cv4cfa

I'm working in toronto, and I see the CSI courses as a nice way to fluff your resume with credentials/education that sound impressive, but are not actually very difficult to obtain.

In terms of the actual learning that results from those courses; and even the derivaties/options courses specifically... I'd say they will be marginally helpful to you with respect to the level 2 cfa exam. I've taken the following courses:
- Canadian Securities Course
- Investment Management Techniques
- Portfolio Management Techniques

And this earns me the Canadian Investment Manager designation. sounds fancy, right? reality is, it can be earned in about a month and a half of study, and no work experience is required. Each one of the courses above is about 1/20th the work to complete as any one of the CFA levels (if that).
The designation looks good on a resume tho, and it shows some ambition, so that's why I did it.

Conclusion: The CSI courses are about a milimeter deep vs the CFA's mile. Any overlap of material will be a very light, not so helpful skim.