A1: Rebuilding Professional Lives: Immigrant Professionals Working in the Ontario Settlement Sector (Offered again in the evening B1) (English and French)
This session will present and discuss the findings of a new research study on immigrant professionals working in the Ontario settlement sector. Led by the facilitator and conducted in collaboration with OCASI between 2009 and 2010, the study focused particularly on those professionals who are trained abroad in areas other than settlement or broader social service work and employed at OCASI member agencies.
The session will have three learning outcomes as they relate to:
- Factors, including lack of access to professions, which lead internationally trained (immigrant and refugee) professionals to seek employment in the settlement sector;
- Reconstitution of individual professional lives, albeit in a new field; and
- Professional development needs in the sector, particularly, conception of settlement work and sectoral capacity building.
Questions and comments will be sought from participants both during and after the presentation.
For detail information, please visit http://atwork.settlement.org/sys/atwork_whatshappen_detail.asp?anno_id=2010081 (English Version), http://ensemble.etablissement.org/ressource/reb%C3%A2tir-une-vie-professionnelle%C2%A0-les-professionnels-immigrants-travaillant-dans-le-secteur (French Version).
Adnan Türegün is the Executive Director of the Centre for International Migration and Settlement Studies, and an Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, at Carleton University. His research focuses on Canadian settlement service delivery models, settlement sector development, and immigrant economic integration with particular emphasis on access to regulated professions and trades.
A4: “My Record” and ITI Advising: Streamlining Paths to Employment for Internationally Trained Immigrants (ITI) through Advising and Credential Recognition Services (Offered again in the evening B4)
In this session, Colleges Integrating Immigrants to Employment (CIITE) will provide an update and share lessons learned from their projects on ITI advising and the “My Record”/ Record of Education and Experience (REE). The focus of the “My Record”/REE project is to improve the recognition of prior international education and work experience resulting in more streamlined college admissions, advanced placement and transfer credit processes at Ontario colleges. The ITI Advising project addresses the issue that too many ITIs waste time, money and motivation in order to obtain information, advice and support to reach their employment goals. ITI advising services are critical to raising awareness of, and access to, the information that will enable ITIs to gain meaningful employment. The presenters will answer questions about the two projects, explain how this service will assist newcomers, and provide contact information for services in Ontario communities.
Sally Burgess has been an Advisor for 14 years in the Alberta and Ontario college systems. After completing a BEd and teaching for a few years, she worked with Advising, Recruitment, Admissions, Assessment and Upgrading, before moving to work specifically as an Advisor with internationally trained immigrants. She is now the Project Manager, Advising with the Colleges Integrating Immigrants to Employment (CIITE) Project where she supports the work of 46 advisors at 18 colleges in Ontario who advise internationally trained immigrants. Sally has an ardent desire to help newcomers find the most reasonable and productive paths to a successful life in Canada.
Jane Brown has worked in the area of Student Services in higher education for the last 21 years. During the completion of her M.Ed. in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration from the University of Vermont, her thesis focused on how white student affairs professionals can be effective participants in the struggle toward anti-racism. Previously she was employed by 5 universities in Alberta, Ontario and Vermont. She now works in the role of Project Manager, Credential Recognition with the Colleges Integrating Immigrants to Employment (CIITE) Project of CONNECT Strategic Alliances.
