Immigrants to Quebec got some very good news from the provincial government today.
The Couillard Liberals announced this morning it's tabling a bill that will ensure foreign credentials are better recognized for new Quebecers.
The new measures will speed up to evaluation process, and be more flexible when recognizing skills and training obtained outside of the province.
The government is hoping to end the often seen instances where an immigrant who had been working as an engineer or doctor abroad is forced to take lesser jobs here because their degree is not recognized.
Among the measures: creating an official framework for training and internships; modernizing how professional orders are managed; making it more efficient for immigrants to take french courses.
Premier Philippe Couillard said he also wants to make sure those professional orders reflect Quebec's diversity.
As it stands, immigrants to Quebec must go through the lengthy process of comparative evaluation for studies done outside Quebec. The evaluation compares educational benchmarks and areas of training under the Quebec education system with those outside the province.
The evaluation though is not a diploma, or equivalent to a diploma. The document is an expert opinion for reference purposes that can help with finding a job, but employers, professional orders, regulatory agencies or educational institutions are not obligated to recognize the document, and are free to evaluate training based on their own methods and criteria.
With files from Shuyee Lee