This text is part of the special booklet Trades, professions and careers
While Quebec is facing unprecedented labor shortages, immigrants looking for work still face certain obstacles in finding a job that matches their skills. Professions protected by a professional order can prove to be particularly difficult to integrate.
For years, studies have shown that immigrants who arrive in Quebec with a university degree issued abroad have a higher unemployment rate than people with a degree obtained in Quebec. In the report More qualified, but unemployed (2016), the Institut du Québec (IdQ) concluded that it was essential to improve the recognition of foreign diplomas in order to accelerate the socio-economic integration of internationally trained candidates. According to the new director general of the IdQ, Emna Braham, the situation seems to have improved in recent years. In February 2022, the Legault government presented its Concerted interdepartmental action plan in recognition of the skills of immigrantswhich aims to facilitate the professional integration of immigrants in Quebec.
But obstacles remain, especially with regard to trades and professions protected by a professional order. “There are mechanisms that have been put in place to facilitate access to information and support for immigrants. But we can do better, especially in key sectors such as health, ”says M.me Braham.
Arm yourself with patience
In Quebec, to have the right to practice a profession governed by the framework law of the Professional Code, you must obtain a permit from the professional order in question. This is the case for nurses, engineers, pharmacists, accountants and lawyers, among others. Quebec, and Canada in general, has a particularly high number of regulated professions and professional orders. The latter have also multiplied in recent decades and today there are 46 in Quebec. Each organization sets its own rules regarding the recognition of qualifications obtained outside Quebec.
According to information from the Conseil interprofessionnel du Québec, of the 50,000 immigrants who arrive in Quebec each year, about 5,000 apply for equivalence to professional orders. The majority have a dependent family and would like to practice their profession as soon as possible. However, candidates must be patient. According to a report by the Conseil interprofessionnel du Québec, if the candidates know that they must apply for recognition, they do not always understand “the extent of the process” before being there. Some end up dropping out, in particular because of financial difficulties and challenges related to work-study-family balance.
As the colleges’ mandate is to protect the public, certification processes are often complex. For example, a foreign nurse who wishes to practice in the province must provide numerous documents which will be evaluated by a committee, which will decide whether the professional’s training is sufficient. Several applicants are asked to seek refresher training which generally lasts several months. ready to welcome them and support them during this period. After having fulfilled all the necessary requirements, they must finally pass the professional admission examination of the Ordre des nurses du Québec, then register on the Roll of the OIIQ to be able to practice the profession. This process requires expenses to be paid at each stage and can last from several months to a few years, which can prove to be particularly complex for professionals who have a family to support, while delaying their entry into the profession.
Space for more flexibility
This is how professional orders can, unwittingly, become an obstacle to the integration of immigrants, but also an obstacle to alleviating labor shortages, underlines Ms.me Braham, of the Institute of Quebec. “There is certainly room for a little more flexibility in the qualification processes, and thus make access to these professions more fluid,” she believes.
Sociologist and professor at UQAM Paul Eid, author of a book chapter on the professional deskilling of immigrants and on wage inequalities in Quebec (New dynamics of immigration in QuebecLes Presses de l’Université de Montréal), recalls that of all the provinces, it is in Quebec that foreign-trained immigrants have the lowest probability of working in their regulated professional field.
The sociologist’s research also shows that immigrants who are members of visible minorities are the most likely to find themselves in deskilling jobs. “These immigrants fall back on jobs for which they are overqualified, in employment sectors where they are overrepresented,” explains Mr. Eid.
Generally speaking, immigrant women are even more likely to end up in jobs for which they are overqualified. Thus, 46% of foreign-trained immigrant men are in deskilling jobs, compared to 56% among immigrant women, according to data from the 2016 Statistics Canada census collected by the sociologist.
Multifactor explanation
This can also affect the retention of these professionals. “Given everything we see, we can assume that the chances are high that immigrants will end up wanting to return home or seek to go to another province. This may explain Quebec’s often negative interprovincial migration threshold. More immigrants go to other provinces than vice versa. »
Of course, the professional orders are not the only ones responsible for the problems of access to employment encountered by immigrants. “The explanation is multifactorial”, underlines Paul Eid, citing the networks, the recognition of diplomas, the non-mastery of the language, but also the experience acquired abroad which is not sufficiently recognized. “Often, there is no rational excuse from an economic point of view” to require Quebec or Canadian experience, he adds.
Work is essential to the integration of immigrants. In recent years, qualitative sociological studies have shown that it is extremely devaluing for immigrants not to be able to participate fully in life in society. “If we want work to be a real vector of integration, immigrants must not be trapped in unskilled job niches in which they do not feel valued,” concludes the sociologist.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the To have to, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of To have to did not take part.