Author: TalentLift

The Senate of Canada’s Human Rights Committee invited TalentLift to join the committee as a witness on a study that focuses on innovative solutions to global displacement. Our Dana Wagner joined fellow panelists Abdulla Daoud of The Refugee Centre and Kathy Sherrell of the Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia.

Dana spoke on the promise of the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP) to unlock more solutions for people living as refugees globally. She focused on three issue areas and recommendations to address them, that would provide talented candidates in displacement with broader and more equitable access to Canadian job and skilled visa opportunities. 

Her remarks are below and can also be viewed by video.

–

Opening statement at the Senate of Canada Human Rights Committee

My name is Dana Wagner and I’m the Co-Founder and Managing Director with TalentLift. 

We support employers to recruit internationally from within refugee populations, using skilled visas, as a solution to skills shortages in Canada and displacement worldwide. The Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot or the EMPP is the policy framework that makes this work possible. My remarks are about how to improve it. 

I will preface by pointing to the dissonance created by Canada’s will to lead on solutions to global displacement, and unwillingness to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. We have lost more than 7,000 Palestinian children and more than 30 Israeli children, we have 80% of Gaza displaced, and we need an immediate ceasefire.

Impact

Now, The EMPP is unlocking remarkable opportunities: A manufacturer recently set a hiring target of 100 skilled workers for facilities in Guelph. In October, the Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services hired 49 nurses living in Ethiopia as refugees. These are nurses who don’t have full rights including work rights, or a pathway to permanence where they’re living.

Recent innovations including a new federal EMPP pathway launched in June, hold promise to scale this impact.

But as always in Canada, we can do better. 

Issue number one: The EMPP is still too narrow. 

How do we measure its success? The best reference point is the whole economic stream, of permanent and temporary pathways. Until the EMPP framework and flexibility encompasses the whole economic stream available to everyone else, we don’t have full access or equity for displaced talent. 

More than 604,000 people arrived on work permits last year, in 2022, but the EMPP flexibility doesn’t apply to those programs. It also doesn’t apply to the Express Entry programs and others like the Self-Employed Persons Program.

Recommendation: Our recommendation to close this gap is to mainstream access across the economic stream, including permanent and temporary pathways. One way to begin is to conduct (following the example of a gender-based analysis) what our team calls a displacement-based analysis of the economic stream.

Issue number two: Language levels and testing are too inflexible 

The new federal EMPP pathway has language levels that are proving prohibitive to many otherwise qualified candidates. We know this because we often have employers that require lower language than the visa pathway. 

Now, onto language testing. Currently, if you apply for a skilled visa with an English language requirement outside Canada, you must take the British Council IELTS test, and you must write the exam in-person. That means that right now – candidates from Afghanistan who are living in Pakistan are risking deportation to leave home and take their IELTS exam. 

Other barriers encountered by our candidates are: testing site availability (none in some countries, or outside major cities); inconsistent access for candidates with non-traditional documents; high cost; restrictive payment methods; and – last but not least – a difficult test that does not accurately reflect working knowledge of English.

Recommendations: 

To address the too-high language level, we recommend removing the minimum English/French level in higher-skilled jobs (TEER 3-0) (and there are precedents for this in some provincial nominee programs, in Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador), potentially replaced with an affidavit from the employer that the candidate has the language needed to safely perform the job. 

To address too-restrictive English testing, we recommend accepting an online version of the British Council IELTS test; and accepting an online test by a second provider, like Duolingo.

Issue number three: Risk of uneven access across diversity dimensions

I noted that Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services hired 49 nurses living as refugees in Ethiopia. Some are living in the capital Addis Ababa, some are living in camps spread out around the country. 

Currently, a medical exam is required during EMPP visa processing before approval. Those in Addis can take one nearby. Those in most camps in Ethiopia need to take a flight to get to the nearest medical exam facility. 

Friction like this means it takes more time, and costs more money, for camp-based candidates to access the same opportunity – ultimately, that could be a competitive disadvantage.

Recommendation: We recommend investing in equitable access within talent pools, with a focus on improving access by women, those living in refugee camps or other remote areas, and those who are LGBTQ. This investment can be in funding and in targeted policy solutions. 

Closing

In closing, underlying these recommendations is the idea that people with talent and potential who live in refugee situations should have the same access to opportunities as talented people of any other background. If we build that world, then many more of the 35+ million people living as refugees can use their skills to leave situations of limbo and reduced rights, and use regular routes to reach safe new homes.

Candidates living in refugee circumstances and seeking a job in Canada can join TalentLift. Employers seeking global talent while engaging their team in something transformative can start hiring.

A provincial health service is extending opportunities to talented candidates living in refugee circumstances as part of the solution to a critical shortage of healthcare skills in Canada. 

Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) Health Services partnered with TalentLift to find talented healthcare professionals who are living as refugees in Ethiopia, in a pioneering initiative alongside our partners at the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). 

Under this initiative, we partnered to convene a 3-day virtual recruitment event in October, powered by our in-house hiring platform. We are thrilled to share these early results: 

• 49 candidates moving forward
• 70+ interviews with talented healthcare professionals 
• Interviews held in 5 refugee camps – Jijiga, Assosa, Gambella, Melkadida, and Semera – as well as in the capital city Addis Ababa
• The start of a talent pipeline between the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and displaced healthcare professionals in Ethiopia, making it possible for many more employment opportunities to follow

NL Health Services is among a growing group of leading employers globally who are recognizing the immense talent within refugee populations, and providing people with a chance to put their skills to use and reach their full potential in a safe new home. 

NL Health Services is also showcasing a new form of win-win global recruitment in healthcare by recruiting from within a population that has only insecure and temporary status in their host country. A job opportunity in Canada – while filling critical healthcare roles – provides a pathway to continued careers and secure futures.

“NL Health Services continues to actively recruit talented health-care workers here at home, and abroad in an effort to meet all the needs of Newfoundland and Labrador,” said Debbie Molloy, Vice President Human Resources, NL Health Services. “NL Health Services is a great place to work and an ideal place where health-care professionals from anywhere in the world can grow their careers. As such, we encourage communities throughout the province to continue to provide a warm welcome to the health-care professionals joining us from around the world so that health-care workers can have the best possible experience living and working in our province. Our hope is that Newfoundland and Labrador may become their permanent new home.”

There are thousands of healthcare professionals who are living in refugee circumstances globally who are talented, resilient and keen to contribute their skills in a safe new home. TalentLift is grateful to employers like NL Health Services that are recognizing their skills and extending opportunities to talent living anywhere. 

Read more about this pioneering initiative in an NL Health Services press release. 

Listen to our Dana Wagner and Debbie Molloy of NL Health Services speak about this initiative with CBC On the Go. 

Candidates living in refugee circumstances and seeking a job in Canada can join TalentLift. Employers seeking global talent while engaging their team in something transformative can start hiring.

We are united with people worldwide who are horrified by the death and injury inflicted on Israeli and Palestinian civilians. Too many families are grieving and forever changed. Too many families face a deepening humanitarian emergency.

In the last week, thousands have been killed and an estimated 1 million Palestinians have been displaced. As the conflict continues, the need for humanitarian support has become urgent.

If you have the resources to donate to humanitarian aid efforts, here are a few options to consider: 

• The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund is delivering life-saving medical relief and humanitarian aid. 
• IsraAID is raising funds to provide psychosocial support and deliver urgent aid to vulnerable communities, evacuees and their families.
• The World Food Programme (WFP) is raising funds for emergency food assistance.
• The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is raising funds for lifesaving support while calling for an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian access.

Please research the organization and campaign that seems right to you before giving.

Candidates living in refugee circumstances and seeking a job in Canada can join TalentLift. Employers seeking global talent while engaging their team in something transformative can start hiring.

Several earthquakes hit northwestern Afghanistan on Saturday. More than 3,000 people have lost their lives and emergency rescue efforts continue.

The earthquakes and several aftershocks happened in mainly rural areas around the city of Herat, with the heaviest impacts in many villages that are difficult to reach.

Rescue efforts are further complicated by unstable relations between the Taliban government in Afghanistan and much of the international community. Since the Taliban took power in August 2021, there have been significant cuts in aid funds and a deterioration in healthcare services. There is limited equipment and expertise needed for rescue and recovery.

Many of the candidates we support, our team members and our partners have loved ones in Afghanistan. We’re thinking of them and all the people in Afghanistan affected by the disaster.

If you have the resources to donate to rescue and recovery efforts, here are a few options to consider: 

• Islamic Relief Canada is operating in Herat providing health assistance and assessing other urgent needs. 
• Farhad Darya (an Afghan singer, composer, music producer, and philanthropist) alongside Aryana Sayeed (an Afghan pop singer and songwriter) organized a GoFundMe campaign with donations channelled to 8AM Media, a non-profit arm of Hasht-e Subh Daily Newspaper, which will work in collaboration with other non-profits to disburse funds locally in and around Herat.
• The World Food Programme has already prepared food parcels for 20,000 people and is preparing to reach up to 70,000 earthquake-affected people with food or cash.
• The International Rescue Committee is coordinating with NGOs to provide immediate aid and medical care.

Please research the organization and campaign that seems right to you before giving.

Candidates living in refugee circumstances and seeking a job in Canada can join TalentLift. Employers seeking global talent while engaging their team in something transformative can start hiring.

Severe flooding in Libya has caused an emergency in the northeastern city of Derna. More than 6,000 people have lost their lives and many thousands are still missing. 

Downpour and broken dams are among the main reported causes, and the weather event is considered worsened by climate change.

The disaster happens as the people of Libya and those living as refugees in the country face ongoing conflict and economic insecurity. For years, people in refugee situations from different parts of the world have crossed into Libya and sometimes onwards to sea on dangerous journeys to reach a more secure country. We’re thinking of them and everyone in Libya impacted by the disaster.

If you have the resources to donate, here are a few options to consider: 

• The Canadian Red Cross is raising funds for immediate disaster relief and recovery. 
• Islamic Relief Canada is raising funds to provide urgent food supplies, emergency shelter and basic essentials.
• The World Food Programme is providing emergency meals and support to children and families affected by the floods, and is on the ground. 
• Unicef is mobilizing life-saving supplies such as medical, hygiene, and essential clothing kits for children.

Please research the organization and campaign that seems right to you before giving.

Candidates living in refugee circumstances and seeking a job in Canada can join TalentLift. Employers seeking global talent while engaging their team in something transformative can start hiring.

On Friday, an earthquake hit Morocco in the Atlas Mountains, about 70 kilometres outside the city of Marrakech. More than 2,600 people have lost their lives. It is the deadliest earthquake recorded in Morocco in over 60 years.

Morocco is home to people seeking refugee from many parts of the world. We’re thinking of them and all communities impacted by the disaster. 

If you have the resources to donate, here are a few options to consider: 

• The Canadian Red Cross is raising funds for immediate disaster relief and recovery. 
• Doctors Without Borders provides emergency medical aid and has medical staff in the affected region.
• Action for Humanity  has mobilized a specialized emergency response team to provide immediate aid in affected areas, along with ready-to-eat food packs, hygiene kits, hot meals and blankets.
• Islamic Relief Canada teams are working through local partners to conduct immediate needs assessments and provide urgent food supplies, emergency shelter and basic essentials in Morocco.

Please research the organization and campaign that seems right to you before giving.

Candidates living in refugee circumstances and seeking a job in Canada can join TalentLift. Employers seeking global talent while engaging their team in something transformative can start hiring.