Ontario's government launched a program last week it says will help more engineers trained in China practice their profession here.
If the province's goal is to get foreign-trained engineers an equal chance of getting licensed, the task is huge.
Critics and social agencies say only five per cent of Ontario's immigrant engineers are licensed to practice - compared to 20 per cent of those trained here.
But thousands with engineering backgrounds keep arriving, particularly from China. The Chinese Professionals Association of Canada estimates 10,000 of its 23,000 members have engineering backgrounds.
"It's a waste of talent," Wilbert Lai, the Scarborough-based agency's program chair said as the association announced a project it expects will get 80 of those members licensed over three years through language training, mentoring and job search workshops.
Citizenship and Immigration Minister Michael Chan said engineers from China have the skills and desire to succeed in Ontario.
"Starting over again in a new country can be very challenging," Chan said at association's Finch Avenue offices, adding the province is investing $164 million a year on programs to help foreign-trained professionals establish their credentials, "because we believe when newcomers succeed, Ontario succeeds."
The Liberal government boosted some hopes in 2006 when it passed the Fair Access to Regulatory Professions Act, telling Ontario's 34 regulated professions it required "fair, clear and open" admission practices.
But critics have said its so-called bridging programs, such as the one the association will run, do not necessarily improve job prospects for immigrant professionals.
For engineers, the main obstacle to an Ontario license is the required year of work experience under a licensed engineer in Canada, said Gurmeet Bambrah, executive director of the immigrant advocacy group Council for Access to the Profession of Engineering (CAPE).
"That's where people cannot get in," she said this week. "The employer invariably demands you have Canadian experience beforehand."
In its own research, some of which will be released in a report next week, CAPE has found Chinese-trained engineers have problems with language - not in general skill but in language associated with problem-solving, report-writing and other functional tasks.
Language training for immigrant engineers usually fails to help with such skills, Bambrah said. "This is where the government should be putting its money."
The Chinese Professionals Association of Canada, however, said its language training will include the "profession-specific language" and communication skills required for professional engineers.
The licensing body, Professional Engineers Ontario, will run information sessions to help immigrants understand what is required for a license. At a time when license applications have been increasing, the Professional Engineers Ontario has for the past three years granted more licenses to foreign-trained engineers than to Canadian-trained ones, said Michael Price, its deputy registrar.