Immigrants often confront obstacles to workplace success in their adopted countries, regardless of their employment qualifications. Everything from a lack of language fluency to unrecognized skills credentials can make it difficult for them to find employment or advance rapidly.

TransCanada recognizes those challenges and works to overcome them. Our efforts in this area were recognized in 2009 when we were chosen one of the Best Employers for New Canadians. This annual award is sponsored by Mediacorp Inc. and the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council.

Our company was singled out for this honour because we routinely offer paid internships and employment to new immigrants, assist them with credentialing issues, give them time away from work to focus on skills such as becoming more fluent in English, and offer cross-cultural training to our recruitment personnel.

This year we took advantage of Calgary's annual WordFest literary festival to invite award-winning author Wayson Choy to speak to our employees and contractors about the new immigrant experience. Choy's books have focused on the struggles of Chinese immigrants to Canada as they face poverty and racism every day.

Outside the workplace, TransCanada takes steps such as partnering with BOWEN Workforce Solutions to support Immigrant Works, a program that matches underemployed and foreign-educated Canadians with meaningful work.

Such initiatives matter, says Juan Gil, Manager, Business Systems. Juan emigrated with his family from Venezuela four years ago in search of a better life. At TransCanada, Juan feels valued for his education and experience. "This award will have a positive impact on the number and quality of new Canadian applicants we see in the future," he says. "Many new Canadians want to work in a place that recognizes your contributions without ethnicity barriers."