Foreign professionals face poverty

from The Globe and Mail

Canada not doing enough to help newcomers work in chosen fields, group says

JENNIFER LEWINGTON

The plight of well-educated newcomers to Canada - above-average rates of poverty and barriers to finding work in their chosen field - is an "unacceptable" trend highlighted by a first-ever national report card on the quality of life of Canadians, to be released today.

"There is no evidence ... that the situation has changed in any way for the better," said Monica Patten, president and CEO of Community Foundations of Canada, which hopes its Vital Signs report will spur governments - and donors - into fresh action.

"We are going to be dependent upon newcomers for our economic well-being, collectively and individually," Ms. Patten said. "From a social and economic point of view, this can't go on."

The report, which compiles data from Statistics Canada and elsewhere in a reader-friendly way, aims to flag the attention of the federal and provincial governments as well as potential donors interested in putting their dollars to work locally.

Today, as part of a new effort to raise the profile on community foundations, individual Vital Signs reports will be issued by 11 cities across the country, from Vancouver to Saint John.

These local reports strike a theme similar to that of the national organization - that not all Canadians, many of them newcomers and the very people the country's labour force depends on, fully share in the country's prosperity.

In a growing number of cities, local donors are using community foundations to invest in projects aimed at removing some of the barriers faced by foreign-born professionals.

In Calgary a new Immigrant Access Fund offers repayable loans of up to $5,000 for professionals to earn Canadian accreditation in their chosen field.

The access fund itself is not yet a registered charity, but seeks out donors who contribute to the Calgary Foundation, which manages the money.

Since 2005, the access fund has assisted 66 foreign-born professionals from more than a dozen countries, executive director Dianne Fehr said.

The federal and provincial governments assist with operating funds, but individual donors contribute directly to finance the loans.

One recent recipient is Eva Hadzima, 33, a veterinarian who left Slovakia in 2000 to come to Canada with her husband, Maros Pazej, also a qualified vet.

Since 2000, after working briefly as an animal groomer, she worked as a laboratory technician and volunteered at several vet clinics.

By chance, she learned about the fund and applied for a $5,000 loan that enabled her to take four months off to brush up on her written English and study for the exam to earn her Canadian credentials.

The loan also meant she had the money to fly to Oklahoma to write the exam, which speeded her Canadian credentials last year.

"It helped me not to worry when I was studying for the exam," said Dr. Hadzima, who now hopes to start her own practice.

At the Toronto Community Foundation, which pioneered the Vital Signs project in 2001, president Rahul Bhardwaj said governments have taken "small steps in the right direction" to integrate newcomers and recognize their professional credentials.