Vancouver is leading the way to help immigrants find work in their chosen fields with a mentorship program that gives new Canadians on-the-job work experience as they seek a permanent position.
It’s one way Mayor Gregor Robertson and the Vision team have delivered on their commitment to ensure the city responds to the needs of ethnic and immigrant communities, but there’s much more to be done.
This innovative program pairs each participant with a city staff member who volunteers to give personal advice and support, a key factor in helping new immigrants navigate the job market.
The 2011 pilot project was proposed by the Mayor’s Working Group on Immigration, which is co-chaired by councillor Geoff Meggs and Professor Dan Hiebert of UBC’s Metropolis project.
When it was over, more than a dozen skilled immigrants, some of whom had been unable to find work in their fields despite years of effort, were able to move into new jobs with a range of employers.
The city’s program is now being reviewed by other public and private sector employers as a model of the way large employers can speed up integration of new immigrants in the job market.
Robertson’s working group also inaugurated a ground-breaking investigation into the impact of new immigration policies, particularly those for temporary foreign workers, on the city.
Vancouver is home to tens of thousands of these long-term but temporary visitors who require housing, schools and many other services but are expected to leave the country when their job ends.
These residents, who work in fields as diverse as digital arts, food service, health care and engineering, are triggering new and poorly understood demands for city services, including housing.
Vancouver is a major player in the global economy. Making sure our city remains welcoming and supportive of all who come here to live and work is going to be a major priority for Vision in the next three years.
