The problem with going third is that I'm going to be repeating a lot of information. The one good thing is that we're very consistent in our findings.
One of the reasons I'm here is that in 2008 I finished my doctoral work, and my thesis was on the experiences of internationally educated nurses when they come to work in Canada for the first time, looking at the barriers they face.
As dean of the school at Centennial College, I took on a pilot project in 2009 to 2011 for two bridging programs, which underwent extensive program evaluation. We looked at two bridging programs, one for nursing and one for pharmacists who would complete their diploma as a pharmacy technician. It wasn't a surprise to us that language, by far, is the biggest barrier facing internationally educated professionals. The issue we found is that many of the bridging programs that exist do not have an occupation-specific need, and hence there is a gap there.
There really does need to be pre-arrival language training that should be encouraged and perhaps required. In some professions, like nursing, as an example, internationally educated nurses must demonstrate specific levels in English fluency that relate specifically to meet the needs of the occupation in which they will be practising. Those requirements are very high.
In addition, we found there needs to be improved marketing. Internationally educated health professionals need to have information available about relevant programming for them to initiate the licensing process before they even come to Canada and step off the plane. We need to actually ramp up our current marketing methods above and beyond participating in job fairs for immigrants and disseminating application information at settlement houses or community centres.
Financial assistance for learners remains a barrier, especially for a lot of the bridging programs that are non-diploma bridging programs. What happens there is that students are not eligible for OSAP or for assistance programs. Many of the educated learners, as we have talked about, are mature learners, have families, and are trying to make ends meet while undertaking demanding studies.
What we found is that if you compare it with Canadian stats, 80% of the internationally educated professionals are married and 62% have children, compared to only 54% who are married that are Canadian-born and 47% having children. One of our students in our program stated to us:
So I think the government should help [students] for funding [beyond OSAP] for those kind of people who are willing to go back because I know a lot of professionals move here and they work in the kitchen because they need money.
Another thing I have found is that there needs to be accurate information regarding professional registration and integration into the Canadian workforce. They are very surprised that we have prerequisites to employment in their professions, and they find this added information very discouraging. They also find that the information is available in a very scattered number of resources and sources, through colleges, regulatory bodies, immigration officials, etc. That information really does need to be consolidated. The lack of a centralized national online information portal that helps these individuals access abroad really does create a significant informational barrier. They need to have this information so that they are able to expedite the licensure process.
The other problem is that with some regulatory bodies there's a very narrow window where they have to prove and demonstrate safe practice. This length of time is decreasing from five to three years, particularly in the nursing area. So when immigrants come over and they have to be landed immigrants, it almost becomes impossible for them to continue on in their profession within that very narrow window of opportunity.
Cultural competence is something that has become very important. A lot of immigrants come from a unique cultural society, and they find that Canadian norms and values, in a very culturally diverse country, are very difficult for them to understand and to be able to practise in their chosen profession. The fact that we have interprofessional teams and a client-centred approach to care is very foreign to them. It's a concept they do not recognize, and they need to have bridging programs to do that.
Examination, preparation, and job searching skills are very important as well.
I will just let you know that the normal pass rate for internationally educated nurses is 70%, compared to 90% for Canadian-educated, first-time writers. In our bridging program the pass rate has been 90%, which is close to 20% higher than for those who do not partake in bridging programs. That shows you the importance of a bridging program to prepare for a profession.
I'm at five minutes, right?