Helping new immigrants to Canada integrate into the workforce is important, both for their well-being, and the future of the Canadian economy.
A public opinion survey by a Washington think-tank recognizes Canada as the most welcoming country in the world for new immigrants, but the numbers show more work needs to be done on integration.
Experts say it's important for new Canadians to succeed and help feed economic growth over the next 20 years, especially as the Canadian population ages and the shortage of skilled labourers grows.
According to the Conference Board of Canada, immigrants will be the source of most of the population growth in Canada by 2030.
That includes people like Dusko Djuknic, who was trained as an oil engineer before moving to Canada, where he now drives cabs for United Taxi.
He realized after a few years that his dream of moving west and working in the oil industry wasn't going to happen. "Either you are going to raise the family or you are going to pursue your dreams," he says.
Marty Schreiter of the Kitchener Waterloo Multicultural Centre says "We have invested huge amounts of money in terms of settlement for new Canadians and we recognize the economic gap, but the fact is we are not reaching our goal."
That goal is to get as many immigrants working in their area of expertise as possible, which requires the recognition of foreign credentials. Not doing so, experts say, means Canada is losing out.
Peter McFadden of the Waterloo Region Immigrant Employment Network says "It's in the billions of dollars in lost economic value because we have some very talented people here that are underemployed."
According to the Conference Board of Canada, the lost income is actually between $2.4 and $5.9 billion each year because skilled immigrants can't find work in their field.
And that doesn't take into consideration the frustration faced by new Canadians.
McFadden says "Until an internationally trained individual can find work in their field, I don't think they are going to feel integrated or part of the community."
Schreiter adds that feeling welcome is only one aspect of the impact, as newcomers are forced to accept ‘survivor' jobs to pay the bills while they look for new opportunities.
"You see people taking on second survival jobs and depending on their age, what happens then is whether the reality and the hope of being able to become that doctor, that lawyer, that engineer begin to diminish, and they get stuck in the second survival job that they know they can get out of."
Duknic says he has come to embrace his job, but still craves elements of his old life, "The most frustrating thing about this, is that it's not a challenging job. It's routine. You sit in the car, you get a call, go from point A to point B and that is about it…it's not something you dream of."
Coming up in part three: Meet a group of foreign trained doctors who are hoping to beat the odds and take down some barriers.
