Human Resources committee  I can give you a hopeful answer to that. We were involved with helping one of the organizations that delivered the Skills Connect program very successfully. What we found was that all the local, provincial, and federal bodies were very happy to come around the table. Maybe that

Human Resources committee  I've been in the change management business for a long time. It's not an easy task; you're constantly balancing one group, and sometimes it's just as simple as a personality who makes it tough, as they won't come to the table. But I think if you can use some best practices and sa

Human Resources committee  It is.

Human Resources committee  Only once the skills shortage hits. Until then, it was absolutely— And we haven't even talked about labour in this equation yet.

Human Resources committee  I'd just like to put on the record that what we'd love to see is more of the decision-making and program granting, etc., decentralized to the regional offices and that they be given authority to make those decisions. Right now—

Human Resources committee  Or Heritage or any of them, because right now you wait for six months until it goes to Ottawa, and they don't even know the local conditions.

Human Resources committee  Do you mean something like a training authority?

Human Resources committee  I have a slightly different view, in that B.C. is very unique, as are other regions. The composition of the population is very different. In our experience, what we've found is that programs such as the racism-free workplace strategy are formulated in Ottawa. When you talk to the

Human Resources committee  Absolutely, because it's an important link in terms of Canadian workplace practice. A lot of skilled immigrant workers tend to have language skills, especially if they have a university education. A lot of focus goes toward the others who aren't at that level of skill, who may

Human Resources committee  The short answer is that it's both. Certainly there's a lack of coordination when it comes to foreign credential recognition. There's a lack of coordination when it comes to the whole Canadian workplace practice, where experience is required. But really, it's not having the progr

Human Resources committee  I would like to add here that the self-employed segment is not at all within the whole circumference of social programs. It just totally isn't in there.

Human Resources committee  There are many self-employed, among immigrants especially.

Human Resources committee  That's actually what our foundation does, because the service deliverers are so busy focusing on delivering their services. The reason we founded this foundation was to actually support them in marketing their own programs within the community. By the way, I want to use this op

Human Resources committee  For instance, if you are providing a service to do an analysis of what sort of people are in that location or market, it varies according to the different regions in this country. It's quite different here compared to Nova Scotia, or Toronto, or Ottawa. If a service is to be deli

Human Resources committee  It's a lot better now than it used to be when I started out in human resources, when people just looked around the offices to see who spoke that language. Now front-line service deliverers like police have recognized that, and because of necessity, they've started a trend towards