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 Effects of the Brain Drain on Immigrants to Canada


According to Khalid Koser in the Introduction to International Development: Approaches, Actors, and Issues, brain drain is defined as, “ the emigration of a significant proportion of one country’s trained and talented people to another country” (2012:446). So what does this have to do with Canada? Does Canada have this widespread emigration of skilled workers? Canada is in fact one of the places that many skilled workers move to, especially workers from South and East Asia (Galarneau and Morissette 2008:6). Galarneau and Morisette found that in 2006, recent immigrants with a degree from university were double the number of people born in Canada who held a degree (2008:5). This value would logically make one think that immigrants would hold double the amount of jobs requiring a university degree than native-born Canadians do. This logical thought is false. In the 1990s, it was thought that this discrepancy was due to arriving a short while ago and thus not fully understanding Canada’s labour market, and having a lack of contacts in the market (Galarneau and Morissette 2008:5). This thought was false, and actually is caused by a number of other factors. With many immigrants coming from Asia (Galarneau and Morissette 2008:6), many are likely to not have English or French as their first language, a key skill in Canada (Galarneau and Morissette 2008:8). These emigrants are visible minorities, and that in addition to their language skills lowers the likelihood of matching their education level to a job (Galarneau and Morissette 2008:8). With this all being said, science related jobs (doctors, health sciences, computer sciences) are all sectors that regularly hire immigrants (Galarneau and Morissette 2008:9). Potentially because these are all sectors where there is only one solution to a problem, and there is a universal ‘language’ in each. Many regulated jobs in Canada, those that require licenses to work in, require exams and language testing to see proficiency in English or French (Galarneau and Morissette 2008:12-14). This is a barrier that can stop many qualified immigrants from getting a job. As much as these facts are not beneficial to immigrants, Canada and some of its native-born citizens are benefiting from this process. Higher-level jobs have a larger pool of skilled workers available, many with training that exceeds what is available in Canada. Many doctors at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, ON are immigrants, or here on an ‘exchange’ of sorts. This exchange and sharing of knowledge can assist sick children, and help with research towards the treatments of many childhood diseases. Being underemployed in Canada is not what immigrants most likely prefer, there are still many who have gotten jobs that fit their education. 
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