Finland interested in Canada’s immigration policy, multiculturalism

A high-level group of experts from Finland visited Ottawa and Toronto last week in order to study Canada’s experience with immigration and multiculturalism.
Many experts say that Finland will in the future need a lot more immigrants in order to sustain its economic competitiveness.
The leader of the group, Deputy Minister of Labour, Mr. Markku Wallin, told Vapaa Sana that there are both good and bad examples in Canada when in comes to immigration and multiculturalism .
Among the good examples that Finland might learn from, is the role of third sector organizations in integrating immigrants into Canadian society. The group for example visited the Toronto YMCA which has played a significant role in helping new immigrants to adjust to their new environment in the GTA area.
“Long application times, however, are a problem in Canada”, Wallin says. Another problem is that many highly educated immigrants do not get work that correspond their education level.
“For Finland a better system would be to choose immigrants already abroad so that they would have a job waiting when they arrive in the country”, Wallin says.

Virpi Oinonen, text
Matti Aaltola, photo