Many thanks to Raymond Hyma for sharing this series of updates from Metropolis 2012.

The Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies (CDTS) at the University of Toronto (UT) has released its first newsletter. The newsletter will feature research of the CDTS students and faculty, upcoming events including conferences, workshops, and seminars both within Toronto and internationally.

Coming soon – an online journal of the CDTS students. Here’s the CDTS Newsletter SPRING 2012.

A new website has launched to facilitate professional immigrant networks that provide resources and support for immigrant employment. From the announcement on the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council site(TRIEC) (links added):

“Professional immigrant networks are not new, but the dozens of associations of immigrants helping immigrants in the GTA have been operating mostly under the radar – until now. At an event at the Toronto Board of Trade today, the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC), the Government of Canada and Scotiabank are introducing a vital new website as part of the Professional Immigrant Networks initiative (PINs) to forge connections between immigrants, employers and community agencies – all with the goal of advancing immigrant employment.

“Professional immigrant networks are organized by profession or ethnicity or both – from the Latin American MBA Alumni Network to the Chinese Professionals Association of Canada and the Association of Filipino Canadian Accountants. Collectively they serve more than 30,000 members. The new PINs website will help newcomers access these professional immigrant networks and through them build the connections they need to find meaningful employment. ‘Lack of professional connections and understanding of Canadian corporate culture are the primary obstacles to meaningful employment for skilled immigrants,’ says Gabriel Leiva von Bovet, President of the professional immigrant network HispanoTech and a TRIEC board member. ‘But thousands of newcomer professionals are using immigrant networks to help themselves and each other get ahead. Our new website capitalizes on this resourcefulness.’

“Funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and sponsored by Scotiabank, PINs benefits employers as well as immigrants. With the diversifying population and the growth of the knowledge economy, recruiting internationally experienced and multi-lingual personnel is becoming a priority in most workplaces, both from the talent management and business perspectives. As a case in point, PINs is jointly sponsored by the human resources and business development arms of Scotiabank. According to Pankaj Mehra, Director, Multicultural Banking,India and South Asia Markets, the bank’s investment in PINs meets the objectives of both aspects of the business. ‘We recognize that professionals coming into our country are not just prospective employees and managers, but also customers,’ says Mr. Mehra. ‘Immigrant employees can be important ambassadors for the bank by not only helping us grow our business, but also helping us strengthen our ties to their communities.’ PINs connects employers to professional immigrant networks and allows them to communicate directly and efficiently with target markets. Last year alone, TRIEC disseminated 100 job postings out to the professional immigrant networks from 25 employers through PINs. The new website will make these connections even easier, with a searchable directory of networks and a messaging function for employers to post jobs.”

From the Citizenship and Immigration Canada E-Newsletter:

“This winter, Deputy Minister Neil Yeates and Associate Deputy Minister Peter Sylvester will be holding roundtable meetings with  Canadian employers to seek input that will help inform CIC’s economic immigration programs and policies. CIC’s outreach to employers is aimed at getting a better understanding of their challenges, particularly related to workforce planning, hiring and recruitment, and how they use the immigration system.

“The discussions will focus on the following topics:

• Making the selection of high-skilled, labour-market ready workers more demand-driven;
• Modernizing how we manage immigration applications, to better control intake, prevent backlogs and improve processing times;
• Positioning the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to respond to Canada’s economic needs – complementing, not displacing local labour supply”.

For more info, see Engaging Employers on Immigration.

Several individuals who have been appointed to the Order of Ontario include immigrants and visible minorities, and those who work on behalf of immigrants and marginalized communities. From the Ontario site (links added):

Dr. Anna Banerji, a specialist in tropical and infectious diseases and world-renowned expert in the field of respiratory diseases in Inuit children. She helped create the Immigrant Health and Infectious Disease Clinic and the Canadian Refugee Health Conference.

Howard McCurdy of LaSalle, the first African-Canadian Member of Parliament for the New Democratic Party. A scientist and civil rights activist, he formed the Guardian Club to fight racial discrimination in Windsor, and was cofounder and first Chair of the National Black Coalition of Canada.

Noella Milne of Toronto, a lawyer and volunteer who has devoted herself to children’s issues, through leadership with many organizations, particularly the Children’s Aid Foundation. She has developed projects for HIV health in Africa and transitional employment programs for new Canadians.