Immigrants To Canada

Great Essays
Immigrating to a new country no doubt brings about a new life full of new opportunities and experiences. Starting new in a foreign place can be nerve-racking, risky, and exciting. It is evident that immigrants coming to Canada may find it difficult to find work which is in the same field as their careers back home, and it is evident that the credentials in one country may not represent the same credentials in another country. What is prestigious in one place of origin may not be prestigious in another. Consequently, one may see leaving their old life as a risk, while others see it as an opportunity. My sociological research question for this oral history assignment is as follows; do adult immigrants to Canada face challenges in applying for …show more content…
I wanted to learn of the interviewees past job experience and the credentials they had for those jobs. I also wanted to know how they these credentials would be transferred over here in Canada, if they could be transferred over. Would the credentials be recognized or ignored? Was the job experience these men brought over seen as important? How many years of education education/ what experience level transferred over here? These were some questions to consider upon interviewing. Another theme of my research was to look at the overall struggles faced by these men when finding jobs in Canada that were up to par with their careers in Afghanistan. I wanted to uncover barriers and have them explain the trials and tribulations they encounter while trying to find work. I wanted to learn of the difficulties and how they were dealt with. Lastly, the feelings of these individuals were another main theme I focused on. Overall, the way these interviews felt were important to me. I wanted to understand how they felt when they were rejected, accepted, when their dreams came true or came to an end. Personal experience and feelings were very important to me in this interview process, as I believe that experiences are nothing without personal reflection and feeling. The interviews conducted give sufficient answers and evidence to the questions posed and the experiences shared shed light on these main …show more content…
One of the biggest and most important similarities was that all men had to change their occupation upon arrival to Canada. they were all required to go back to school and earn new credentials, education and job experience to continue in the field they left at home. For example, Mame worked as a police officer in his home country. When he came to Canada they required he go to school to continue in his field, since he did not need anything more than a high school diploma to work policing in Afghanistan. Thus, he went back to school, but before that he worked as a security officer which he had to take an online course for. With Ali, to continue working as a teacher in Canada as he did in Afghanistan, he too would have had to go back to school which he decided against. He explained to me that he simply did not have the drive to continue with education and that this was a disappointment, but he was simply not going to accept any more years in school. Lastly, we see the same with Ivan. Ivan was required to start from scratch to continue as a mechanic in Canada. this field required many more years of retraining and requalifying Ivan to work on cars in Canada. as we see, all the men interviewed did not have their credentials recognized, or they were expected to go back to school and gain education and training here to do what they want. In the end, though, Ivan and Ali

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