Jan. 10, 2014 – Global News
Friday’s employment numbers may’ve been lacklustre. But the job search is far bleaker for new Canadians: Years after the recession officially ended, you’re still more likely to be out of a job if you’re an immigrant.
And the gap between immigrants and Canadian-born workers is biggest for those with the most education: University graduates who’ve been in Canada five years or less are more than four times more likely to be unemployed than their Canadian counterparts.
Anna Mehler Paperny and Jacques Bourbeau, Global News
Todd Bender doesn’t seem like he’d be in the market for temporary foreign workers: He’s executive director of CityKidz, a faith-driven group working with young people in inner-city Hamilton. His focus is local.
But three years ago, while hiring a youth coordinator, the hiring team realized their preferred candidate – a young woman from the Bahamas who had been studying in Canada – didn’t have the right visa to work in the country.
Anna Mehler Paperny, Global News
In the past seven years, the number of people brought to Canada to do a job and then leave has eclipsed the number of people moving here annually planning to stay.
Fahimeh Sinai and Peyman Rajabian as they prepare to leave their Montreal apartment. Christinne Muschi/Globe and Mail
ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY – Globe and Mail, Dec. 21, 2012
In the three years since Fahimeh Sinai and Peyman Rajabian left Iran for a new life in Montreal, they have accomplished a lot – earning graduate degrees, touring the Gaspé and obtaining provincially funded therapy for their toddler son. They applied for citizenship as soon as they were eligible.
But they applied from Calgary.
At the end of September, the couple crammed into their sedan with son and belongings to make the long drive west. They had neither jobs nor a place to live. But they were sure it was the right decision.
Photo by Fernando Morales/The Globe and Mail
Thursday, April 5, 2012 – Globe and Mail
ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY
Jason Kenney has had it with incremental measures.
“It frustrates the hell out of me,” the Immigration Minister told The Globe and Mail’s editorial board on Wednesday. “We’re bringing hundreds of thousands of people into the country to end up, many of them, unemployed or underemployed in an economy where there are acute labour shortages.”
Photo by John Lehmann/Globe and Mail
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 – Globe and Mail
ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY and DAKSHANA BASCARAMURTY
They pour coffee, care for children, pick berries and wrangle chickens – unglamorous, often low-wage jobs that are vital to Canada’s economy.
The umbrella term “temporary foreign worker” covers upward of a quarter of a million people coming to Canada from 80 countries every year. Many are recruited by private agencies that run the gamut from respected international organizations to tiny operations accused of charging exorbitant fees for the privilege of a short-term, minimum-wage job in Canada.
Monday’s horrific crash in southwestern Ontario, in which 10 migrant workers were killed when the van transporting them smashed into a truck and careened into a building by the side of the road, exposes a growing sector of Canada’s labour market that, despite its size, tends to go unnoticed.
Monday, December 26, 2011 – Globe and Mail
ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY
Manitoba’s auditor-general is reviewing an initiative designed to bring immigrant investors to the province in light of scandals plaguing similar programs in the Maritimes.
There has been no suggestion of wrongdoing in Manitoba; but scathing audits, fraud allegations, lawsuits and RCMP investigations in the Atlantic provinces have raised concerns thousands of kilometres away.
“It was an area we thought there was a high risk that there could be problems,” said Manitoba Auditor-General Carol Bellringer in an interview with The Globe and Mail. “We wanted to find out how that whole investment part worked, and if there was any potential for [immigrants] to be taken advantage of.”
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 – Globe and Mail
ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY
When Bangladeshi-born Sayful Ahmed decided to come to Canada for a fresh start, he didn’t head to Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal.
He chose Saskatoon.
The city of 234,000 people, which has garnered a reputation for seeking newcomers and having plenty of work, was just too appealing to pass up.
“My friends live here, they said it’s a good place – for living, for job opportunities. …That’s why I chose Saskatoon,” said Mr. Ahmed, who arrived three weeks ago. “So far, so good.”
Tuesday, October 5, 2010 – Globe and Mail
ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY and TAVIA GRANT
As employment grows with a reviving economy, so does the unemployment gap between the country’s highly educated newcomers and their Canadian counterparts.
Among university graduates, recent immigrants were hit hardest by the recession, and new research shows they’re still at a disadvantage compared to Canadian-born university grads as the job market picks up.
The employment gap between newcomers and people born in Canada is greatest among those with the highest credentials and educational backgrounds, according to a Community Foundations of Canada report to be released on Tuesday.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY
In Nigeria, he helped design the athletes village for Abuja’s All-Africa Games.
But three years after moving to Canada in 2007 with a pregnant wife and big dreams, Yisola Taiwo has yet to land his first architecture job. His wife, Bunmi Sofoluwe-Taiwo, still hasn’t been able to find work after leaving her career with the Lagos government.
“Last year was terrible,” Mr. Taiwo said. An internship ended; he spent more than a year on employment insurance and working for no pay at a Toronto architecture firm.
In May, he started a two-month contract at the Diebold Company of Canada, working with architectural drawings to design building security systems in Mississauga. It’s not a bad gig, but he longs for something in his field.
The Toronto region has long boasted about its role as Canada’s diversity hub. But Toronto is doing a worse job of integrating immigrants than it was two decades ago, and it’s costing the economy estimated billions of dollars a year, according to a report being released Thursday by the city’s Board of Trade.
a business of misfits 