In Canada, many schools and employers have taken steps to embrace immigrants and tap into their potential to improve the nation as a whole. TheFederal Skilled Worker Programencourages highly skilled workers from around the world to work in Canada so that the country has the best and the brightest workers. Programs are also available for temporary workers, such aslive-in caregivers for the elderly and sick. Schools have also seen a large influx of immigrant students, and many are doing their best to ensure these students have equal educational opportunities and a chance to one day go to college.
"Our mission statement talks about embracing diversity, and we're proud of that," Joey Gentile, principal of Southview Elementary School in Medicine Hat, Alberta, told the Prince George Citizen in a 2008 article ("Schools Adapting to Growing Population of Immigrant Children"). Gentile notes that 45 of the 250 students at Southview are in the English as a Second Language (ESL) program. Southview and other Alberta schools have made it a priority to make immigrant students, many of whom don't speak English and some of whom have never attended traditional school before, feel comfortable in their new environment. Some schools host regular meetings with the immigrant community and engage students in conversations and social activities to help them adjust. These activities can help students get a handle on their studies and school culture.
In the same article, Boris Grisonich, principal of Medicine Hat High School in Alberta, says the immigrant population brings a diversity that adds to the high school experience and makes learning more complete. "I think it's really good for the kids to meet kids from different cultures," Grisonich says. "I think it's really opened our kids' eyes to some of the things going on around the world."
In Toronto, Ontario, the school board recently began improving its ESL program by increasing funding and adding 142 new ESL teachers. Now every school in Toronto has some ESL support for immigrant students. According to a2009 article in the Toronto Sun, years of neglecting the ESL program hurt the nearly 20,000 immigrant students in Toronto. Now, the school district is acting to make sure no more students have to suffer through the bleak prospects their predecessors faced, such as not having the skills and education to pursue higher education and promising jobs after high school.
In another effort to help foreign students adjust to the Canadian education system, Edmonton Catholic Schools in Edmonton, Alberta, launched a pilot program that involves bringing in a multilingual settlement worker, a type of outreach specialist who refers students to services and resources within the school and community, to make the learning environment for ESL students more comfortable, the Edmonton Sun reports in the 2009 article "Program Supports Immigrant Students."
Canada's programs to support immigrant students seem to be working. According toa 2008 article in the Times Colonist, minorities and immigrants are 20 percent more likely to have a college education than white Canadians. College-educated immigrant parents are known for pushing their children towards college and urging them to be successful throughout their academic careers.
While these reforms and programs do not explicitly push for children to go to college, they give immigrant students educational opportunities equal to those of native-born Canadian students. With the help of dedicated parents, educators, and school systems these young immigrants have every opportunity to go to college in a country that needs to continue to cultivate highly skilled labor. The future of Canada may depend on these very children as the population of Canada declines over the years. According toa 2008 CEP News article, Naomi Alboim, vice chair of the Policy Forum at the Queen's University School of Policy Studies predicts that Canada will depend entirely on immigration for its net labor force growth—meaning there's a significant chance that the immigrant students from schools like Southview Elementary and the Edmonton Catholic Schools will be making up a good chunk of that future workforce.
