $ 25000. When my wife came, we had sold off our property and managed another $ 35000. I had tried my level best to get a decent job and in the meanwhile, had lived on survival jobs. My earnings were so far, close to $ 122,000 in these five long years. That works out to 147,000 as money generated by me. Plus the 35000 $ which is $1,82,000 in 5 years. From all this what do I have now? Just about $ 3,000 and an old car that would fetch me about $ 750 at best. Thus $ 3750 to pay for tickets! Go back to where I came from and start all over again! And with no money at all, a beggar in my own country from Day One!

What does this mean? Even with the most frugal ways of living, spending on just the barest of bare minimum, one still cannot survive. A proper job is needed! And where is it?

Let us analyze a few things. They say Canada needs technical personnel!

What did I do here? I sent in over 10000 resumes, attended at least 8 different HRDC conducted programmes, each spanning over a few weeks, made about 50,000 telephone calls for jobs, of which well over

49,000 were just voice mails that never cared to return the call, made cold calls to over 3000 establishments, spent over half my time on the Internet, did over 30 different odd jobs to survive, volunteered my services for 4 months and applied to at least 10 Universities and Colleges for a course. For reasons known to many, all drew blanks! There is really no place and no way for new immigrants to settle here. All this country desires is to squeeze out the last cent an immigrant brings with him and then dump him!

And Canada wants more skilled immigrants to come here!!

It is said that there is a serious shortage of good teachers in Ontario / Canada.

The lady in the family I share accommodation with has over 17 years of experience as a very renowned teacher.

She had been told to do her entire teaching course all over again! Having passed TOEFL, etc. with over 95% marks, she has not been able to get into any University since the past two years, due to too many students wanting enrolment. In the meantime, she has been volunteering her services for a school. Good and Quality work for FREE! In return she is not even allowed to use the school bus, due to Insurance reasons! So she walks the 4.5 kilometers each way, come snow or rain! Already she has slipped and fallen many times, but it is her sincerity that makes her go. What if she meets with an accident? She will not be able to afford the expenses. Will the school reimburse even one dollar? If she dies, it will cost the family 5 or 10,000 dollars in funeral expenses!

Family grieved and in debt, but country richer! Make money in every way is the country's policy. An immigrant cannot afford insurance so he cannot afford to die! This is a trap.

But yet many of these exceptional teachers are not allowed to teach in Ontario or will not get any job however hard they try, because they are not certified!

Why this certification? To ensure that they measure UP to the very high standards of Ontario Teachers! And what are these high standards?

A Teacher's capability can be estimated by the qualities in the students! It is on record that 2 out of 3 students of the high schools in Ontario cannot even measure up to the basic reading and writing levels! Spelling and Grammar are considered unnecessary here! What is going to become of these poor students who after so many years of teaching by these high standard Ontario Teachers are not even able to read?

One can see and observe the absolute lack of respect and manners by these students who have been taught by these High Standard Ontario certified teachers. They have no respect for elders, parents, lack decency in behaviour, use the f. word at least ten times in every sentence, talk rudely to everyone, and do all what is not expected of them!! They may be low in manners, but they are high on drugs, sexual knowledge, girlfriends and boyfriends, and many other activities that do not form part of any school curriculum! Growing academically, acquiring knowledge, returning to society what they can, has no meaning in their lives!

Canada was rated as the number ONE country to live in not so long ago! It has fallen very low now. Law and order is supposed to be their strength! Yet, with all these top quality police force, there are shocking revelations on racism, brutality, and corruption. High tech systems can detect and track down a car parked at a mall for just 10 minutes over the scheduled time, but a child fast asleep at home, gets kidnapped and finally murdered goes completely baffles the experts.

Canada is supposed offer free medical care. This is today in dire straits. A slight toothache for me resulted in an expense of $1880 as the dentist did everything that can be done to a tooth and relieved me of all this money. And, finally my tooth itself! And in many cases, one visit means the patient is roped in for life! And if he has insurance, then the dentist becomes a millionaire in no time! It's good to be insured! That's why Insurance is the biggest business here!

If health care is free, how come eyes, teeth, and bones are not always covered?

The legal system is supposed to be very good here. But here we have all types of lawyers guaranteeing that traffic tickets, penalties, etc. can be waived! Or else it is free! How is such a guarantee possible! And these services are advertised!

There are thousands of Doctors with fantastic experience from other countries here in Canada picking up garbage, driving taxicabs and delivering pizza! Can they not be used better since there is a shortage of Doctors here? Are they worth NOTHING?

Canada is supposed to be a place with no corruption! The scandals and scams that we hear about would make the most corrupt leaders elsewhere in the world blush! They may want to take a lesson or two!

They say employment practices are fair and of a very high calibre here. Yet we see very large organizations - such as in Power Generation, National Airlines, and several others enveloped in the worst scandals in management and mishandling of public funds. Then they get declared as bankrupt! All tax payer's money. A very large Public owned corporation has a very high minimum wage, combined with a huge static workforce. It cannot even bear its own weight! Then they want to cut down work force. To do so, they offer several millions of dollars to their chosen top executives to accept as severance!

A third or fourth string hockey player gets over a million-dollar salary! A Nuclear Engineer gets 6.85 dollars an hour for 30 hours a week (if he or she is lucky) to support a family! A PhD in Microbiology, who was head of an Institution doing Clinical Microbiology is a cashier at Food Basics for the past two years! In spite of doing prescribed courses here, she still finds no takers! Not even interviews! And one reads in the papers that in Manitoba and elsewhere, Pig Farmers(!!!) are conducting laboratory trials and analysis, as there are no certified analysts! There is a shortage of such people. This proves that Canada regards a ranch raised Pig Farmer a better analyst than someone who had studied, personally analyzed for years and finally rose through the ranks to be a Head of an Institution with 20 years experience! Yet, Pig Farmers are accepted, Doctors rejected!! Reason: Pig Farmer Canadian, Doctor Not!

All in all, this immigration business (racket) to Canada is only a very clever method to get skilled servants to work for free and pay for the people here who want to only enjoy life without doing anything!

There are far too many people doing nothing but prefer to live as parasites. Canada wants these people to enjoy even more. And a skilled immigrant can slog and slave, but he will not be allowed to get into the system. The irony is that the very reasons that brought the candidate in, are the very reasons that will keep him out of work, as soon as he gets in!

In fact the system here ensures that talent, hard work and skill, do not get rewarded. Many professionals are returning after a futile struggle and many do not want to come here anymore. These 'pleasant' experiences of professionals are being made known to the rest of the world! It will be a sad day when only pizza delivery boys and bar girls will populate this country. Will that be an advanced country then?

Who will care for these skilled people and their plight here? Does anybody know what they are going through? The former Premier, Eves, just before relinquishing his office, declared that if the people vote for him again, then he would do something to solve this problem. Nobody believed him because he had done nothing while he was premier. And now we have another Premier saying the same thing. And so does the Prime Minister! Are these not gravely important issues? At least when compared to gay marriages, lesbian clubs, school buses, or marijuana laws?

Taken from: http://www.weeklyvoice.com/CNews/index.asp?CNewsID=526428

Oh C'mon this is O-L-D!

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Pray as if everything depended on GOD
Then work, as if everything depends on you!!!

Immigrants arrive in Canada only to discover their education and credentials are almost worthless

'We are capable people'

Thousands of eager immigrants arrive in Canada only to discover their education and professional credentials are almost worthless. The situation is so bad that this week an Edmonton couple decided to sue the federal government. MARINA JIMENEZ examines just how hard it is for newcomers to crack the white-collar lineup




Saturday, October 25, 2003 – Print Edition, Page F9


It is a great irony to many in the immigration field, and to newcomers themselves, a bitter joke. Canada has a shortage of skilled professionals, and yet thousands of internationally trained doctors, engineers, teachers and nurses are forced to deliver pizzas and drive taxis.

Some immigrants believe that this is intentional, that Canada wants them only for their genetic potential. They may sweep floors and clean offices, but their offspring will be intelligent and creative. Why else would the government accept them and then make it so very difficult to have their credentials recognized?

Citizenship and Immigration Canada bristles at such a suggestion, and advises immigrants to check the ministry's Website, which clearly warns newcomers there is no guarantee they will find work in their chosen profession.

Still, frustration is mounting: This week, a British-trained accountant and his bookkeeper wife launched a lawsuit against the federal government, alleging that they were misled by immigration officials who assured them they would find good jobs here. Instead, the couple -- he is originally from Sri Lanka and she from Malaysia -- have spent five years in Edmonton shovelling snow, cleaning toilets and borrowing money to support their teenaged son.

"What angers me is we are capable people. We have the credentials. We just can't get the jobs," complained Selladurai Premakumaran, who feels the government has shattered his hopes and dreams.

Last year, when Canada changed the way it selects immigrants, many were happy to see the end of the old system, which matched newcomers with worker shortages.

Critics had long complained that, by the time the physiotherapists and teachers arrived, those jobs had been filled and the labour shortages were in other fields.

Now, Canada chooses immigrants based not on their occupation, but on their education, skills and language abilities. Applicants must score 67 of a possible 100 points to be accepted. Ostensibly, being talented and smart should make them more employable.

But it isn't working out that way. Canada is recruiting the right kind of people, but they are stuck in a bottleneck, as the agencies and bodies that regulate the fields of medicine, engineering, teaching and nursing struggle to assess their qualifications.

"We have a disaster on our hands," says Joan Atlin, executive director of the Association of International Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.

"There are thousands of un- and under-employed foreign professionals across the country. At the same time, we have a shortage of skilled professionals, especially in the health-care field. We don't so much have a doctor shortage as an assessment and licensing bottleneck."

About 1,300 doctors from more than 80 countries have joined the association she heads, but she estimates there are many more out there. Ontario alone may have as many as 4,000, most of them still trying to get their medical licences.

At the same time, there is a shortage of as many as 3,000 physicians across the country, especially in smaller communities in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario (provinces that have been forced to recruit doctors from South Africa, whose medical training Canada considers acceptable).

A recent Statistics Canada study of 164,200 immigrants who arrived in 2000 and 2001 found that 70 per cent had problems entering the labour force. Six in every 10 were forced to take jobs other than those they were trained to do. The two most common occupational groups for men were science (natural and applied) and management, but most wound up working in sales and service or processing and manufacturing.

As well as credentials, there is a problem with supply and demand.

Patrick Coady, with the British Columbia Internationally Trained Professionals Network, believes that far too many engineers are coming -- as many as 60 per cent of all those accepted each year. (In Ontario, from 1997 to 2001, nearly 40,000 immigrants listed engineering as their occupation.)

"When they arrive, the Engineering Council for Canada evaluates their credentials, which sets up the engineer to think there are opportunities here," Mr. Coady says. "Then they discover that each province has a body that regulates the industry. They need up to 18 months of Canadian work experience before they will get professional engineering status. And, there isn't a great need for consulting engineers. A lot of the infrastructure has already been built in this country."

Michael Wu, a geotechnical engineer from China, is a classic example of what's happening. Accepted as a landed immigrant last spring, he came here with his wife and child, leaving behind a relatively prosperous life in Beijing, and now works for $7 an hour in a Vancouver chocolate factory.

Back in Beijing, "I had a three-bedroom apartment and took taxis everywhere -- the Chinese government sent me to build a stadium in St. Lucia," says Mr. Wu, who has a PhD. "Here, no-one will hire me. Many engineering companies think engineers make false documents. They are suspicious of my qualifications. I never imagined I'd end up working in a factory. But I will keep trying. Every month I go to the Vancouver Geotechnical Society lecture."

Susan Scarlett of the Immigration Department points out that regulating the professions is a provincial, not federal, responsibility. "We advise people who are thinking of coming to Canada to prepare by really researching how their credentials will be assessed."

Ms. Atlin says that "Canada has been very slow to change. Our regulatory systems have not caught up with our immigration policies."

But some relief may be on the horizon because the issue has become such a political flashpoint.

A national task force is about to report to the deputy minister of health on the licensing of international medical graduates. And this month Denis Coderre, the federal Immigration Minister, announced that he wants to streamline the process of recognizing foreign credentials, and have provinces announce their inventory of needs so Ottawa can work to fill the shortages.

A doctor 'ready to go anywhere, rural Saskatchewan, small-town Ontario . . .'

Tina Ureten, a diminutive, well-dressed physician from Turkey, was always the hardest-working child in a family of hard workers.

She knew from an early age what she wanted to be, and left home to study science, math and biology at an elite boarding school in Ankara, the Turkish capital. As a scholarship student, she endured ridicule from her friends when she chose to spend summer after summer honing her language skills at a special English-language camp. She aced her university entrance exams, and was one of 20,000 candidates in a field of 400,000 to be accepted by the nation's medical schools. By 30, she had been appointed associate professor of nuclear medicine, a hi-tech field that uses radioactive materials for diagnosis.

Had she stayed in Turkey, she would be at the top of her profession today, a full professor in a department. Instead, she met a Turkish engineer at an international conference, and ended up immigrating with him to Toronto.

Dr. Ureten, now 42, knew it would be difficult to get her medical licence here. But she didn't know it would be such a bureaucratic, disheartening and ultimately fruitless journey.

"I sent my application to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons 2½ years ago, and I haven't even received a response. I worry my file is lost in a drawer somewhere," she says. "I called my MP and she called the college, and said they were driving her crazy too.

"I am ready to go anywhere, rural Saskatchewan, small-town Ontario. The irony is, almost every province has a shortage in nuclear medicine. This country needs my skills."

When she came here, Dr. Ureten knew she'd have to write exams and was prepared to retrain. She and her husband sponsored their in-laws to come and look after their two young children so she could spend her days in the library studying.

It took her two years to write three of the Medical Council of Canada's evaluation exams, because there is a six-month gap between exams (not the case in the United States).

She passed all three tests but wasn't accepted in the medical residency program. More than 150 people applied for one position in nuclear medicine, and the odds are stacked against foreign-trained doctors. (In Ontario, foreign-trained doctors cannot even compete directly for residency positions open to graduating medical students, but are restricted to a few specialties in short supply.) There is a separate stream for foreign-trained doctors, but it has only 125 spaces for graduates in specific fields -- and nuclear medicine is not one of them.

Dr. Ureten fingers an inch-thick binder, which contains all of her credentials, carefully translated and annotated. There are her fellowships at the University of Wisconsin and in Basel, Switzerland; her training course with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and dozens of peer-reviewed articles published in international science journals.

She sent them all off to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in May, 2001. In the past, the college approved the credentials only of doctors who trained in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and England, but two years ago announced a program encouraging all foreign-trained physicians to send in their documents.

Since then, the college has received 600 applications from more than 140 countries, and approved 60 international medical graduates to take Canadian exams in their specialties, says its director of education, Dr.Nadia Mikhael. Dr. Ureten's case is considered "inconclusive," she says. "This case has taken a long time because we are still waiting for Turkey to provide evidence so that we can judge the accreditation system of their postgraduate medical education system.

"We don't want to compromise our Canadian standards. And we have to make other specialties a priority, like gynecology, anesthesiology and obstetrics."

Joan Atlin, executive director of the Association of International Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, says it is misleading for the college even to invite international physicians to send in their résumés because it is impossible to assess the programs of hundreds of medical schools around the world.

She believes a better solution is to assess people on the job. Ontario recently launched a clearing-house program that would do just this: assess fully trained foreign graduates during six-month rotations in hospitals.

"This is the right approach, but it is really just a drop in the bucket."

And it won't help Dr. Ureten because nuclear medicine, once again, is not one of the five specialties in the fast-track program.

"I feel like they are making it impossible. There are some authorities who just don't want foreign doctors in the system," she complains. "I am ready to go anywhere. There is a need in Canada for people like me, trained, ready to go."

Between cramming for medical exams, she found time to train as an ultrasound technician and a medical and cardiac sonographer. Recently, she opened UC Baby in Mississauga, one of the first clinics in Canada to offer pregnant couples a three-dimensional ultrasound and real-time movies of their unborn babies.

"I'm proud of my clinic," she says, "but I still feel I'm overqualified for this."

She yearns for her true love. "I have met many smart, skilled people from many countries, and you know what? Many are leaving for the U.S., where doctors can more easily be integrated into the system."-- Marina Jimenez

A need to nurse

Milica Cerovsek, 46, was a nurse in a military hospital in Sarajevo for more than 17 years: She tended soldiers in the intensive-care unit, assisted with colonoscopies and tended to all manner of emergencies in the surgical unit.

She loved her job so much she sometimes volunteered to work double shifts, forfeiting a night's sleep to nurse patients around the clock, much to her husband's chagrin.

In 1992, conflict in the region spread to open war, people split on ethnic lines, and soon the city was under attack. Although an ethnic Serb, Ms. Cerovsek didn't want to fight; she wanted safety for her two young children. Using her daughter's illness as a pretext, she fled to Belgrade to see a skin specialist, knowing she would never return.

Two years later, she arrived in Calgary as a political refugee, and was soon joined by her husband, a professor of aeronautical engineering. As well as their homeland, they had lost their family, culture and status as respected professionals.

Ms. Cerovsek agreed to put her career on hold while her husband, reduced to delivering pizzas for $7 an hour, went back to school to retrain as an engineer. In 1997, she finally was able to enter the work force: she qualified as a massage therapist to pay for the long, arduous process of becoming a Canadian nurse.

Two years ago, she applied to the Alberta Association of Registered Nurses, gathering together the documents necessary to complete the Assessment of Eligibility for Registration. She had to get in touch with her nursing school in Sarajevo and pay to have transcripts of her marks sent directly to the AARN.

The association asked her to take a course in English proficiency, and spend $2,000 on a one-year refresher program in nursing at a community college. She did both, only to be told she lacked credits in obstetrical and psychiatric nursing.

"I couldn't believe it. They asked me to go back and do these courses after all my many years of experience," Ms. Cerovsek says. "They said, 'According to your papers, you lack 35 hours of obstetrical nursing training in Sarajevo.' But I had thousands of hours of experience delivering babies, giving injections, assisting doctors in surgery and doing all kinds of nursing."

Ms. Cerovsek also planned to pursue geriatric nursing, and had no intention of working in a delivery room, or a psychiatric ward. "I had to spend several thousand more dollars taking these courses. At that point, I really felt like giving up because it seemed so bureaucratic."

Donna Hutton, executive director of the AARN, sympathizes but says the association is responsible for maintaining standards and is working "with the government and educational institutes to develop bridging programs for international nurses."

The perseverance that saw Ms. Cerovsek through the upheaval of Sarajevo is helping her through her marathon quest to become a nurse in a province that needs them. (Alberta has a shortage and in the next five years see 10 to 20 per cent of its nurses will reach retirement age.)

She recently completed the two courses and is ready to begin clinical training and preparing for the national exam. The process has taken four years, and cost about $6,000.

"I know so many nurses from Sarajevo who would become nurses tomorrow, but it's too expensive and complicated," she says. "My daughter came home from school and said, 'There is a huge shortage of nurses. Should I study nursing?'

"I told her, 'You should only do it if you really love it like I have.' It's been like my third child and I can't wait to get back to it."


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Repeat!!!

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

Armed with degrees, they drive our cabs

Thousands of professionals have been lured to Canadian cities like London with promises of lucrative careers and a prosperous, secure future in a new land. Once they get here, the reality is sobering. And dream-shattering.
Jennifer O'Brien, Free Press Reporter 2004-01-17 03:30:12







Maybe he picked you up one day. Maybe he took you to work on a rainy morning.

And while his windshield wipers slapped water away from your view of the outside world, maybe you didn't see the pile of medical books on the passenger seat of his cab.

His name is Dr. Mohommad Farhad Bayat. He's a London taxi driver.

He's happy here because his family is safe.

He's happy here because his children grew up with Storybook Gardens instead of landmine fields, and they go to good schools and will never be forced to fight for any army.

He's happy because his wife won't be killed or threatened, even though her hair shows.

His prayers have been answered.

But not his dreams.

They lie between the covers of the medical books Dr. Bayat still studies in his taxicab, while parked between fares.

The books are from Kabul, Afghanistan, where he earned his medical degree and set up practice as a family physician. They helped him continue his practice for four years in Pakistan, where he lived in a refugee camp after escaping Afghanistan's brutal regime.

And the knowledge from those books helped him get to Canada in 1991, when he applied as an immigrant to forge a better life for his wife and daughters.

But once he arrived, Dr. Bayat's books -- and his credentials -- were as helpful as his used airline ticket. Despite them, he couldn't get work as a doctor, a nurse, or in any other medical profession. Employers wanted Canadian certification and Canadian references -- re-education that would have cost thousands of dollars he didn't have.

So Dr. Bayat joined thousands of other foreign-trained professionals in an occupation he was qualified to do. He became a taxi driver.

* * *

Hundreds of professionals like Bayat drive London's streets.

Hundreds more deliver pizza. More clean buildings.

Some are doctors, some are lawyers, some are engineers, some are economists and some are teachers.

Most of them have lived through famines, wars and tragedies too horrible for native Londoners to imagine.

Most of them came here because Canada wanted them for their skills.

* * *

Some are judges.

Aboutown taxi driver Abdalla Abosharia spent several years in the Sudan judicial system, backed by a law degree as he worked his way from legal assistant to lawyer to provincial court judge.

"I was living a very sophisticated life," the large man says. "I had a nice house, I had a nice car and I was very well respected . . .

"That's one of the hardest things about driving a taxi. The way people talk to you, some people think drivers are hired servants.

"It is not a good feeling when you are treated badly," he says, stooping to place a pink-coloured Sudanese fruit drink in front of his visitor. "Is it worth it? For my family it is."

As he speaks, voices of his teenage children float down the stairs into the simple living room. "My kids are getting a Canadian education. For them, life will be good."

Abosharia had only one son when he fled Sudan in 1984, after then-president Muhammed Nimeiri had ordered all courts to follow Islamic law -- sharia.

It was not a good situation for civil court judges who had been educated according to the British system -- the same one Canada uses. Sharia law is based on Islamic regulations and values and includes severe penalties such as stoning to death.

On top of the new rules, judges found themselves under threat of arrest by government officials who requested friends be treated leniently, Abosharia says.

Judges who didn't comply were jailed. Some disappeared.

"I knew they were going to arrest me, so finally -- in my 30s -- I went to Yemen, to work as a legal consultant."

Abosharia left his wife and one-year-old son, who followed him later. He remained in Yemen until 1992, when political instability and job insecurity there made him fear again for his future. He knew returning to Sudan was out of the question, especially now he was considered an activist.

But he had heard of peace in Canada.

With his education and law background, he was a shoo-in. He settled in St. Catharines. But to become a lawyer, he would need two years of law school, despite his law degree.

"I was not a landed immigrant, could not get OSAP, and had no money to pay for law school," he says.

He would have been happy to work in any legal capacity. But no Canadian references meant no work.

So Abosharia found other jobs -- as a paper boy, then a pizza deliverer.

Desperate to support his wife and three children, and save enough for school, Abosharia moved in 2001 to London, where many immigrants were taxi drivers.

Driving cab at night, he completed Fanshawe College's courts administration and tribunal agent program with 12 As and four Bs.

The diploma yielded him no job, despite dozens of resumes, he says, but it did give him the background and references he needed to shorten his re-certification period in law school.

He is to attend the University of Ottawa in September, where he must pass 12 courses before he can take the Canadian bar exams.

He's on his way, but still frustrated with the system.

"We have to go back to school and the problem is . . . getting the money to go to school and finding a school that will accept us with our foreign credentials."

It's not that he doesn't appreciate life here. "The most important thing is my kids' education," he says. "Canada is a better place in every other way, but I am a qualified judge."

* * *

"It's a complete paradox," says Alexa McDonough, federal NDP foreign affairs critic.

"People are very anxious to come to Canada, and if they have professional skills . . . it helps them gain entry."

About 225,000 immigrants move to Canada every year. They are the lucky ones, chosen by Canada's Immigration Department based on education, skills and language abilities. Applicants must score 67 out of a possible 100 points to be accepted here.

And in scoring high, educated professionals have good reason to believe they're needed here, McDonough says.

"Professionals have all the assurances in the world from Canada: 'We want you, we need you,' then they hit a stone wall."

Six in every 10 immigrants to Canada were forced to take jobs other than those they were trained to do in 2000 and 2001, a Statistics Canada study says.

* * *

Some are engineers.

Torpikay Yusufzai and Hashim Mohommed didn't ask to come here. They were invited.

They didn't know much about Canada at the time. The couple and their young son were living in a refugee camp in India when an immigration officer knocked on their door.

"I was sitting at home and a person came to our house and said, 'The Canadian government chose you and your husband to go to Canada . . . You have good education, good qualifications,' " says Yusufzai in her Wonderland Road apartment. "You're the immigrant they are looking for."

Yusufzai, a mechanical engineer, once designed systems for the Water and Power Ministry in Kabul. Mohommed, a civil engineer, designed structures and highrises there. They were happy, successful, until 1992, when militants overthrew the government.

It was a brutal year.

That year, 1,500 civilians were killed or wounded in fighting.

Yusufzai was terrified to leave her apartment, but she wasn't safe inside, either.

The young family fled to a refugee camp in India, where Yusufzai's family was living at the time. Job shortages made it impossible to find work as engineers. Mohommed took work translating Russian.

They stayed three years, hoping to return to Kabul -- and to their careers -- if the fighting ever stopped.

But then there was that knock at the door.

Suddenly, Yusufzai and Mohommed had new hopes. They met with the Canadian officials, who said they could get work as engineers here.

"We came here with hope we would find something."

Not quite. The family arrived in London in 1998. They went to London's Global House, a Cross Cultural Learner Centre resource facility that helps newcomers get essentials, such as ID, health services and English courses.

Global House has connections with employment agencies but no one who sits down to match professional immigrants with specific careers.

The government pays for food, clothing and lodging for one year for all refugees. After that, information about welfare is provided.

* * *

The problem is, there's no follow-through, says Jane Cullingworth, project co-ordinator for Policy Roundtable Mobilizing Professions and Trades (PROMPT).

There is also a communication gap between governments. Ottawa brings immigrants in, but the provinces regulate labour.

Once immigrants are accepted into the country, they are sent on their way, without knowing what they need to do before they can get work here.

"We have a national immigration strategy, but we don't have a national employment strategy to match," Cullingworth says.

* * *

Some just want a chance.

Torpikay Yusufzai and Hashim Mohommed studied English. Yusufzai attended London's WIL employment centre.

She sent about 30 resumes out to places posting jobs for engineers and technicians at the London Job Bank.

Nothing.

"An employer said it is because I don't have Canadian experience. All I want is a chance to show what I know, what I can do."

Yusufzai now works at a pizza restaurant.

Mohommed drives a taxi.

"I had to work somewhere," she says. "I did not come here to go on welfare."

The struggle isn't over. In 2002, the couple got their citizenship, and Yusufzai got OSAP to pay for a mechanical engineering design program at Fanshawe College.

She did well her first year -- mostly As, she says, and is now doing a placement through the program.

Things are looking up, but she's still has mixed feelings about Canada.

"Coming here saved our lives. We got peace and we are so thankful for that. But at the same time we lost our lives.

"The Canadian government brings educated people here. They look at education, training . . . So why don't they have a person here who says, 'OK you are a doctor, a nurse, an engineer -- whatever -- we will place you somewhere and try you out.'

"But nobody wants to take a chance because we don't have Canadian experience."

* * *

The biggest barrier for newcomers seeking work is the Canadian experience requirement, according to Statistics Canada.

"It's a catch-22 because until you are licensed you can't get experience and until you get experience you can't get a licence," says immigration lawyer Greg Willoughby, chair of London's Cross Cultural Learner Centre.

"The government has to put pressure on regulatory bodies . . . It is the same frustration again and again."

Ottawa has set aside $13 million over the next two years for recognizing foreign credentials and has set up a federal-provincial working group.

But critics say the fund is not specific enough.

Regulatory bodies need to recognize foreign credentials more quickly, says MP Joe Fontana (L - London-North-Centre), who chaired a committee on citizenship and immigration from 1999 to 2003.

"It is very frustrating," he says. Ottawa entices professionals to come here but "the regulatory groups are the ones who . . . see if they meet Canadian standards."

Fontana says Ottawa and the provinces should look at providing hiring incentives and a voucher system for loans to help new Canadians get schooling.

In Ontario, Premier Dalton McGuinty has said his government is committed to removing barriers, and has promised $20 million over four years.

But there is a tangle of 38 regulatory bodies for professions and trades in Ontario.

* * *

Some are teachers.

Hasan Savehilaghi taught elementary school for five years in Iran until 1988, when a new regime began enforcing strict religious laws.

"I love teaching, I absolutely love it," says the Aboutown driver, his eyes sparkling as he remembers his first class.

"When you walk into a roomful of kids and you know they are curious and they will learn from you, it is the best feeling in the world."

But it was a volatile time in Iran and, as a teacher, he was in a volatile position.

"It didn't matter whether you were a teacher or a lawyer or whether you were an adult or a child," he says. "Everyone was expected to go to war in the name of God. Anyone who opposed was in danger.

"If you were listed as being anti-government, you could be killed in your house or on the street, or anywhere. As a teacher and a political activist, Savehilaghi says he "had no choice but to leave."

Savehilaghi went to Turkey in 1988, to Istanbul as a refugee, and remained there until 1991, after an immigration officer contacted him to say Canada was interested.

"He told me Canada wanted me. I got points (in Canada's immigration point system) because if you were young and well-educated with good work experience, you scored high and Canada wanted you."

* * *

Slowly, things are changing. For example, last year in an effort to lower barriers, the Professional Engineers of Ontario dropped a requirement that to get licensed you needed at least one year of Canadian experience.

Engineers make up about 60 per cent of the 100,000 immigrants who come to Ontario each year.

London's Cross Cultural Learner Centre saw 139 new engineers between April 2002 and March 2003. It also helped 76 medical professionals and 54 teachers that year.

If they follow the province-wide pattern, less than a quarter of the professionals are working in their field.

* * *

Some are tiring of trying.

Upon arrival in London, Hasan Savehilaghi took English courses and looked into becoming a teacher.

In 1994 and 1995, he did a co-op placement at Princess Elizabeth elementary school. He did well, but working among other teacher assistants -- all of them Canadian without accents -- Savehilaghi became discouraged.

"At that time, the (Conservatives) came to power and planned to start having teachers write exams." Job counsellors told him he needed education documents from Iran to get into a Canadian education program -- "which I didn't have at the time because I fled the country," he says.

Even with the documents, he would need Canadian university training and teachers' college -- another four years.

"I still dreamed of being a teacher, but at the time I couldn't afford to take that risk -- without working to pay for my family to live here."

So he drives taxi. And it's a better life here, he says. But he takes the bad with the good. He has traded in curious and respectful students for indifferent and sometimes disrespectful passengers.

"People get into the cab and they slap me on the shoulders, say, 'Hey cabbie, where you from.' I don't understand how people can talk to another human that way.You don't walk into a store and say that to a person helping you."

And he doesn't understand how governments can make it so hard for professionals when it needs them so dearly.

"When I hear on the radio about a teacher shortfall, it is frustrating because I am driving in my cab and listening to this."

* * *

Canada expects to be short a million workers in the next 20 years, according to Voices For Change, a study by groups in London and Kitchener.

The country already foresees a lack of health, education and construction professsionals, and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business has found 50 per cent of businesses are worried about labour shortages.

London is a model city of the big picture, already short teachers, engineers, doctors and nurses, the report says.

* * *

Last month, MPP Deb Matthews (L - London-North-Centre) brought up the report in the Ontario legislature.

"I wanted to know what are we going to do about it. It's time to get to the specifics of this problem," she says.

"It's an issue I really care about. It is relatively easy to fix and it just doesn't make sense to waste that human resource."

* * *

Some have all but given up -- some like Dr. Mohommad Farhad Bayat, even if he still carries his medical books on the seat of his cab.

Bayat treated thousands of patients his first year of practice, but that wasn't enough for the Afghani government.

As an educated male he was required to join the military or risk prison. He was jailed several times, but when government agents made it clear he and his family could be killed, he fled in 1985.

In Pakistan, where he lived as a refugee for four years, still working as a family doctor, Bayat and his wife were harassed by Pakistani police and Afghani militant groups that had infiltrated the refugee camps.

He was threatened and beaten for not supporting the militant group, his wife for not wearing Afghani headdress.

"They came into my office and told me my family would be killed," he remembers. So he turned to Canada.

He spent months preparing with English classes and applied at area hospitals.

He was told to get Canadian training, but the $5,000 cost seemed incredible to a man who'd fled refugee life without a penny.

Still hoping to use his skills, he applied for other positions: nursing, research, processing. "The response was that I had no Canadian experience . . . It was the same everywhere."

Bayat sometimes spends 12 hours a day driving for Aboutown. He has all but given up on plans to save the money for school, noting he's been out too long.

Two years ago, the College of Physicians and Surgeons put out a notice about lowering barriers for foreign-trained physicians, but only for people who'd practised within the past three years.

So he drives.

"Imagine how it feels . . . You work hard to get something and you reach a point to be successful and somebody cuts you off . . . I don't want to say Canada is not good. It is a peaceful country.

"But the problem is I am not in the right job."

Twenty-thousand Londoners do not have a family physician. Across Ontario, the number is almost a million.

* * *

Until the system is overhauled, doctors will drive taxis and deliver pizzas in Ontario, says Joan Atlin of the Association of International Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.

"It is not that they have to take a few courses, the biggest problem . . . is around increasing the number of residency and assessment programs."

Before applying for residency, doctors must have passed English exams and a Medical Council of Canada evaluating exam.

By then, it may be too late. "A lot of people give up and still about 10 times more people apply than there are positions every year." About 4,000 foreign-trained doctors live in Ontario, she says. Last year, 600 of them applied for 75 residency spots.

Locally, the Cross Cultural Learner Centre is working with the Association of International Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario to establish a local AIPSO branch, and the Colombian Canadian Professionals Association of London is working on behalf of the internationally educated.

* * *

Some are economists.

Like so many other new Canadians, Ali did not want his last name or his picture in the newspaper.

He still hopes to one day get work as an economist, and worries future employers would be unimpressed knowing he has spent years driving cab instead of gaining Canadian experience in the field.

But his hopes are dimming.

"In six years, I have not left a stone unturned," he says. "But you cannot persist if you cannot find an interview."

In the Persian Gulf, Ali taught university-level economics and served as an international economic adviser.

When relatives contacted him from Canada to say it was a better country for his six children, he thought his experience would be enough to make him a success here.

He scored high on the immigration point system and moved to London.

And he was confident.

"In the first six months, I was so optimistic," he says. "Every day, I was sending applications by e-mail, fax and even going in person, but I could not even get an interview.

"Most of the time employers tell you -- even if they don't say it explicitly -- they mention Canadian experience. But how can I get Canadian experience if I don't even have a chance?"

While his children are getting a better education, he and his wife are not living the life they once did, he says.

"My wife is frustrated and disappointed. She was living a better life . . . Myself, I am used to a refined environment. I was respected and I respected others . . . It was an office environment where I worked before."

Not anymore.

"You have to put up with a lot of drunks, people who use foul language and kids who get drunk and become very obnoxious . . . Canada is a great country, there's no doubt about that. It respects human rights and religious freedom and freedom of speech," Ali says.

"But the question asked by everybody in my situation is: 'If my credentials qualified me for education, why don't they qualify me for a job?' "

THE POINT SYSTEM

The federal government evaluates six factors when considering each applicant for immigration to Canada. Each area is broken into subsections and applicants receive points based on each factor with a total of 100 available points. Pass mark is 67.

For example, education is worth 25 points, but to get that score an applicant must have a master's degree or PhD and 17 years of full-time equivalent study. A bachelor's degree is worth 20 points, a high school education five.

The following six factors are considered:

- Education: 25 points

- Official languages: 24 points

- Experience: 21 points

- Age (between 21-49 preferred): 10 points

- Arranged employment in Canada: 10 points

- Adaptability: 10 points

THE NUMBERS

A 1999 study of 1,678 immigrant professionals and tradespeople in London found a 40-per-cent unemployment rate. Of those employed, 76 per cent worked in fields other than their specialty. Top reasons that prevented people from finding relevant work were: - Lack of experience here: 38% - Lack of Canadian certificate: 28% - Lack of references: 13% - Difficulties with English: 7%





http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2004/01/17/315744.html

Hi Friends

These posts are classical examples about the peoples thinking in canada.
All Indian desis missing right kind of Skills. They can upgrade their skills, upgrade their Education that is suitable to Canadian job market.

Even with new rules from 2002, u can leave the country for max. of 3 years. Spend this time wisely, upgrade your skills and Canada welcomes people with right kind of skills with Postive thinking.

Good luck.

PMA.

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Knowledge is Power

Quote:

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Orginally posted by canuck3000
Torpikay Yusufzai and Hashim Mohommed didn't ask to come here. They were invited.

They didn't know much about Canada at the time. The couple and their young son were living in a refugee camp in India when an immigration officer knocked on their door.

"I was sitting at home and a person came to our house and said, 'The Canadian government chose you and your husband to go to Canada . . . You have good education, good qualifications,' " says Yusufzai in her Wonderland Road apartment. "You're the immigrant they are looking for."

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