About Us

We are a group of 6 First Year Global Development Studies students from Queens’ University in Kingston, ON. In our lectures and course readings, we investigated the idea of Canada as a society divided by the idea of the immigrant other, with a focus on discrepancies between those who portray characteristics of ‘whiteness’ and other races. We also explored the false idea of multiculturalism and its effects on immigration policies and practices, the wrongs in the Canadian immigration system and gendered immigration practices. As a group, we chose to investigate the various discriminatory practices and biases embedded within Canada’s current immigration policies and guidelines. Issues of immigration relate to the ‘real world’ as they affect the structure of Canadian society as a diverse nation composed of a spectrum of immigrants and settlers from a multitude of different countries. The immigration policies existing in Canada are relevant not just to those who wish to immigrate into the country, but also to those who are already settled, as they ultimately establish the future of the country by determining who will and will not be allowed entry.

Monday 25 March 2013

The Brain Drain in Canada: Taking a Stance


          What can be done about the brain drain to Canada and the issues with immigrant employment once they arrive? Galarneau and Morisette report that provincial and federal governments are trying to fix this problem with adjusting the examination requirements for many regulated sectors (2008:14). I know from helping with a recent immigrant to get a job at a bank, that many banks offer a 12 week course to assess the skills of immigrants to determine whether they can work their successfully. However, this woman has failed out of two programs, each at a different bank. What could be done for her? Having more language classes tailored to certain occupations would be a good place to start. If language is the only barrier a person has, it’s a fixable barrier. Another option to actively solving this problem is encouraging MNCs to hire people that don’t have English or French as their first language. These are people that can easily communicate in their native language in order to help the MNC, but still speak proficient English to communicate with the MNC. Tax breaks are always popular among MNCs, so the government could set up a program that gives tax breaks for hiring immigrants with English or French as a secondary or tertiary language. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Canadian government could limit immigration to Canada only to those that can pass a language test. This would limit the number of immigrants to Canada, but also have them assimilated into the Canadian labour market faster. This is a discriminatory practice, and would likely not be popular among potential immigrants. A more grassroots solution to this problem is getting involved in your community as an ESL tutor. Campbell River, BC has a program to tutor adults in ESL in hopes of them finding a job. This is a volunteer position, and sessions are approximately 12 weeks. This allows tailoring to each individual’s job hopes and prospects, as many classes offered by companies and the government are group classes. There is no easy solution to this problem, as the labour market is over supplied with and not demanding skilled workers.



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