The federal website, called The International Qualification Network (IQN), is a platform where regulatory bodies and professional organizations will post a variety of tools and information that can be used to accelerate the recognition of international credentials, something which has sometimes proved difficult for newcomers to Canada.

“The Government of Canada is committed to improving the process of recognizing foreign worker qualifications, and the IQN website will help find solutions that will allow immigrants to integrate better into the Canadian labour market,” said Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

Early contributors to the service include nursing and midwifery organizations.

The site is not geared for immigrants themselves, but instead as a networking platform for subject matter experts involved in the recognition of foreign credentials, to improve their respective practices, which will reflect in how they serve their constituents: newcomers to Canada that require some form of professional recognition of their credentials to work in their field.

This differs from Quebec’s proposed website for foreign engineers, which will serve immigrants themselves, for example according to a previous CanadaVisa.com article, allowing them to “self-evaluate the estimated time it will take for them and associated costs, and even track the progress of their applications as they progress through the process.”

New tools such as the one offered by Quebec, along with similar provincial initiatives across the country, then, will be able to tap into the IQN website, to further improve and accelerate the recognition of foreign credentials.