Access to professional communities of practice : communication and cultural barriers of highly qualified immigrant professionals in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Abstract

Immigrants have been recruited to Canada for their societal and economic importance. Yet it is well documented that skilled workers encounter many barriers re-entering their internationally trained fields in Canada. Among others, the communication and cultural barriers, although recognized as major ones, have more often been mentioned than studied in depth. A case study has been designed to explore this topic from the re-entry experiences of six immigrant professionals in three different fields: engineering, medicine, and banking. This study also examined the professional language re-socialization support provided by a new type of higher-level, occupational specific language training program (Enhanced Language Training) in the three mentioned professional fields.