Venganse a Canada, lean esto!

Primero que nada yo tengo buen trabajo con $$$ pa’ las mujeres y todo…

It’s almost unbelievable that racism and discrimination are still alive and well in our beautiful country, Canada, which claim itself as a worldwide champion of human rights. This situation affects not one or two individuals only, but a large number of middle class people who come to this country as professional immigrants (doctors, engineers, managers, etc.). Thousand of them are denied the job they deserve in their professions. Canada immigration system is becoming a NEW THREAT to human rights, since thousands of foreign-born professionals are being CHEATED with false expectations just to provide CHEAP LABOUR TO BIG CORPORATIONS to grow the economy in Canada and generate new sources of taxes and income to the government.

Unlike the Chinese who came here in late 19th century and faced a blatant racism, this new form of discrimination is a “SILENT DISCRIMINATION” that is difficult to be legally proved, so Canadian employers can easily dismiss this. Also, because this is a “silent” case (not many immigrants or human rights organizations speak up), this problem hardly touches the media and the Canadian public at large.

However, from experience as an immigrant myself, I know this situation is occurring and urgent actions are needed. For example a friend of mine, a car dealer manager is told by his boss to put in garbage bin all resumes of people coming from abroad. They only hired Canadian born period!! The same thing I hear again and again from HR people responsible for recruitment. So, this systematic abuse has been widely practised by thousand of employers – THIS IS CANADA’S BEST KEPT SECRET.

So, what should we (immigrants) do? I think the following actions needed:

1. Expose discrimination practiced by Canadian employers in the media. The proper channels can be programs like CBC’s Fifth Estate, Disclosure, etc.
2. Organize protest actions against those employers and boycott their products and services.
3. Encourage various government human rights protection agencies, such as BC Human Rights Tribunal to take action against those discriminating employers.
4. Write frequently to MPs and government officials and encourage them to take action.
5. Overhaul the Canadian immigration system to include various industry or professional associations (e.g. doctor associations, engineering associations, technology associations, etc.) in recruiting professional immigrants so that there is no missing link for professional immigrants.
6. For foreign professionals who still want to come this country, accept this situation. You must BE MENTALLY PREPARED to work as janitor or waiter first (and probably the rest of your life), Canada is not paradise!! Otherwise, I would strongly suggest you stay in your country.

To conclude, I attach an excellent article written by Helen Connell, of the London Free Press describing this horrible situation.

Attachment:

RULES, RACISM HAMSTRING IMMIGRANT WORKERS

By Helen Connell, For the London Free Press

We seem to like our cabbies well-educated in Canada, particularly ones born outside the country. During cab rides in this city and others, I’ve been chauffeured by doctors, engineers and one really nice guy with a postgraduate degree in agriculture. If I had the same opportunity to chat with waiters, dishwashers and just about every other low-paid worker, I’d turn up a disproportionate number of foreign-born individuals whose skills and education vastly outstrip their jobs.

There’s nothing new in seeing immigrants toiling away at jobs at which they’re vastly overqualified. But with a labour shortage looming, Canadians have a new reason for caring that goes beyond compassion. By 2011, it’s predicted that 100 per cent of
Canada’s net labour-force growth will come from immigration.

Given those needs, there is something very wrong with how the system is working. For example, while Ontario suffers from a severe shortage of doctors, it has been estimated that about 300 doctors immigrate to Canada every year. And it’s not just doctors coming here. In the past five years, Canada has also seen an influx of engineers, engineering technicians, accountants and teachers. The Kitchener-based Centre for Research and Education in Human Services estimates the unemployment rate for internationally trained professionals is three times that of other Ontarians. One of the big hurdles faced by immigrants is getting their professional and trade credentials recognized. As a representative from the Council of Agencies Serving Southeast Asians told one group:
«If they come from the U.S., they are doctors. If they come from somewhere else, they are numbers.» In some cases, it is difficult for employers to translate credentials earned outside Canada to ensure they are commensurate with Canadian standards. In other instances, however, it simply hasn’t been in the self-interest of professional associations to swell their ranks with immigrants.

Consider how frustrating this is for a newcomer. Canada’s immigration authorities place a heavy emphasis on education and training in determining who gets into this country. But once here, those same credentials suddenly lose their weight. Many have saved for years to come to Canada, but as one professional immigrant observed, Canada welcomes their money but not their talents.

It has never been easy for immigrants, but today they face new challenges as we attract newcomers from far more culturally diverse nations. Where once immigrants came in droves from Great Britain, the U.S. and Western Europe, today the people stepping onto Canadian soil are often from Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa.

To ensure they succeed as previous generations of immigrants have, they require sufficient English-language training programs and cultural support services. These programs won’t work unless people also have access to transportation and child care.
Education and the capacity to read and write one of Canada’s two official languages — especially English – are critical to how successful immigrants are in Canada. We need to do a much better job of instilling in new immigrants the importance of English classes, even if that means forgoing the first paying job that comes their way.

There’s another ugly issue that Canadians need to tackle. Racism. It’s here today. It’s always been part of this nation, although Canadians seem blissfully and to some degree wilfully ignorant of our past.

We like to boast about the Underground Railway that shuttled slaves safely into Canada, but we forget the fight put up by Edmonton’s municipal council in 1911 to shut out black Oklahoma farmers on the basis that «Negroes» weren’t suited to the «climate and requirements of Canada.»

We’d have school kids believe the Chinese head tax was a blip in our otherwise pristine history, without mentioning the persistent efforts to keep Sikh labourers from settling in Canada. Among the many efforts to block their entry was the requirement in the early
1900s that immigrants from India have $200 with them while white Europeans needed only $25.

We may not like our history, but it is important to understand it if we’re to ensure those same stereotypes and the fears that drove policy then aren’t influencing treatment of immigrants today. Canadians tend to take a smug view of immigration as almost a social program, with the benefit going to those lucky enough to be accepted into our club.

We are fast moving into a time when our competitive edge will depend not only on our capacity to attract highly skilled immigrants but to help them make this their home.

We need to tear down barriers that get in the way of immigrants having the chance to put their skills, talents and education to work here.