If you stare long enough you’ll start to see trees and a log cabin appear

The Huffington Post Canada’s blog published an interesting article recently posing the question: Is ethnic discrimination alive and well in Canada?

The author is David Langtry, Acting Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

A couple of snips:

“According to a Statistics Canada report from 2006, 40% of immigrants admitted in the business or skilled worker class leave within 10 years. About 20% of working-age male immigrants leave Canada in the first year.

“So what’s going on? Language skills, social skills, barriers to recognition of foreign credentials, the absence of social networks, and lack of cultural awareness are all factors.

“But so is discrimination.

“Philip Oreopolous, a University of Toronto economist, sees ample evidence of bias and prejudice in the workplace. When he emailed 6,000 fake resumes to prospective employers, he found that skilled applicants with ‘ethnic names’ received fewer calls for interviews than those with ‘English-sounding’ names. Just having the ‘right name’ means a 40% better chance of getting your foot in the door.”

Full article here.