Ontario is looking to ban the controversial Canadian work experience requirement that has prevented many internationally-trained immigrants from finding jobs in their respective fields of work.
This change follows legislation to prohibit regulated professions from requiring discriminatory Canadian work experience requirements in licensing for more than 30 occupations, which comes into effect this December.
“For far too long, too many people arriving in Canada have been funnelled toward dead-end jobs they’re overqualified for. We need to ensure these people can land well-paying and rewarding careers that help tackle the labour shortage,” Labour Minister David Piccini said in a statement.
Citizenship and Multiculturalism Minister Michael Ford said that by banning Canadian work experience requirements in job postings, Ontario is leading the country in breaking down barriers to make it easier for internationally-trained immigrants to find meaningful work and contribute to building the province.
This year, Ontario will nominate 16,500 immigrants for permanent residence through the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) in various critical sectors such as health care and the skilled trades. The province is proposing changes that would increase the number of international students in Ontario eligible to apply to the OINP by revising eligibility requirements for hundreds of one-year college graduate certificate programs.
The Doug Ford government says it has already communicated to Ottawa that Ontario should have significantly more influence in selecting the economic immigrants coming to the province.
The provincial government is also proposing changes to improve oversight and accountability of how regulated professions like accountants, architects and geoscientists use third-party organizations to assess international qualifications to ensure assessments are done in a way that is fast, transparent and fair.
Ontario welcomes more immigrants than any other province each year and research has shown that helping internationally-trained newcomers work in the professions they studied for could increase the province’s GDP by up to $100 billion over five years.
There have been over 162,000 immigrants arriving in Ontario from January to September 2023.
