The Beginning……

Last week I went to an opening in Newmarket, Ontario, for a new Welcome Centre for Immigrant Services. As an active advocate for the rights of international immigrants in Canada I was astound by the resources available for newcomers and refugees in this area. The project was planned 5 years ago and it costs 23 million Canadian dollars, money well spend. They offer not only English classes and upgrading in the new language but also Counselling, job search and workshops, day care and play rooms, health care and housing assistance; all this, for the main purpose of offering all the resources needed for an international newcomer to feel confident in the new culture.
I immigrated in Canada three years ago, and I was impacted, as many of my newcomer friends, by the cultural shock. I came to a small town in Ontario, called Midland and I quickly understood that I am going to start everything form scratch. Even though your English can be good you’ll still be the one with an accent, from….somewhere. Living in a small town is not easy.  There is a lack of educational resources for newcomers and that be a huge barrier for somebody in search of a job or even English classes. What is great about Canada, though, is that you need to dream, work and study, and everything works out in your favour, in a couple of months. Canadians are very flexible to new ideas and the doors are there for you to open them. International newcomers bring a wealth of resources, international skills and valuable contacts. I am one of the happy immigrants, who dreamed of a project where international newcomers would have a social group to feel at ease and comfortable and made it happen. Two years ago I started an International Newcomers Group (ING – http://www.newcomersgroup.com), and since then my small town has a visible international community. I am studying Social Services at Georgian College and I am specializing in Immigration and Cultural Diversity in Canada and I believe that each one of us can make a positive difference. I greatly appreciate this idea of an Experience Sharing Blog because it is so important to know where you are going and what to expect from a job search and a college/university environment. I promise to be accurate and truthful in my experience sharing and to report to you why, in my opinion, this is a great country to study and build a career.