Human Resources Committee on Oct. 25th, 2011

[Joan Atlin]

I should add that in the mentoring partnership, the initial seed funding to start the program came from TD and that we currently also have sponsorship from Manulife Financial, which is supporting the program. We are looking at models that would increase employer sponsorship of the program.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Thank you. Your time is up.

We'll go to Ms. Crowder.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

I wanted to clarify two points, and then I'll share my time with Ms. Boutin-Sweet.

Mr. Tam, as we know, the federal government has signed agreements with many of the provinces, labour market development agreements, whereby they've turned over employment services and training and other aspects to the provinces. To clarify, is it your understanding that these LMDA agreements do not have any targets for foreign credential recognition?

[Thomas Tam]

No. They have, but again, when we go to the provincial level, say for example in B.C., there's a business transformation of employment services. In B.C. we have over 70 employment centres. You send people to generic employment services that are for all people who need employment. There's no targeted or very specific foreign credential recognition program targeting foreign-trained professionals.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Yes, that was my question. There is no specific target.

Second, you mentioned sector councils a number of times. Sector councils in my experience have been very important in terms of providing labour market information. Are you aware that there are some proposed cuts to the sector councils?

[Thomas Tam]

Yes.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

I wanted to clear that up.

Ms. Boutin-Sweet, you wanted to ask a question.

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

Thank you.

I represent the riding of Hochelaga in Montreal. In Quebec, that is.

Some voters have told me that employers have asked them for Quebec experience before hiring them. I was wondering if the people you know are experiencing the same kind of thing in your organizations and your provinces.

[Joan Atlin]

Yes, this idea of Canadian experience, of employers requiring Canadian experience, is very common. As I said in my presentation, it's kind of a proxy or a euphemism. If you look at what people really mean by Canadian experience, it's usually a combination of issues that make employers afraid to take a risk on a skilled newcomer. They may not know the educational institution the person came from or the employers that are named on the résumé. There may be concerns about language or communication skills. Canadian experience is a very common barrier and one that all of these kinds of programs really help to get past, because it exposes the employer to the real person, as opposed to concerns about the résumé.

[Thomas Tam]

I totally agree. I think very often this exposes the social aspect for the employers, their comfort level, and also the risk factor. If the employer were given support and the chance to understand where they came from and their credentials and their knowledge, I think it would clear a lot of hurdles.

[Joan Atlin]

A lot of the work we've done at TRIEC is developing resources. We have some training videos that follow a skilled immigrant through the recruitment process and the integration process with an employer. We have a set of workshops for employers looking at managing cross-cultural teams, how to get past bias in the hiring process.

You've probably seen studies that have come out recently. There were several from UBC, where simply a non-anglo or non-franco name on a résumé.... if you just change the name and leave everything else on the résumé the same, it has a huge impact on whether employers will call that person back for an interview. So that level of bias still exists in our employer communities.

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

I can attest to that. It happened to me in Ontario, with my French name. I understand perfectly what you are saying.

If I understand correctly, it commonly prevents people from getting a job. But what you are doing, with the mentoring among other things, is improving the situation. Is that correct?

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Give a short answer if you could.

[Joan Atlin]

The short answer is yes, we like to think the work we're doing is making a difference. Some of the stats we have demonstrate it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Thank you very much for your presentation and some of the excellent points and recommendations you've made.

With that, we'll adjourn.