Middle Eastern refugees must receive job offers in Nova Scotia
Province and private companies are recruiting health and construction workers in Jordan.
Construction workers on May 26, 2020 in Amman, Jordan.
Other skilled workers who are refugees may soon enter the labor market in Nova Scotia.
A provincial government delegation, accompanied by private sector representatives, returns from a job fair held March 6-10 in Amman, Jordan. The goal was to recruit skilled workers in the health care and construction fields.
The Nova Scotia Health Professional Recruitment Office and the Provincial Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration met with 124 candidates on this trip.
The next step, already underway, will connect these applicants with employers in Nova Scotia.
Refugees who have received offers are expected to jobs and beginning their immigration process will be in Nova Scotia within six to ten months.
The UN Refugee Agency has also provided a list of names of 130 potential health candidates, said Jennifer L'Esperance, senior director of immigration and population growth at the Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration. It remains to be seen whether these people meet the criteria to work or to immigrate to Canada.
Dora Construction, a Halifax-based company, sent a delegate to Jordan for this construction fair. #x27;employment and plans to make conditional offers to some of the workers it meets in the coming days.
Betsy Sisco, head of recruitment and immigration for this company, says that the trip was fruitful and indicates, among other things, that she interviewed about fifteen carpenters.
Refugees cycle on June 17, 2021 in Zaatari camp, on the outskirts of Mafraq town in northern Jordan. Built in 2012 to accommodate refugees from the war in Syria, this camp now houses more than 80,000 people.
Several of them are from Syria. They will receive offers under the Economic Mobility Pathway Pilot Project, a federal initiative that supports employers seeking skilled labor and helps skilled refugees immigrate to Canada.
Construction is booming and we don't have enough people entering the workforce to be able to meet that demand, said Betsy Sisco. The company has to turn down new construction projects because of this, she adds, and the lack of labor is slowing down some work.
A team from McLeod Group Health Services, a private operator of nursing homes and retirement residences in Antigonish, Annapolis Royal and Windsor, Nova Scotia, was also at the job fair to interview candidates.
This group recently recruited about 50 health workers during a similar recruitment mission in Kenya.
The organization non-profit Talent Beyond Boundaries, whose mission is to promote the mobility of migrant workers, presented this job fair in Jordan.
This group has a bank of some 60 000 refugees whose immigration applications are vetted and whose job skills can be matched with the needs of employers around the world.
Lara Dyer, Canada Director for Talent Beyond Boundaries, bragged Nova Scotia for using this resource. Both Canadian companies were from Nova Scotia and that illustrates just how vibrant that province is, she said.
Based on reporting by< /em> Gareth Hampshire, CBC< /p>
