Each week Get In The Know scours the web for news and events related to immigration and newcomer settlement and employment and shares its findings here!
The news and events focus on what’s happening in Surrey and surrounding communities but, when relevant, you will also find news and events at a provincial and national level. To stay current with newcomer issues, visit each week and subscribe to our weekly bulletin.
News
B.C.’s ACE connects immigrants with trade careers
When Supneet Chawla, a trained engineer, moved to Canada from a small town in India she had almost no help finding her footing.
“The struggle started the day I landed,” said Chawla, who noted language barriers were especially hard to overcome.
Despite being top of her class in India, she had to once again become a student and write seven exams to get her professional engineering status. After roughly six years of working as a professional engineer, she made up her mind to do whatever she could to make sure no other new Canadians looking for work had to go through what she did.
Fifteen years ago she founded ACE Community College and ACE Trades and Technical Institute in her mother’s garage with one table and a handful of students who wanted to be electricians. In just a few months it grew to dozens of students. The school, now a designated trainer for the Industry Training Authority, has since exploded and offers training for 20 trades and has hundreds of students.
Innovation challenge hopes to reduce barriers for people with disabilities
‘We’re missing out on a huge pool of willing labour when we have a labour shortage’
Several companies are coming up with solutions to address barriers to employment for people with disabilities.
Recently, Toronto-based Lime Connect won a $50,000 grant for its support of university students and professionals (including veterans) with disabilities in accessing work. The funding will support the launch of a new online platform highlighting careers, education and community in the disability talent space.
The funding was provided by the Inclusive Design Challenge: Access to Work launched by urban innovation non-profit MaRS and CIBC, which called on innovators to submit solutions meant to help remove barriers to employment faced by Canadians who live with disability.
Runners-up SenseTech Solutions and Zera Café will each receive $20,000, while Liebs&Co. and SPOT will be awarded prizes of $5,000 each.
Access to Work is the first of four challenges in the initiative.
Employers not doing enough for workers with disabilities
2 in 5 Canadians say employers doing bad or terrible job in recruiting from this group
When it comes to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) policies in the workplace, four in five (78 per cent) Canadians say disability should be included, according to a report from Angus Reid.
And 40 per cent say that employers are either bad or terrible when it comes to hiring from this group.
Nearly half (48 per cent) of those with severe disabilities say that companies are bad at hiring people with disabilities, while 46 per cent say the same about the supports offered by corporate Canada to disabled employees.
British Columbia invites 340 in latest PNP draws
By having weekly draws, B.C. has issued more than 10,000 invitations to apply for a provincial nomination since the start of the year.
Alexandra Miekus Shelby Thevenot
Published on November 10th, 2021 at 09:43am EST
British Columbia invited 340 immigration candidates through two Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) draws held on November 9.
From these two draws, the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) invited candidates from the Skills Immigration (SI) and Express Entry BC (EEBC) streams.
Invitations were issued to those from the Skilled Worker, International Graduate as well as Entry Level and Semi-Skilled sub-categories of SI and EEBC streams.
The majority of invitations went to the 287 candidates who were not invited for their occupation. These candidates received invitations if they met the minimum score requirements between 69 and 94, depending on the program they are eligible for.
The other draw targeted candidates whose occupation falls under NOC 0621 (retail and wholesale trade managers) or NOC 0631 (restaurant and food service managers). That draw resulted in 53 invitations with minimum scores of 104 across the board.
Visible minority representation dropping in B.C. tech sector: study
Percentage of visible minorities in tech jobs falls in 2021 compared with 2020, says report
The hunt for talent within B.C.’s tech sector has been on a tear this past year.
But representation within the sector hasn’t been moving at quite the same clip with a new study revealing diversity within some categories has dropped since 2020.
The percentage of tech workers who identify as visible minorities has dropped from 43.3% to 41% over the past year, according to data released Wednesday by Vancouver-based HR Tech Group.
And a peek into the C-suite reveals an even larger gap: 19% of executives identify as visible minorities compared with 24% a year earlier.
This comes at a time when demand for tech talent has been surging.
Vancouver Island Woman, Dana Collins, Named to 2021 list of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women
Nov 02, 2021, 10:00 ET
VANCOUVER ISLAND, BC, Nov. 2, 2021 /CNW/ – The 2021 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winners list was released by Women’s Executive Network, recognizing outstanding women across Canada who advocate for workforce diversity and inspire tomorrow’s leaders. Dana Collins of the Comox Valley has been named to this prestigious list.
The Top 100 Awards recipients were selected by WXN’s Diversity Council of Canada, with awards presented to remarkable women in 13 categories. Collins was selected in the Manulife Science and Technology category, in recognition of the varied roles she’s played in challenging the status quo for knowledge, and female empowerment within Canada’s forest sector.
Top city hall wage earners in Metro Vancouver are still mostly white and male
90% of the highest paid municipal staff across the region are white and 70% are men
Minister’s statement on October Labour Force Survey results
Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation, has issued the following statement on the release of Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey for October 2021:
“The Labour Force Survey for October solidifies B.C.’s position as leading Canada’s economic recovery with another 10,400 jobs added throughout the province last month.
“The BC Vaccine Card has created stability in our economy, allowing businesses to remain open, while reassuring British Columbians as we gradually return to normal.
“B.C. has the second-lowest unemployment rate in the country at 5.6%, and we continue to lead all provinces with a job recovery rate of 101.9%. There are now 51,000 more British Columbians employed than at the start of the pandemic – that’s a direct result of people, businesses and communities working together to get through these tough times.