Provincial engineering technology group putting in the effort to get refugees back to work
An Alberta-based science and engineering technology organization is doing what it can to make it easier for refugees to get work in that field.
With two new initiatives to help expedite the process, the hope is to get new Albertans into the workforce in a fraction of the time.
Mila Wagner has been living in Canada since 2016 and came here with multiple engineering degrees she earned in Ukraine. However, due to the standardized process of working as an engineer, she's only been doing it for the past two years.
MULTIPLE ENGINEERING DEGREES
Mila Wagner has been living in Canada since 2016 and came here with multiple engineering degrees she earned in Ukraine.
However, due to the standardized process of working as an engineer technologist in training, she's only been doing it for the past two years.
"Even though I had the engineer-related degree, I had to come back to school and get my engineer diploma program here at Lethbridge College," said Wagner.
Wagner moved here with her son following Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014.
After arriving, it ended up taking four years for her to get working in her field between the college course and standardized courses she had to take.
During that time, she had to take a job as a cleaner, all while taking care of her child.
"It was quite difficult and challenging to start all over again in a new country and especially I had my three-year-old son holding my hand," she told CTV News.
With two new initiatives to help expedite the process, the hope is to get new Albertans into the workforce in a fraction of the time.
Wagner now works at MPE Engineering in Lethbridge and is a member of the Association of Science and Engineering Technology professionals of Alberta, or ASET.
To help incoming refugees from Ukraine and across the world, ASET is helping expedite their competency based assessment program as well as waiving their application fees.
"In terms of giving access to our program and making it as objective as possible, we can guarantee that people are going to get an opportunity to find work in their field in this province," said Barry Cavanaugh, ASET’s CEO.
Through the program, applicants can get back to work in as little as a quarter of the time it would've taken while maintaining industry standards.
"There's no waiver of our standards, our standards remain high," Cavanaugh said.
"But these are applicants who are quite capable of meeting them if we're able to assess them fairly."
Wagner says the effort that ASET is putting in to get newly arrived refugees back to work is beyond anything she's seen or heard.
"It is just amazing what ASET is doing right now for the people that are starting a new life here and they want to join the Alberta workforce in engineering-related fields for sure," Wagner said.
For more information on the work ASET is doing, you can visit their website.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Breast cancer screening should start at age 40, Canadian Cancer Society says
The Canadian Cancer Society says all provinces and territories should lower the starting age for breast cancer screening to 40.
DEVELOPING Live updates as Stormy Daniels testifies at Trump hush money trial
Adult film star Stormy Daniels is on the stand a second time Thursday as former U.S. president Donald Trump’s hush money case continues in Manhattan. Follow live updates here.
Ontario family receives massive hospital bill as part of LTC law, refuses to pay
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Here are the ultraprocessed foods you most need to avoid, according to a 30-year study
Studies have shown that ultraprocessed foods can have a detrimental impact on health. But 30 years of research show they don’t all have the same impact.
Ontario man frustrated after $3,500 paving job leaves driveway in shambles
An Ontario man considering having his driveway paved received a quote from a company for $7,000, but then, another paver in the neighbourhood knocked on his door and offered half that rate.
Why these immigrants to Canada say they're thinking about leaving, or have already moved on
For some immigrants, their dreams of permanently settling in Canada have taken an unexpected twist.
BREAKING Sheldon Keefe out as head coach of Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs have fired head coach Sheldon Keefe. The team made the announcement Thursday after the Original Six franchise lost to the Boston Bruins in seven games in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Boeing 737 catches fire and skids off the runway at a Senegal airport, injuring 10 people
A Boeing 737-300 plane carrying 85 people skidded off a runway at the airport in Dakar, Senegal's capital, injuring 10 people, according to the transport minister, an airline safety group and footage from a passenger that showed the aircraft on fire.
Canadian-Israeli man shot dead in Egypt; claim links killing to Gaza
A Canadian man 'of Jewish Israeli descent' has been shot dead in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in a suspected criminal case, a security source said, while a previously unknown militant group said it carried out the attack in reaction to the war in Gaza.