Mariam Saran Camara arrived in Quebec in 2009 from Guinea to join her partner who was already living there. Despite holding a master\u2019s degree in economics and management, her qualifications were not only refused recognition, but she wasn\u2019t even granted full Secondary V (Grade 11) credit. She had to spend two months completing it.<\/p>\n
Seeing the needs in the healthcare field, she first obtained a college diploma in nursing, worked for a few years, and then went to university to become a clinical nurse. A mother of four, she is now pursuing a master\u2019s degree while working part-time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest challenge I had to overcome was going back to school, starting all over again. Rather than re-studying economics, I chose to go into the health field. But I admit that I did all this while also taking on family responsibilities, having children and everything that goes with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nearly half are disqualified<\/p>\n
She is not an isolated case. \u201cDespite having a higher than average Quebec education level, 45.2 per cent of immigrant women are underqualified, meaning they hold jobs requiring a lower level of qualification than their diploma. This has a direct impact on their economic security,\u201d explained Ruth Sara Monteau at the time of the unveiling of a report on the situation of immigrant women, for which she was the project manager.<\/p>\n
The publication of the report, entitled \u201cTowards Equal Opportunities\u201d, is accompanied by an awareness campaign under the theme \u201cQualified, but Invisible\u201d aimed at raising awareness of the reality of these women whose skills Quebec is depriving itself of.<\/p>\n
The report, a field study conducted in Mont\u00e9r\u00e9gie, Estrie and Mauricie with immigrant women by the Quebec Network for Equality of Immigrant and Racialized Women (RAFIQ), clearly demonstrates that \u201cthe difficulties experienced are not individual, they are part of a system,\u201d says Monteau.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany women find themselves in jobs far below their qualifications. They often have to start their studies again, take multiple steps, without any guarantees.\u201d<\/p>\n
More severe impact than for men<\/p>\n
Immigrant women almost always face a greater impact than men, explains Yasmina Chouakri, Executive Director of RAFIQ. \u201cVery often, it is the man who has priority upon arrival to resume his studies, to go to work, while the woman, especially when there are young children, will systematically back down and put aside everything related to the recognition of her skills and diplomas.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The usual consequence is that the woman will take a low-skilled job to support the family while her husband returns to his studies, whether in a factory, a restaurant, or elsewhere. Years pass, and when it\u2019s her turn to re-educate, she will be criticized for the years she spent outside her field of expertise, or she will have to dedicate further years to retraining herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Multiple inconsistencies in the system<\/p>\n
The problem is that there\u2019s a disconnect between the Ministry of Immigration, the Ministry of Higher Education, the Ministry of Employment, educational institutions, and professional orders because, initially, an immigrant\u2019s diplomas are among the selection criteria used by the Ministry of Immigration, Chouakri points out. \u201cThe fact that foreign diplomas aren\u2019t recognized, even though they were recognized in the selection process for immigrants, is flawed. An immigrant selected based on a diploma should necessarily have it recognized upon arrival.\u201d<\/p>\n
Census data shows that these women are proportionally more educated than women born in Quebec, precisely because of the selection criteria of the immigration process which favour highly educated profiles, but which become unqualified upon arrival here.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Universities and professional orders<\/p>\n
Yasmina Chouakri points the finger primarily at universities, which tend to impose a much longer course of study than necessary. \u201cUniversities have an interest in attracting a large number of international students because it funds them. They are simply encouraging immigrants to return to school. It\u2019s called redefining their qualifications. It\u2019s not recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n
She acknowledges that professional orders, for their part, have \u201ccriteria that cannot be trifled with, and on that everyone agrees, for example, anything that can affect public safety, but indeed, some exaggerate more than others,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to Ruth Sara Monteau, \u201cthe recognition process must first be simplified and structured,\u201d highlighting the complexity of the journey for immigrant women with degrees, often described as an obstacle course, and the complete lack of coordination between government ministries, educational institutions, and professional orders. \u201cPublic policies must be adapted to the realities experienced by immigrant women. In concrete terms, this means ensuring that women have equitable access to skills recognition measures.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Exclusion subtile<\/p>\n
Hinva Bacha arrived from Algeria in 2022 with a degree in architecture and another in urban planning, after teaching architecture at the university for 15 years. Here, she pursued a master\u2019s degree in project development and management. \u201cI stayed within my field, urban planning, which encompasses both architecture and urbanism, because I knew that the path to becoming a registered architect was arduous and not straightforward.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was told, \u2018Yes, but you don\u2019t know the building standards here,\u2019 but that doesn\u2019t make me any less of an architect. And besides, there are people, technicians, who deal with these issues. But I inquired with people who came before me, whom I know, and I understood that it\u2019s too laborious.\u201d<\/p>\n
And she experiences a subtle form of exclusion since she still hasn\u2019t managed to get a job in her field, construction. She\u2019s currently a project manager at RAFIQ. \u201cThe few times I\u2019ve managed to get interviews, it\u2019s been \u2018you\u2019re overqualified\u2019 or \u2018you don\u2019t know the standards here.\u2019 And now that I have experience in Quebec as a project manager, I\u2019m told \u2018yes, but it\u2019s in the community sector, it\u2019s not the same.\u2019 So far, I haven\u2019t been able to access what I should normally be doing as a project manager, in construction, property management, or development.\u201d<\/p>\n
Slapstick Heads and Yvon Deschamps<\/p>\n
Just like Hinva Bacha, Mariam Saran Camara retrained in a field that wasn\u2019t her own. She spoke French when she arrived here, but wasn\u2019t familiar with the accent. \u201cI watched \u2018Les T\u00eates \u00e0 claques\u2019 with my husband. And then I watched Yvon Deschamps\u2019 comedy to decipher the accents,\u201d she says with a smile.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She says she discovered she possessed \u201ca personal determination and perseverance I never imagined she could have.\u201d And if she\u2019s speaking out today, \u201cit\u2019s also to send you a clear message: yes, integration can be difficult, yes, the obstacles can seem insurmountable. But no, they don\u2019t define your future. Those of you still in this adjustment phase, don\u2019t give up. Have faith in your worth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mariam Saran Camara arrived in Quebec in 2009 from Guinea to join her partner who was already living…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-572907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}