'Immigrants are less likely to find work in Canada than their Canadian-born counterparts, even if they've been educated at North American universities," reported Statistics Canada at the end of July 2008.


A striking example is found in recent study by York University health researchers that show a clear correspondence between poverty levels, prevalence of adult-onset diabetes, and concentration of visible minorities in Toronto neighbourhoods.


Over 40 per cent of Canadians with disabilities are not in the labour force, forcing many of them to rely upon social assistance benefits. Canada ranks 27th of 29 in public spending on disability-related issues. 
Source: Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts by Juha Mikkonen and Dennis Raphael


According to HR Trends in BC 2008 Survey conducted by BC HRMA, 'Global Recruitment practices' and 'Managing Diversity and Integrating Immigrants' were named among top five new trends for local HR professionals.



"Our new focus is on integration. We don't want to create a bunch of silo communities where kids grow up in a community that more resembles their parents' country of origin than Canada ..." Kenney, Canada's citizenship minister, The Star.com July 10, 2009. 


According to the World Value Survey (2000-2002) more Canadians highly value family than Chinese. Moreover, Canadians appeared to o follow instructions without questioning them while Chinese felt that they need to be convinced in the right course of actions before following instructions. 


One of the most commonly used words in Colombia is Manana (tomorrow). It is best understood as "in the indefinite future". This reflects many Colombians' relaxed sense of time and punctuality. Source: Government of Canada



 Sunday, May 20, 2012

Diverity CLUES Consulting



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Diversity CLUES Consulting Inc. is a Vancouver-based consulting company established in 2005. We provide a wide range of professional services from project administration & research development to ethnic outreach and training workshops which cover immigrant economic & social integration, inclusion, and diverse workforce themes. Additionally, our website offers a variety of free resources on intercultural issues and features global and local news on diversity. Our past clients include BC HRMA, City of Coquitlam, Multicultural Helping House Society, CBMercer & Associates and many others. We successfully developed and implemented projects funded by Federal, Provincial and Municipal governments. View samples of our presentations and training here.


Join us for the BC HRMA Diversity Roundtable!


Learn how your employees can benefit from mentoring immigrants


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Date: Thursday, April 5, 2012
Location: BC HRMA office @ 1101-1111 W Hastings St., Vancouver
Time: 5:30pm - 7:15pm (mingling till 5:50pm)

Would you like your employees to develop their coaching and leadership skills, enhance their cultural intelligence and discover new approaches to their work?

 Join us to learn about the Mentoring Pilot Project, a joint initiative of the City of Vancouver, Immigrants Services Society of BC, MOSAIC and SUCCESS, which matched City employees with skilled immigrants who shared the same professions, but who were having difficulties finding work. The project matched 19 City of Vancouver Mentors from the Engineers, Finance and Information Technology departments with 19 internationally trained Mentees identified by the Project’s community partners, for a period of four month from January to May 2011. The pilot was designed to assist newcomers become familiar with Canadian workplace culture, local labour market trends and occupational requirements. It was facilitated by the Immigrant Employment Council of BC, and is one of the first projects of its kind for the public sector in Western Canada. The Project was assessed by an independent evaluator, and is now being reviewed by other public and private sector employers as a model of the way large employers can speed up integration of new immigrants in the job market. Join us to learn about how your company could benefit from participating in mentoring programs.

To register please go to BC HRMA's website


Presenters

Rajpal Kohli , Advisor, Equal Employment Opportunity Program, City of Vancouver

Rajpal has an extensive background in area of employment equity, human rights and diversity, and has been working with City of Vancouver for 19 years. In her role as Advisor, Equal Employment Opportunity Program, Rajpal works on a broad range of initiatives related to equity, access and inclusion, workplace diversity and human rights issues. She helps coordinate City of Vancouver’s annual Cultural Harmony and Access & Inclusion Awards. Rajpal helped coordinate the pilot Mentorship program at the City of Vancouver in 2011 along with Baldwin Wong.

Rajpal grew up in India, and received her Master’s in Psychology with a specialization in Industrial Psychology, a B.A. in English (Honours), and holds a management certificate in Human Resource Management from BCIT. Before immigrating to Canada in 1989, Rajpal worked with the Indian government in a senior managerial role.  Since coming to Canada, Rajpal has worked extensively in the immigrant settlement field and with the Legal Services Society of BC, prior to joining City of Vancouver.

 
Baldwin Wong, Multicultural Social Planner, City of Vancouver

Baldwin is the Multicultural Social Planner at the City of Vancouver.  He has been working on issues related to diversity, multiculturalism and immigration since the 80’s.  In 2001, he helped launch the City’s Newcomer’s Guide, available in 5 languages. Since 2005, he has been the lead staff supporting the Mayor’s Working Group on Immigration, an advisory body which advises the Mayor and City Council on key issues regarding immigrants and refugees.  

In 2008, he organized the Metro Vancouver Leaders Summit on Immigrant Employment. In 2010, the Mayor’s Working Group recommend staff to initiate the City’s pilot Mentorship project. Currently, he is leading a civic Dialogues project which aims to strengthen relations between Aboriginal and newcomer communities in Vancouver.




Diversity CLUES in media



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PeopleTalk (Diversity issue) and reprinted in HRVoice, October 2010: Olga Scherbina was interviewed by BC HRMA's magazine PeopleTalk. Read Olga speaking about challenges of organizations seeking to better understand and factor diversity into their business success.  ... 

Georgia Straight, March 2010:
Read Olga Scherbina's speaking about multiculturalism in Canada quoted in Georgia Straight: "Immigrants do earn less, and are being discriminated against based on their ethnicities. At the same time, we, immigrants, have more freedoms and security than we would have at home ..." Full quote

The Canadian Immigrant Magazine, February 2010: Read interview with Olga Scherbina about immigrant professionals movement and BCITP Net activities in British Columbia: “Working in our professional field is crucial in measuring our successes and defining our identities in Canada,” says Olga Scherbina, acting chair of the BC Internationally Trained Professionals Network’s Leadership Roundtable ... Full article

CGA-BC Magazine Outlook, September 2008 Olga Scherbina was interviewed by BC's accounting magazine: “What I think is good about the CGA designation is it provides an opportunity for both Canadian-born and immigrant post-secondary graduates to gain experience in their professional field,” explains human resources consultant Olga Shcherbyna, herself an immigrant from the Ukraine... Full article

CBC International online, 2008: Read interview with Olga Scherbina about public engagement and Maple Bamboo Initiative: "In some countries there isn't that instinct for getting involved. It's a very different culture," said Olga Scherbina, Project Coordinator of the Maple Bamboo Initiative. Full article  


  Diversity News
November 10, 2011
Dream big, make efforts and achieve big - a successful immigrant proclaims!
read...
November 4, 2011
BC HRMA Diversity Roundtable - November 10th, 2011. Unlocking the potential of immigrants for business growth and innovation
read...
September 22, 2011
The More Welcoming Community the Higher its GDP
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September 7, 2011
Multicultural pot might not be working for Canada
read...

  Diversity CLUES News
October 30, 2010
Olga was interviewed by PeopleTalk Editor
read...
 
March 2, 2010
Olga Scherbina's interview with the Canadian Immigrant Magazine
read...
 
January 29, 2010
Diversity CLUES is contracted by the City of Coquitlam
read...
 
November 23, 2009
BC HRMA's Cultural Competency Toolkit - the development was managed by Diversity CLUES Consulting Inc
read...