Bridge Training Program

Background

The ACPO Bridge Training Program is intended for Professional Chemists new to Ontario

Every year COSTI (formerly Centro Organizzativo Scuole Tecniche Italiane) and OCASI (Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants) partner to plan the Job Search Workshop Conference that is funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

The ACPO was invited to attend the 2009 Conference, “Bridges to Success”, to showcase the services that we provide to newcomers to access jobs and careers, and to integrate into the Canadian workforce in the field of chemistry. Two of our Councillors, Liliana Cretu and Deoanand Prashad, attended the conference on behalf of the ACPO.

The Conference held in Markham in January 2009 provided the ACPO with an opportunity to launch its Bridging Program to the public. Our program provides information on many aspects of immigration and employment in our field, to new and prospective immigrants to Canada.

Agencies and organizations participating in the Conference showed great interest in our Bridging Program, as it was the only program providing pre-employment information to recent immigrant chemists and, additionally, provided guidance regarding the process of searching for jobs in Canada.

Our representatives would like to emphasize that to make the Bridging Program truly meaningful and successful, we have to incorporate learning from real life experiences. Therefore, we are asking you to provide suggestions for improving the program and for enriching the package with information that newcomers who are chemists will find helpful.