|
NEW IMMIGRANT IN CANADA- A HONEST APPRAISAL OF THE PREVAILING CONDITIONS
It needs no mention that the process of migration from one country to another has been an ongoing process from time immemorial.Change, as we all know is always painful and one as drastic as migration from one country to another which has the effect of uprooting one’s own firm settlement could come as a real stunner for one who is not adequately prepared for it. In this context, this write up by ‘Yours faithfully’ who have chosen to migrate to Canada in the recent past , is motivated by a desire to encourage constructive and careful analysis among those who toy with the idea of migrating to Canada, with the limited information available and unfortunately, guided solely by the commercial merchants with vested interests.
The article seeks to provide food for thought to the aspiring immigrant who is prepared to stake his ‘everything’ in order to succeed in his pursuit to migrate to one of the advanced countries. The major countries which have traditionally been attracting citizens of the less developed and developing countries in the past few decades are Australia,Newzealand and Canada. U.S.A comes in a different category as it does not encourage migration on the basis of one’s skills alone,but tacitly encourages migration of those proceeding to U.S on student visa, as is well known.
Presently,the fact is that the new immigrant to the three countries as mentioned above, more particularly Canada, is all at sea in the first few months of his arrival,if not the first few years. To aspire to migrate is one thing,but being confronted by the reality is yet another.
This is not to imply that it is not a wise idea to go abroad seeking greener pastures. Well, far from it. But, in the same breath, it should be emphatically stated that the 'about to migrate'individual should be well informed about the actual state of affairs and be realistic in his expectations,particularly when he takes a decision as big as migrating to another country.
It would obviously not be possible for me to cover all aspects of the conditions as they exist in Canada in all its facets , which would impact upon the life of the new immigrant, in one write up like this. Hence,I will deal with the subject in a broad spectrum so as to give a bird's eyeview of what it is like over here . Of course,I would be prepared to respond to anyone who desire to have further information or feel like seeking clarification or wanting reassurance on some point or the other, through email
Presently,for most of the immigrants, the only source of available information,which more often than not, is distorted and hence does not give a factual account of the real situation, is the immigration agent Here,let me convey with all the emphasis at my command that the immigration agents who all try their level best to persuade the prospective client that Canada is a land where milk and honey flows down the road, are simply commercial merchants and cannot be expected to give the right picture at all and are just being unethical or plainly ignorant. More of the latter, perhaps. But unfortunately,the frustrated middle class individual from different nationalities who is in a state of mind to accept any possible solution anywhere, for all his problems, is susceptible to such propaganda as he likes to hear only what he likes to believe. The result is that he is readily prepared to part with a substantial sum of his hard earned money, as his fees to the immigration agent. This is in addition to the obligatory settlement funds which he has to take when he travels to Canada for the first time. Having prepared himself for this,he patiently waits for his time to get his landing papers for Canada, expectantly, full of dreams in his mind.
But as soon as he lands,what he finds is truly not what he expected or liked to see. He is shocked to find that it is almost next to impossible for him to find readily a job in his own field. This is for the simple reason that many professions come under the regulated category in Canada and so the new immigrant should in the first place get his certification to practise his own avocation. This is not at all an easy thing to do as one will have to qualify himself further to get the license to practise his own trade. But the personal savings of the new immigrant do not amount to much when converted into dollars and hence it becomes impossible for him to qualify himself further. Of course, there are various loans and schemes available on paper , but unfortunately these may not be easy to get immediately after one arrives in Canada as technically the new immigrant is obliged to enter the country with a certain amount of funds as mentioned earlier, which more often than not, he manages to borrow from others to be returned as soon as he arrives in Canada.
The result of this is that the new immigrant is forced to take up what are euphemistically known as survival jobs. Some of these survival jobs are working as a light labour in some packing unit, hard labour in factories, working as data entry operators, working as call centre agents, Security Guards, Taxi drivers and Gas Station workers. Not that there is anything bad in itself about doing these jobs,but it is not uncommon to find some people stuck to these jobs for years and years at a stretch.Well,the one who can type data a bit or has a good command over spoken English could be the lucky ones as they would manage to find themselves the 'elite jobs' of Call Centre Agents or Data Entry Operators.
What do the others do? Less said the better. For example you are shocked to hear that an erstwhile Vice President of a major software Indian Company working as a Security Guard which would fetch him around 2000 dollars at the most calculated on an hourly basis or a husband and wife Oncologists in India working in a light labour unit or a Former AGM of an Indian Public Sector Bank working in a call centre. In fact the joke doing the rounds here is that Canada is the country with the highest qualified labour force. It would be all too convenient to claim that in advanced countries the value of labour is respected etc. The fact is that while the indigenous citizens do respect these values greatly and are always reasonable in the treatment of their subordinates,the same cannot be said of the Chinese and other Desis , who typically indulge in all kinds of dirty tricks to be one up on their fellow Desis and to be in the good books of their ‘phoren superiors’ . This really comes as a shattering blow to the New Immigrant who is all too unprepared for this kind of situation.
The other major obstacle to one working in his own profession is the insistence of local experience by the Canadian Employers for atleast a period of six months before they would consider the candidature of any new immigrant. This is quite understandable as the culture in the workplace is totally unfamiliar to the New immigrant and hence he may not be able to appreciate the values ,in the opinion of the Canadian Employer. So, for example,while though banking and accountancy do not come under the regulated category, the fact is that it is just not possible to get a job in these fields straightaway. Now,you have the reason for a former senior banker in India possibly working in a call centre.He thanks himself for being able to speak reasonably good English.
The few exceptions to this is those with experience in IT field or ones with experience in Foundries and certain other professions .These ones manage to get a job in their own field within a very reasonable period of time and at a very competitive salary.
Well, what does the Government of Canada do about this,one may ask. After all, it is not in its interests to keep a highly qualified section of populace discontented for long. In fairness, I must say that they try their level best to see that the new immigrant could quickly settle down in Canada as a happy and satisfied individual. Enormous amount of fund is being expended by the Canadian Government in order to achieve this objective. There are number of Government funded organisations engaged in training the new immigrant on various aspects of Canadian workplace and culture and to help him to find good placement. But unfortunately,all this is quite insignificant in relation to the monumental nature of problem on hand. There is an organisation known as CAREER BRIDGE helping immigrants to find internship opportunities with certain Canadian employers.More such organisations are required to be brought in place and make more serious efforts to persuade the Canadian employers to come forward to take in qualified and competent interns .But the Government only seems to go through the motions and does not appear to be totally commited with conviction to the task on hand.It is also said that the interest of the Canadian Government is not so much in the well being of the first generation of immigrants as much as in the successive generations. True, possibly.
Transformation of one’s personality and attitude to suit the local requirements is what is required to put it simply and this is just easier desired than done in the case of a seasoned professional who would have imbued certain firm attitudes owing to his past experience and the work culture to which he has all along been exposed. The bottomline in my opinion, the key for one to succeed in getting a reasonably good job is basically the projection of one's personality to the Canadian Employer in the manner that he likes to see it. It is absolutely important to make the employer feel comfortable with one’s personality and this is an area in which most of the immigrants do not measure up and the Government which grants immigration status on the basis of professional qualifications and skills does nothing to impart professional training towards orientation.
It is worth mentioning that in the Canadian workplace, the tone,the manners,the sophistication and refinement with which conversation is carried on, in short, understanding the sensibilities of the Canadian Employer and fellow workers is of utmost importance for one to succeed in the long run.
Well,then is it my contention that one should not migrate to Canada for overall betterment in terms of better lifestyle or greater materialistic comfort or to ensure a better future for their offsprings?
NO. NOT AT ALL.
It is definitely not at all a bad idea to migrate, for the frustrated middle class citizen from a third world country,whose credentials and merits are not given the due recognition that they deserve, in the country of his birth.
The migrant could definitely take comfort from the fact that while every other single immigrant from a third world country finds the going not to his liking,if not tough, in the initial stages of his migration, eventually the majority of migrants manage to find their way through, in a period of four to five years after their arrival, at the most. But with better preparation,the teething troubles could be minimised if one knows what to expect and wholeheartedly accept the realities as they exist in Canada. This, he or she could do only by making a thorough research about the conditions in Canada and not simply going by what the immigration agent says or claims.In fact,after landing in Canada,I find that my immigration agent, the leader in the field, has been very poorly informed and is not at all aware of many sound reasons for which one could migrate to Canada. Take the Canadian higher education, for example. It could literally be a walk through into a course such as Medicine,Law or Business Management for a reasonably good student who would be considered to be of average standards in a third world country for example,India just because he scores only 90 and not 99.
There are plenty of jobs available in both private and public sectors and if only one makes it a point to do adequate research before landing in Canada,he could definitely reduce the time by which he will have to be languishing in the survival jobs and settle down quickly into the better jobs without much loss of time.
Similarly learning French for a period of two years before one migrates, would do a world of good as those who are able to converse to some extent in French are in demand everywhere.
Free medical treatment,Old Age Pension,Employment Insurance for ones who are laid off by the company could all be strong attractions for one to migrate. Not the least important is the quality of life and absolute transparency of the system which provides equal opportunities to everyone and to those who are prepared to be earnest in their efforts to succeed.
Well, in short,this country promises enough and more to all those immigrants and help them to succeed,that is those who do enough homework to understand the system ,equip themselves suitably and who are prepared to sail along with the system and take advantages of the privileges that it offers.
Last but not the least, this is indeed a paradise for those with entrepreneurial spirit and who want to plunge into their own ventures.This is because of the transparency in administration and the encouragement that is provided to the aspiring entrepreneur and it would be no exaggeration to say that it is very difficult to fail.
Notwithstanding all of the above,it needs to be said that the Canadian Government can indeed do more with better application of mind and imaginative measures.
N.S.Sankararaman
1 647 436 4402
|
