IT is becoming more evident that for most new immigrants the "good life" in Canada is simply a dream that may never come true.
Immigrants come to Canada hoping to achieve the best possible life for themselves and their families. But is that really what happens when they get here?
Imagine how a person feels after leaving his or her country of origin and a well-paying profession, coming to the "promised land" and finding that the promise is nothing more than a menial job that barely pays the bills, along with the numerous challenges of integrating into Canadian society.
Under-funded agencies are doing their best to help new immigrants find jobs, and working with the United Way of Peel Region, I can identify with the difficulties such agencies face when trying to reach out to newcomers - especially those hampered by unrecognized credentials and a lack of "Canadian experience."
According to the Region of Peel’s website, "about 60% of newcomers do not work in the same occupational field as they did before coming to Canada. Lack of recognition of skilled immigrants’ international credentials is a barrier to working in their job-related field - Newcomers earn about 40 per cent less than their Canadian-born counterparts. Recent data suggests that it is taking longer for new immigrants to narrow this gap."
So why do we remain quiet?
We have all heard about the doctor who practiced for 15 years in India, only to come here and have to drive a taxi. Why? Because he was forced to choose between working and supporting his family, or going back to school and living on student loans in order to be tested on skills he had done for years.
Another example is a mother and daughter working illegally for 12 to 15 hours per day at a local restaurant for less than $5 per hour to compensate for their inadequate welfare cheque. Is this really what these people hoped to achieve when they came here?
Why is it that Canada -- a nation that values multiculturalism and prides itself on building peace and advocating for human rights across the globe -- can’t seem to acknowledge the
humanitarian issues that exist here at home?
The sad reality is that the disappointing and desperate experience of shattered dreams and blocked opportunities is now swallowing up second- and third- generation immigrants who had hoped to build a better life than their parents.
One might ask why immigrants would even bother choosing Canada, especially when the issue of foreign credentials is not being properly dealt with.
In times of economic uncertainty one of the key questions becomes; "Are we hurting our own economy by failing to recognize immigrant credentials?"
According to the same Region of Peel report cited earlier; "the Conference Board of Canada estimates that Canada loses between $4.1 and $5.9 billion annually due to the lack of recognition of newcomers’ qualifications."
There needs to be a paradigm shift in the way we see new immigrants. Oftentimes we assume many things about them – that they do not speak English, that they are uneducated, or incapable of contributing to society.
But the reality is that new immigrants, if given the chance, can take the country to new heights! Canada’s success lies in the vast differences that we hold and the multiplicity of
perspectives, values and ideas we bring to the table.
We applaud people like Dr. Muhammad Yunus for coming up with simple but effective techniques to help poverty stricken people in Bangladesh with the Grameen Bank, for example, but what are we doing to manage similar issues at home?
If only we could acknowledge that, in some ways, we are the ones creating the poverty; that until we ourselves become vocal about the issue, little is going to change. Not only will the immigrant population suffer as a result of this injustice, so too will
Canada as a whole.
Farheen Khan currently works as a Consultant for the United Way of Peel Region. She is also President of CAMP Toronto – Council for the advancement of Muslim Professionals. This article was slightly abridged and edited for the CIC Friday Magazine.
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