The Canada-China Human Capital Dialogue is a research partnership between think-tanks of the two countries on the opportunities and challenges of managing and capitalizing talent flows between Canada and China.
In November 2011, the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (APFC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with three China-based think-tanks to formalize a collaborative research partnership on Canada-China human capital flows. The Canada-China Human Capital Dialogue (the ‘Project’) was launched at the China-Canada Talent Flows and Development Cooperation Conference in Beijing, China. The Project aims to better understand the key factors contributing to human capital exchange in both countries in the context of globalization, as well as develop and share policy recommendations to improve the management of human capital flows between both countries.
Objectives
The Project has four main objectives:
1. To better understand the human capital situation in both countries, given the density of human exchange flow between Canada and China;
2. To identify the key factors that contribute to the human capital shortage in both countries and the industries which drive the demand for highly skilled labour forces;
3. To develop and share policy recommendations and best practices with relevant Canadian and Chinese policymakers, practitioners and members of the business community on how to improve the management of human capital flow between the two countries, including initiating a discussion on the potential for a bilateral agreement between China and Canada on shared human capital; and
4. To facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing between Canadian researchers and think-tanks with their Chinese counterparts and help make research by Chinese organizations and scholars available to Canadian researchers and the wider Canadian public.
Phil Calvert
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
Dr. Fung is the Chairman and CEO of the ACDEG Group of companies. He has business partnerships in North America, Europe and Asia. He obtained his Bachelor, Master and Doctorate degrees in chemical engineering from McGill University (Montréal, Canada) and completed the senior business executive program at Queen’s University (Kingston, Canada).
Dr. Fung is co-chair of the Members of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, vice-chair of the Canada China Business Council and the Chemical Institute of Canada and past president of the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering. He is also a member of the national board of directors of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (immediate past chair), Canadian Standards Association Group (chair of HR, Compensation and EOHS Committee), Canadian Green Chemistry & Engineering Network, International Science and Technology Partnership Canada (chair of China Sub-committee) and CentrePort Canada Inc. Dr. Fung is a Strategic Advisor of Cycle Capital Management Inc., currently the largest clean technology venture fund in Canada, and an Investment Champion for the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
Chairman and CEO, ACDEG Group
Keith Godin
Director, BC Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation
Daniel Hiebert conducts research on migration as a form of contemporary globalization. At the broadest scale, this includes an interest on how migration is controlled by nation states through policy and regulatory systems, and also how people become mobile, with or without the consent of states. He tries to understand Canadian immigration policy within this wider context, and considers it in relation to the policies of other countries, especially in Europe and Australasia. At the local scale he studies the consequences of immigration in Canadian cities, highlighting Vancouver’s situation (over 830,000 foreign-born in a population of 2.1 million people). More specifically, he looks at the integration of newcomers in the labour and housing markets of cities, and how this changes their residential structure and social relations.
Professor and UBC Co-Director, Metropolis BC, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia
Dr. Jean Lock Kunz is a director with the Policy Horizons Canada (formerly Policy Research Initiative). She leads Horizons’ projects on social innovation, social media, network governance, and on multicultural diversity for 21st century Canada. Currently, she leads one of the foresight studies at Horizons titled ‘Preparing the Policy Toolkit for the 21st Century’s Increasingly Complex Challenges’. Her other areas of work include policy research on economic reform and migrant integration in China.
She is the editor for a special issue of PRI’s flagship publication, Horizons, on China titled: Engaging the Dragon. Jean has led various projects on Canada-China relations including the Canada-China Policy Research Symposiums in partnership with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as well as Public Policy Options Project (PPOP) by CIDA. In addition, she has been invited to speak on various Canada-China exchanges on social development, including the Award of Excellence on Canadian Studies, as well as Canada-China symposiums on social policy with Xi’an Jiao-Tong University.
An immigrant to Canada, Jean began her career in policy research at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Shanghai, China. She obtained her doctorate at the University of Waterloo.
Director, Policy Horizons Canada
David Ley holds a Canada Research Chair and is Head of Geography at the University of British Columbia. He is interested in the social geography of large cities. Earlier research analysed gentrification, housing markets and social polarisation; current work concerns immigration, particularly transnational migration from East Asia to Canada. He was the founding UBC Director of the Metropolis Centre of Excellence for Immigration and Integration in the City. Books include The New Middle Class and the Re-making of the Central City, A Social Geography of the City, and most recently, Millionaire Migrants: Trans-Pacific Life Lines, a study of migration between East Asia and Canada. A former Trudeau Fellow, David Ley is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Professor and Head, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia
Dr. Henry Wang is the Director General of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) and the Vice Chairman of the China Western Returned Scholars Association (WRSA), the largest overseas returned scholars’ organization in China with over 50,000 members. He is also the Vice Chairman of China Talent Research Society of the Ministry of Human Resources & Social Security and Vice Chairman of the China International Economic Cooperation Society of Ministry of Commerce in China. In addition, he is a Vice Chairman of the Central Economic Committee of China Jiu San Society, as well as an Advising Member of CPPCC Beijing Committee.
Director General, CCG of China
Duration
The Canada-China Human Capital Dialogue Project will run from November 2011 to March 2014.
Contact Us
Kenny Zhang
Senior Project Manager
Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
Tel: 604-630-1527
Email: kenny.zhang@asiapacific.ca
