Foreign workers gaffe sets PCs back
Chris Selley, National Post · Sept. 8, 2011 | Last Updated: Sept. 8, 2011 2:06 AM ET
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Foreign+workers+gaffe+sets+back/5367847/story.html
This week, we learned that would-be Ontario premier Tim Hudak doesn’t like the idea of paying employers $10,000 to hire unemployed immigrants, and $0 to hire other unemployed people. You’d have to think the vast majority of Ontarians would agree with him on that. And based on the information that was available on Monday morning, they had reason to believe that’s what the Liberals were actually proposing.
The Canadian Press obtained a leaked copy of the Liberal platform, along with a recording of a strategists’ conference call, on Sunday. “People who hire an immigrant for their first job in Ontario would be eligible for a tax credit on the first $10,000 of costs associated with the hiring,” CP reported. Read the rest of this entry
Excelling in the NCA Process – October 17/11 – Toronto
Young Lawyers’ Division Central: Excelling in the NCA Process and Beyond |
October 17, 2011
Foreign-qualified lawyers must obtain a Certificate of Qualification from the National Committee on Accreditation (“NCA”) to practice in Ontario. The NCA, a standing committee of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada (“FLSC”), examines the qualifications of foreign-qualified lawyers and makes recommendations on behalf of the Law Society of Upper Canada (“LSUC”), and all other law societies in Canada, as to the further study of law required before the applicant can enter a particular bar admission program. The NCA process can be challenging, especially for those with limited prior connections to Ontario. In this program, speakers will discuss the NCA program and the subsequent LSUC requirements, and will provide tips for success during the NCA process and beyond, i.e., with respect to acquiring an articling position and practicing law. This free-to-attend program will benefit both NCA applicants and those who wish to know more about hiring foreign-qualified lawyers. The program will be followed by a free-to-attend networking reception hosted by the Ontario Bar Association.
Chairs:
Michaelle Louise Simard,Krylov & Company Barristers
Guillermo Cruz Cruz Herrera Ltd
Speakers:
Paul Sweeny, OBA President
Deborah Wolfe, DManaging Director of NCA
Gina Alexandris, Director, Internationally Trained Lawyers Program, University of Toronto Faculty of Law
Kara Sutherland, Director of Professional Resources, Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP
Daphne Simon, Associate Registrar, Law Society of Upper Canada Faculty of Law
Angela Sordi, Consultant, ZSA Legal Recruitment
Hugo Leal-Neri, PhD candidate at University of Toronto
Details
Date: Monday, October 17, 2011
Time: 2:15 pm Registration | 2:30 pm Program with Q&A period | 4:30 pm Program concludes followed by Reception
Location: The Conference Centre at the OBA, 20 Toronto Street, 2nd Floor
Register for Live Program | Program Details
**This is a complimentary program**
Elections news – tax credit to hire foreign lawyers
This interesting proposal seems to be experiencing lots of criticism. Remember that the McGuinty government brought you the Fair Access To Regulated Professions Act.
“Canadian immigrants are underemployed, and the Ontario Liberals think they have a solution: Help employers hire immigrants so they can get Canadian work experience. It may be well-meaning, but it is ultimately an inefficient and divisive policy.
The proposal would give $10,000 to employers to defray costs associated with training and mentorship needed to achieve Ontario certification. It’s focused on regulated professions – jobs in fields such as accounting, law, teaching, engineering, forestry and early childhood education.”
Check out the comments too.
Top U.S. class-action lawyer coming to Canada
Top U.S. class-action lawyer coming to Canada
SANDRA RUBIN
From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, May. 10, 2011 6:50PM EDT
Last updated Tuesday, May. 10, 2011 6:57PM EDT
Ontario’s move to allow American-style shareholder class-action lawsuits has attracted a feared and revered Wall Street plaintiffs’ lawyer to the province just as the pendulum is swinging away from similar suits in the United States.
Michael Spencer, a senior partner who sits on the executive committee at Milberg LLP – one of the original class-action firms – is preparing to practise law in Canada. Read the rest of this entry
The Party Leaders – Their Positions on Foreign Professionals
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper’s government met the challenge of the global economic crisis head on with our world-leading Economic Action Plan. Support for foreign credentials recognition has been a key part of our economic agenda. In 2009, we invested $50 million over two years for the development and implementation of the Pan-Canadian Framework for the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Qualifications. This funding has helped to streamline the recognition process in a number of important occupations and made it easier for foreign-trained Canadians to use their skills and expertise in Canada. Read the rest of this entry
Canada’s lawyers broadening their horizons
http://www.financialpost.com/news/Canada+lawyers+broadening+their+horizons/4247900/story.html
Canada’s lawyers broadening their horizons
Canadians are seeking opportunities for legal education in other countries — notably England, Australia and the United States.
Reuters Files
Canadians are seeking opportunities for legal education in other countries — notably England, Australia and the United States.
Vern Krishna, Financial Post · Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011
What a difference a generation makes in the composition of the Canadian bar and the international competencies required of Canadian lawyers, who are broadening their horizons and becoming increasingly international in outlook and scope of work. More foreign-trained lawyers are immigrating into Canada; more Canadians are going to study abroad in foreign law schools; and law firms are looking at forging international partnerships in Europe and the Middle East. Read the rest of this entry
UToronto to offer bridging for foreign-trained lawyers
Program will offer academic training, language referrals, career services and employment counselling to lawyers who want to practice in Ontario
The University of Toronto is starting Ontario’s first bridging program for internationally trained lawyers, thanks in part to a $4 million investment in the program from the provincial government.
Every year, the Internationally Trained Lawyer Program will aim to help 100 lawyers who need accreditation to practice law in the province. Michael Chan, Ontario’s minister of citizenship and immigration, launched the program a ceremony last Tuesday.
“We have tremendous international talent, a pool of talent here in Ontario for which we already have bridging programs, such as pharmacists, engineers and nurses, who are all internationally trained but are not currently in the job that they want,” said Chan. “Our economic prosperity depends on attracting skilled newcomers from around the world and retaining those people.”
The program will provide a range of services, including provincial work experience, academic training, language support, career services and employment counselling. It’s set to operate out of U of T’s law faculty, and will be supported by groups including the Law Society of Upper Canada and the National Committee on Accreditation, in addition to local law firms.
For more information, click here.
Ontario Law Society approves report on Canadian Common Law Degree
Federation’s report on Canadian Common Law Degree approved -
Convocation approved the final report of the Federation Task Force on the Canadian Common Law Degree
The Federation’s final report recommends that law societies in common law jurisdictions establish a uniform educational requirement for entry to their bar admission programs or licensing processes. The requirement is expressed in terms of competencies in basic skills, awareness of appropriate ethical values and core legal knowledge that law students are expected to acquire during law school. The final report also sets out certain institutional requirements, such as prerequisites for entry and length of program, that law schools are expected to meet.
The Law Society will recommend to the Federation that the committee responsible for implementation include appropriate representation from Canadian law schools, and that law societies have an opportunity to approve the implementation committee’s recommendations. Full report.
Foreign-trained Professionals Have Some Much-Needed Leverage.
http://www.langmichener.ca/index.cfm?fuseaction=content.contentDetail&id=10684&lid=0
The Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act
Foreign-trained Professionals Have Some Much-Needed Leverage.
July 28, 2009
Each year, thousands of foreign-trained skilled professionals come to Canada seeking a better life, bringing with them years of education and practical experience in their field of expertise. However, in many instances, they arrive here only to discover their foreign credentials will not be recognized by the professional associations responsible for issuing the certifications necessary to continue in their chosen profession. Without access to certification, many foreign-trained skilled professionals have no choice but to seek work in an alternative field, often performing manual or unskilled work, to support their families. In attempting to obtain certification, these skilled professionals often encounter frustration, needless bureaucracy, and closed doors.
In 2006, the Ontario Legislature enacted the Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act (“FARPA”), which requires professional associations in Ontario to provide registration practices for foreign-trained professionals that are “transparent, objective, impartial and fair.” By enacting this legislation, the government of Ontario has recognized that, in far too many instances, engineers, accountants, lawyers, doctors, teachers and other professionals who come from abroad face an unnecessarily difficult battle in obtaining certification to continue their chosen profession in Ontario. This is also true for professionals born in Canada who go abroad for university and then return, only to discover their foreign credentials are not readily recognized in Ontario.
Pursuant to FARPA, regulated professions must establish objective licensing requirements for foreign-trained applicants. In assessing an applicant’s foreign credentials, professional associations must do so in a way that is “transparent, objective, impartial, and fair.” Registration decisions must be made within a reasonable period of time, and the association must provide a written response to the applicant, providing written reasons for its decision. The professional association also must provide the right to an internal review or appeal of its decision within a reasonable period of time, and the applicant must be provided the right to present oral or written arguments in support of the appeal. FARPA further provides that an applicant has the right to access the professional association’s records that relate to the application.
If an association fails to abide by FARPA’s requirements, the Office of the Fairness Commissioner is authorized to issue an order to the association compelling it to comply with FARPA. If the association fails to comply with such an order, in addition to other legal remedies that might be available to the applicant, the association could be subject to a fine in an amount up to $100,000.
Take for example a recent immigrant who is a professional engineer in his home country with many years of work experience. When he applies for certification with the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario, the Association must assess his foreign credentials, including his educational background and work experience, based on criteria that are objective and fair. In other words, the Association must conduct a real assessment of his foreign credentials in light of criteria that have a real relationship to the same minimum requirements imposed on domestically trained applicants – the Association cannot impose greater or different standards on a foreign-trained applicant.
If the Association determines the applicant’s foreign credentials do not meet its criteria for licensing, the Association must provide in writing the basis for its decision, explaining how the criteria have not been met. However, it will not be sufficient to merely state what additional training or education is required. Rather, the Association must state why the additional training or education is required in light of its objective criteria. Moreover, the Association must provide the applicant with an opportunity to appeal and present oral and written arguments in response to the Association’s decision.
In this regard, FARPA can be an extremely effective tool in the hands of a foreign-trained professional. If the professional association has not established real objective criteria, cannot articulate the basis for its licensing decision, or cannot show it has acted fairly and impartially, the association will find itself in violation of FARPA. The applicant will then have a variety of potential remedies at its disposal, including seeking an order from the Office of the Fairness Commissioner and seeking enforcement of legal rights in court. Given that, the ultimate objective for every foreign-trained professional is to be treated fairly and impartially, requiring Ontario’s professional associations to comply with FARPA can go a long way in helping foreign-trained skilled professionals continue in their chosen fields and realize their dream of a better life.
Stephen J. Maddex is an associate in the Commercial Litigation Group in Ottawa. Before joining Lang Michener, he practiced with two large law firms in Houston, Texas, where he gained significant trial experience and appeared in courts all over the state. His practice focuses on U.S./Canada Cross-Border Litigation. For further information regarding FARPA, contact him directly at 613 232-7171 ext. 108 or smaddex@langmichener.ca.
Foreign-trained lawyers hold their breath for help
Foreign-trained lawyers hold their breath for help
January 15, 2009
Paul Dalby
The legal profession in Ontario is perhaps the last place you would expect initiatives to create a level playing field for newcomers, especially from other countries.
Nigerian lawyer Nicholas Owodunni found out just how tough when he arrived one year ago with his new wife, Elizabeth, a Canadian-trained social worker.
Owodunni, 39, had trained at the Obafemi Awolowo University and the Nigerian Law School before logging seven years of general law practice.
But he was not prepared for the maze of requirements and regulations that sat between him and a law career in Ontario.
“The actual problem I had was in getting my accreditation,” he says. “I had to call back to Nigeria to get actual transcripts from law school and the university.” That took a lot of time.
Now, Owodunni must write nine exams, each costing $525 before he can search for an articling job.
Meanwhile, he has obtained his licence as a financial adviser, but he is determined to return to law.
Internationally trained lawyers following in Owodunni’s footsteps might have an easier time in the future, thanks to new plans being rolled out in the halls of Toronto’s world of law.
The first is a pilot project that seeks to bridge the gap for newcomers from overseas, which is being launched by one of the country’s pre-eminent law firms, Fraser Milner Casgrain (FMC).
Deadline for applications to the six-month paid internship program at FMC closed earlier this month and the first candidates will arrive at the Toronto law firm in early February.
The internship will break down the mysteries of the law culture in Canada and give candidates work experience to put on their resumés and provide contacts in the profession.
Those assets are considered essential to nailing down the all-important articling job that launches law careers in Canada.
Meanwhile, the University of Toronto Faculty of Law has submitted a proposal to the Ontario government for an end-to-end bridging program to help ease internationally trained lawyers into the Canadian system.
“While FMC’s work is fantastic, we need more,” says Jane Price, faculty director of professional diversity and legal opportunities. “If we get government funds, we will use FMC’s internship as a pilot to try and get other people to follow suit.”
The U of T proposal would provide international lawyers with job skills training, courses on cultural fluency, academic courses and a job placement.
Price says the decks are currently stacked against internationally trained lawyers. “Their barriers are really enormous, and I think people are recognizing we are not doing a fantastic job here.”
