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City Conversations: Special Edition | Charting BC's Economic Future

2013, Summit Charting BC's Economic Future, Cities, Economy, Series City Conversations

Immigrant? Welcome to Canada! So you’re an engineer? You can drive a cab.

As part of SFU Public Square’s Community Summit week on BC’s economic future, City Conversations looked at how immigrants with advanced training have difficulty working at their skill level in their new country. Are the barriers language problems and differences in training? Do Canadian professions protect their fees, or employers protect workplace status quo by finding ways to keep ‘outsiders’ out? What are the implications for BC’s future economy when large numbers of immigrants are unable to contribute fully, and what are the impacts on our new citizens, their families. and our communities?

Exploring these timely issues were Kelly Pollack , Executive Director of the Immigrant Employment Council of BC, Gillian Pichler, P. Eng. , Director of Registration & Licensing at the Association of Professional Engineers & Geoscientists of BC, and Dr. Amanda Wu , a chemical engineer from Taiwan who was unable to work in Canada for almost two years.

Thu, 03 Oct 2013

12:30 - 1:30 p.m. (PT)

SFU Vancouver at Harbour Centre
515 West Hastings St.
Room 1600

About Charting BC's Economic Future

For our second SFU Public Square Community Summit, we explored issues regarding BC's economic future. Faced with an increasingly competitive global economy, it is more important than ever that British Columbians find ways to work together on a common agenda for promoting the well-being of the province and its citizens. This Community Summit invited participation from residents across the province to discuss British Columbia’s economic future.

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Reports and Resources

Charting BC's Economic Future Events

  • Urban Conspiracy 2

    2013, Summit Charting BC's Economic Future, Economy, Arts + Culture

    CBC Debaters Charlie Demers and Richard Side took on the challenge to bring BC’s traditionally polarized political landscape together for a night of comedic conversation, diabolical dialogue and high-wire hijinks as they unpack wealth creation, social equity and protection of the environment.

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  • An Evening with Robert Reich

    2013, Summit Charting BC's Economic Future, Economy, Democracy, Equity + Justice, Future of Work

    SFU Public Square, in partnership with Vancity, presented An Evening with Robert Reich.

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  • City Conversations: Special Edition | Charting BC's Economic Future

    2013, Summit Charting BC's Economic Future, Cities, Economy, Series City Conversations

    This special edition of City Conversations looked at how immigrants with advanced training have difficulty working at their skill level in their new country.

    Read More →

  • Taxation and the BC Economy

    2013, Summit Charting BC's Economic Future, Economy

    Conversations about taxes can be polarizing. The BC tax system is complex and has a profound impact on the daily lives and decisions of the people of this province. Some of BC's best economic minds shared their perspective on the benefits and challenges of the current tax system.

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  • Connected Local Economies

    2013, Summit Charting BC's Economic Future, Cities, Community Building, Economy

    We had an engaging and interactive evening with economist, award-winning author Michael H. Shuman discussing local economies.

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  • Our Future, Our Voice Youth Forum

    2013, Summit Charting BC's Economic Future, Economy, Democracy

    Designed by young people, this forum launched the 2013 Community Summit and treated youth as major stakeholders in a dialogue about our economic future.

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  • 100 Community Conversations – Provincial Tour

    2013, Summit Charting BC's Economic Future, Economy

    As part of the 100 Community Conversations, this summer, SFU Public Square and regional community partners convened dialogues across British Columbia to capture a diversity of voices.

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  • Idea Jam

    2013, Summit Charting BC's Economic Future

    Youth helped us design a forum for to give young BCers a voice to drive social change and shape an agenda for provincial economic policy.

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City Conversations