Nonprofit workforce through the immigrant experience with Debbie Douglas

This week on the podcast we’re grateful to chat with Debbie Douglas, Executive Director of OCASI - the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, about the nonprofit workforce through the lens of the immigrant experience. 

National data from Statistics Canada, analyzed by Imagine Canada to identify employment trends in the nonprofit sector, uncovered that nationally, employees in our sector are more than twice as likely to be immigrants. In addition, half of all jobs held by immigrant women are in our sector. Charities and nonprofit organizations, which employ 2.4 million people, are, by far, the country’s biggest employers of immigrant women.

There’s no doubt that the contributions of immigrants to the sector are something to celebrate. However, many immigrant women work in the nonprofit sector not because it is their first choice, but because their options are limited. While our sector is an important employer for this population, it is perhaps not for the right reasons.

With Debbie, we discuss what these findings mean and how nonprofits, governments and employers in other sectors of the economy can take action to improve working conditions and reduce employment barriers faced by immigrant workers. 

You can listen to full episodes of the podcast at https://www.imaginecanada.ca/en/360

You can read the full report 'Diversity Is Our Strength: Improving Working Conditions in Canadian Nonprofits' at https://www.imaginecanada.ca/en/resource-download/diversity-is-our-strength