Closing the gap between immigrants and the skilled work force
Two hundred thousand people in British Colombia (B.C.) are struggling to find a family doctor, while the province searches for another 1,000 registered nurses.
Ivy Wong, who used to work as a trained nurse in the oncology division of a Hong Kong hospital, moved to Victoria, B.C. a year ago with her husband and two children. Her friends said she’d have an easy time finding a job because of the province-wide shortage of trained medical staff, but she now works minimum wage at a grocery store.
Aside from the frustration and powerlessness of not being able to help others – the main reason she trained as a nurse - Wong says supporting a family on such a downsized income is a constant uphill battle.
Luckily, Canadian immigrants struggling to find a job in Victoria have an answer. Skills Connect is a fledgling BC-based program that pairs Canadian immigrants with an employment counselor.
The counselor guides each Canadian immigrant through the step-by-step process on how to upgrade their degrees and settle a job in their field.
Wong’s upgrade came with a price tag of $3,000 dollars and the province, through Skills Connect, covered two-thirds of the costs.
B.C. is facing the reality of Canadian immigration: immigrants are the largest contributors to Canadian population growth and by absorbing new immigrants into the skilled workforce, the provincial government is finding an immediate – and less expensive - solution to their problems.
The federal government is also looking for new ways to accommodate immigrants. On November 30th, Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, announced the opening of 320 Service Canada centers across the country.
Each center offers in-person credential referral services and is part of the Foreign Credential Referrals Office, a government affiliated body that helps new Canadian immigrants upgrade their foreign trained diplomas to Canadian standards.
