1. Rebuilding Professional Lives:
Immigrant Professionals
Working in the Ontario
Settlement Sector
Adnan Türegün
Centre for International Migration and
Settlement Studies, Carleton University
Ontario Council of Agencies Serving
Immigrants
2010 Executive Directors’ Forum and Fall 2010
Professional Development Conference
1-5 November, Alliston
1
2. Outline
Posing the Problem
Research Design
Preliminary Findings
Concluding Remarks
2
3. Posing the Problem
Immigrants and refugees lack access
to professions and trades in Canada.
What do internationally trained
professionals (ITPs) do when they do
not get to practise their professions in
Canada?
Exit Option: They may return to
their countries of origin or move to a
third country for professional pursuit.
3
4. De-professionalization: Many ITPs
experience de-professionalization
through unemployment or work which
does not require any professional
skills set.
Re-professionalization or
professional rebuilding: They may
acquire a new profession which may
or may not be related to their primary
profession.
4
5. In the context of re-
professionalization, settlement work is
a second profession for many ITPs.
Immigrant and refugee professionals
practising settlement work are an
under-researched population.
What are the personal and
organizational dynamics underlying
the employment of ITPs in the
settlement sector?
5
6. Research Design
A study of Ontario settlement workers
who are trained abroad in areas other
than settlement work.
In collaboration with the Ontario
Council of Agencies Serving
Immigrants (OCASI) and with funding
from CERIS – The Ontario Metropolis
Centre.
An online survey (August-November
2009) targeting the employees of
OCASI member agencies.
6
7. In-depth interviews with employees
holding a variety of positions, including
those who make hiring decisions, at
these agencies (November 2009-
March 2010).
Of the 228 responses to the online
survey, 155 were included in the
analysis and the rest were excluded
for various reasons.
7
8. A caveat: Our online survey is not
based on a representative sample of
the internationally trained labour force
in the Ontario settlement sector.
19 in-depth interviews were conducted
among those who responded to the
online survey and 6 particularly with
agency staff in a managing position.
8
9. Preliminary Findings
Analysis of data, particularly of in-
depth interviews, is still ongoing.
A full report is to be expected in
January 2011.
9
16. Top 10 Fields of Education Number (%)
Business Administration and Management 21 (13.55)
Education 18 (11.61)
Arts, Language, and Literature 17 (10.97)
Science 14 (09.03)
Law 11 (07.10)
Engineering 9 (05.81)
Social Science 8 (05.16)
Social Work 8 (05.16)
Journalism and Communication 7 (04.52)
Medicine, Dentistry, and Veterinary Medicine 6 (03.87)
16
20. Top 10 Pre-Immigration Job Titles in Field of
Education
Number (%)
School Teacher 16 (13.11)
Manager 14 (11.48)
University Professor 8 (06.56)
Lawyer 6 (04.92)
Director 6 (04.92)
Coordinator 6 (04.92)
Engineer 5 (04.10)
ESL Teacher 5 (04.10)
HR Officer 5 (04.10)
Other Health Professional 4 (03.28)
20
41. 41
41.82
15.45
8.18
5.45
7.27
6.36
2.72 0.91 1.82 0.91 0.91
8.18
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
1 yr 2 yrs 3 yrs 4 yrs 5 yrs 6 yrs 7 yrs 9 yrs 10 yrs 12 yrs 14 yrs DNA
Duration of Post-Immigration Employment in Non-
Professional and Non-Settlement Fields
Frequency
Percent
42. Top Five Reasons for Leaving Post-Immigration
Jobs in Non-Professional and Non-Settlement
Fields
Number (%)
Dissatisfaction with Job or Employer 23 (20.91)
Transition to Settlement Work 17 (15.45)
Further Education 11 (10.00)
Search for Better Employment 10 (09.09)
Business Downsizing or Closure 10 (09.09)
42
53. 41%
34%
25%
Desireto Go Back to Practice in Primary
Profession(Giventhe Opportunity)
Yes = 64 No = 52 DNA = 39
53
54. Concluding Remarks
Respondents place heavy emphasis
on the personal, inner satisfaction they
get from, and the social obligation they
feel towards, settlement work.
For many, settlement work is a
“calling.”
54
55. By establishing this connection, they
make sense of the multitude of
investments that they have made for
and in their previous careers.
For professionals, occupational
identity is one of the building blocks of
self and losing that can thus be
destructive of self.
55
56. In their work with and for newcomers,
they find a connection in different
forms and varying degrees to their
primary profession.
56
Refugees do not, of course, have this option at least until their countries of origin are safe to return to and/or until they become Canadian citizens.
It is interesting to note that, as early as 1988, the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants used the term “de-professionalization of immigrants” in a brief to the Task Force on Access to Professions and Trades in Ontario (OCASI 1988, p. 23).
One area existing research has paid scant attention to are the choices that foreign-trained individuals make – and the strategies they use – under the given circumstances of receiving societies.
This study looks at the lived reality of a particular group of foreign-born and -trained professionals in the Province of Ontario. These are the professionals who did not get to practise their respective professions after immigration but acquired a new profession in the form of settlement work.
Ten of the excluded responses were repeat entries; 37 had only demographic information; three came from the Canadian-born and -trained; 20 came from the foreign-trained but had no information on their Canadian experience; and three were by those foreign-trained who had no settlement work experience in Canada.
We do not know the size and composition of the foreign-born population in Ontario’s settlement sector workforce, which would be necessary to attempt at random sampling.
A female-dominated workforce, confirming other studies such as the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto and Family Service Association of Toronto survey, 86% of whose respondents were female and 14% male (2006).
A young workforce with 58% being under the age of 45.
A workforce which broadly reflects the source regions of contemporary Canadian immigration.
A workforce which broadly reflects the ethnic composition of contemporary Canadian immigration.
Muslim respondents are overrepresented.
A highly educated workforce.
Accounting for 77% (119) of all (155) responses.
A young generation of graduates.
Four out of every five respondents have work experience in their field of education.
Business Owner, Economist/Financial Analyst, Researcher, and Rural Development Officer are other job titles which were also mentioned four times. The top 10 titles, including these four, account for 75% (91) of all (122) applicable responses. Concentration in teaching and managing.
* Since the respondents were allowed to give multiple reasons, the total number of responses (144) exceeds the number of respondents (106). Three of the 109 eligible respondents did not answer.
* Since the respondents were allowed to give multiple reasons, the total number of responses (60) exceeds the number of respondents (42). Two of the 44 eligible respondents did not answer.
* Since the respondents were allowed to give multiple reasons, the total number of responses (501) exceeds the number of eligible respondents (111).
* Since the respondents were allowed to give multiple reasons, the total number of responses (355) exceeds the number of eligible respondents (102).
* We asked this question to those who were involved in some form of active search for, but could not achieve, professional practice in Canada. Since the respondents were allowed to give multiple reasons, the total number of responses (78) exceeds the number of respondents (54). Ten of the 64 eligible respondents did not answer.
* Because of the multiple responses, the total number of responses (139) exceeds the number of respondents (106). Four of the 110 eligible respondents did not answer.
* Because of the multiple responses, the total number of responses (130) exceeds the number of respondents (106). Four of the 110 eligible respondents did not answer.
110 eligible respondents; 101 responses.
Accounting for 65% (71) of applicable responses (110).
* Since the respondents were allowed to give multiple reasons, the total number of responses (178) exceeds the total number of respondents (132). The rest (23) of the sample did not answer.
Accounting for 61% (95) of all responses (155).
Accounting for 62% (59) of applicable responses (95).
