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http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/Local%20News/405676.html
3 `6 ^. }* t9 qOfficials investigate Toronto trades schools3 j" W1 z& g$ k0 ~
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By CAROL CHRISTIAN7 ?8 f# O V C. Y( `) Y+ S& v
Today staff
0 d: ~; R: ?% I. }* vFriday June 06, 2008- `2 }# V# B5 K1 V" f& ^
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Qualified Chinese electricians are growing increasingly aware that supposedly qualified colleagues may not be what they claim -- that maybe they were handed their diplomas before gaining the right experience.
0 V) I8 @! \# b# A( t! vOne was so concerned, he contacted the school his Chinese immigrant co-workers allegedly attended. Two such workers now employed at a Wood Buffalo project are photographed on the school’s website.( i& N' ~0 I8 z* B, E9 a
The caller believes he found evidence to suggest it is not a typical school at all -- simply a facility to bypass the proper education and training facilities to get Chinese immigrant workers up to the oilsands in a few months as opposed to the four years or more it would take with proper training.
9 s7 N: Q5 @# n A5 H$ zA school employee also suggested students write their own letters of reference to bypass government evaluation of their skills to prove applicants have the required five years experience. 7 Y+ {$ `- L0 a( ^: W+ I
Today looked into the situation after hearing repeated allegations that not all workers flocking to the oilsands have the right qualifications. A telephone conversation between the worker and a school training Chinese immigrants as electricians was recently recorded by Today. The worker is not being identified in the story to protect his job.
6 Y* u# N4 J ]) t' m9 h* Z4 P6 R“A couple of Chinese people told me about this,” said the worker, explaining why he called Phd Training. Also, “They advertise ... in the Chinese newspapers.” While he called the advertised number for the Edmonton school, his call was put through to the Toronto office. “I wanted to call to see what’s going on there.” * I& r* g- V9 u& L4 k# {9 ?8 x
In addition to the curiosity factor, the worker admitted he was “something like pissed off” this was going on.
* a% I& J V& ? A# S0 M& {According to the worker, Chinese immigrants are arriving in the oilsands to work high paying jobs after writing their electricians trade ticket exams in Ontario. Once they pass, they travel to Alberta, where they trade the Ontario certificates in for the Alberta equivalent document. But the worker and a couple of other legitimate electricians charge these newly ticketed electricians are simply prepped to write the exams with no proper training or required hands-on experience before heading north to the oilsands. And it seems, by the school’s own admission, being unable to understand English is not a problem.
p6 f+ J) E1 W/ Q( ]1 }“Because in this industry, it’s easier for Chinese people to get in. Secondly, you don’t need a lot of specific technical skills, like a language,” said a man who identified himself as Yuan at Phd Training. “I think the language problems aren’t an issue.” 5 y( V& Q% V* I6 m( M- `
Meanwhile, questions from Today about the school whose name keep cropping up has launched an investigation by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. Ministry spokesman Kevin Dove, said the ministry has no record of Phd Training or Ast College. A school spokeswoman had said Phd Training had registered under parent company, Ast College.* Y4 A) Z& o2 y. L. Q
Ast College is not registered as a private career college (PCC) in Ontario, said Dove. There is, however, another company offering another program (not electrician) called AST Automation, Science and Technology College registered in Ontario. The school told Today it is registered as Ast College. 7 v o5 u; h9 O# m5 Z
$ F4 a$ W0 E/ O; V% {As for Phd Training, Dove said it is also not registered as a PCC in Ontario. 3 v( @ {2 h* i/ h
All private schools in that province must register with the ministry. ! ]9 E |# W) p `# d$ G
“The ministry takes allegations like this seriously,” said Dove, referring, in part, to the lack of registration information. He recently confirmed “ministry staff are currently looking into this.” . F' {$ {1 _4 Y3 P
Also on April 7, Donna Babchishin, of Alberta’s Advanced Education and Technology, confirmed the department had suspended the acceptance of all industrial electrician certificates issued from outside Alberta including Ontario.
5 a0 G2 B& ~0 u“We’re not accepting any of the industrial electricians ... we don’t sort of specify which province, and that’s still in place.” If there was a specific issue, any kind of suspension would be part of a review and investigation.' n3 H) S0 G1 x
“We are investigating this issue ... at this point we’re still not processing the equivalency documents.”
( I5 t$ l( `8 U* U5 c. V8 yShe explained “this issue” only “as the industrial electrician certificates coming into the province.” 6 ~: M* u' j9 f! `- s& Q8 Y
When asked about a special investigator from the department’s program compliance and investigation unit, being in this area looking into the validity of electricians’ trade tickets, Babchishin replied “Like I say, we’re doing ongoing investigations. He is our investigator, and this is one of the things he’s looking at.”
; v0 S1 ^' G. H9 OShe pointed out her department has different issues coming in all the time -- “some of them are quickly dispelled, and some of them take longer, but we really do our due diligence on issues that have to take us somewhere.”
# t" a8 M! T( r9 DBoth government agencies recently confirmed nothing had changed in the status of the investigations. 1 k3 g- H/ o9 r% U$ O- n
But Vicky Li, a recent addition to the administration of Ast College, also owned by Feng Li Wong, the same man who owns Phd Training, rejected attacks against the school, saying the accusations that Phd Training isn’t really a legitimate school are untrue.5 b6 u3 V5 Y4 ]3 {. Y$ m K! h
“Do you think this is reasonable? I don’t think so,” said Li recently. “(It’s) not true.”
e# A; G8 e! [Phd Training has offices in several major Canadian cities including Calgary and Edmonton. On its website, it says it is registered with “Education Ministry.”* k- g; u1 `4 X
Li told Today Phd Training is a legitimate school that “has been on the market for many years, and has established a very good reputation. It trains at least 3,000 students.” Classes are outfitted with required equipment including computers for learning. She invited Today to come visit the Toronto classes.
# ~. r: b4 Q& n) Y1 I: X) [Li said students can do both e-learning and then travel to the school for hands-on classes. Also, students must have four years related experience before attending the school. She added the school “definitely” teaches the students. . k" s$ n3 a9 c6 y
A claim on the Phd Training website in Chinese that the instructor has all the answers to the master electrician exam is a literal translation, said Li.
4 i- n2 u/ c) |% G5 d( zLi said it meant the instructor is able to answer all the questions because of his lengthy experience.
( ?' I# O R9 ~8 e( [# bCalling the school a bridge program to adapt past experience to the Canadian system, Li said she was at a loss to explain why people were making accusations against the school.
, V& j, M3 d+ e1 [2 b“We never did anything like it, fake advertising,” said Li. She added she found it interesting people would make up stories about the school, maybe because they expect too much from the school. |
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