GOING TO CANADA IMMIGRATION PORTAL- WORKING IN CANADA
-Executive Summary-

April 2010
C1293

Prepared for:Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

Contract Number: G9178-090001/001/CY
POR Number: POR071-09
Date of Contract Award: Feb. 9, 2009
Date Field Work Completed: March 26, 2010
Cost (including GST): $52,274

For more information please contact HRSDC at:
nc-por-rop-gd@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) has developed enhancements to the content, tools and features of Workingincanada.gc.ca. The particular focus of this research project was on the Working in Canada Tool, which provides access to a wide variety of information for occupations specified by the user. The purpose of the research was to assess aspects of the navigation, design and content of the Working in Canada Tool, particularly the foreign qualification recognition information. Participants were specifically asked for their reaction to the foreign qualification recognition information for two professions -- Doctors and Ontario-bound Engineers, because, at the time of testing, the Web site featured the updated approach for presenting foreign qualification information for these two occupations.

The research consisted of a combination of seven focus groups with skilled immigrants in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver, as well as individual telephone interviews with ten representatives from Immigrant Serving Organizations (ISOs) across the country. Key requirements for immigrant participants were that they came to Canada to settle permanently between six months and three years ago, and they had a postsecondary degree from their country of origin. The key requirement for ISO participants was that they work directly with newcomers looking for skilled work. The fieldwork was conducted between March 9 and March 26, 2010.

Overall reaction to the Working in Canada Tool (WIC Tool) was widely positive among both immigrant and ISO participants:

• Many immigrant participants said the occupation reports produced by the tool would have been helpful to them before coming to Canada.
• The key perceived general benefit of the WIC Tool report was that it provides access to a wide variety of useful information and links from one place.
• Participants were particularly interested in the Licence & Certification information (i.e., the information most directed related to foreign credential recognition), and in the information sections related to employment – particularly Outlook & Prospects and Job Opportunities. That said, participants felt all of the types of information provided by the Working in Canada Tool were relevant and useful.
• The majority felt the WIC Tool would continue to be helpful once the newcomer is in Canada, although some commented that as newcomers become integrated into Canada they may find other resources more useful, for example, in the job search area. However, the License & Certification information could continue to be important, as well as the convenience of using the WIC Tool report as a way of accessing a variety of occupation-related information.
• Some ISO participants had already been using the previous version of the Working in Canada Tool in their work with newcomers, and all of these participants said the revised approach to providing information was an improvement.

Participants made a variety of suggestions for changes. From a content point of view three of the more widely mentioned types of suggestions involved (a) providing more statistics that will help immigrants to better fully and concretely understand the employment prospects for their occupation of interest, (b) providing average timelines for the licence and certification process so that newcomers have a realistic understanding of how long the process may take once they are in Canada, and (c) ensuring the WIC Tool provides up-to-date information, particularly with respect to employment prospects, wages, and licence and certification. The extent to which HRSDC can respond to these sorts of suggestions will of course depend in part on the information available from the sources used to populate the WIC Tool report.

The content section that was most problematic was Newcomers to Canada, where some felt it needed to have a much greater variety of information in order to live up to the title of the section.

There were several relatively minor navigation-related issues, namely, some problems with knowing how to proceed through the screens used to generate a WIC Tool report, a problem with how Web pages initially display when a user selects an information category on the WIC Tool report, and a problem understanding that the top menu of the WIC Tool report is clickable.

Political Neutrality Certification

I hereby certify as a Senior Officer of Sage Research Corporation that the deliverables fully comply with the Government of Canada political neutrality requirements outlined in the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada and Procedures for Planning and Contracting Public Opinion Research. Specifically, the deliverables do not include information on electoral voting intentions, political party preferences, standings with the electorate or ratings of the performance of a political party or its leaders.

Signed:

Rick Robson
Vice-President
Sage Research Corporation