Calgary, April 22, 2008 - The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, today released the Progress Report of the Foreign Credentials Referral Office (FCRO).
"The FCRO is helping newcomers to Canada use their talents in the fields for which they've been trained," said Minister Finley. "By helping immigrants find out how to get their credentials assessed and recognized more quickly, especially before they enter Canada, their chances for success will improve. That can only be good for Canada and for newcomers."
Since its launch less than a year ago, the FCRO has established a variety of ways to help newcomers and prospective immigrants find the information they need to put their skills to work in Canada. For example, the 320 Service Canada centres offering in-person foreign credential referral services have helped over 9,000 people and the FCRO website has had over 250,000 visits, the majority from outside Canada. This clearly demonstrates that people are getting information before they arrive in Canada.
The Working in Canada Tool is a key feature of the website. This tool is helping internationally trained individuals find information about the labour market related to their occupation in Canada. This includes information on jobs related to their skills and the city in which they wish to work in Canada, including information on job duties, skill requirements and wage rates for a chosen location in Canada.
In the past year, Minister Finley also visited India where she announced the expansion of overseas orientation sessions to include itinerant services in India and China. Delivered in China, India and the Philippines by the Association of Canadian Community Colleges' Canadian Immigration Integration Project, these sessions help increase awareness about the credential recognition process in Canada. For the year ahead, the FCRO has plans to enhance its services for newcomers and, in particular, its overseas services for prospective immigrants.
The progress report details the FCRO's activities, which are aimed at providing authoritative information, path-finding and referral services to newcomers and prospective immigrants. In addition, the report highlights some of the key achievements of the FCRO in its start-up year to address foreign credential recognition with a broad spectrum of stakeholders.
The release of the report coincides with the National Conference on Foreign Credential Recognition hosted by the FCRO and the Conference Board of Canada's Leaders' Roundtable on Immigration, and taking place on April 22 and 23, 2008, in Calgary, Alberta. The conference is aimed at enhancing coordination on foreign credential recognition and encouraging collaboration among stakeholders from federal, provincial and territorial governments, regulatory bodies, credential assessment agencies, immigrant-serving organizations, business and employer associations and post-secondary educational institutions.
The FCRO is located within Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Its role is to provide authoritative information, path-finding and referral services to internationally trained individuals overseas as early as possible in the immigration process and in Canada. The Office works with Human Resources and Social Development Canada, Health Canada, other federal partners, the provinces and territories and other stakeholders to strengthen FCR processes in Canada. The provincial and territorial governments are responsible for the regulation of skilled trades and some professions.
To read the report, visit the FCRO's website at www.credentials.gc.ca.
For further information (media only), please contact:
Tim Vail
Press Secretary
Minister's Office
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
613-954-1064
Karen Shadd-Evelyn
Media Relations
Communications Branch
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
613-952-1650
