Difference, deficiency, and devaluation: tracing the roots of non-recognition of foreign credentials for immigrant professionals in Canada

Many immigrant professionals experience devaluation and denigration of their prior learning and work experience after arriving in Canada. The roots of non-recognition can be traced to the following. First, epistemological misperceptions of difference and knowledge lead to a belief that the knowledge of immigrant professionals, particularly those from Third World countries, is deficient, incompatible and inferior, hence invalid. Second, an ontological commitment to positivistic and universal measurement exacerbates the complexity of this process. The juxtaposition of the misconceptions of...  [+] Show more

Many immigrant professionals experience devaluation and denigration of their prior learning and work experience after arriving in Canada. The roots of non-recognition can be traced to the following. First, epistemological misperceptions of difference and knowledge lead to a belief that the knowledge of immigrant professionals, particularly those from Third World countries, is deficient, incompatible and inferior, hence invalid. Second, an ontological commitment to positivistic and universal measurement exacerbates the complexity of this process. The juxtaposition of the misconceptions of difference and knowledge with positivism and liberal universalism forms a new head tax to exclude the undesirable and perpetuate oppression in Canada.

Published abstract.