Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - April 2009
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, in cooperation with the European Union, has just announced three new initiatives toward increasing worker mobility across the Atlantic ocean.
The agreements will see the governments working with professional organizations to align regulations and standards in the engineering field, development of a recognizable, cross-border certification for environmental workers, as well as forums to be held on both sides to publicly address the issue foreign credential recognition.
These developments will be especially welcomed in the environmental industries where demand for workers is continues to grow in a field that has become an issue of priority on the international stage.
“Pollutants and environmental impacts don’t realize national or international boundaries and neither should the people that deal with them,” said Grant Trump, president of Environmental Careers Organization Canada, which will be involved in the development of certification policies under the mobility agreement.
However, it is not simply environmental workers who face barriers of accreditation in Canada. Many professions are regulated by the provinces, each with their own rules and practices. The process, therefore, of becoming a skilled migrant worker in Canada can be quite arduous, particularly when Canadian employers are suspicious of foreign credentials.
Many are hoping that the new mobility agreements will be able to help to change that.
“Companies are unaware if there are equivalencies between European Union credentials and Canadian credentials,” said Trump. “We’re trying to document that and look at how we can increase that mobility.”
Source: Regina Leader-Post
