Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - March 2007
Members of the opposition have demanded from the Conservatives government concrete details on status of the Canadian Agency for Assessment and Recognition of Credential, an agency that would speed up the recognition of foreign credentials of skilled immigrants. While Immigration Minister Diane Finley said in a statement last month the government is committed to getting it done, and that announcements will be made “in the coming weeks", NDP immigration critic, Olivia Chow, has stated that the lack of announcement demonstrates a "complete lack of political will".
The need for a more efficient and more accurate assessment of foreign credential and experience has long been discussed in Canadian Politics. In March 2006, at a conference in Toronto, the at-the-time Minister of Human Resources, the Honourable Diane Finely, and the Honourable Monte Solberg, former Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, stated that the Government was ready to move forward on its commitment to create an agency to ensure foreign trained immigrants meet Canadians standards, while getting those who are trained and ready to word in their fields of expertise into the workforce more quickly.
The mandate, structure, and governance of the Agency, to be developed under the leadership of the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, would be based upon the advice received from consultations with the provinces and territories and other stakeholders. In the Federal Budget of May 2, 2006, $18 million was set aside to facilitate the consultations and to take he first steps towards the establishment of the agency.
Criticisms on the whereabouts and plans for the execution of the agency stems from the delay, as according to Liberal MP Omar Alghabra in the Conservative campaign "there was no ambiguity, no subtlety, no hesitation. And now that they’ve been in government, all of a sudden it appears to be complicated, and that’s what frustrates me and many Canadians.” Alghabra stated during the Conservative campaign the Conservatives acted as though they had the "silver bullet" on how the Agency would be formed; the lack of announcements proves, according to Alghabra, that "the torries weren't genuine in their promises to voters."
The Government has stated that the creation of a new national office has been complex, as the task requires consultations with "more than 400regulatory bodies, 10 provinces and three territories". Credential recognition is a provincial responsibility that involves the associations that regulate certain professions.
A spokesperson for Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, Jeffrey Pender, has stated that they are now "putting the final touches on" the project and that they hope to make an announcement "as quickly as possible".
Articles Referenced:
CanWest News Service
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=0bf1f7e5-9fba-4898-897f-b5d5bfa988a1&k=5933
http://capla.ca/2006_conference/pdf/e/FCR.pdf
