U of T immigrant skills program shut down

Province pulls funds for business training at Rotman school

- KENYON WALLACE

Students and faculty of a long-time provincial program at the University of Toronto designed to help immigrants upgrade their job skills and become more visible to Canadian employers are lamenting its sudden closure.

In a short post on LinkedIn Tuesday, the Intercultural Skills Lab at U of T’s Rotman School of Management announced that its four Ontario Bridge Training Programs were ceasing as of Sept. 30 due to a withdrawal of funding by the province’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

“To put it in very simple terms, we are losing very educated and motivated people who’ve chosen to bring their talent and experience to Canada,” said Ann Armstrong, who teaches courses on change management, oral presentation skills and unwritten workplace rules for the bridge training program, known under the banners of “Business Edge” and “Career Shift” at Rotman.

“Business Edge has had a significant, powerful impact on some 850 grads and we will lose the power of shared experience to motivate others to work hard in these kinds of courses and to contribute to the Ontario economy,” Armstrong said in an interview.