Immigrants contribute significantly to Canada’s socioeconomic growth in undeniable ways, yet many of them are excluded from job opportunities for reasons unrelated to their qualifications. A complex interplay of racial discrimination, social isolation, and systemic inequalities shapes the experiences of Highly Skilled African Immigrants (HSAIs) joining the workforce. This raises a pressing question: Despite arriving with strong educational backgrounds and adequate training, why do HSAIs remain so alienated from the labour market?
In a recent publication in the Journal of International Migration and Integration, Jacob Kwakye, a PhD candidate in McGill’s School of Social Work, examined the experiences of HSAIs in the Quebec labour market. He hopes his findings can shed light on the systemic racism Black communities face and inform policy-making moving forward.
“[The] majority of the findings in the study had to do with racial perception,” Kwakye said in an interview with The Tribune. “Although Canada is doing its best and Quebec has a lot of policies in place that try to address issues of racism, there are still certain issues that are perpetuating these kinds of perceptions.”
Kwakye’s study interviewed 16 participants using a qualitative approach, intentionally focusing on those who spoke different languages, held a Bachelor’s degree or higher from a Canadian or African university, and had lived in Quebec for three or more years.
“We’re just trying to look at meaningful narratives, and to be able to get those, you need to reduce the sample size in order to get in-depth knowledge from your participants,” Kwakye explained.
While language barriers were shown to play a role in HSAIs’ reduced ability to gain employment, racial biases held a more significant influence: Racism usually overrides language proficiency in the decision to hire HSAIs.
“The issues of language [as a barrier] also came up because, for the Quebecois context, the language is predominantly French. [The] majority of the participants stated that yes, language is a concern, but it does not supersede issues of racial perception.”
Kwakye also discussed how having a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree still puts them at a disadvantage when looking for work.
“They feel that they are more overqualified [than what the job demands] and that employers feel that because of their higher qualifications, they will not be able to engage them at the workplace,” Kwakye said. “So it’s either you need to reduce your qualifications in order to match the portfolio that is being advertised, or you must hide some of your qualifications to be able to be considered for a particular position.”
The study also revealed that the labour market favours the skills of those with local roots—an upsetting yet unsurprising finding given that it has always been easier for individuals born in Quebec to integrate into the workforce.
“When [HSAIs] are not able to conform and don’t understand the cultural dynamics, they will not be able to fit into these workplaces,” Kwakye said.
Kwakye also highlighted a participant’s experience in the workplace, where biases, racial discrimination, and assumptions about cultural competence directly affected HSAIs’ professional credibility.
“One lawyer said that sometimes some of the Quebecois clients felt unsafe to bring their matters to them or felt that they would not be the best person to help solve their problem, because they perceive [HSAIs] to not understand the Quebec context.”
As Quebec continues to rely on immigration to address employment shortages, Kwakye’s study highlights the contradiction of Quebec’s labour market—a system rooted in discrimination, perpetuated by systemic barriers, yet dependent on immigrant talent.
Addressing these dynamics is important to create awareness and influence policy-making that does not disadvantage Black communities. Moreover, creating more equitable hiring practices and recognizing foreign credentials as valuable is a critical step to help prevent HSAIs’ exclusion from the workforce.
