Volpe unveils plan to approve immigrants' job credentialsBy MARINA JIMÉNEZ
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 Page A11
The government unveiled its internationally trained workers initiative yesterday" -- a multipronged, $269-million strategy to help newcomers enter the Canadian job market and obtain recognition for their foreign credentials.
The announcement, made jointly in Vancouver and Toronto by more than a dozen Liberal MPs, had all the fervour of a pre-election event, leading critics to call it a blatant attempt to court the immigrant vote.
Immigration Minister Joe Volpe, however, said there was no "cynicism" in the timing, and described the initiative as a long-overdue attempt to help foreign-trained engineers, nurses, doctors and others get their international credentials recognized in Canada, and obtain licences to practise.
"If we didn't make announcements, you'd think we were doing nothing. All of this is an outflow of our platform and the Throne Speech and was put together in the budget," Mr. Volpe said at a press conference at an immigrant settlement and language training centre in downtown Toronto. The room was crowded with MPs and stakeholder groups such as the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers, which will get some of the new funding.
"One of the things we have done well is attract people to this country," Mr. Volpe said. "The thing we have not done well is . . . build the infrastructure and networks to integrate them at the same high levels which their expectations led them to feel would be available."
Most of the new money is contained in the 2005 budget, which Parliament has yet to approve.
In Vancouver, Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said Ottawa will spend $75-million over five years to help integrate into the Canadian system 1,000 foreign-trained doctors, 800 nurses and 500 other health professionals. A national agency will also be set up to verify the credentials of all international medical graduates and a new website will help them prepare to be licensed in Canada.
It is unclear how much of the money will go to create more residency training positions for foreign medical graduates. Ontario alone faces a shortage of as many as 2,000 physicians, while an estimated 4,000 international medical graduates in the province are unable to work as doctors.
"We believe and hope the money will be used by the provinces for training assessment and positions," says Joan Atlin, executive director of the Association of International Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. "There are currently only 200 residency spots for international medical graduates."
A failure to tap immigrants' human capital has become a central challenge facing the government. The Conference Board of Canada has estimated that such underemployment costs the economy more than $1-billion, while researchers warn that ills such as increased demands on the social safety net will result unless drastic action is taken.
Yesterday's announcement included $100-million to improve a Going to Canada immigration Internet portal that helps prospective immigrants understand how to prepare for the Canadian labour market and society before they arrive.
A $20-million language training initiative will help immigrants acquire specialized workplace language skills and vocabulary required for many trades and professions.
The government has also created a $68-million foreign credential recognition program to help professional regulatory bodies assess foreign qualifications in a more timely manner. The Canadian Council of Professional Engineers received a $181,525 grant to put together a database of foreign institutions offering engineering degrees, while the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council will work on a system to recognize training in non-regulated professions.
"It's not easy to do. It's a very complicated system. There are 13 jurisdictions in Canada, 15 regulated professions and more than 400 regulatory bodies," said Human Resources and Skills Development Minister Lucienne Robillard. "Canada needs a high-quality, skilled work force to sustain economic growth and productivity."
Dr. Joshua Thambiraj, with AIPSO, expressed cautious optimism the new money would help internationally trained physicians qualify. "We hope the initiatives will provide a concrete avenue for international medical graduates," Dr. Thambiraj said.
An orthopedic surgeon from Malaysia, he has found the process of re-training in Canada so complicated that he is considering returning to Britain, where he is already certified to practise.
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