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.