Bardzo polecam uważną lekturę poniższego tekstu. Keep your eyes wide, wide open - bo wpadniesz z deszczu pod rynnę. Do Kasiuli - nie wszyscy imigranci to niepoprawni optymiści : )
Pozdrawiam
My name is Ivan and I am an immigrant in Ontario, Canada since 2 years.
I came from small East European country, possessing 2 University degrees
in Computer Sciences and Business, recognized professional certificates
(Sun Microsystems), 5 years of experience - 3 of them in an Italian
software company. Since I came here I have worked for a while in a
Canadian software company, did a "survival job", attended Masters of
Computer Sciences program in renowned Canadian University, and finally
started a small business.
I wouldn't say that I was completely unlucky after I read all of the
statements in this website, but now, at the end of my second year here,
I made my reconciliation about what I have done and what not, and what I
could expect in the future and as a bottom line I made my decision to
leave the country immediately after the finishing of my current
contract. As many people have stated before the Canadian economy in that
moment is far from blooming, and although I didn't felt personally a
racism or discrimination, I have definitely saw it against people from
different origins. My personal explanation of the later statement is
mainly concerned with the stagnation, rather then some intrinsic racism,
at least not more then what I saw in other places in the world (I have
the chance to visit nine different countries and have spend nearly a
year or more in four of them). In addition I would like to state briefly
the reasons of my decision:
1. Currently I am making fair amount of money, but as an immigrant it
would be very hard for me to sustain a relatively stable financial
future - there is an extremely hard competition in the market, and in
this 2 years I have heard only news for layoffs and bankruptcies in most
of the Canadian industry sectors: airplane production, automotive
production, electronics, telecommunication, information technology,
steel industry, airlines, financial sector (and I am not sure if the
list is complete). The companies involved are many of the US industrial
enterprises in Canada, Bombardier, Nortel, BCE, Bell Canada, Corel,
Stelco, Dofasco, Air Canada and many, many others. In addition to that
it seems that US have strengthened their import restrictions against
Canadian lumber, live cattle and natural resources, and it seems that
this policy would sustain at least in the near future.
Moreover I would state my opinion that the expenses in Ontario are
extremely high in comparison with the average expected income of a
newcomer: the rent prices in Toronto area are between 700 CAD (for a
dirty and small apartment in very bad area) and 1200 (for nice 2
bedrooms); statutory minimal insurance for a car is considered OK in the
range of 1500 to 2500 CAD per year (no joke); taxes are high (you can
check them by yourself); cable TV is about 55 CAD with the taxes, and
high speed internet - 35 to 55 CAD; parking lot would cost you at least
50 CAD per month, transit pass - 100 CAD per month; the food is less
expensive - an average male could survive with about 200 CAD per month
(without any extras). I had an information (prove me if I am wrong) that
a private kinder garden in GTA would cost between 500 and 800 CAD per
month, and in order to qualify for less expensive government kinder
gardens one should apply for it few years in advance. There are some
government sponsored housing, that are cheaper, but in Toronto one would
qualify a decade after submitting an application, and I wouldn't
recommend it to anybody, since these places are marked with an extreme
poverty.
In addition I would testify that part time jobs (4-5 hours per day) for
8 CAD/hour are not uncommon for the newcomers, a lucky and qualified
software developer should expect about 25 - 35K per year after all
deductions (you can check several job sites - you would see some high
paid advertised jobs, just check if they would stay more then few
months, since there were some advertised positions that have stayed for
a year or so). Some employers in the IT told me that they are receiving
more then 200 resumes for any advertised position. In my opinion (after
reading some publications, and having some experience) the Ontario
healthcare system is not exceptionally good, but this never concerned me
a lot, since I am a in my middle ages and rarely have had health issues
in these 2 years.
2. Although the previous stated reasons are quite straightforward for
anybody, especially in the fragile position of being a recent immigrant,
there are other, more compelling reason for my decision to leave the
country: the personal disagreement with the Canadian officials and all
Canadians about their immigration practices and their humanitarian
actions in regards to the poverty in Canada (the all Canadians are in
this group, since they have not done a lot to promote their
disagreement, if any, with what is happening in their country). From
what you could read:
-Canada has developed government immigration policies since the end of
the 19th century
(http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/legacy/index.html).
-Canada welcomes more net immigrants per capita than any other country
in the world
(http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/PRBpubs/bp190-e.htm#20txt).
-In the recent 14 years Canada has accepted between 174000 and 254000
immigrants per year
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pub/facts2002/immigration/immigration_1.html.
Well, after all these statements it is quite strange for me that at the
end of 2004 the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) still DO NOT
have an official institution for assessment and recognition of foreign
credentials - you could read their statement at
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pub/immigration2004.html#1500, topic "New
Initiatives for Integration" - the "new initiatives" are a language
training program (this time called "Enhanced Language Training
initiative") and some "profession-targeted courses" for unnamed
professions and without any indication when, where and what. The
prescribed assessment of credential services, promoted on CIC website
are some private enterprises, not an official bodies, and in one of my
discussions with WES (Ontario private assessment and evaluation company,
advertised on CIC website) their representative told me that their
assessment doesn't have any official value. I am not really eager to
make any comparison, but the Australian government at least is offering
officially recognized institution for evaluation of foreign credentials
- they could downgrade your diploma, but at least you wouldn't felt like
if you have completely lost your previous achievements history
(http://aei.dest.gov.au/AEI/QualificationsRecognition/default.htm).
Of course, I am not implying that the existence of such a program in
Canada would save anybody from stagnation. What I am stating is that the
Canadian officials, with their strong record of experience with
immigration, are stimulating, or at least unconsciously promoting the
exploitation of Canadian immigrants from private unofficial enterprises
- starting from the popular "immigration" lawyers (of course I never
used their services) and the advertised on their official website
"assessment" companies. In addition I would state that I never
encountered any meaningful help from the officials with any small or
extensive problem that I met here, starting from the drivers license - I
took all "categories" consecutively, beginning with a beginner drivers
course (not that I have driven my cars differently - I had a feeling
that they are quite standard in most parts of the world :). The
settlement organization that I attended in the beginning was another
example, as they were eager to persuade me to take some meaningless
courses in order to get my name written in their papers, and to take
their money from the government (I am still smiling on the fact that
after I have been told some popular facts from life, they gave me a
certificate that stated that I have "successfully accomplished" job
orientation program for newcomers, so I added it in my collection of
University degrees and international certificates :).
Now, with this reconciliation of my memories I am realizing that I was
"dead meat" in the moment in which I disembarked from the airplane, or
maybe long before that point, although I was trying to keep my eyes wide
open and I did an extensive research in the government official
statistics. The later institution deserves few words - I didn't found
any numerical inconsistencies in their reports for the statistical
indicators in Canada (some of these data were used in the popular UN
commissioned Human Development Reports), but somehow I could not feel a
consistency of what I saw with my eyes here and in other places in the
world with the information, disseminated by the Statistics of Canada. I
hope that this is not another enterprise, designed for marketing
purposes, since the information provided is expected to be with very
high quality (despite the backdoors of inexistence of internationally
accepted standard indicators and data collection methodologies).
3. I saw a lot of misery in Ontario, although I have never been in this
position personally (sometimes only in a step distance, when my personal
account was about 350 CAD :). I could not erase my memories about the
view of a frozen man, lying on the curb of the Main Street in Hamilton,
Ontario at 5 o'clock in one January 2003 morning with a temperature of
(-15) degrees, and the car traffic passing around - there were no
person, neither a car stopped nearby. I could not erase my memories
about a middle age person from Ecuador, with 9 years in Canada, that
were living on the bare floor (actually I saw personal equipment of an
old cover, on which he was sleeping, a cassette player and a candle,
since the bulb was broken) - he asked me to give him a ride to his new
job, since he haven't had money for a transit ticket (2 CAD) - I am
sorry man, if you would read this, but I should write it down. After I
saw these (and a lot more) I did a video recording of some pockets of
poverty in Toronto and Hamilton (for the later, one should not lurk a
lot - he just have to start from the center of the city and then walk
around half of it). If anybody is interested I could provide free CD's
with the material. Anybody could use the keywords "poverty" "Hamilton"
and "Ontario" (or "Toronto") in google to search for some more
information (for example
http://www.sprc.hamilton.on.ca/reports/povincsum04.pdf), but believe me
it is stunning if you see this misery with your own eyes.
If anybody would ask me why I stayed here in the past 2 years the answer
is that I realized when I was, since the first week of my arrival. But I
decided to give it a try for at least one year in order to make more
informed decision, after anyway I have spend certain amount of time in
my "Canadian campaign". In the consecutive months of unemployment I lost
most of my cash resources (but I am still very lucky that I haven't sold
any real estate property that I had from before). Then I found the
feeling of been desperate and powerless, but I have never felt like a
slave (since I knew that in any moment I could just go back in one warm
and happy place). I realized the power of employers in this country
against the hopelessness of newcomers, but still I was thinking that I
might be wrong, and may be I have some future here, and may be I have
just perceived the reality in a wrong way. In the consecutive months I
understood the Ontario Employment Standards act (ESA - it is worth if
you would read it too) and its implementation in practice, since I filed
one report against my employer, for disregarding of paragraph 18.(1) of
ESA: "An employer shall give an employee a period of at least 11
consecutive hours free from performing work in each day." My file number
is 52[tel]in Halton District Office of Employment Standards Program of
the Ministry of Labour. In the consecutive 8 months I made few phone
calls in order to understand what is the resolution on this complaint,
although I am expecting not more then a fine of 250 CAD for that
company, and I have no personal financial benefits from that. The result
is that in that period the case hasn't been resolved and I have received
no further information about that complaint.
My personal opinion about myself is that I am a strong person, and I
know that I could take some fire and still keenly pursue my goals if I
have the belief that what I do is right. On the other side I made a lot
of steps here in order to understand if it would worth for me to
establish myself (and eventually my future family) in this land - what I
can rely on and what are my actual rights and freedoms. I guess I
understood the meaning of the sentence "Canadian experience" - to loose
everything (including hope), and to resign to the reality of been
exploited from the immigrants that came here before you, with the
expected benefit after years to exploit the people that would come
later. Or, restated, to accept the outcome of lost human lives and
hopes, broken families and impoverishment of descent people for the
exaggerated concept of building a "strong Canada".
To finish my story - in one moment in time I decided to attend a
University in order if nothing else to sustain my fragile financial
situation in the stagnation. Meanwhile I start promoting an idea about a
software product, which I had from before to some investment companies
and hopefully started a contract with one. After 5 months I was accepted
with a grant in Canadian University, but now I found myself too
overwhelmed working and studding full time, so I decided to withdraw
from the school (this is called a bad timing - after all of these
struggles I just got some benefits and I couldn't "harvest" them all).
In that moment I did my reconciliation, the result of which you are
reading - I suppose these thoughts have just grown in me with the time,
and now I feel a relief sharing them with the world.
Despite the fact that I met some nice and intelligent people here (born
Canadians and immigrants) I could not appreciate this land as my future
home and I am sure that although before 2 years I thought that many
Europeans have perceived Canada as a peaceful and human country this
vision would deteriorate in the future - I am not stating this as a
threat, but as a logical conclusion of what I saw, heard and read here.
I am suspecting that many of us, stating our point of view in these
forums are feeling like the child from the Andersen's story "The
emperor's new clothes", but I believe that among the other reasons we
have the human right to blow the whistle. There are many forums on which
immigrants have posted their opinions also I found an interesting books
that could give some insights about the reasons of this situation -
http://www.dianefrancis.com/books.htm. As a final words my personal
advice to the aspiring immigrants would be quite the same as of another
participant in this forum, Sharon C. from Alberta - keep your eyes wide,
wide open. To all the others that I met in these two years: wish you all
the best and the hope that future would be better.
P.S. For the people that have struggled in this land - do not loose your
hope in your capabilities, imagine what would happen if a successful
person, like Bill Gates, or Albert Einstein would fly to the north pole
and splash himself in the middle of a gang of hungry white bears. If
after all this person would succeed on the North Pole, making a fortune,
or developing theories, then he could proudly award himself as passed
through the "North Pole Experience": Just a joke, no offense :)))
Ivan D. Mississauga, Ontario.