Description

The Foreign Credential Recognition (FCR) Program provides financial and strategic support to partners, including Sector Councils, industries, regulatory bodies, provinces/territories, immigrant serving organizations and educational institutions, to develop a pan-Canadian approach to assessing and recognizing the foreign credentials of individuals within targeted occupations and sectors of the economy to facilitate entry into, and mobility within, the Canadian labour market.

The FCR Program supports the research and project-based activities of partners to develop tools and processes to assess and recognize foreign credentials in targeted occupations and sectors. The goal of the Program is to deliver on its mandate of improving the labour market outcomes of foreign trained individuals in targeted occupations and sectors.

Shared Outcome(s)

As the actual implementation of FCR rests with partners, the Program primarily plays a support role in the development of tools and processes to assess and recognize foreign credentials. Efforts focus on achieving the following short, medium and long-term outcomes in support of the Program's overarching ultimate objective.

In the short-term, the Program will work in partnership to:

• increase the understanding, consensus and commitment on issues and potential solutions related to foreign credential recognition;
• increase the knowledge of what works in developing a pan-Canadian process for foreign credential recognition;
• identify sectors and occupations facing current and emerging critical shortages that could be addressed by interventions from the Program; and
• enhance national coordination of partnership activities with regards to foreign credential recognition.

In the medium and long-term, the Program will work in partnership to:

• increase the awareness, availability and use of tools and processes for employers and regulators to assess and recognize foreign credentials;
• standardize pan-Canadian FCR processes in targeted occupations and sectors;
• improve the ability of sectors, employers and regulators to assess and recognize foreign-trained individuals; and
• reduce the barriers to entering the labour market for foreign trained individuals.

The Program will work with partners to achieve these short, medium and long-term outcomes in order to meet its ultimate objective of improving labour market outcomes in targeted occupations and sectors of foreign trained workers.

Governance Structures

Foreign credential recognition is an area of shared jurisdiction with provinces and territories. In turn, provinces and territories have delegated this responsibility to over 400 regulatory bodies. This means some FCR Program outcomes are directly linked to the operations of its partners and why the accountability for achieving these outcomes is a shared responsibility.

Federally, a committee of senior officials from 15 departments meet regularly to ensure policy and program coherence to improve the labour market outcomes of foreign trained individuals. This committee is co-chaired by Human Resources and Social Development Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Partners

• Other Federal Government Departments
• Post Secondary Education Institutions
• Labour Organizations
• Employers and Naitonal Occupational and Professional Associations

Contact

Corinne Prince-St. Amand
Director General
Immigrants and Foreign Workers
(819) 997-9217