Proposed bill could help more skilled newcomers enter Waterloo region workforce

The Ontario government has proposed legislation it says would help remove barriers for skilled newcomers looking to get licensed in certain regulated professions.

Dave Thomas, the connector manager for the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre's WR Connectors program, says this is a good first step in recognizing the value of skilled immigrants.

"I think we have maybe stumbled a bit in our ability to really appreciate the value of the skills and training and experience that people bring from abroad," Thomas said in an interview. "It may be that the standards that other people meet really aren't that much different than ours."

Applying for Canadian credentials for foreign equivalent certificates is often a time-consuming and expensive process that many internationally trained workers can't complete, Thomas said. 

"A lot of people who may have years of experience, solid education, licensing and training in those fields — they arrive in Canada, and often they have to face a lot of barriers before they're able to resume practicing at that level in those fields," he said.

Data shows that currently, immigrants have a harder time than Canadian-born workers finding jobs, despite often having higher levels of education.

According to the Region of Waterloo's 2019 Immigration Profile, recent immigrants were twice as likely as established immigrants and Canadian-born individuals to be unemployed. 

In the region, similar proportions of recent immigrants and established immigrants (58 per cent and 61 per cent, respectively) participated in the labour force, which was below the rate for Canadian-born individuals (72 per cent). 

This is despite the fact recent immigrants have a higher level of educational attainment than established immigrants and Canadian-born individuals in Waterloo region. 

As well, 57 per cent of recent immigrants have a post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree compared to 55 per cent of established immigrants and 51 per cent of Canadian-born individuals. 

In Waterloo region specifically, Thomas says he could see this potential bill helping the manufacturing and construction industries, which are the first and seventh biggest employment industries in the area, according to the regional municipality.

"From what I've heard from a number of employers, there are shortages in the construction field and also some of the skilled positions in manufacturing, [and] that employers are really feeling the crunch because they're having difficulty just meeting production."

The region's 2019 immigration profile showed recent immigrants (16 per cent) were more likely to work in manufacturing and utilities occupations than established immigrants (12 per cent) and Canadian-born individuals (seven per cent).

According to the government, the proposed changes would: