Skills, Jobs and Immigrants: Who's Working, What's Working?

On October 12th, 2006, TWIG held a conference that brought together the Ontario Government, social service agencies and unions to share their progress in breaking down barriers to integrate immigrants into the workforce.

“Across Toronto, there is discrimination of all types related to immigrants and employment,” said conference co-chair Darcy Martin of Ontario Institute for Studies and Education (OISE). “For professionals, it is about recognition of credentials. For working people, it is about legal status and basic dignity on the job. This conference provided an opportunity to discuss many new initiatives and compare notes on what is working.”

A number of projects were highlighted at the conference. They are designed to integrate immigrants effectively and equitably in the labour force. They include the following:

Colleges Integrating Immigrants to Employment (CIITE) is a 3 year project that is identifying and removing barriers in both the student admissions process, and faculty hiring process, for all colleges across Ontario.

Teach in Ontario is a partnership with the Ontario College of Teachers, Ontario Teachers Federation, Skills for Change and LASI World Skills. It offers services in 150 languages to assist foreign-trained teachers, over 300 of whom have gone through the process already. Many graduates are working in Ontario classrooms.

Chinese Electrical Workers have been assisted by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). The union has provided bridge training to over 100 Chinese electricians, many with engineering degrees, to assist them in understanding the Canadian workplace and to find work.

Working Women Community Centre Baker Project has set up an Ontario government-funded program to train immigrant women as bakers. The majority of participants had jobs before finishing the course.

Family Services Association has received an award from the Toronto Regional Employment Council (TRIEC) for its long-term plan to outreach and integrate people with the right credentials into the FSA workplace.

The Workers’ Action Centre continues to fight ‘dead-beat bosses’ to stop abuses, stand up for workers’ rights and help people get the pay and benefits that they are owed.

COSTI’s Newcomers Connecting to Trades Apprenticeship Resources is a program that has trained frontline staff at settlement and employment agencies to connect newcomers who have trades experience to appropriate resources.

The issue of undocumented workers, refugees and victims of violence was also discussed at the conference.  “It is our hope that economic nationalism does not become the response of developed countries to immigration flow,” said José La Luz, a major leader in the recent Latino resurgence and mass mobilization of immigrants in cities throughout the US in recent months.