800 immigration candidates took part in the 12th “Destination Canada” work mobility forum in Brussels on Saturday. There were 1,460 jobs offers in Canada available for them to browse through, according to the Canadian embassy in Belgium.
The “Destination Canada” forum is a chance for immigration candidates to look at recruitment possibilities, meet people and make connections, with a view to moving to Canada to work. The candidates also had the opportunity to speak to officials from the nine provinces and two Canadian territories who sent representatives to the Brussels forum. They met Canadian Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship officers (IRCC) and could ask them questions. There were also meetings and interviews with employers who made the trip to Brussels.
Some sectors in Canada need more people are actively looking for Belgians: these include IT, education, animation and video games, road transport and catering. Canadian employers are interested in bilingual Belgians that have a high level of education, says the Belgian Ambassador to Canada Olivier Nicoloff. He was at the forum on Saturday.
In total, 1,460 job offers were presented at “Destination Canada”. Actiris International, le Forem and VDAB all took part and were forum partners.
“Canada has a proactive immigration policy and it head-hunts talent to meet its job market’s needs and stimulate innovation in the country. A pluri-annual plan has set a goal of attracting 330,800 new permanent residents in 2019, 341,000 in 2020 and 350,000 in 2021. All together that’s 1% of the Canadian population”, says the Canadian embassy in Belgium.
Destination Canada was also an opportunity for them to discover the “International Canada Experience” program – known in Belgium as the Programme Vacances-travail (PVT (Work-holiday program). This program will allow 750 Belgians aged 18-30 to go to Canada for a year to travel and gain professional experience.
Some of the Canadian delegation that came to Brussels will also hold information sessions in Liège and Namur on the 19th of November.
The Brussels Times
