Meet Daniele,a Brazilian of dutch heritage who loved the idea of travelling and learning new languages and ended up in Switzerland on an internship. After meeting and falling in love in Switzerland, Daniele and her husband returned home to Brazil, but several years later, they made the decision to move to Canada, where they began the arduous work of obtaining post-graduate degrees and completing their Canadian immigration applications. The couple arrived to Canada during the height of the pandemic in March 2020; learn about their trial and tribulations of finding employment and settling.

On this episode Amin, a former Information and Referral Specialist at the Newcomer Information Centre at the Y, talks to Daniele about her dream to live in Canada, her immigration experience, and how she ended up in Ottawa.

“[…]the language, not being able to speak the language. You feel that you don't fit, you don't feel part of that community. […] So as much as you can prepare in terms of the language, in terms of knowing what you are going to face […] And in that sense, I've encouraged every newcomer to really look for newcomer centers or for employment centers, to really have to use those services that are offered for free by the government, especially to integrate […] into the society.”- Daniele

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Language Assessment and Referral Centre website

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Meet Irene, a mother of two who never gave up on her dream to move to Canada. After years of planning, hard work and dedication, she received an offer for employment in Canada but almost didn’t take it. After she was reminded about how opportunities can be fleeting by her husband, she decided to follow her dream. Shortly after, Irene, her husband and children settled in Edmundston, New Brunswick.

On this episode, Fereshteh, an Employment Consultant for the YMCA talks to Irene about her dream to live in Canada, her immigration experience, and how she ended up in Ottawa.

“the limits of your dreams are in your mind”- Irene

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Meet Marshall, a lover of soccer, food, cooking and a civil engineer who moved from his home country, India, to Dubai the hub of civil engineering and finally settled in Canada.

On this episode, Yalda, an outreach worker for the YMCA talks to Marshal about his immigration experience to Canada, his reasons for moving from the hub of civil engineering to Canada and his experience using YMCA-YWCA post arrival services to land his first job within his first month of living in Canada.

This is an insightful episode on career transition.

“For people applying for Canada, I would say you are not going to regret it. I have definitely not been regretting it. I've been thankful for every minute that I've been here, and I'm enjoying it.”- Marshel

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Join Brianna, the former Program Coordinator for the YMCA-YWCA Build ON program, as she interviews Julie, who immigrated to Canada as a teen.

Julie shares how she learnt English, the culture shock, discovering herself, pursuing her education and career, connecting with people and what she has learnt throughout the years living in Canada.

Julie’s story teaches us that immigration is not a destination, it is a journey that involves constant learning.

“don't put too much pressure on yourself. Take it easy. It's okay to take your time to figure things out. And just be yourself and you will figure out who you are along the way. Enjoy the journey.”- Julie

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Yalda, a former Outreach Worker at the YMCA-YWCA of the National Capital Region, shares her story about how she came to Canada during a very difficult time of her life. 

Join Brianna in learning about Yalda’s beautiful childhood, her adventurous spirit, her love for her family and how she spread her wings and came to Canada.

“reach out to community centers even reach out to libraries, any resources out there, ask them for help ask them for resources and go to non-profit organization asking for support. some of these non-profit organization they can provide you with a mentor. be patient, be patient, be patient, no one's going to judge you. And everyone knows that you are here right now.”- Yalda

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Edita, now a director at the YMCA-YWCA Newcomer Information Centre, grew up and lived in the Philippines for most of her life until five years ago when she immigrated to join her mother who had already been living here for eight years.

On today’s episode, Edita walks us through her immigration story, working survival jobs, going back to school and establishing her career in the profession she wanted.

Edita also shares with us her advice as both an immigrant herself and someone who works at a Newcomer Information Centre.

Who better to hear from than someone who has not only walked the immigration path but also works with new comers every day.

“my advice for newcomers is to be patient. Of course, moving to a different country is very challenging. There is a lot of highs and lows. […] Look for resources in the community. Sit down, picture the life you want. Write down your goals and write the steps you need to get there.”- Edita 

Newcomer Information Centre (NIC) website

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Join Yalda as she interviews Kevin, an internationally trained project manager in construction who moved to Canada with his family during the height of the Pandemic.

Kevin talks to us about his job search experience, how he came to learn and interact with the YMCA-YWCA employment services, job tips that worked for him and the advice he would give to anyone who is considering making the move to Canada.

This is quite an insightful episode for anyone looking to transfer their career, experience and skills to Canada.

“I think Canada is the ultimate leveler. Like you come with your resume, your education, you're a high flying guy, where they're coming from, when you come here, you have to, you know, the system has a way of humbling you. You have to, you know, be ready to be humbled.”- Kevin

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Join host Edita on today’s episode as she interviews Consuela about her immigration experience. Consuela, who was an Information and Referral Specialist at the YMCA-YWCA, talks to us of her mothers dream to study and work in Canada and how that led to them moving to Montreal when Consuela was 5 years old.

We get a glimpse of her mother’s resilience, courage and determination to live her dream and how Consuela continues to use the knowledge from her mother as well as her own experiences to help newcomers settle in Canada.

“sometimes in life, yes, we're going to have to go through the mountains, the ups and downs, but you'll get to your journey. It may take time, yes, but you'll get through so as a newcomer, you always have to remember you have to go through the process. And there's a process in life and not to give up. You're here for a reason; you have goals, even if a place doesn't work out, somewhere else will work out for you. And keep pushing.”- Consuela

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