Here is the situation. Canada invites professionals in to the country from all over the world. When I say professionals I am referring to people with University degrees and or professional standing in their country in professions such as medicine, engineering, accounting, teaching, various flavors of scientists and such. This is the group being discussed.
First of all, these people are not stupid. They are not average. They have well above average intelligence and abilities. They are hard workers and successful. These are precisely the type of people you want as immigrants because they will use their skills and knowledge and training and abilities to make Canada better and stronger. They will add to our wealth and prosperity.
Often these people will have a accent. Many will be of a slightly different skin color and their appearance may be different from what we think of when we think of an "average Canadian". In other words they often fit the description "visible minorities". So far so good -these are all facts -no opinions- it's just the way it is.
Now the problems start. The new Canadians go out in the job market and start applying for jobs and something very very nasty happens. They get rejected. Their qualifications are not recognized and often they take much lesser jobs just to survive.
As a result of this we have hundreds of thousands of highly qualified people under employed.
OK class - what is this? Remember where you are.
ITS BULLSHIT!
From a national perspective this is disastrous. Not only to the people themselves who are left frustrated and cheated but to the country who seems incapable of or unwilling to make the best use of these people and the real resources they offer.
What does it all mean? It means that hundreds of thousands of Canadians go to clinics because there are no family doctors and the doctors that are here and willing to practice are not allowed to. It means not having a teacher in science with world experience who will teach our young. It means not having a nurse because she is not allowed to practice in Canada and instead must earn a living cleaning houses. It means being in a work group and not having access to that bright bulb who could help solve problems because his degree is not recognized and he is swabbing the floor instead. On the tax front it means that hundreds of thousands of immigrants are not earning the money they could earn and are therefore not generating the same level of taxes they could generate. There is just a whole lotta bad things that result when you let your best and brightest citizens sit on the bench. Its bullshit.
In Canada you get a job by who you know not what you know. Show me somebody that says this is untrue and I will show you a liar. Or at very least a serious fibber! Too many jobs here-even government jos- are obtained by being a member of a special interest group or a buddy of somebody else. So the new folks don't know a lot of people yet and as a result they don't get the jobs which are handed out to Buddy and wife of Buddy and son of Buddy etc. Don't believe me?
Ok digest this. 25% of the people applying for Canadian Government jobs are visible minorities. Only 9.1% of them received a government job. Hmmmm. Now why would that be? ITS BECAUSE BUDDY GOT THE JOB DUMMY!!!
Will it ever change? Absolutely not. Canadians are almost tribal in the way our society is organized. Of course its never admitted. Its all done in a subtle fashion. Look at how we choose our Prime Minister. The best white male of either British or French extraction for the job! Look at how we choose our President of the CBC -the best male of either British or French extraction and a friend of the party in power gets the job! Cry me a river -it will never change.
I rest my case. Not to put too fine a point on it -its
so there!
LINKS
notCanada.com This webpage shows how people immigrating to Canada encountered some very bad times. Clearly there is a lot of frustration being exposed here. It is well worth a look to see the sorts of unpleasant and unfair things people have encountered. It also points out that some of the points made on this page are shared by real people. The page is a backlash against the unfairness they encountered.
