Examining the "Top 20"

"Best Employers for New Canadians is a new national awards competition conducted by Mediacorp Canada, editors of Canada's Top 100 Employers, in partnership with the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council.

"The award recognizes employers who offer leading programs to assist new Canadians in making the transition to a new workplace, and a new life in Canada."

Here are the Top 20 Firms:

ASSOCIATED ENGINEERING GROUP LTD.- Edmonton ae.ca - engineering
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT BANK OF CANADA - Montreal bdc.ca - finance/banking
CAE INC. - Montreal cae.com - manufacturing
CHRISTIE DIGITAL SYSTEMS CANADA INC. - Waterloo, Ont .christiedigital.com - manufacturing
CIBC - Toronto cibc.com - banking
ENBRIDGE INC. - Calgary enbridge.com - natural gas
ERNST & YOUNG LLP - Toronto ey.com/ca - finance
ISLAND HEARING SERVICES - Victoria, B.C. islandhearing.com - professional medical services
KEANE CANADA INC. - Halifax keane.com - information technology
KPMG LLP - Toronto kpmg.ca - accounting and professional services
MDS NORDION INC. - Ottawa mds.nordion.com - medical manufacturing
MANULIFE FINANCIAL CORP. - Toronto manulife.com - financial services
PROVIDENCE HEALTH CARE - Vancouver providencehealthcare.org - medical services
REPLICON INC. - Calgary replicon.com - information technology
ST. MICHAEL'S HOSPITAL - Toronto stmichaelshospital.com - medical services
TD BANK FINANCIAL GROUP - Toronto td.com - financial services
TORONTO TRANSIT COMMISSION - Toronto ttc.ca - public transportation
UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN - Saskatoon usask.ca - education
WARDROP ENGINEERING INC. - Winnipeg wardrop.com - engineering and information technology
i3DVR INTERNATIONAL INC. - Toronto i3dvr.ca - manufacturing

Ontario really leads the way in this list, which isn't much of a surprise given the number of immigrants the Province absorbs each year. Let's hope that recognition of these firms will lead to others in their industries stepping up to the challenge of providing opportunities for all Canadians, old and new.

For more details on each firm, read the Star article here.

Movement at last

Just a quick post to note that we were assigned a case number in early January - our lawyer didn't pass the information until now. So it's nice to know that the clock really is ticking and the process really has begun. I'm excited and hopeful that our case will find mercy this time around. I want to come live with my love in Toronto. I want to become a Canadian,

Bad Timing, that's all

I love that Blue Rodeo song.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the latest statistics on immigration processing wait times and my own application, it seems to be an applicable title.

Since 2004, wait times are up 20%. Yikes. I wondered why I hadn't heard anything yet from my lawyer, and this information released by the Liberals gives me a good reason. Our application is probabably still in the in box.

The Tories say they inherited big backlogs upon taking power. Oh poo - I don't buy that. The numbers were what they were and they are what they are. Everyone at the time knew Canada was actively trying to attract more skilled workers, as well as opening up new options for the family class. Did they think they would get through all these new applications without applying some increased manpower to the processing? In the US, we call that an "unfunded mandate" - in Canada, it's still the Liberal's fault.

Come on Stephen - this is the essence of managing growth.

Read the Star article here