With Thabani Conrad Bhala , Founder of Canada Career Training and Chair of the Employment Action Table
Efficient impact is the name of the game for Thabani Conrad Bhala. On account of the multiple hats that he wears, he makes sure to consult all relevant parties when spearheading a project and always considers the systems in place. Bhala currently sits on the Edmonton Local Immigration Partnership (ELIP) and is the founder and CEO of Canada Career Training.
Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs) were initiated by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) in 2008 to systemize local engagement in the settlement and integration of newcomers. The Edmonton Local Immigration Partnership (ELIP) was formed under this initiative to address the specific needs of newcomers in Edmonton. Following the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, the ELIP Shared Secretariat was established to foster collaboration among service providers and tackle major barriers which include housing and employment for racialized newcomers.
The Employment Action Table (EAT) was created as part of the ELIP initiative to specifically focus on reducing employment barriers. EAT brings together 7 to 10 organizations every 3rd Thursday of the month to develop strategies and actions to improve employment outcomes for immigrants and racialized community members. The group’s goals and objectives are to:
- Develop a network of Edmonton-based, employment-supporting social service organizations that maintain ongoing relationships with industry.
- Conduct research and generate new insights related to employment equity issues in Edmonton.
- Provide employers with culturally appropriate training and retention manuals/skills, and directly connect them with ready, immigrant, and racialized employees.
- Recruit and secure employment for immigrants and racialized community members.
- Act as a hub of advocacy for positive shifts in employment equity policy, program, and practice.
Through these efforts, EAT aims to create a more inclusive and equitable employment landscape in Edmonton.
These mandates also work to reduce the silos that exist within the industry of employment service providers. Due to the influx of approximately 130,869 immigrants to Alberta since 2020, there is a large number of individuals needing to access employment support all across the province. Even so, racialized newcomers are not the only audience that ELIP serves. Employers and employment service providers are the other groups that require guidance and resources in order to efficiently impact and reduce barriers for job seekers that fall under the racialized newcomer umbrella. The 3 target groups are so intertwined when a newcomer is accessing resources that it is difficult to choose one to focus on without needing to include the other.
To begin filling the gaps that stand as barriers for racialized newcomers to find employment, the Employment Action Table has decided to begin working on a resource for service providers. Due to the amount of service providers that exist in Edmonton that are all providing similar resources, the importance of meaningfully placing newcomers has been a major topic of conversation at the Employment Action Table. They’ve pinpointed that employment service provider agencies differ in size, capacity and are limiting resources to silos if they do not have the scope to accumulate all resources necessary to meaningfully place a client. When the newcomer accesses resources from ELIP, they are provided with a guide that outlines industries and their roles with what credentials are needed to apply. Similar to this all encompassing resource guide, the ELIP initiative is working on creating a guide for employment service providers to use across the board. This living resource will continue to be upgraded based on expansion of resources and will be audited when needed. When asked whether or not employment providers have been receptive to the resource, Bhala shares that they see much use for the streamlined guide and are aware of the siloed attitudes due to funding structures and a lack of capacity.
“Everyone thinks the system is good until the system is stressed.”
To further their efficient impact, the Employment Action Table will continue to tackle barriers for employers and racialized newcomers.The second phase of the project will tackle a resource for employers. This might look like a template of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA) forward policies, accessibility changes that each employer should make, inclusive job posting and equitable hiring practices. The third phase will be directed towards building resources for newcomers, perhaps in an updated guide book that includes resume samples and tips for interviews. The high volume of job seekers has forced the ELIP involved organizations to look deeper into the system of employment support. The initiative has the privilege of having capacity ; there is often no capacity within the sector of employment support to complete system audits and revise processes, which is where Bhala has come in to spearhead the project.
As the founder of Canada Career Training, Bhala has the flexibility to direct his work to a worthy cause. Since the primary goal of CCT is to equip employers with the tools for efficient inclusive employment, the ELIP employment projects align. His work at CCT has confirmed that most employers are aware that changes need to be made within policies, work culture and hiring practices. EDIA is at the forefront and the tapering engagement often occurs when employers are unsure how to execute.
“For me as an employer, I know my numbers have to mirror the population statistics to a degree.”
Employers understand the benefits of diversity, but funds and capacity act as barriers for effective impact. Bhala has connected with employers with differing levels of EDIA implementation. He approaches employers with a solution oriented process to keep them on track. In conversation he mentions the work of the Bow Valley Workplace Inclusion Charter that started nine years ago. At first glance, it stands as a free resource for employers who are aiming for more inclusive workplaces. Bhala explains that this resource stands out for how it engages with employers and in the ways that it speaks the employer language. Employers are recognized as Workplace Inclusion Champions depending on the level of certification that they receive, which attracts employers. One of the resources that may be included in the ELIP Employment Action Table employer resource project is a similar sort of badging that encourages employers to let job seekers know of their level of inclusivity and accessibility. To take it a step further and create measures of accessibility that can be followed no matter the employer, Bhala imagines uniform standardization for accessibility that businesses can start with when auditing their work spaces and work culture.
Brainstorming methods for improving inclusive employment resources is easily one of Bhala’s passions, but he recognizes how the work has to be done in digestible pieces. He also understands how many employers may still not have the capacity that is needed to make change – especially if an internal EDIA lead was only recently recruited. The employers who do have the capacity can be leaders in this space and can role model their policies. A key factor he has seen within organizations who have made change is the buy-in from the leadership team. As a leader himself at CCT and ELIP, he sees the importance for leadership to be the driving force behind change. Although education and knowledge building across an entire team is an important first step, he sees true change only happen when leadership is on board. Policy and culture changes may still feel like a beast to tackle to many employers and Bhala believes that it is up to the employment support sector to provide support. With the resources coming from ELIP or other Local Immigration Partnership initiatives across Canada, employers will have a digestible resource to access.
Bhala ends the conversation by touching on region specific experiences in the employment support sector. It may not come as a shock to many, but Calgary and Edmonton are growing closer in population size and in industry. Calgary’s tech forward attitudes are expanding to Edmonton and Bhala notices how both populations have broadened their understanding of cultural sensitivity over the last decade. His work experience in Calgary was specific to re-skilling employees with long term or short disability due to workplace injury incidents. Even the employees on compensation benefits from their employers were struggling with the knowledge building needed when their career path had to shift due to injury. Building awareness on disability and accessibility for employers proves to be important even if a person does not start with a disability at the workplace, implying that accessibility is for everyone.
Bhala continues to work towards inclusivity in the workplace on multiple fronts. Even though his focus has been with employment supports for newcomers, accessibility and inclusivity resources often overlap with disability. Individuals like Thabani Conrad Bhala who drive effective impact really make a mark in bettering resources for marginalized communities. Based on his work with CCT and ELIP combined, he intends to improve services for racialized newcomers by streamlining resources that may be fragmented or that are customarily confronted in silos.
Author : Mariebelle Sawma
