Settlement

I’m not a usual immigrant in Canada as most immigrants here might be. In general people have been preparing for immigration for a long time. They passed English exams, visited courses to improve English, prepared translated documents, researched job market, programs and life in Canada.

I relocated because of war in my country. No one expected that it would be true reality for Ukrainians and I had to leave my lovely apartment at 5AM with 2 luggages for the family of 3 people. I didn’t say goodbye to my relatives, I just called them and asked for advice about what to do and offered for them to come with us. Everyone expected that the war would stop super soon and people didn’t want to leave their lives there. I didn’t understand the final destination on my way.

It is a long story of my first relocation to Poland where I stayed for some time with my son and it didn’t depend on immigration to Canada. When Canada provided a chance to Ukrainians to get a safe place in Canada, far from war and with possibility to stay there (because it’s super dangerous to return to my home city), get PR in future and start our life from scratch, I started to research a lot and investigate the pluses and minuses of life here. As result my family and I were approved by CUAET immigration program, we bought flight tickets, notified landlords in Poland about relocation, packed our stuff and relocated to Canada.

We faced issues in looking for an apartment without credit scores, without a Canadian job, without references. But we managed with it. Job market in my profession is another story, there are a lot of positions, but impossible competitions. Everyone is looking for an employee who has experience in Canada and it does not leave a chance for immigrants to find a workplace.
Thankfully not everyone is the same.

The Canadian government is trying to make immigration process and adaptability easy by providing different language programs, courses, workshops that help to find a job, to have skills to communicate effectively, even provides money to visit community activities for the first time, when newcomers don't have enough money for sport. Libraries provided different communication circles, board games events, activities for kids during breaks at school. It’s amazing.

I see that with Canadian certification, education it is easier to find a job, adapt to job requirements, because they are specific here. It’s a pity that when you don’t have PR, you can’t get local education, because it’s too expensive, you can’t work full time and someone has to help you to pay rent here. So it looks impossible.

I see a perspective for my son here, even for me, I’ve started to do sight-seeing and enjoy nature here. I got used to living here and I don’t see a possibility of returning to my native country in the near future, so I need to build my life from scratch here. It’s comfortable for me to live in Mississauga. It’s a wonderful city, big and quiet in comparison with Toronto. It reminds me country (even during war). One day I will be able to call Canada my home.