Thurday, January 31, 2002

The country needs "young, dynamic, well­educated, skilled people," according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

But what if we're simply taking the best and the brightest from afar, depriving other countries of much-needed talent, onlY to let these hopeful newcomers languish in menial jobs?

Is this why highly educated immigrants clam our to get to Canada? To clean houses and drive taxis and deliver pizzas? Hardly. But for many immigrants, the dream of a comfortable life in Canada has vanished in the painful realities of minimum­wage jobs, overdue bills, discouragement and dashed hopes.

Having spent their savings settling in a new country, many skilled immigrants have resigned themselves to lives of quiet desperation. What are they going to do? Sue the government?

Well, yes, actually. That's just what one Edmonton immigrant couple is doing. Selladurai and Nesa Premakumaran left good jobs in Britain to come to Canada in 1998.

A year ago, I wrote about their plight. Nesa, 44, a bookkeeper, worked for more than a decade in various British government departments.

Her 48-year-old husband, Prem, as he calls himself, is an accountant. Could they find jobs in their fields? Not a chance. Both were forced to take menial jobs to survive. The bills piled up and they eventually used up all their savings.

Prem scored well on the point system the Immigration Department uses to select skilled workers. According to the department's job categorization list, it seemed that accountants were needed in Canada.

The reality was different. "Why don't (immigration officials) just advertise for professional slaves?" wonders Prem bitterly .

So they're suing the government. They claim immigration officials misled them into believing their qualifications would be recognized in Canada and that their jobs were in demand.

As far as they're concerned, it amounts to false advertising. They're suing for as-yet-unspecified damages. They also want the point system changed so it reflects the labour market.

They can't afford a lawyer so they've launched the suit themselves, with a thick binder of supporting documentation.

The government tried to get the statement of claim struck down last month but the Federal Court of Canada allowed the case to proceed.

The government has deep pockets and Prem and Nesa aren't crazy enough to think they'll win their case. But they want to bring the issue to the public's attention.

"They give you false hope," says Nesa.

She has a point, says Jeffrey Reitz, a professor at University of Toronto's Centre for Industrial Relations.

"I think it is a case of overselling but it's not intentionally misleading," he says.

There's a significant gap between the government's sales pitch to would-be immigrants and the recognition of foreign credentials once newcomers get here, he says.

"It's a problem that's getting worse," Reitz adds. "I don't think we've really solved this problem at all yet."

Jim Gurnett, executive director of the Mennonite Centre for Newcomers, agrees. Immigrants don't expect the "virtuai impossibility" of getting their credentials recognized, he says.

There were 180 applicants for 45 coveted spots in the centre's engineering upgrading program that began this month, he adds.

Meanwhile, the Immigration Department is proposing that prospective skilled immigrants meet even higher educational requirements.

But will they still be mopping floors?