Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
My name is Natasha Pateman and I am the Acting Director General of the Foreign Credentials Referral Office, or FCRO, at Citizenship and Immigration Canada, CIC.
I want to thank the committee for the opportunity to provide an overview on initiatives the FCRO has underway that are helping internationally trained individuals better integrate the Canadian labour market.
Attracting and retaining the best talent to address existing and future labour market challenges is critical to Canada's capacity to adjust to market cycles and to sustain longer-term economic success. As you know, immigration inflows are a crucial source of population growth and are fast becoming a critical source of skilled labour in Canada. Current projections estimate that by 2016, immigration will contribute to all net labour force growth in Canada, as the number of individuals leaving the workforce—from retirements, for example—is expected to exceed the number of new entrants from the Canadian educational system.
Over the past few years, Canada has been increasing its immigration levels as one way of addressing this upcoming labour shortage. In 2010 alone, Canada accepted approximately 119,000 federal skilled workers and 36,000 provincial nominees. However, although Canada accepted a record number of immigrants last year—more than 280,000—all of us are aware of the difficulties that many internationally trained individuals face when entering the Canadian labour market—