Engineers in Ontario will breathe a sigh of relief because of the recent removal of the Canadian work experience requirement.
Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) is the first professional association in the entire province to drop the requirement for Canadian work experience from their application parameters. On May 23, Monte McNaughton, the Ontario Minister (Labor, Immigration, Training, and Skills Development), declared this change.
According to the minister, eliminating the bar for Canadian work experience will make it easier for trained people to find employment.
Candidates requesting a license must be able to provide 48 months of verifiable and acceptable engineering experience after graduation under the most recent PEO work experience standards. That experience must have included at least 12 months working for a licensed professional engineer in Canada.
Engineers in Ontario to Witness a major change
According to McNaughton, there are 300,000 empty positions in the province. Out of these, thousands are in engineering, which might lead to a lost output worth billions of dollars.
The Working for Workers Act of 2021 is what prompted the change. According to the Act, regulated professions like engineering must evaluate competency without discrimination. The change would guarantee the newcomers to continue their careers in Ontario.
According to Roydon Fraser (PEO President), sixty percent of the annual licensee application submissions come from engineers with international training. He contends that eliminating the prerequisite of Canadian work experience will hasten the licensing of skilled foreign engineers.
According to PEO data, there were 85,649 licensed engineers in Ontario as of 2019. With 24,258 registered members, it boasts the second-highest number of members with international training. Removing the work experience requirement will allow qualified individuals to pursue their careers. Meanwhile, they will be meeting Ontario’s licensing and exam criteria.
Using a competency-based assessment methodology and other evaluation techniques will be beneficial. PEO will continue to ensure that all professional engineers meet rigorous licensing requirements. Moreover, it will help appropriately qualified individuals practice engineering.
A newcomer with the knowledge and expertise essential to pass the licensing examinations for their profession could nevertheless face barriers to registration under the existing system if they have no prior Canadian work experience.
What about other registered occupations?
The most inhabited province in Canada, Ontario, is experiencing severe workforce shortages in several industries. Obtaining the accreditation newcomers need to work in regulated professions is one of the biggest obstacles to filling open positions.
Ontario is taking action to make it simpler for other immigrants to work in regulated professions. For instance, it recently approved laws that will exclude nurses from registering with the relevant health regulatory colleges to work in the province. Additionally, it enables overseas training nurses to enroll in a temporary class and commence employment sooner while they pursue full registration.
According to the College of Nurses Ontario, 5,124 of the 12,385 new nurses registered by the college last year received their nursing education abroad.
In order to assist candidates in fulfilling the education requirement, the College also modified its language proficiency policy and worked with colleges and institutions.
