L’impact potentiel d’une démarche focalisée est triple : les immigrants qualifiés en tireront profit en étant employés dans des rôles qui correspondent à leur formation et à leur expérience; les PME profiteront de leurs compétences, expérience, et de la diversité de façons de penser qu’apportent les immigrants qualifiés à leur entreprise; et, le Canada bénéficiera d’une intégration plus complète des immigrants qualifiés dans la société canadienne.

Au nombre des principales conclusions du rapport, on retrouve :

• Une stratégie adaptée aux PME est nécessaire parce que les PME sont concentrées dans des secteurs autres que leurs homologues plus importantes.
• Les immigrants récents constituent une grande partie de la main-d’œuvre, et, dans l’ensemble, ils possèdent les compétences, la formation et l’expérience pour contribuer à l’économie canadienne.
• La programmation actuelle ne se focalise pas sur l’assistance aux PME en vue de l’embauche de nouveaux travailleurs.
• Les PME sont motivées par les besoins immédiats et l’incitation financière. Elles veulent limiter le risque de leurs décisions d’embauche, particulièrement lorsqu’elles embauchent à l’extérieur de leurs réseaux personnels.
• Compte tenu du fait que les PME ont tendance à ne pas avoir en place des structures formelles, elles peuvent facilement et rapidement adopter de nouvelles pratiques.
• Pour être efficaces, les programmes visant les PME doivent être simples, clairs et disponibles sur demande.
• Les programmes d’embauche pour les PME devraient cibler des secteurs ou des industries, ou des entreprises en croissance.
• Les programmes pour les PME ont besoin d’un solide soutien en matière de communication et de commercialisation pour réussir.

À partir de l’examen de programmes, de politiques et d’efforts organisationnels qui visent les PME dans dix provinces et 20 villes, et plus de 50 entrevues avec des témoins privilégiés, ce document propose huit idées pratiques pour les villes, les gouvernements et les fournisseurs de service afin de mettre en contact les PME avec les immigrants qualifiés. Au nombre des conclusions, il est proposé de mettre en place un guichet unique pour le recrutement et les services de soutien à l’embauche; la création d’une banque de données en ligne de candidats présélectionnés; et le lancement d’un site Web comportant une information générale et des outils en matière de ressources humaines.

Les idées proposées constitueront la base de consultations avec des PME dans cinq villes canadiennes. Par le biais de ces consultations, ALLIES, en partenariat avec les conseils à l’emploi immigrant, peaufinera ces idées, explorera comment elles peuvent être adaptées aux contextes locaux et identifiera les plus prometteuses en vue de leur mise en place en 2012.

Pour le rapport et une description plus détaillée des huit idées, visitez le site Web d’ALLIES au http://alliescanada.ca/sme.

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ALLIES (Assisting Local Leaders with Immigrant Employment Strategies) soutient des initiatives locales dans des villes canadiennes visant à adapter et mettre en place avec succès des programmes qui contribuent à l’embauche d’immigrants qualifiés dans des postes appropriés. Par le biais d’une série d’initiatives multilatérales, ALLIES et des partenaires locaux contribuent à l’édification d’un Canada plus fort en utilisant les talents, les relations et l’expérience des immigrants qualifiés qui ont fait du Canada leur nouveau foyer. Le projet est cofinancé par Maytree et la Fondation de la Famille J.W. McConnell. www.alliescanada.ca.

Talent mondial pour les PME est financé en partie par Citoyenneté et Immigration Canada.

Pour plus de renseignements :

Markus Stadelmann-Elder, Maytree, directeur des communications, tél. : 416-944-2627 poste 284, cell. : 416-271-5654, mselder@maytree.com

Last fall, when Michael Schafler, a partner at law firm Fraser Milner Casgrain (FMC), met Deepshika Dutt, an Indian-trained lawyer with a Master’s of Law degree from the University of Western Ontario, he knew immediately her talent and training would make her a valuable asset to the firm and its clients.

“We and our clients insist on quality and she’s first rate,” says Mr. Schafler.

Unfortunately, Ms. Dutt still needed to complete a 10-month articling position before she could be licensed to practise law in Ontario and there were no articling positions available at FMC.

Thinking Outside the Box

That’s when Mr. Schafler decided to get creative. What if, instead of one law firm providing the articling position for 10 months, the time could be split amongst several different firms?

“Once I met Deepshika in person, I knew she deserved this opportunity,” says Mr. Schafler.

He called a friend and colleague, Deloitte’s general counsel Ken Fredeen, and asked if he would be interested in sharing an articling student.

“He immediately embraced the idea,” says Mr. Schafler.

The Way Things Have Always Been Done

Large law firms in Toronto are part of an institutionalized recruitment and placement system for articling students, says Mr. Schafler. Recruitment begins when these students are in the first year of law school and they are hired as first-year summer students. The same students then return to the same law firms as second-year summer students and again as articling students after graduation.

Ms. Dutt met all the necessary requirements to have her law degree from Punjab University recognized in Ontario and passed the bar exam. However, the Law Society of Upper Canada still required her to complete the same 10-month articling position required of all Ontario law school graduates.  But because she didn’t attend an Ontario law school, she was applying for positions that had been filled three years earlier.

To add insult to injury, many of those same articling students are hired back as first-year associates, which meant Ms. Dutt’s chances of finding a job with a large firm after being called to the bar were slim to none. “If you don’t get a good articling firm then you don’t get a good job,” she says.

She attended countless networking events and was told over and over again that her qualifications were great but the firms just didn’t have any positions available. Finally Ms. Dutt’s networking paid off when she was introduced to Mr. Schafler.

In the end, Ms. Dutt is splitting her 10-month articling position, which began last November, between three firms: four months with a sole practitioner she found through the Law Society of Upper Canada’s website, three months with Deloitte and three months with FMC.

“At the end of the day she’s going to get the kind of training that, first of all, she deserves, but also the kind of training that will allow her to go wherever she wants to be and be a really good lawyer in Ontario,” says Mr. Schafler.

The Business Case

For Mr. Schafler and FMC, there are two reasons for ensuring skilled immigrants like Ms. Dutt have the same chances as Canadian-born professionals.

The first is it’s the right thing to do, he says. The second, and most important, is it’s a business imperative.

“Many of our clients — the big banks, the big accounting firms, the big publicly traded companies — have requirements for diversity and inclusiveness. If their service providers don’t comply with those requirements, they will not get the work,” says Mr. Schafler.

“You have to be business savvy. Our experience teaches us that if you exclude a potential employee segment from your workforce, you will miss out on the best potential talent. Whether that talent comes from Napanee, Ont., originally or from Sri Lanka, it really shouldn’t matter.”

Tips for Employers

• Don’t let traditional ways of doing things get in the way of hiring top talent. Just because something has “always been done that way,” doesn’t mean it’s the best way.
• Be open to creative solutions that include working collaboratively with another organization.  Both organizations will end up benefiting in the end.
• Don’t focus on country of origin or degree. Be open to the best talent wherever it comes from or else risk losing out.

A passion for promoting the profile of Latin America and its people to business

Fabiola Sicard has dual identities: She’s Mexican-born and a Canadian citizen; she’s the director of Latin Markets, Multicultural Banking for Scotiabank and she’s co-founder of LAMBA, the Latin American MBA Alumni Network. But above all else, Fabiola is passionate about building the profile of what Latin America and its people have to offer Canadian businesses.

“There is a large, growing population of Latin Americans in Canada,” says Fabiola. “We don’t see ourselves as visible minorities. We are well educated and bilingual. We are world-class immigrants and we’ve come to contribute to this country.”

An accountant by trade, Fabiola always knew she wanted to do an international MBA. She studied English in Toronto for four months to polish her writing skills in preparation. While here, Fabiola fell in love with the city and her future husband. She chose York University’s Schulich School of Business for her graduate degree.

“After I settled in that first year, I developed a real interest for all things Mexican and Latin American,” says Fabiola. She got involved with the Canadian Council for the Americas. Then, inspired by the founding of the Canadian Colombian Professionals Association and the Alumni Association for Tec de Monterrey, Fabiola and a few classmates founded the Latin America Business Association (LABA) at Schulich with the goal of promoting the region from a business perspective.

By the time she was wrapping up her MBA, Fabiola had set her sights on Scotiabank. She had done her research and knew they were targeting Latin America. Fabiola secured an internship with the bank’s international division in finance. Fabiola later got a taste of multicultural banking and stayed. She has been in her role for the last two years.

Meanwhile, the alumni pool of Latin America MBA graduates grew in the Toronto Region. “We were organizing events for those who share culture and business drive, states Fabiola. It would start with an email saying we were going for drinks. Then 60 people were on board! So we thought it made sense to create a formal organization.”

In October 2010 Fabiola helped found the Latin American MBA Alumni Network (LAMBA). The professional association connects Latin American MBA graduates with one another and with corporations in Canada. A year later LAMBA is off to a running start with CIBC, Scotiabank, TD Bank Group and KPMG as sponsors, Richard Ivey School of Business, Rotman School of Management, HEC Montreal and Schulich as school partners, and 230 members.

The majority of LAMBA members are first generation Canadian, so the focus is on increasing members’ networks and on the impact such a sizable network of Latin American MBAs could make in Toronto. Senior members support newer members on how to market themselves to Canadian employers.

“We Latin Americans are excellent at starting and building relationships,” says Fabiola. “Loyalty and creativity define us because we come from places where there are so many needs and gaps. We are always trying new solutions.”

A large number of Scotiabankers speak Spanish and the bank has supported the establishment of HOLA, the Hispanic Organization for Leadership and Advancement – an employee resource group with more than 200 members. Fabiola is the Director of External Affairs. In early 2011 HOLA participated in a networking event coordinated by TRIEC and Hispanotech – bringing together members of Hispanic professional associations and employee resource groups from several large organizations. The event was the first of its kind in the city.

As a follow up to this event, Fabiola recently convened these groups again to explore synergies around needs and opportunities, and to facilitate networking. She is excited at the momentum amongst Latin American professional associations in Toronto and the prospect of capitalizing on all that potential.

On Friday, December 2nd 2011, Fabiola was presented the Ohtli Award by the Mexican consulate of Toronto. The award is the highest recognition that the Mexican government gives to its citizens who’ve contributed to the Mexican diaspora.

In just a few years Fabiola has made her mark in Toronto and will undoubtedly champion more innovative and impactful work when it comes to increasing the profile of the Latin American community to local businesses.

Note: Thank you to TRIEC for this story.