Discrimination: Foreign Trade Professionals

Recognition of Foreign trained professionals Discrimination on the basis of race and country of origin - Part I I Dr Ramesh C. Joshi * Another very important point to be raised here is that as per APEGGA rules the foreign trained engineers from non-white majority countries must take confirmatory examinations or get a postgraduate degree to be considered equivalent to the undergraduate degree from a Canadian University. In my opinion this is possibly the most arbitrary and discriminatory requirement since the degrees from recognized universities in all such countries are in no way inferior to the degrees awarded by the Canadian Universities.

Let us put ourselves in their shoes and think as to how we will support our families while we try to meet such a requirement if we were asked to fulfill and if we were in a foreign land. The new immigrant has already exhausted his funds in paying immigration and CCPE fees and travel expenses.  

I am a product of one such University of a non-white majority country. I have worked in my country of birth and also in the USA as well as in Canada. I am an academic as well as a professional engineer. As a result I am quite familiar with the educational system in many other countries besides the ones I have lived and worked. I have seen many of these new immigrant professionals struggling through the courses and examinations after many years of completing their engineering education 10 or 15 years ago in their country of birth.  Above all we must also consider as to how difficult it would be for any of us to take the tests and pass the examinations in the courses which we took and passed without any effort when we were young.

It should not come as a surprise to any one that not more than 20 to 30 percent of the undergraduates of the Canadian Universities are eligible for postgraduate work since their grade point average does not meet the requirement for admission. Unlike the engineering graduates of Canadian universities many, if not all, of the foreign trained engineers and other immigrants seem to have higher grade point average since fair number of them does seek the route of getting a degree from a Canadian University rather than working as taxi drivers or vacuum cleaner salesmen etc. Despite such heroic effort of obtaining a postgraduate degree from a Canadian University many do end up taking jobs much below their education and potential.

Those who personally know one or more of the foreign trained professionals and are also familiar with the admission procedures in the non-white majority countries should be able to vouch for the depth of knowledge and diligence besides the intelligence these individuals have. Unlike the Canadian system of admission to engineering schools, based only on the grade point average in the High School, the requirement and procedures for admission to engineering schools in the old colonies with non-white majority population are very tough. Generally the admission to such schools is by written competition besides some additional criteria.   As a result just good grades are not sufficient. Then after being admitted to engineering school the students in the old colonies with non-white majority population attend school about 8 hours a day and up to five and a half days a week. In many of the universities any student who fails even one course has to repeat all the courses for the entire year. Therefore, most of the new immigrant engineers who arrive on our shores are the cream of the crop.

America has admitted many engineers from India, Pakistan, China, Philippines and they all have contributed greatly to the national wealth. In the USA foreign engineers are specially sought after for their diligence and rigorous mathematical background. Major U S corporations have hired them in hordes and use them as assets while submitting proposals to the Government or larger corporations.

Professional Registration system in the USA is very straightforward. Every one is treated at par whether the engineering graduate obtains the degree from an American University or from a foreign University. Every one has to clear two Examinations, EIT (Engineer In Training) and PE (Professional Engineer). It would be nice if we could institute a similar system here in Alberta as well as the entire country. Then we would not have the unemployed or underemployed highly trained professionals working as laborers. Even APEGGA members then would be allowed to work as engineers all over the USA, which they are not permitted currently despite the Free Trade Agreement. A fair system is good for every one and leads to peace, harmony and increased productivity.

It should be a matter of serious concern to all of us that highly educated and trained immigrant professionals are made to work in low paying jobs much below their capabilities. We should not forget that Canada did not spend a single cent on their education. They are an asset to the nation and a treasure trove of experience and remain under or unemployed. Training any person from cradle to a University degree costs over a million dollar. This nation has not spent a single cent on their education. We must look into the matter of utilizing their talents seriously and judiciously.

We are blessed with natural resources and we as a nation and as individuals spend a large sum of money to assist those in need. We are considered the beacon of fairness in the world. But for some reason we have not been able to utilize the human resources efficiently fairly and equitably. Many of these immigrant professionals have supported their families with hard labor and at no cost to Canada. These knowledge based immigrant professionals are an asset to the nation that still needs to be tapped to increase our productivity. 

As pointed out earlier most of the new immigrants from the old colonies, China as well as European and other countries also have the added knowledge of one or more languages, which is so necessary for providing services to Canadians, who do not speak English at all. The new immigrant professionals also have an edge over the local population in the cultural knowledge of their homeland, which can be of immense use to the corporations seeking projects in this global environment.

Alberta needs more engineers and other trained people. We have such people amongst the immigrant population who arrived here with hope and ambitions and do have the credentials. Just a little of mentoring and the business and field experience funded by the corporations or the Governments would allow us to utilize the human resources available to us at little or no cost. If there is any reason to be concerned about the work experience of such individuals then it should be resolved by providing such experience and thus utilizing the talent not tapped so far. It can be done very easily by finding a fair solution to the problem created by old bureaucratic colonial age procedures.

I urge the members and officials of the APEGGA to please consider the following:

We must practice fairness and consider the credentials from non-white majority countries as well as from other European countries at par with those issued by the white majority countries and others in the APEGGA list of the “Mutual Recognition Agreement”

To expedite the backlog of the applications for registration by the foreign trained engineers the university   should be asked to evaluate the degrees for a fee to be decided by the academics. Those whose degrees have been evaluated by the CCPE should be exempt from any fee or re-evaluation.

Let us ask the provincial and federal Governments to fund the corporations and others to mentor and provide the due field experience if required. None the less all the foreign trained professionals should be granted EIT status immediately.

There may be other ways to achieve equality and fairness, which other members or APEGGA office holders may have in mind. But the time has come to deal with this problem and provide relief to our fellow engineers and others who have some how been left behind.

Attached is a copy of a sermon by a Unitarian Priest. It is worth reading to remind us that we kept the Chinese immigrants by imposing a Head Tax and prohibited the immigrants from India by the rule of direct journey from the originating country. Let the future generations be proud of us and read that APEGGA and its members rose to the occasion and did the right thing to assist the deserving and thus made Alberta and country proud.

I have made an attempt to speak on behalf of those who have no voice. I hope I have not offended any one in any way. Forgive me for errors and omissions, which there may be many. 

Part I

Concluded

Dr. Ramesh Joshi  has over 50 years of experience in consulting, research, teaching and business development in the area of civil engineering.He has worked in three different countries from 10 to 25 years each. He obtained his B. E. (Civil Engg) in 1956 from Jodhpur, India; M.Sc. (Highway Engg) in 1963 from Chandigarh, India; M.Sc. (Soils Engg) in 1968 and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering in 1970 from Iowa State University, U.S.A.  Before joining the academic ranks at the University of Calgary in 1977, he was a partner in Woodward Clyde Consultants of San Francisco, an internationally recognized geotechnical consulting engineering company, He is extensively published and has won several awards and has held various positions besides the membership and fellowship in the professional societies in Canada as well as the U.S.A. Japan Society for Promotion of Science(JSPS) awarded him a senior fellowship for evaluating the research quality at various Universities there.His areas of expertize include Fly Ash Utilization and Geotechnical Engineering.  He is a Life Member of APEGGA and Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering, University of Calgary.