To: OP. Here are some general comments related to your post and situation. They are based on my experiences in the US; not sure whether the practices in Canada differ.
(a) For a legit recruiter, the fees are always paid by the employer, never by the applicant.
(b) In general, an employer will not pay a recruiter to recruit newbies (those with little or no experience), since typically there are plenty of fresh grads scrounging for jobs. [As usual, there are outliers, such as in the late 1990's, when the InterNet Bubble was still rapidly inflating.] So a recruiter's perspective and advice will be biased by this.
(c) Some job posts aren't real. That is, the employer does have an opening, but the hiring manager already has selected someone to fill the opening (possibly an internal transfer); however, due to legal issues, a post is still published. Also, some openings are posted in the expectation that funding for a program will come through (that is, employers want to have candidates lined up in advance so they can act quickly once the funding is approved); but in some instances the funding does not come through.
(d) As discussed above, some hiring managers conscientiously craft their posts, carefully specifying required (minimum), preferred, and optional credentials, skills, and experience. Other hiring managers, however, are not so diligent and sloppily put down overly restrictive requirements (such as a degree in a certain field), when they really would consider a broader set of candidates (e.g., those with experience in a particular area, regardless of the field of their degree). Regardless, the first step in many companies is for HR to run software against your resume to filter applicants against the posted parameters (whether diligently thought through or not).
(e) That's where personal networking plays an important role in landing a job. Because if you can bypass the HR filters, you might get the opportunity to persuade the hiring manager of the value you bring. This is more likely in a flexible R&D environment than in instances in which there are strict legal requirements for certain professional certifications.