1996/97 PCERII Funded Research Abstract
Research Title: Visible Minority Immigrant Professionals and Evaluation of their Credentials
Research Team:
Research Domain(s): Economic
Since the end of World War II, different levels of governments in Canada have removed exclusionary policies and laws against racial minorities. Especially, after the human rights movement in 1960s, overt institutional racism manifested in the policies, practices, and procedures of various institutions have become unacceptable in social democratic society. However, another type of racism, what may be called "systemic racism", still exists at the institutional or societal level. "Systemic racism is a powerful form of discrimination which is entrenched within the institutional framework of society, and it can be characterized as impersonal, unconscious, unintentional, and covert. With systemic racism, it is not the intent which counts, but rather the consequence. Policies, rules, priorities, and programs may not be inherently racist or discriminatory in intent. However, they have a discriminatory effect in that they exclude certain groups from access to equality.
This study inquires into systemic racism at the level of professional organizations. Through a survey in Chinese and East Indian communities in Saskatoon and Vancouver, the study investigates how racial exclusion results from qualifications or credentials from entrance into a particular profession, what foreign-trained professional immigrants’ own perceptions of credentials as a factor in their occupational disadvantages are, and to what extent systemic barriers to the recognition of credentials actually affect their occupational attainment.
Sociologists have debated at length the causes of social differentiations between majority and visible minorities. Whereas assimilationist scholars contend that the problems with some minority groups, such as unemployment and lower social status, have to do with their failure in assimilating or integrating themselves into the majority culture, conflict theorists argue that institutional arrangements and structural racism mainly contribute to socioeconomic inequalities between majority and visible minorities. The debate is represented in discussions of potential barriers for foreign-trained professional immigrants to enter into the labour force in Canadian society.
There are two developed themes. The first theme mainly focuses on individual barriers of foreign-trained professional immigrants, such as lack of Canadian experience, unable to meet occupational entry requirements, and inadequate command of English, in explaining their failure to find the type of employment expected. It argues that immigrants who wish to work in Canada must establish the value, or equivalence, of their qualifications in terms of Canadian standards. The second theme stresses structural barriers to recognition of credentials of foreign-trained professionals, and argues that control of entry to the professions, combined with standards of conduct and disciplinary procedures for practicing professionals, has created occupational disadvantages for professional immigrants.
The proposed research examines these fundamental arguments, and uses empirical data to assess the effects of systemic racism on occupational attainment for professional immigrants. If it can be shown that the effect of structural barrier (as measured by non-recognition of credentials or undervaluing foreign experience as a job requirement) on occupation persists despite controlling for the effects of other variables such as age at the time of immigration, place of residence, length of time in Canada, and level of English, then it would at least provide some empirical grounds for claiming that structural barrier has a direct effect on occupation. Conversely, if it can be shown that the effect of structural barrier disappears after adjusting for variations in other variables, then it would suggest that structural barrier overrides the possible effects of personal barriers in accounting for differences in occupation.
The population for this study would be all foreign-trained professional immigrants who originally came from Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, and India and entered Canada between 1950 and 1997 and who are now living and/or working in the cities of Saskatoon and Vancouver. The term of "professional immigrants" in this study is defined as those immigrants who received most of their training and education from their home countries in the following selected professions: medicine, engineering, and school teaching. Using systematic sampling methods, approximately a total of 2,000 professional immigrants will be selected in the two cities.
The proposed empirical study involves collecting individual cases of professional immigrants in the cities of Saskatoon and greater Vancouver to document their occupation, education, experiences, and other characteristics. The empirical data are to be used to see their perceptions of credentials as a factor in their occupational disadvantages and the effects of official devaluation or non-recognition of credentials and other factors on individuals' occupational attainment.
The data for the study will be obtained mainly by self-administered mail questionnaires. In order to obtain more in-depth and insightful information on professional immigrants, the investigators will conduct 40 personal interviews with professional immigrants and their employers in the second year of the project.
Another type of data pertaining policies, regulations and procedures of credential evaluations will be collected from government agencies and professional associations. In addition, general statistical figures and information about professional immigrants and their occupational attainments will be obtained from existing census data.