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Canada: Promised land or stopover?
New film shows plight of underemployed
Some are choosing to move elsewhere
Somewhere in Toronto, a brain surgeon from Iran is driving a cab because he
can't get licensed to practise in Ontario.
Filmmaker Jawad Jafry came across the man's story while preparing The Night
Shift, a 30-minute television documentary that examines the plight of
underemployed foreign-trained professionals in Toronto; it premieres in English
this week.
No matter how hard Jafry tried, the neurosurgeon refused to be part of the film.
"For a lot of these people, achieving a certain level of academic and
professional achievement is a matter of personal pride," said Jafry, 39, whose
own parents immigrated to Canada from India in 1964.
"So when you find yourself at the opposite end, there's a lot of shame and
embarrassment. They're basically living in a dead-end existence as far as their
professional lives are concerned."
But with rising globalization, the tables are turning. Immigrants are
discovering they have other choices.
In recent years, the paradox of foreign-trained doctors, engineers, PhDs and
other professionals driving taxis and doing other low-level jobs has been so
common in Toronto that it's almost a clichι.
The Conference Board of Canada estimates the situation costs the economy more
than $2 billion a year, Jafry said. He believes complacency on the issue stems
from the fact there's been no shortage of immigrants wanting to come here.
However, other Western countries, such as Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy,
Spain, Sweden, Portugal and Germany also faced with declining birth rates and
aging populations are aggressively vying to attract skilled immigrants. It's
vital in places like Germany, where nearly half the population will be 65 or
older by 2030.
Even India and China historically among the top sources for Canadian
immigration are emerging as economic powerhouses and starting to recruit
skilled workers from Canada.
Unlike previous generations of immigrants, who stuck it out even if reality
didn't match their expectations, "people just don't make one big permanent move
any more," said Don DeVoretz, a professor of economics and expert in global
immigration at Simon Fraser University. So Canada may merely serve as a
stepping-stone for immigrants.
About 20 per cent of Chinese immigrants who came to Canada in the past 15 years
have left for Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan and the U.S. and most appear to be
doing better economically there, said DeVoretz. "If we don't match jobs to
people when they come here, the immigrants will fix it themselves by leaving or
not showing up."
Immigration applications from highly skilled workers in China, for example, have
"dropped like a stone" in the past year, he said. Partly that stems from
Immigration Act changes that put more emphasis on English or French language
skills, but it's also "due to the fact word has gotten back that Canada is not a
paradise."
There are still more than 100,000 applications from China in the immigration
queue, but many are family class, not the "high fliers" that Canada needs to
fill skilled jobs, he adds.
Of those who stay, the prospect of a better future for their children is the top
reason given.
Malik Khan, a central figure in The Night Shift, wonders if he made the right
choice in coming to Canada.
Armed with a chemistry degree and four years of experience in his native
Pakistan, Khan arrived in Toronto in 2003 with high hopes. But the only job he
could find was working the overnight shift as a security guard at a downtown
condo. He shared a tiny apartment with three other men and made weekly calls to
his new wife, Fareeha, back in Pakistan.
"Sometimes when I think of my situation here, I remember life was pretty good
back home," said Khan, 31. "I'm really struggling."
In Gujranwala, near Lahore, he had a good job. On the side, with his brother, he
ran a ceramics factory that employed 30 people making everything from toilets to
basins.
In Toronto, he struggled to find work. Even after taking part in a mentoring and
co-op program, Khan has been unable to find employment in his field. Fareeha
recently arrived from Pakistan and the couple now lives in Guelph, where Khan
works in a factory. They live with his uncle to save money. Fareeha has a
master's degree in English literature and will probably also join the ranks of
the underemployed.
Khan has not ruled out returning to Pakistan.
Part of the problem faced by people like Khan in Canada is that "a lot of
employers are puzzled by the qualifications they encounter and don't know how to
deal with them," said Jeffrey Reitz, a professor of ethnic and immigration
studies at the University of Toronto.
It's a catch-22 because "when foreign-trained professionals apply for jobs at
lower levels of skill, having been blocked at the higher levels, sometimes
they're eliminated on the basis they're over-qualified."
Australia is perhaps the best in the world at dealing with foreign-trained
professionals. It rigorously screens immigrants prior to entry, admitting only
those whose skills match job openings or who have a job offer.
"They're less likely to have people who are coming on the blind. Most people who
come here don't have a job, but in Australia only a small number come without
job prospects," said DeVoretz.
Moreover, Australia grants automatic permanent residence status to overseas
graduate students who train at its universities gaining skilled workers while
sidestepping the issue of evaluating foreign credentials.
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The Night Shift airs on OMNI2 at 7 p.m. Saturday in English and at 8 p.m. June
18 in Hindi.
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