You Arrived with a Degree. They Handed You a Mop.
It’s the quiet humiliation of arrival.
You land in Toronto or Vancouver with a résumé full of qualifications.
You’ve led projects. Trained teams. Published papers.
But your first job is as a security guard, or barista, or Uber driver.
And when you ask why—
You’re told:
“You don’t have Canadian experience.”
Those three words feel polite. Neutral.
But for thousands of skilled immigrants, they carry the weight of erasure.
“Canadian experience” is not just a preference.
It’s a velvet-gloved wall.
A coded way of saying: Start over. From scratch.
The Myth of Meritocracy in Canada’s Labour Market
Canada’s immigration system is points-based.
It ranks you on education, work history, language skills, and age.
You’re selected because you are needed.
Your file says: you’re qualified. You’re welcome.
But the job market tells a different story.
It tells engineers to become electricians.
Doctors to become taxi drivers.
Journalists to become warehouse packers.
This isn’t about skill. It’s about system.
A 2022 report by the Canadian Labour Market Information Council found that foreign-educated immigrants in regulated professions earned 30% less than their Canadian-trained counterparts—even when they held identical degrees.
This is not a meritocracy.
It’s a trust deficit disguised as process.
What “Canadian Experience” Really Means
Let’s decode the phrase.
“Canadian experience” is often used by employers to mean:
- “We’re unsure if your training meets our standards.”
- “We don’t know your school, your companies, or your references.”
- “We’re afraid you’ll struggle with ‘soft skills’ like communication or ‘cultural fit.’”
- “We’d rather not take a risk.”
In practice, it’s a convenient way to delay hiring newcomers.
But ask yourself:
How does one gain Canadian experience if they can’t first get a Canadian job?
It’s a closed loop.
A catch-22.
A system that punishes you for being born elsewhere.
And for all its diversity branding, Canada’s job market too often defaults to familiarity—choosing the recognisable over the remarkable.
Stories Behind the Statistics
Speak to immigrants and you’ll hear the same rhythm:
- A dentist from Syria who now sterilises instruments for someone else.
- A data analyst from Nigeria told to “start in customer service” first.
- An Indian lawyer told her LLB is “interesting,” but not relevant.
These are not anecdotes. They’re patterns.
The Conference Board of Canada estimates that underemployment of immigrants costs the economy over $13 billion annually in lost productivity.
This is not just a loss for migrants.
It’s a loss for the nation that invited them in the first place.
The Deep Bias Beneath the Bureaucracy
Let’s go deeper.
“Canadian experience” is not just about technical skills.
It reflects an unspoken cultural code:
- The ability to talk about hockey during interviews.
- The comfort with small talk and self-promotion.
- The ability to decode passive-aggressive feedback.
- Familiarity with unspoken norms of whiteness in professional spaces.
It’s about fitting in—not necessarily standing out.
And for many racialised immigrants, it becomes another layer of polite exclusion.
Not loud. Not violent.
But deeply damaging.
Why Regulators Make It Worse
For professions like medicine, law, engineering, and accounting, regulatory bodies add another obstacle.
They often require:
- Re-certification exams
- Supervised practice hours
- Paid licensing fees
- Years of local retraining
In theory, these ensure quality.
In practice, they delay or block foreign-trained professionals from re-entering their fields—even when there’s a national shortage.
By 2025, Canada is projected to be short over 20,000 doctors.
And yet, more than 5,000 internationally trained physicians are underemployed or unemployed.
This isn’t protectionism.
It’s paralysis.
The Paradox of Need and Neglect
Here’s the irony.
Canada needs immigrants.
It needs them to fix its housing shortage, staff its hospitals, and build its roads.
But when they arrive, they are told: wait. Prove yourself. Start at the bottom.
This disconnect is the moral contradiction of Canadian immigration:
You are skilled enough to get in.
But not enough to rise once you’re here.
It’s like being invited to a feast, only to be told to stand in the kitchen.
How Immigrants Are Pushing Back—and Winning
Now, the hopeful part.
Despite these barriers, many immigrants are breaking through—not by waiting, but by rerouting.
Here’s how:
1. Bridge Programs
Colleges across Canada offer “bridge-to-work” certifications tailored for internationally educated professionals. These programs provide Canadian context, mentorship, and help bypass the “experience” gap.
- Ryerson’s Chang School
- CARE Centre for Internationally Educated Nurses
- ACCES Employment’s sector-specific pathways
2. Alternative Credentials
Newcomers are increasingly turning to micro-credentials and Canadian-recognised certifications on platforms like Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, or industry-specific modules.
These don’t replace degrees.
But they signal alignment.
3. Mentorship and Networking
Platforms like TRIEC, Windmill Microlending, and Professional Immigrant Networks (PINs) connect immigrants with mentors who can vouch for them, not just coach them.
In a job market ruled by referrals, this is critical.
4. Entrepreneurship
Faced with gatekeeping, many immigrants are choosing the backdoor: starting businesses.
In Ontario alone, newcomers account for over 30% of new startups.
When the system says no, they build their own.
What Employers Must Do Differently
Change cannot rest on immigrants alone.
Employers must confront their own biases—conscious and unconscious.
This includes:
- Blind résumé screening to reduce name or country bias
- Structured interviews that reward skill over “fit”
- Hiring targets for immigrant professionals in mid and senior roles
- Training for HR teams on cultural competency and inclusive onboarding
“Canadian experience” should never be a proxy for comfort.
It should be replaced by a question:
“Can this person do the job?”
Government Can’t Be Silent
Policy must catch up with principle.
- Provinces like Ontario are already moving to ban “Canadian experience” as a job requirement. This needs national rollout.
- Federal funding must support credential recognition and bridge programs.
- Regulators should face review—not just from peers, but from affected communities.
Immigration without integration is not strategy.
It’s mismanagement.
Belonging Begins at the Desk
When newcomers are seen, heard, and promoted—Canada becomes what it claims to be.
Not just diverse in the census.
But in the boardroom.
Not just multicultural on posters.
But equitable in practice.
It’s time to move beyond the euphemism.
“Canadian experience” isn’t neutral.
It’s a system.
And systems can be redesigned.
A Final Reflection
Canada promised newcomers a future.
It must stop making them rewrite their past.
Let us build a labour market that sees the whole person—degrees, journeys, resilience.
Let us create workspaces where “Canadian experience” doesn’t erase global experience—but stands alongside it.
Because the world doesn’t arrive in Canada to be downgraded.
It arrives to contribute.
Not to start over—
But to continue.