APPENDIX 3

ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES
College and Institute Immigration Roundtable
March 8 and 9, 2004

Summary of Roundtable Discussions and Key Points

March 8^th Presentations

Canadian Colleges and Institutes – Responding to the Needs of Immigrants
Powerpoint Presentation on the results of the ACCC Diagnostic Survey of College and Institute Programs and Services for Immigrants

Current and Future Directions in Immigrant Settlement
Rosaline Frith, Director General, Integration, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)

• The Immigration and Refugee Act was approved in June 2002 and replaces the former Immigration Act. The new act moves from an occupation specific approach to immigration, to one that attracts workers with flexible and transferable skills needed to succeed in today’s economy. Under the new Act, education and language proficiency in English or French have increased in importance for the selection process. There is currently a small portion of immigrants entering the country under the provisions of the new Act as Citizenship and Immigration Canada is dealing with a backlog of immigrants approved under the former Immigration Act.
• The main source countries for immigration are India, Pakistan and China.
• The profile of immigrants currently entering the country is that the majority are younger (under 40), are well educated, have significant work experience, are mainly coming to join family and friends and thus settle in the main urban centres (Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal), and have a multiplicity of languages.
• The federal government is aiming to increase immigration levels. Currently 225,000 per year are approved, this will increase by another 86,000.
• Issues around foreign trained professionals: the problem with integrating foreign trained doctors is not the lack of recognition of credentials but the lack of places for foreign trained doctors to do their residencies, in effect, provinces need to increase the number of residencies; the issue with the integration of foreign trained engineers is that there are currently not enough jobs for engineers in many parts of the country.
• Challenges for the federal government for the integration of immigrants:
  • Changing the dispersion of immigrants across Canada to second tier cities. However, provinces and second tier cities need to voice a need for the receiving immigrants, and put plans and strategies in place to facilitate the integration of immigrants.
  • Low income levels of immigrants despite the high education credentials and foreign work experience.
  • Limited workplace language capacity is a significant barrier for the effective integration of immigrants into the economy. CIC recognizes that there is a need to strengthen and increase language training programs across the country, particularly for occupation-specific language training. CIC is trying to get more funding to enhance language training programs, in particular workplace language training. CIC also recognizes that there is a need to increase funding for higher levels of LINC training, to fill the gap between the LINC Level 4 and 8, as recommended by colleges and institutes.