TORONTO – March 27, 2013 – Providence Group together with the Young Professionals and Skilled Workers Association (YPSWA), successfully held its Round Table of Discussions about education and labour challenges faced by new immigrants in Toronto. MPP Rosario Marchese, the NDP Critic for GTA was a key panelist at this event.

The Round Table took place in Lillian H. Smith Public Library at 239 College Street in Toronto. Russian-Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Russian-Canadian Cultural Aid Society and Russian Club at University of Waterloo and many young-adult volunteers were co-organizers of this Round Table.

The Round Table attempted to explore the labour barriers of Glass Ceiling, Mid-level Bottleneck and Sticky Floor, their affects on immigrants and what steps can be taken to overcome them. In the course of discussion, panelists explained to the public that the Sticky Floor barrier is more detrimental to women than men, but the Mid-level Bottleneck barrier is equally detrimental to both sexes.  However, the Glass Ceiling barrier negatively affects minority men, who are 6% less likely to be promoted than white men, whereas white women are 2.5% more likely to be promoted to top management than white man. 

According to Volodymyr Paslavskyi, an education consultant at Providence Group, many immigrants can rise above the labour barriers by emulating the educational trend of Canadian-born students. Most of the employment opportunities for Canadian born students come to them due to their post-secondary diplomas and certificates rather than university degree. Therefore, immigrants can improve their employment chances by simply enrolling into one of more than 200 post-secondary programs in Ontario’s colleges.

MPP Rosario Marchese spoke that there is lot of cultural bias perceived against colleges, which mistakenly are viewed as inferior to university-based education. He stated that bias against colleges is now disappearing as colleges become a better place to gain Canadian experience and skills sought after.

Alexander Tsygankov from the Russian-Canadian Chamber of Commerce quoted RBC Royal Bank study, which stated that labour barriers encountered by immigrants cost Canadian economy on average $174 million in annual income loses. 

The Round table was followed by Q and A session from the floor.

For more information about the Round Table of Discussions, please contact Providence Group at info[@]prov.in.ua.