On July 15, 2013, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) launched its new policy Removing Canadian Experience as a Barrier to Employment. The policy aims to clarify the existing code grounds where discrimination is prohibited in employment. The Commission boldly states in the policy that requiring Canadian experience as a condition of employment is discriminatory on its face and the onus is on employers to prove that there is a legitimate and necessary reason for such a requirement. This is significant. The Commission is acknowledging that ‘Canadian Experience' is often a proxy or euphemism for race, place of origin and/or ethnic origin. The policy notes that it is shorthand for ‘you don't fit' within our (often ethno-racial homogenous) organizational culture.
While some promotion was done by the Commission for the launch, the interest in this new Human Rights policy was a surprise to many of us. The event was over-subscribed and a cursory scan of the room confirmed that the interest cut across all sectors: employers, human service organizations, immigrant and refugee advocates, human resources professionals, academics and the general public concerned with our evolving human rights regime in Ontario. Once again the province was ahead of the curve and it wouldn't be surprising if other provincial and territorial Rights Commissions follow up with their own version of a Canadian Experience policy.
In my remarks at the launch I shared that the discussion about the requirement for Canadian Experience first happened (for me) in the Caribbean community in the late sixties and early seventies. The community was very clear that this requirement was in fact a euphemism for ‘no Blacks need apply' and there was significant push back from the community on this condition for employment. Recent research by Izumi Sakamoto on the requirement for Canadian Experience by employers bears out my memory as she reports that the first Toronto media reference to the requirement for ‘Canadian Experience‘ was in 1973. This is the period that we saw a significant increase in immigration from the Caribbean, including my family.
While the policy is aimed at Employers and Regulatory bodies, it has implications for our sector and more specifically for OCASI member agencies that provide employment services. In spite of the significant push back against Canadian Experience as a legitimate condition for hiring, the notion started gaining legitimacy in the late eighties, early nineties and during the first decade of the new century it became the centrepiece of much new employment programming. In fact, a whole industry has grown around providing ‘soft skills' for immigrants (and refugees) so that they are a better ‘fit' for employers and the Canadian workplace. We've seen the expectation that newcomers to Canada will work without pay to gain this experience all in the hope that this will lead to work commensurate with their education and international work experience.
Our sector has been complicit in the legitimizing of this practice. As have our governments. It was disheartening to say the least, when Citizenship and Immigration Canada in its revision of the immigration point system in 2012, downgraded international work experience by decreasing the number of points allocated for that experience. At the same time we saw the introduction of pathways to permanent residency that privileges Canadian experience (Canadian Experience Class; Provincial Nominee programs international students pathway, etc.) This sent a clear message to employers, the service sector and to newcomers themselves that Canadian experience trumped everything else. That years of international experience in one's field of expertise had no merit and that the requirement in job hiring was not only legitimate but was common business sense.
Good on the OHRC then for coming forward and saying, wait a minute. This practice is discriminatory. It discriminates against people because of their place of origin which is often tied to ethnicity and race. As a sector we now need to rethink how it is we do the work we're doing and how it is we work with employers and government funders. We need to put in place policies and practices that promote skills and competencies and treat each job applicant as the individual they are and not as a stereotype of a group. The policy provides examples of good practices. That is helpful. The Commission's policy is easy to read and understand, and the accompanying promotional materials are also helpful for our sector and our work with newcomers.
Our role is to reclaim our place as champions of equity for newcomers and use the new policy to legitimately and credibly challenge the discriminatory practice. As immigrant services sector workers here in Ontario, and Canada, we have a responsibility to inform newcomers of their rights whilst ensuring that our own beliefs and services do not promote or continue to legitimize this discriminatory practice.