This article is taken from the special issue of Le Figaro “D’Est en Ouest – Vivre au Canada”, available on the Figaro Store.
The goal is clear: to welcome nearly 500,000 immigrants each year, until 2025. In parallel, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Sean Fraser, announced last fall a list of professions now eligible for permanent residence. Among them, payroll administrators, truck drivers, bailiffs, teaching assistants and many health professions, a sector particularly affected by the Covid crisis and the aging of the population.
At the end of 2022, nearly 500,000 workers in the health sector were over the age of 55, the Canadian government “will take strong measures, as part of the Foreign Credential Recognition Program,” said Sean Fraser. $90 million has been put on the table. Objective: to facilitate labor mobility between different provinces for all health professionals, whether trained in Canada or abroad. Among the most sought-after positions: nurses. French people wishing to emigrate must go through the recognition of their qualifications and then through the SNEI (National Nursing Evaluation Service) to practice in the chosen province. Sometimes daunting procedures, but which the candidates face with determination. And for good reason, the missions of a nurse are broader than in France (respiratory auscultation, reading of electrocardiograms, etc.) and salaries, in Quebec in particular, are 25 to 30% higher. In the Province, it is the Health Recruitment service which supports candidates in recruitment and immigration procedures.
Last August, just a few days before the start of the school year, Quebec City lacked 700 teachers. A heresy, but above all a reality that does not essentially affect the Belle Province. The forecasts for the coming years are indeed far from optimistic: it is estimated that the shortage in the sector will last at least until 2030. The same is true in Ontario where the need for French-speaking teachers is also very important. . Good news, it is possible to come and teach with a French diploma, completed with administrative procedures such as obtaining a teaching certificate. In Ontario, it will be necessary to rely on the Professional Order (www.oct.ca) which will issue a license to practise. According to the Job Bank, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories should also be in high demand in the coming years. In terms of earnings, the median salary for teachers is nearly $67,000 a year, or just over $34 an hour.
Last October, the hotel and catering sector had a vacancy rate of 8.5%, already before the pandemic, the sector was suffering from an obvious lack of staff (around 60,000 people). To cope, employers do not skimp on the means, trying to seduce foreign candidates, and in particular the French, renowned for their sense of service and their know-how. In Quebec, some bosses pay immigration costs – 5,000 or even 6,000 euros -, while in Ontario, additional weeks of vacation are sometimes offered… Same seduction of foreign candidates in the information technology sector, he too hit with full force. Yet Canada has earned a solid reputation as a talent incubator in this area, but that was without counting on the brain drain to the neighboring United States. As a result, Canada recruits IT talent among the immigrant population, who are happy to be seduced by high salaries (the median salary in the sector is 100,000 Canadian dollars), support in immigration procedures, in particular via the Entry program Express, and a gentle way of life specific to the country with the maple leaf.