The report from the Conference Board of the Canada Symposium on Immigration has just been released, it reflects what was a very good series of presentations and thought leadership on immigration. It was a great experience to be a part of it.
3. CONTENTS
i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2 Remarks by Minister Ahmed Hussen
3 Strengthening Canada’s Economy
3 Immigration in the Age of Automation
6 Attracting the Best and the Brightest
7 Express Entry Perspectives
9 The Provincial Nominee Program at 20
11 The Atlantic Immigration Imperative
12 Francophone Immigration
14 Strengthening the Settlement Program
17 Funding the Settlement Program
18 Measuring Settlement Success
19 Making an Impact
20 Improving Access to Regulated Professions
23 Social Innovations to Boost Economic Integration
25 U.S. Immigration During the Trump Administration
26 The Global Compact for Migration
27 Conclusion
Appendix A
29 Bibliography
Appendix B
32 Canadian Immigration Summit 2018 Resources
4. Acknowledgments
This National Immigration Centre report was prepared by The Conference
Board of Canada and written by Kareem El-Assal, Senior Research Associate,
Immigration, and Ali Bajwa, Research Intern, Immigration. The authors thank
Pedro Antunes, Deputy Chief Economist, for his internal review of the report
and Eleni Kachulis, Research Associate, and Jo-Leen Folz, Administrative and
Meetings Coordinator, for contributing to the report.
Any errors or omissions in fact or interpretation contained in this report remain
the sole responsibility of The Conference Board of Canada. We apologize in
advance to any speaker whose views may not have been fully captured in this
event synopsis.
Sponsors
The Conference Board of Canada thanks Fragomen Global for sponsoring this
report. It also expresses gratitude to all delegates and sponsors of the Canadian
Immigration Summit 2018.
National Immigration Centre
The Conference Board of Canada’s National Immigration Centre (NIC) is a
major, research-intensive initiative that examines the immigration challenges
and opportunities facing Canada today. Through independent, evidence-based,
objective research and analysis, NIC makes recommendations for action to help
improve Canada’s immigration system.
The findings and conclusions of this report are entirely those of The Conference
Board of Canada. NIC members do not necessarily endorse the contents of
this report.
Follow us on Twitter: @ImmigrationCBoC
5. Find Conference Board research at www.e-library.ca.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Strengthening Canada’s
Immigration System
At a Glance
• This report provides a synopsis of the Canadian Immigration Summit 2018.
• Ahmed Hussen, Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship,
opened the event with an overview of the federal government’s immigration
priorities and urged the Summit’s 410 delegates to help build public awareness
of immigration’s value to Canada’s prosperity.
• Settlement program issues discussed included how the relationship between
government and the settlement sector could be strengthened and how Canada
could improve its measurement of immigrant settlement outcomes.
• Summit speakers also explored the potential impact of technological change
on Canada’s immigration needs and how Canada can improve the global
competitiveness of its immigration system.
6. Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System
Find Conference Board research at www.e-library.ca. ii
On May 30–31, 2018, The Conference Board
of Canada hosted its fourth annual Canadian
Immigration Summit in Ottawa. The event
featured 410 participants from across Canada
and around the world, including Ahmed Hussen,
Minister of Immigration, Refugees and
Citizenship; civil servants from the three levels
of government; and officials from business,
immigration law and consulting, educational
organizations, and the settlement sector.
The Summit considered two major, related themes: strengthening
Canada’s economy and strengthening its immigrant settlement program.
The themes were identified based on the findings of recent Conference
Board immigration reports.1
The reports show that immigration is
playing an increasingly important role in Canada’s population, labour
force, and economic growth and that while the country has one of
1 El-Assal and Fields, Canada 2040; El-Assal and Fields, 450,000 Immigrants Annually?; El-Assal,
A New Era.
>
Summit delegates look on as
Minister Hussen engages in a
question and answer session
following his opening remarks.
Source: The Conference Board
of Canada.
7. Executive Summary | The Conference Board of Canada
Find Conference Board research at www.e-library.ca. iii
the world’s strongest immigration systems, thanks in large part to its
robust settlement sector, key challenges continue to affect the system.
These include immigrants struggling to find work commensurate
with their skills and the settlement program struggling to foster
collaboration, flexibility, and innovation due to various policy and
operational constraints.
Speakers from a host of different sectors offered their thoughts on
how these issues could be improved; these are provided in this event
synopsis. In addition, emerging international issues such as U.S.
immigration policy and the United Nations’ global compact for migration
were explored at the Summit. This report summarizes the event’s
discussion points as follows:
• Remarks by Minister Ahmed Hussen
• Strengthening Canada’s economy
• Immigration in the age of automation
• Attracting the best and the brightest
• Express Entry perspectives
• The Provincial Nominee Program at 20
• The Atlantic immigration imperative
• Francophone immigration
• Strengthening the settlement program
• Funding the settlement program
• Measuring settlement success
• Making an impact
• Improving access to regulated professions
• Social innovations to boost economic integration
• U.S. immigration during the Trump administration
• The global compact for migration
Immigration
is playing an
increasingly
important role
in Canada’s
population, labour
force, and eco-
nomic growth.
8. Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System
Find Conference Board research at www.e-library.ca. 2
Remarks by Minister Ahmed Hussen
Ahmed Hussen, Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and
Citizenship, opened the Summit by touching on federal government
immigration initiatives such as the Global Skills Strategy, Start-Up Visa
program, Atlantic Immigration Pilot, and Targeted Employment Strategy.
The Global Skills Strategy allows businesses across Canada to attract
skilled talent, including senior managers, by expediting their work permits
and processing them within two weeks.1
The Minister also cited
examples of businesses flourishing under the Start-Up Visa, calling the
program a tremendous success. Further, he discussed the Targeted
Employment Strategy through which the government connects
prospective immigrants to licensing authorities in Canada pre-arrival
to facilitate their transition into the labour market.2
The Minister acknowledged the importance of the Live-in Caregiver
Program and the need to decrease its processing times and backlog.
On this front, the federal government has initiated two pilot programs
in which processing times have been reduced to about three months.
1 Government of Canada, “Hire Temporary Workers Faster.”
2 Government of Canada, “Backgrounder—Targeted Employment Strategy.”
>
Minister Hussen urged Summit
delegates to fight back against
anti-immigrant sentiments
with facts about the benefits
of immigration.
Source: The Conference Board
of Canada.
9. The Conference Board of Canada
Find Conference Board research at www.e-library.ca. 3
A Summit participant asked Minister Hussen whether any thought
had been given to increasing the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)
allocation for the Atlantic region. In response, the Minister stressed the
importance of the Atlantic provinces maximizing their allocations under
the Atlantic Immigration Pilot (AIP). He further highlighted the ability
of the Atlantic provinces to make use of unfulfilled PNP allocations
of other provinces and territories within the AIP. Answering a question
about replicating AIP in rural parts of Canada, he suggested that such
a program could be introduced in the future.
The Minister concluded by urging Summit participants to do all that they
could to push back against rising anti-immigrant sentiments and to “fight
fear with facts.”
Strengthening Canada’s Economy
Recent Conference Board research has illustrated the growing
importance of immigration to Canada’s economy.3
Today, immigration
accounts for some 70 per cent of population growth and 90 per cent
of labour force growth. Moving forward, it will account for 100 per cent
of population growth and a projected one-third of annual real GDP
growth. Consequently, much of the Summit focused on how Canada
can augment immigration’s role in supporting its economic growth
while proactively adapting to evolutions in the labour market such
as technological change.
Immigration in the Age of Automation
The lion’s share of Canada’s immigrant admissions is driven by the
country’s need for immigrants to plug labour market gaps in the wake
of the growing wave of baby boomers leaving the workforce. While
analysts can project attrition in the labour force fairly precisely, there
is far less certainty as to what skills will be needed most in the labour
3 El-Assal and Fields, Canada 2040.
10. Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System
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market moving forward. Moreover, the potential role of technological
change in Canada’s labour market and the need for immigrants is
another major uncertainty.
Sunil Johal of the University of Toronto’s Mowat Centre delved into this
topic and put forward immigration policy considerations. He identified key
emerging issues (e.g., digitization, automation of industry, and living in an
on-demand society) created by the unique nature of the digital economy.
He suggested that the characteristics of firms in the digital economy,
including less need for infrastructure, low costs of replication, rapid
scalability, powerful network effects, and low barriers to entry, all make
it difficult for governments to regulate and protect the public interest.
Over the last few years, technological advancement has led to an
increase in non-routine cognitive jobs. Johal predicted that this trend
would continue, while routine jobs would steadily decline. For example,
he suggested that around 500,000 Canadians who drive for a living could
be out of work in the next 10 to 15 years.
Highlighting the rise of independent workers,4
Johal recommended
a rethinking of social benefits to address the needs of those in non-
standard work. Discussing skills that would be important to succeed
4 Manyika and others, Independent Work.
>
Sunil Johal discusses how
technological change could
impact Canada’s labour market.
Source: The Conference Board
of Canada.
11. The Conference Board of Canada
Find Conference Board research at www.e-library.ca. 5
in the future, he focused on the need for social and emotional
intelligence complemented by adaptability, creativity, computational
skills, and analytic thinking.
Johal provided an overview of how Japan, the U.S., and Canada are
responding to different labour market challenges. Japan is increasingly
relying on automation and artificial intelligence while continuing to restrict
immigration.5
The agriculture sector in the United States is automating
rapidly in the wake of the crackdown on undocumented immigrants.6
Canada, on the other hand, has been targeting highly skilled immigrants
to address labour market shortages.
He also gave a breakdown of immigrant employment by sector and the
likelihood of automation by sector. Immigrants account for 23.8 per cent
of the Canadian workforce;7
sectors with an over-representation of
immigrants who are at risk of automation are food counter attendants
and kitchen helpers, transport truck drivers, and light-duty cleaners.8
He emphasized the importance of a coherent immigration policy with
data-driven decision-making using a human capital lens and adequate
newcomer settlement programs. Canada’s main challenge, he said, will
be to bring in immigrants with the human capital characteristics most
needed in the labour market. Another challenge is increasing competition
for skilled immigrants among Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) countries, the topic of discussion in another
plenary session.
5 Moss, “Aging Japan Wants Automation, Not Immigration.”
6 Baertlein and Huffstutter, “As Trump Targets Immigrants.”
7 Statistics Canada, Census Data table 98-400-X2016372.
8 Lamb, The Talented Mr. Robot.
>
The Canadian Immigration
Summit 2018 featured
410 delegates from
Canada, the United States,
the United Kingdom,
and Australia.
Source: The Conference Board
of Canada.
12. Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System
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Attracting the Best and the Brightest
David Crawford of Fragomen Global and Lesleyanne Hawthorne of
the University of Melbourne discussed the global competition for talent
and what Canada and Australia are doing to become more attractive
destinations for skilled immigrants. Crawford said that one of the major
benefits of the Canadian system is the use of objective selection criteria,
which enables accurate self-assessment among potential immigrants
and reduces the number of applications from those who do not qualify
for immigration. This facilitates predictable results, timely service, and
the effective use of government resources. While Canada is successful
in this area when it comes to permanent residency, it is less so for
some temporary residence permit categories where the criteria are
subjective and the processing time frames are subject to change.
Crawford explained, however, that the federal government is responsible
for ensuring that employers who bring in foreign workers comply with
Canadian laws, through appropriate compliance and audit checks, which
he said is essential to maintaining the integrity and public support of the
country’s immigration system. He concluded by stating that it is essential
that countries such as Canada ensure that the spirit of their immigration
system (i.e., their desire to attract top talent) is supported by a regulatory
regime that advances this aim through objective criteria, timely service,
and good use of government resources.
Hawthorne opened her remarks by providing the largely Canadian
audience with an overview of key Australian immigration statistics over
the past decade. Some 27 per cent of Australians are immigrants and
net immigration (immigration minus emigration) has accounted for
59 per cent of population growth.
She noted that the global competition for talent requires countries to
offer a holistic immigration package that comprises good selection and
settlement programs—and that Canada and Australia were both strong
in this regard. At the same time, emerging trends are challenging the
existing immigration paradigm and increasing the global competition
for talent. For instance, an increasing number of young Australians
are immigrating to China for economic opportunity.
13. The Conference Board of Canada
Find Conference Board research at www.e-library.ca. 7
Canada and Australia have similar immigration systems (i.e., points
systems to select skilled immigrants), but a key difference between the
two countries is that Australia tends to have higher employment rates
for principal applicants under the economic class within six months of
landing. Among the reasons for this is that most of Australia’s immigrants
have traditionally come from English-speaking countries; over the past
decade, however, India, China, and the Philippines have emerged as
some of Australia’s top source countries for immigrants. (The United
Kingdom is second and Ireland is fifth.)
One of the most significant developments in recent years has been
Australia’s growing reliance on temporary residents as a source of
immigrants. Today, some 50 per cent of economic class principal
applicants were former temporary residents of the country. Many of
these individuals are former international students who have helped
Australia achieve replacement-rate fertility levels.
Hawthorne concluded by highlighting recent Australian policy reforms.
Continuing the tradition of the two countries adopting new policies
gleaned from each another, Australia borrowed from Canada to launch
its Global Talent Scheme in 2018. The scheme allows employers
with over $4 million in annual revenues to hire foreign workers who
earn above $180,000 or for technology-based and STEM-related
start-up businesses to hire foreign workers with skills most likely to
spur innovation and job creation. In both cases, employers can recruit
such foreign workers without requiring a labour market test.
Express Entry Perspectives
Express Entry is a major feature of the Canadian immigration system
that was adopted from Australia and New Zealand. Canada launched
Express Entry in January 2015 to reduce backlogs and processing times,
address labour shortages, and recruit individuals with high human capital
most likely to succeed in Canada’s economy. Speakers from the public
and private sectors spoke on Express Entry’s strengths and areas in
which it could be improved.
Immigrants
have helped
Australia achieve
replacement-rate
fertility levels.
14. Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System
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Patrick McEvenue of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
(IRCC) said that early benefits of Express Entry include more invited
candidates having Canadian credentials (e.g., international students) and
siblings in Canada—which helps the economic integration process—
and other benefits such as more invited candidates having STEM
backgrounds, job offers, and French-language proficiency. Express Entry
is competitive and attracts those with high human capital; has eliminated
backlogs while improving processing times; is more transparent; helps
provinces and territories respond to their labour market needs; and
provides the department with a lot of performance data they can use
to inform future policy. Key issues IRCC is considering include how to
process outlier or special cases of skilled immigrants who face barriers
or do not qualify under Express Entry; how to adapt selection criteria
to the changing nature of work; how Express Entry impacts certain
occupational groups; the system’s complexity; and how to engage
employers so they can benefit from Express Entry.
Deanna Okun-Nachoff of McCrea Immigration Law said that Express
Entry is successful on two fronts: speed and transparency. Like Crawford
and Hawthorne, she stressed the importance of having a system that
facilitates clear and predictable decisions so that stakeholders can
assess whether a candidate has a chance of qualifying for immigration.
However, Express Entry falls short on accessibility, choosing the right
candidates, and delivering good customer service. She finds the initiative
is unnecessarily complicated—which is beneficial to immigration lawyers
and consultants, who have seen requests for their services go up as
a result. This might make Express Entry less accessible to those who
struggle to navigate the system and cannot afford a lawyer or consultant.
Another challenge is that Express Entry’s point system does not always
reward people who she believes have high human capital and would
succeed in the Canadian labour market (e.g., those above the age
of 45 and/or those who do not have Canadian experience). Third, she
said that customer service is a challenge because the immigration
screening process is automated and when there are technical issues
on the Express Entry website, it is difficult to reach customer support.
Key issues IRCC is
considering include
how to process
outlier or special
cases of skilled
immigrants who
face barriers or do
not qualify under
Express Entry.
15. The Conference Board of Canada
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Patrick Snider of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce explained that
employers have largely had a positive experience with Express Entry
but noted some challenges. IRCC has addressed earlier concerns such
as international students not receiving enough points under Express
Entry. However, employers continue to express frustration with the
Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) process, which remains
onerous. To further improve it, employer feedback needs to be better
integrated into the Express Entry system. For example, employers could
help IRCC identify which occupations are most in-demand and should
be given priority in the selection process. He pointed to the AIP as an
example of how red tape can be reduced so that employers can recruit
newcomers more easily.
The Provincial Nominee Program at 20
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Provincial Nominee Program
(PNP), and three speakers shared federal, provincial, and employer
perspectives on its strengths, challenges, and areas for improvement.
Natasha Kim of IRCC stressed the importance of provinces and
territories working with the federal government to achieve national
immigration and economic growth objectives. Key strengths of the
PNP include its ability to respond to emerging labour market needs
and high employment rates and earnings among provincial nominees.
The PNP’s challenges include its long processing times and the limited
number of francophones arriving under it. Kim explained that the PNP’s
continued success will rely upon strengthening partnerships between
multiple levels of government and encouraging positive discourse on
immigration within communities across the country.
Ben Rempel of Manitoba Education and Training emphasized the
importance of provinces and territories having the role and freedom
to select newcomers that correspond with their labour market needs.
One of the PNP’s greatest benefits is promoting regionalization.
Whereas 87 per cent of economic class newcomers settled in Ontario,
16. Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System
Find Conference Board research at www.e-library.ca. 10
Quebec, and British Columbia in 1995, we are now seeing more
immigration to provinces and territories across Canada. Manitoba, for
instance, depends on the PNP to attract 93 per cent of its economic
class newcomers. Manitoba has had challenges with the program,
including employer fraud and credential recognition barriers; however,
the PNP’s growth and ability to foster innovation has allowed the
province to benefit greatly from it. Rempel concluded his remarks
with a series of open-ended questions to spur discussion on how the
PNP can be improved, including whether there is the right mix of PNP
streams and whether language requirements are high enough, social
capital criteria should be strengthened, and current PNP allocations
are conducive to meeting national immigration goals.
Baerbel Langner of HyLife used her company’s success to illustrate
the benefits of the PNP, specifically its role in reviving rural economies.
Founded in 1994, HyLife has grown from 10 employees to some 1,300
today. Over the past decade it has invested over $200 million in
integrated pork production and a strategy that processes about
1.9 million hogs per year. Langner highlighted the importance of
the meat sector to the Canadian economy and stressed that there
was plenty of room to grow. However, sector labour shortages pose
a significant challenge: butchers, for example, are in short supply.
While the sector seeks Canadians to fill jobs first, it needs to draw upon
the PNP and Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) to fill jobs
that Canadians are not necessarily interested in pursuing. Highlighting
an analysis conducted by the Canadian Meat Council on available PNP
pathways, Langner noted that only Manitoba has a stream available
for immigrant butchers. In addition to PNP reforms, the Canadian Meat
Council believes that the federal government could introduce a new
federal agri-food pilot program, double the TFWP work permit length
to two years, and remove the TFWP cap for primary processing.
Manitoba depends
on the PNP to
attract 93 per cent
of its economic
class newcomers.
17. The Conference Board of Canada
Find Conference Board research at www.e-library.ca. 11
The Atlantic Immigration Imperative
One of the Summit’s recurring topics was the importance of boosting
immigration in Atlantic Canada to combat the region’s demographic,
economic, and fiscal challenges—the subject of a recent Conference
Board report.9
Tracey Taweel of the Nova Scotia Office of Immigration
(NSOI) explained that the region’s demographic challenges are a sign
of things to come in the rest of Canada. Like the region’s three other
provinces, Nova Scotia is prioritizing immigrant attraction and retention
to improve its prosperity. The province is benefiting from Express Entry
and the PNP to recruit more economic class immigrants and continues
to adjust its PNP selection criteria to reflect the needs of its employers
and labour market. Moreover, the AIP is a new tool to recruit more
immigrants and allows the region’s provinces to test a new approach
that embeds settlement supports in the selection process, which may
have a positive impact on retention.
Taweel highlighted other provincial initiatives to support its immigration
objectives. NSOI partners with 14 settlement organizations to ensure
that immigrants have robust settlement supports regardless of where
they choose to build a life within the province. It is also engaging
with stakeholders across the province to help build their awareness
of immigration’s value and to build the capacity of employers to hire
immigrants. The province is also working hard to promote itself as a
destination of choice for newcomers by emphasizing its high quality
of life, unique character, and job opportunities. It has a new branding
campaign called “Room to Live,” which it is using in international
markets to try to recruit more newcomers. A key result of such efforts
is that support for immigration is growing in Nova Scotia and the
province’s immigration and retention figures are surging. Moving
forward, Nova Scotia will continue to work to maximize its PNP and
AIP allocations; engage with stakeholders, including employers; promote
itself overseas; grow its francophone immigrant population; and fill
urgent labour market gaps. For example, NSOI recently travelled to
London and Dublin to recruit general physicians and has already brought
in six so far. She noted that the College of Physicians and Surgeons
9 El-Assal and Goucher, Immigration to Atlantic Canada.
18. Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System
Find Conference Board research at www.e-library.ca. 12
of Nova Scotia recognizes equivalency in certain countries, which
expedites the immigration process. In addition, immigrant physicians
need to demonstrate they have medical status and a job offer to qualify
for immigration to the province.
Mike Timani of Fancy Pokket Corporation spoke of efforts made in
New Brunswick to boost immigration. Population aging is placing
tremendous strain on New Brunswick’s economy and will continue
to do so, with some 110,000 people set to retire over the next decade.
As such, stakeholders in the province have established a goal of
attracting 150,000 newcomers over the next 20 years. New Brunswick
had an immigrant population of about 30,000 people as of the
2016 Census and has averaged about 3,000 immigrant landings
annually over the past five years.10
Timani explained that the keys to success include New Brunswick having
enough flexibility through the PNP and AIP to recruit more immigrants.
Moreover, he said that the federal and provincial government need to
provide settlement organizations with enough funding to help improve
immigrant retention, which has been a longstanding challenge in the
region. While the AIP is going well, it can be improved, especially in
terms of more information-sharing among employers and immigrants.
Most employers in the province are small and medium-sized enterprises
with little experience using immigration programs. On the plus side, the
province is taking steps to engage employers. For example, it created
an assistant deputy minister position to foster employer and community
engagement with the AIP.
Francophone Immigration
Jacques Leroux of Quebec’s Ministry of Immigration, Diversity and
Inclusion (MIDI) discussed the province’s efforts to achieve its
francophone immigration goals against the backdrop of 2018 marking
the 50th anniversary of Quebec being the first province in Canada to
launch its own immigration ministry. Fifty years ago, he said, Quebec
saw immigration as a means of strengthening its francophone fabric,
10 Ibid.
Population aging
is placing tremen-
dous strain on
New Brunswick’s
economy,
with some
110,000 people
set to retire over
the next decade.
19. The Conference Board of Canada
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and this remains the case today. In March 2016, the province introduced
a new policy document stating that immigration would continue to
support Quebec’s demographic goals, economy, efforts to globalize,
and francophone culture and has put in place an action plan to guide
its efforts to achieve its policies. However, like every other jurisdiction,
Quebec faces the challenge of integrating newcomers into the labour
market. Immigrants account for 52 per cent of new jobs created in
Quebec, but most jobs in the province are located outside of Montreal—
the city the majority of newcomers choose to settle in. As such, Quebec
has a strategy to recruit francophone immigrants most likely to succeed
in its labour market. It has immigration offices in countries around
the world. In addition, it is implementing an expression-of-interest
selection process (similar to Express Entry) that will be more dynamic
and responsive to its labour market needs. MIDI also employs French
teachers to provide language training to newcomers and provides
financial incentives to employers who provide on-the-job language
training. MIDI’s relationship with employers and other important
community players stems from its philosophy that such partnerships are
critical to Quebec’s desire to remain the leading centre of francophone
culture in Canada.
Isabelle Leblond and Steven Fecteau of Olymel shared the experiences
of the Canadian food processing company’s efforts to recruit francophone
immigrants in Quebec and New Brunswick. Leblond explained that
Olymel’s Quebec factories are in rural areas where labour is scarce
and so it needs to recruit immigrants from across the province and
around the world. It targets francophone immigrants to ensure they
can integrate in their factories and in the community. Some of the
countries they recruit from include Mauritius, Madagascar, Djibouti, and
other African countries with francophone populations. Olymel boasts a
100 per cent immigrant retention rate in Quebec. She attributes this to
the partnerships it develops with government and the community and
the intercultural training it provides to its workforce. Additionally, Olymel
invests in newcomer onboarding by giving immigrants a sense of what
to expect in Quebec (e.g., through videos); providing immigrant families
Quebec has a
strategy to recruit
francophone
immigrants most
likely to succeed in
its labour market.
20. Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System
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with settlement and integration supports, including training on Quebec’s
workplace culture; and collaborating with volunteers and other local
partners to help immigrants integrate into the community. Some of the
challenges include delays in immigration application processing, lack of
housing, and difficulties facilitating transportation to rural communities.
She also added that recruitment and integration costs are very high
and that while Olymel can make this investment because it is a large
company, smaller companies are unlikely to be able to afford the costs.
Discussing Olymel’s efforts in New Brunswick, Fecteau also stressed the
importance of creating relationships to facilitate retention. For example,
he greets newcomers at the airport when they first arrive in the province.
Olymel addresses the basic needs of newcomers, such as helping
them find the local grocery store and enrolling their children in school.
He explained that residents in rural communities may be apprehensive
about immigration’s benefits, but providing them with information and
creating relationships between them and the newcomers is helpful to
fostering understanding.
Strengthening the Settlement Program
Canada has one of the world’s most sophisticated immigrant settlement
programs. This is demonstrated by several metrics, including the level
of federal and provincial funding and the country’s vibrant settlement
community, which comprises some 500 organizations dedicated to
providing newcomers with the supports they need to thrive. However, the
Conference Board and others in the field note ongoing challenges with
the settlement program, including determining which services are most
required and most effective; ensuring adequate settlement funding to
cover the growing demand for services as Canada’s immigration levels
rise; facilitating collaboration among stakeholders, which can be difficult
due to competition for limited government funding; and government
funders providing settlement organizations with the flexibility to deliver
tailored supports that correspond with the diverse needs of immigrants
within their respective communities.
21. The Conference Board of Canada
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Stakeholders from the federal government and settlement sector
weighed in on these issues as they engaged in a fireside chat on
improving Canada’s settlement program. Fariborz Birjandian of the
Calgary Catholic Immigration Society emphasized the complexity
of settlement and integration, which he pointed out involves the
participation of an array of stakeholders who do not necessarily work
in immigration. He said that, ultimately, the key to success is to focus
on improving the lives of people, rather than on policies, programs, or
settlement organizations. Nonetheless, the settlement sector fills an
important need in Canadian society and has become one of Canada’s
immigration advantages when compared with its global peers.
Debbie Douglas of the Ontario Council of Associations Serving
Immigrants said that the relationship between government and the
settlement sector is positive, but that at times unnecessary tensions
develop between government officials and settlement organizations.
She suggested this is partly a function of government viewing it as
their role to monitor and “police” settlement organizations; instead, the
two need to see each other as partners who share accountability on
how funding is used and what settlement and integration outcomes are
derived from the funding. There needs to be a more holistic government
approach to supporting settlement and integration. She said that IRCC
>
Fariborz Birjandian, Jean
McCrae, Debbie Douglas,
and David Manicom (left to
right) explore how government
and the settlement sector can
strengthen their partnership.
Source: The Conference Board
of Canada.
22. Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System
Find Conference Board research at www.e-library.ca. 16
could champion this initiative so that all federal departments ensure that
their policies and programs are sensitive to the needs of immigrants.
For instance, the federal government has implemented gender-based
analysis within its budgeting; using this approach broadly across the
federal government could improve newcomer settlement and integration.
In addition, Douglas stressed the importance of paying attention
to issues such as how race, disabilities, and age might influence
newcomers’ settlement experiences.
David Manicom of IRCC noted his department’s efforts to shift from
settlement consultations to co-planning with key partners such as
provinces and territories, settlement organizations, and local immigration
partnerships (LIPs). He highlighted the formative role that European
cities play in settlement and integration and believes that Canada can
learn much from them to strengthen and support the role of cities and
LIPs in supporting newcomers. IRCC is also seeking to improve its
relationship with the settlement sector. For instance, the new multi-year
immigration levels plan and settlement funding envelope will provide
more funding certainty for the sector. Moreover, IRCC is working with
the sector to focus the department’s monitoring and compliance efforts
where they are most needed (e.g., settlement organizations that have
struggling operations).
He highlighted the challenging nature of measuring which settlement
programs are most effective. IRCC believes that defunding settlement
organizations that do not meet certain quantitative measures is unhelpful;
however, IRCC must also be accountable to the Canadian taxpayer
and so it is trying to identify how it can better utilize its settlement
program database to evaluate the performance of immigrants who
access its services versus those who do not use them. Douglas said
that stakeholders need to reach a consensus on what constitutes
successful settlement and integration while being sensitive to the various
characteristics that impact the outcomes of newcomers, such as their
race or sexual orientation. Birjandian noted the disconnect between
what various stakeholders consider to be successful settlement and
integration. For example, newcomers may not be faring well according
to government indicators but are nonetheless happy and successful
in their own eyes. He suggested that IRCC enter into contractual
Implementing
gender-based
analysis across
the federal gov-
ernment could
improve newcomer
settlement and
integration.
23. The Conference Board of Canada
Find Conference Board research at www.e-library.ca. 17
agreements with settlement organizations that measure the results
of specific programs while at the same time contributing to a broader
national project involving other key stakeholders that evaluates the
performance of employers, the health care system, police departments,
and others in supporting settlement and integration.
Funding the Settlement Program
Continuing the discussion from the previous session, Effat Ghassemi
of the Newcomer Centre of Peel and Carl Nicholson of the Catholic
Centre for Immigrants discussed how common settlement sector
funding challenges could be addressed. Ghassemi argued that a
major limitation of IRCC’s national funding policy is that it does not
account for differences within respective jurisdictions. For instance,
the settlement funding that Ontario receives from IRCC has decreased
due to the province’s national share of immigrants decreasing; however,
decreased funding hurts regions within Ontario, such as Peel, that
have seen their immigrant populations rise. To foster improvement,
she said that qualitative and quantitative metrics need to be considered
together and that moving toward five-year funding arrangements
between governments and settlement organizations could help
the sector plan their operations better and deliver more innovative
services to newcomers.
Nicholson said there is an assumption that settlement organizations
work for government, when in fact, settlement organizations have
agency and are driven by their goal of making Canada a better place.
He noted that IRCC does not have a direct connection with newcomers
on the ground, which is why they rely upon the expertise of settlement
organizations to achieve the department’s goal of facilitating newcomer
settlement and integration. Nicholson would like to see government play
a role in supporting efforts to promote innovative good practices that are
implemented by settlement organizations. The settlement community
adapts to the needs of newcomers, but government focuses too much
on monitoring what settlement organizations do rather than on what
government can learn from adopting good practices more broadly.
He also believes that settlement funding should be provided to allow
24. Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System
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the settlement community to advocate the benefits of immigration to
Canadians to help create more welcoming environments for newcomers.
He concurred with Ghassemi that five-year funding arrangements would
give settlement organizations more flexibility. Moreover, he emphasized
points raised by Ghassemi, Douglas, and Birjandian that government
funding needs to account for inflation and the real costs of operating a
settlement organization so that the sector can sustain their operations,
deliver quality services, and retain talent—retention of settlement
workers was flagged as a major obstacle by numerous speakers and
audience members due to low wages and wage growth in the sector.
Measuring Settlement Success
Umit Kiziltan of IRCC and Francis Boakye of the Centre for Newcomers
explored how Canada can enhance its efforts to evaluate the success
of its settlement and integration programs. Like other speakers, Kiziltan
emphasized the need to define success. He outlined how the IRCC has
moved away from counting dollars, but acknowledged the challenge of
balancing the imperatives of attributing how money is spent with the
desire of stakeholders to evaluate the performance of settlement and
integration programs. To measure economic integration, IRCC draws
from a variety of sources, including tax and landing data. It also draws
on the results of surveys that question those who use and do not use
its programs. In the future, IRCC will be able to use Statistics Canada
data to analyze causation between settlement and integration programs
and their affect on income. Kiziltan noted that the department conducts
extensive macro evaluations of the settlement program, which always
lead to the formulation of new questions on the program’s effectiveness.
Boakye concurred with Kiziltan and others that we need to understand
the conditions for success to fully assess settlement outcomes. He
identified the need to rethink the metrics of evaluation and use a more
holistic approach that considers the perspectives of immigrants and
explores the relationship between newcomers and the community.
This would mark an improvement in the historical tendency to measure
success based on the number of immigrants that a settlement
25. The Conference Board of Canada
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organization serves. Boakye also explained that immigrants have
different ways of conceptualizing their identities and understanding
how to evaluate this will help develop programs that foster stronger
bonds between newcomers and their communities. He suggested that
working more closely with newcomers and compiling their experiences
can help to develop more metrics to evaluate success.
Making an Impact
Canada’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program turns 40 this year.
Jim Estill of Danby Appliances shared the reasons behind his decision
to use the program to help 61 Syrian refugee families move to Guelph,
Ontario—in addition to another 200 families that have arrived through his
support network. He said that he was driven by the desire to help those
in need. Some 800 volunteers work together to support the settlement
and integration of Syrians. The volunteers operate like a business,
with directors appointed in various areas (e.g., finance, housing) who
monitor the progress of each family in integrating into Canadian society.
Estill and the volunteers have leveraged existing resources within the
community, such as the Salvation Army to provide families with clothing,
Hope House to provide furniture, and settlement organizations to provide
language instruction.
Each family has an Arabic-speaking mentor and four to five English-
speaking families that assist them. The mentors are given a checklist
of responsibilities such as helping Syrians open bank accounts and
assess how the Syrians are faring in areas such as English proficiency
and health. Estill’s definition of success is that the Syrians find work,
improve their English, integrate into society, and become self-sufficient.
One of the challenges is ensuring that volunteers do not provide too
much assistance to the Syrians, since this will compromise the ability
of the newcomers to become self-sufficient, and so he has difficult
conversations with them about playing a more hands-off role. While
some of the Syrians have been successful in finding work commensurate
with their skills, others have not, though he noted that there are also
segments of the Canadian-born population who are underemployed.
26. Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System
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Estill responded to numerous audience questions about this initiative.
He said that all volunteers were assessed for their cultural competency
and also required criminal background checks. He observed that some
of the Syrians are entrepreneurial, but he believes that it is best for
them to improve their English skills and understand Canada’s business
environment and culture before launching a business. There are a
number of ways Syrians are learning English in the community, such as
through in-class instruction, on-the-job training, television, smartphone
apps, and social groups. Employers also offer flexible work arrangements
to allow students to access language-training opportunities.
When asked about the community’s response to his initiative, Estill said
that most in Guelph were supportive, although he has experienced some
negativity such as death threats and boycotts of Danby Appliances.
He noted, however, that historically communities have not always been
welcoming toward refugees at the outset. The advantage of conducting
this initiative in a small city like Guelph is that it has a more intimate
atmosphere, with key stakeholders such as Christian, Jewish, and
Muslim groups organizing frequent communal events like potlucks.
In addition, housing affordability in Guelph makes it easier for Syrians
to settle and integrate compared with those who face a higher cost of
living in large cities like Toronto. When asked whether he has challenged
fellow entrepreneurs to help refugees, Estill said that his goal has been
to inspire the business community to do the right thing.
Improving Access to Regulated
Professions
One of Canada’s longstanding immigration challenges has been
to ensure fair access to regulated professions. Generally, skilled
immigrants seeking to enter regulated professions have faced onerous
credentialing requirements that hinder their ability to pursue in Canada
the profession for which they have been trained overseas. This challenge
One of Canada’s
longstanding
immigration
challenges has
been to ensure
fair access
to regulated
professions.
27. The Conference Board of Canada
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was highlighted in the federal government’s White Paper on Immigration
in 1966; regrettably, the passage below is as applicable today as it was
52 years ago:
Some professional associations, trade unions and provincial
licensing authorities are not as ready as they might be
to recognize qualifications earned in another country.
Consequently some immigrants are not able to follow
their own occupation on arrival here and must accept
alternative employment at least until they are able to meet
the applicable Canadian standards … It must be hoped
that this problem will be overcome as the leaders of public
opinion come to recognize the economic advantage of more
mobility, particularly among professional people and skilled
workers, both nationally and internationally….11
Keith Johnson of Keith Johnson Consulting and Ximena Munoz,
Manitoba’s Fairness Commissioner, explored how these challenges
could be addressed. One notable measure has been the implementation
of “fairness acts” in Ontario, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and Quebec
since 2006. The acts have established provincial fairness commissioner
offices that promote procedural fairness by auditing regulatory bodies
and suggesting improvements so that the practices governing registration
in regulated professions are transparent, objective, impartial, and fair.12
Munoz also stressed the importance of relational fairness, that is, that the
treatment, decision-making process, and outcomes of the credentialing
process are perceived as fair by applicants. Thirdly, there is the concept
of substantive fairness: only competent applicants are certified or
licensed to practise in their field in Canada.
Johnson explained that while regulatory bodies exist to protect
the Canadian public, achieving this objective while also ensuring
fair licensing practices is difficult to reconcile for several reasons.
For example, regulatory bodies cannot simply assume that foreign
11 Government of Canada, White Paper on Immigration.
12 Grant, Brain Gain 2015.
28. Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System
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education and work experience conform to Canadian standards and
also find it difficult to assess soft skills (e.g., communication skills) fairly.
Moreover, it can be expensive for them to assess the competence
of immigrants. Regulatory bodies are correctly more interested in an
immigrant’s aptitude for working in the field rather than what they studied,
but as such, competency-based assessments are more expensive
than assessing whether an individual achieved the requisite education
abroad to practise in Canada. Thus, he argues that some regulators and
jurisdictions do not have the financial means to ensure fair standards.
Johnson raised several questions and issues to help guide
improvements. We need to think about how we can ensure the
effectiveness of fairness commissioners: Should they be mandated
with auditing regulators and monitoring compliance or should they serve
in a more advisory function to help regulators adopt good practices?
He said that a move toward national standards among regulators would
improve fairness across Canada compared with the current approach
where regulators of the same professions have different rules and laws
governing them within their respective jurisdiction—which results in
inconsistencies in how immigrant professionals are treated when seeking
accreditation. Johnson suggested that each regulatory body alliance
allocate some $150,000 per year toward having a permanent employee
who is responsible for overseeing the implementation of national
assessment standards within their profession. Moreover, he believes
that alliances should have reserve funds that support ongoing revisions
to their national standards.
Munoz noted that fairness acts have facilitated progress. For instance,
on the procedural fairness front, changes have been made to the
criminal record background requirements that regulators had asked for
in the past. Such requirements were unfair to immigrants since they
required a criminal background check to enter Canada; asking them
to complete it again was unnecessary and delayed that credentialing
process. She acknowledged, however, that significant concerns remain.
For example, 44 per cent of those who seek credentialing in Manitoba
are denied five years after going through the regulatory process; this
is problematic because, ideally, those who are not fit to practise in their
field of choice in Canada would recognize this much earlier on in the
National standards
among regulators
would improve fair-
ness and address
inconsistencies
in how immigrant
professionals seek-
ing accreditation
are treated.
29. The Conference Board of Canada
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credentialing process (e.g., within the first year of beginning the process).
There also needs to be greater recognition of foreign work experience
and more opportunities for immigrants to apply their skills and knowledge
in practical work settings supervised by accredited professionals.
Additionally, she said that licensing regimes could be adjusted to
provide work opportunities for those who might not necessarily meet
all the requirements of the licensing process, but who are nonetheless
qualified to work in a related occupation. She also highlighted
international practices that could be useful in the Canadian context.
In the United Kingdom, government funds regulatory bodies, whereas
in Canada the bodies self-regulate, which creates fairness challenges
since it is difficult for those on the outside to pressure them to make
their standards fairer. As another example, she pointed to the Lisbon
Recognition Convention, which stipulates that foreign qualifications
must be accepted by employers and regulators unless they can prove
that there is a reason not to accept them.
Social Innovations to Boost
Economic Integration
Three Summit speakers were invited to share innovative practices
within their communities that support the economic integration of
newcomers. Alex LeBlanc of the New Brunswick Multicultural Council
(NBMC) noted the challenge newcomers face in building networks
within the province, given New Brunswick’s small immigrant population.
Hence, NBMC is collaborating with stakeholders in the province on
an Economic Integration Lab to help address common newcomer
challenges such as building networks and attaching to the labour market.
Stakeholders from across sectors gather in teams, explore the key
problems, and come up with solutions. A major benefit of the Lab is that
it encourages civil servants, settlement organizations, employers, and
other members of the community to identify creative and collaborative
solutions to real world issues. More information, including a summary
report of recent meetings, can be found on the Lab’s website.13
13 Economic Integration Lab, “Welcome to the Lab.”
30. Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System
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Mark Patterson of Magnet at Ryerson University—a non-profit
organization that focuses on eradicating youth and newcomer
unemployment and underemployment—discussed Magnet’s philosophy
in helping attach newcomers to the labour market: grow the community,
grow careers, and grow business. Magnet provides partners with
technology to link them with local talent, including newcomers; has
developed an assessment tool that evaluates labour shortages and
assesses newcomers to see how they can fill job gaps; and helps match
employers with talent who they can train to help meet their workforce
needs. He emphasized that Magnet focuses on the competency of talent
rather than on educational credentials.
Paul Feltman of World Education Services (WES) in New York City
attended the Summit to share WES’s efforts to support the economic
integration of newcomers in the United States. Specifically, he discussed
the IMPRINT (Immigrant Professional Integration) project.14
The project is
a coalition hosted by WES that comprises business, government, higher
education, and other partners who work together to raise awareness
of the talents and contributions of immigrant professionals. The project
sponsors research, disseminates best practices, and advocates for the
adoption of policies that facilitate immigrant professional integration.
Feltman observed that unlike in Canada, where most immigrants enter
under the economic class, only about 12 per cent of newcomers to the
U.S. arrive under employment-based paths; most come under the family
class. In 2016, the U.S. had about 43 million immigrants and unlike
Canada, it does not have a developed immigrant settlement sector.
Of the 7.6 million immigrants with post-secondary credentials, about
one-quarter (1.9 million people) are underemployed or unemployed,
which results in some $39.4 billion in forgone earnings and $10.2 billion
in forgone taxes annually.15
According to IMPRINT’s website, there are
some 87 programs across the U.S. that aim to help skilled immigrants
find jobs commensurate with their skills. The Michigan Office for New
Americans, for instance, has a website with 42 occupational licensing
guides and offers free job research training and coaching for newcomers.
14 Imprint Project, “Imprint.”
15 Batalova, Fix, and Bachmeier, Untapped Talent.
Only about 12 per
cent of newcomers
to the U.S. arrive
under employment-
based paths; most
come under the
family class.
31. The Conference Board of Canada
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The City of Philadelphia offers a 12-week paid Immigrant Fellowship
Program to provide professional newcomers with practical U.S. work
experience and mentorship. Another of the numerous examples Feltman
raised was the Welcome Back Center at LaGuardia Community College.
The program, which costs about $8,000 to $10,000 per student, helps
to train and prepare immigrant nurses for work in the U.S. and has
contributed to an average increase of 120 to 150 per cent in the wages
of successful graduates.
U.S. Immigration During the
Trump Administration
Theresa Cardinal Brown of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington,
D.C., attended the Summit to provide an overview of the most recent
immigration policy developments in her country. She highlighted
divisions among and within the major political parties as having laid
the foundations for President Donald Trump’s populist immigration
policies. She flagged the disconnect between present realities and
past trends as another reason for anti-immigrant sentiments in the
United States. By way of illustration, she noted that although there
has been a decline in Mexican migration to the U.S., there remains
a perception that undocumented migrants continue to arrive in the
U.S. from Mexico in large numbers.
She argued that President Trump is in a unique position to create
meaningful reform, as he has more political capital to tackle this area
than some of his Republican colleagues. However, she believes that
reform is unlikely on the NAFTA front, saying that the U.S. does not
appear interested in negotiating the free trade agreement’s labour
mobility provisions. Nor does she expect reforms to the Safe Third
Country Agreement, because far more undocumented migrants flow
into the U.S. from the south than flow into Canada from the U.S.;
thus, Canada’s concerns do not figure prominently in U.S. policy.
Nonetheless, while anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S. could pose
32. Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System
Find Conference Board research at www.e-library.ca. 26
challenges for Canada in the area of rising asylum claims, it could help
Canada in another area. Brown believes that Canadian business is
well positioned to capitalize on the potential emigration of skilled talent
from the United States. She also noted the fall of international student
enrolments in the U.S., which could be to Canada’s benefit. A decline
in her country’s attractiveness to global talent worries economists, said
Brown, as it could hurt economic growth.
Discussing the future of immigration under President Trump, she
argued that most Americans do not care much about the immigration
system, but they want a system that is transparent, fair, and strict. She
concluded by highlighting the good work Canada does in facilitating open
conversations on immigration policy, which, she said, is an example the
U.S. should follow.
The Global Compact for Migration
Louise Arbour delivered a keynote address highlighting her mandate
as the United Nations Special Representative for International Migration.
Arbour is currently contributing to negotiations on the global compact
for safe, orderly, and regular migration, an intergovernmental negotiated
agreement that aims to tackle today’s major migration challenges around
the world. She explained that the United Nations General Assembly
will host a conference in December 2018 to try and adopt the global
compact. Among the challenges are the fact that there are some
258 million migrants in the world today according to the UN, and the
population is expected to grow. Of these migrants, some 65 million are
internally displaced persons and refugees. Arbour noted the importance
of migration in supporting development in other countries; migrants
spend about 85 per cent of their income in their host country and remit
about 15 per cent—$460 billion—to developing countries, which is
more than global development assistance. The UN views migration
as a means to promote development, as remittances help to reduce
inequalities between countries. She highlighted that development
initiatives have improved living standards around the world; for instance,
efforts to reduce infant mortality in Africa have contributed to an increase
in the working-age population, which benefits the continent’s economy.
The UN views
migration as a
means to promote
development, as
remittances help to
reduce inequalities
between countries.
33. The Conference Board of Canada
Find Conference Board research at www.e-library.ca. 27
Moreover, viewing migration through a development lens can do the
same, and she stressed that it is incumbent upon countries to do
just that, by, for instance, creating more legal immigration pathways.
One reason for this is that an “illegal” migrant may have initially entered
a country legally but have overstayed their temporary visa through
no fault of their own (e.g., because a war or humanitarian crisis has
emerged in their country of origin). A major benefit of creating more legal
immigration pathways is that they will facilitate safer and more orderly
migration, since when given the choice, an individual is more likely to
choose legal and safe migration.
Conclusion
The Canadian Immigration Summit 2018 featured a variety of
perspectives on pressing immigration issues affecting Canada,
the United States, and the world. As numerous speakers noted, one
of the most unique features of Canada’s immigration system today
is the willingness of stakeholders to openly explore how the country
can benefit from more global talent at a time when other countries are
>
Louise Arbour highlights the
importance of the global
compact for migration.
Source: The Conference Board
of Canada.
34. Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System
Find Conference Board research at www.e-library.ca. 28
exploring how they can implement more restrictive immigration policies.
Such discussions in Canada entail exploring the changing nature of
work and how immigration policy can adapt to the country’s dynamic
labour market, improving the competitiveness of the selection process,
balancing national and provincial/territorial immigration objectives,
and tackling challenges that affect one of the world’s most developed
immigrant settlement programs. While it is clear that Canada has made
tremendous strides in some ways, such as boosting immigration in
smaller jurisdictions and improving the responsiveness of its selection
system, it continues to struggle in others such as facilitating smooth
credential recognition. Nonetheless, stakeholders can take solace
in the fact that much of Canada’s immigration success is a function
of conversations such as those held at the Summit, which have
helped foster improvements to the Canadian immigration system
in recent decades.
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35. Appendix A | The Conference Board of Canada
Find Conference Board research at www.e-library.ca. 29
APPENDIX A
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as-trump-targets-immigrants-u-s-farm-sector-looks-to-automate-
idUSKBN1DA0IQ.
Batalova, Jeanne, Michael Fix, and James D. Bachmeier. Untapped
Talent: The Costs of Brain Waste Among Highly Skilled Immigrants
in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Migration Policy Institute,
New American Economy, and World Education Services, 2016.
Economic Integration Lab. “Welcome to the Lab.” Accessed June 8, 2018.
http://www.economicimmigrationlab.org/.
El-Assal, Kareem. A New Era: Canadian Immigration Governance in the
21st Century. Ottawa: The Conference Board of Canada, 2017.
El-Assal, Kareem, and Daniel Fields. 450,000 Immigrants Annually?
Integration Is Imperative to Growth. Ottawa: The Conference Board
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El-Assal, Kareem, and Sam Goucher. Immigration to Atlantic Canada:
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Canada, 2017.
Grant, Michael. Brain Gain 2015: The State of Canada’s Learning
Recognition System. Ottawa: The Conference Board of Canada, 2016.
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Government of Canada. “Hire Temporary Workers Faster With the Global
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37. Find Conference Board research at www.e-library.ca. 31
Appendix A | The Conference Board of Canada
Statistics Canada. Census Data table 98-400-X2016372, First Official
Language Spoken, Occupation—National Occupational Classification
(NOC), Highest Certificate, Diploma or Degree and Immigrant Status
and Period of Immigration for the Population Aged 15 Years and Over
Who Worked Since 2015, in Private Households of Canada, Provinces
and Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations.
Accessed June 1, 2018. http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-
recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL
=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=112141
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38. Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System
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APPENDIX B
Canadian
Immigration Summit
2018 Resources
Summit Agenda
https://www.conferenceboard.ca/docs/default-source/conf-pdfs-public/
immigration-summit-agenda.pdf?sfvrsn=21cc7813_2.
Presentation Slides
https://www.conferenceboard.ca/conf/presentations/18-0046.
39. About The Conference Board of Canada
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