Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - March 2010
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is calling on Canada’s professional associations to change their approach to foreign credential recognition.
Speaking last week at an immigration conference in Montreal, Kenney remarked that these agencies, with their “gatekeeper attitudes” were delaying Canada’s economic recovery by refusing to cooperate with his government’s Pan-Canadian Framework for the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Qualifications. Currently, only 8 professional bodies are participating in the initiative.
"The biggest obstacle has always been a gatekeeper attitude amongst some professional agencies that have been in the past unwilling to be part of the solution,” said Kenney after the conference. "I think the pressure is building, (there is) an expectation that all of them will streamline the process and make it easier."
The Framework agreement is to be implemented across Canada by 2013. New immigrants in 14 different professions will have their credentials evaluated by the appropriate professional body within one year. The government argues that this initiative will help to bring the much-needed immigrant skills from the low-skill level sideline employment into the high-demand jobs facing extreme shortages, such as those in the health care field.
However, critics are calling on the government to do more to get the professional associations involved.
"There are not enough incentives," said NDP immigration critic Olivia Chow. "There are not enough carrots and sticks to push [the professional associations] into saying yes."
Source: CTV
