In the winter we premiered our latest TRIEC (Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council) video, Integrating Talent at the Nation Film Board in Toronto. I got a chance to speak about the video and its importance not only in training but with helping us understand others.

“Organizations often want to distill things into very simple sentences and didactic things. And people are more complicated than that.”

“We interviewed a bunch of writers, and Sugith came in, and he said Listen, you gotta do it this way. you gotta tell the story of the people. You can’t just jump into a meeting and not know who these people are and what they are about.”

“By seeing what people are like, by experiencing what they experience, then different sides can understand, the higher management can understand the skilled professional.”
– David Lees

“These two movies were produced as training tools to help employers identify and articulate their own immigrant employment challenges. Filmed as a fictional drama, and informed by the experiences of local human resource professionals, both videos help viewers to examine organizational practices and the cultural biases that have the potential to create barriers for skilled immigrants, both as job candidates and employees.
However, rather than focusing on specific recruitment or integration barriers, the producers instead chose to show the development of human relationships along a pre- or post-hire continuum, reflecting real-life, interpersonal dynamics that are often difficult to articulate or discuss openly.”
-The National Film Board of Canada