Story Of an Immigrant in Canada
By Farzana Chowdhury, Bindu, member of Adhunika.
It seems like nowadays everyone wants to emigrate somewhere else from Bangladesh. Like me a lot of Bangladeshis are immigrating to Canada. When I go back home to Bangladesh, my friends and family tell me that I am far better off living in Canada than I would be living in Bangladesh. When I ask my friends or family members why they want to emigrate to Canada or North America, the answer is usually, to provide a better life for their children, to give them a secure environment and also for themselves. When I ask myself this question, why I moved to the States and subsequently to Canada, my answer is different. I got married and moved to the States where my husband was a student. Truly, North America never attracted me in the way it attracts many people back home, I loved living in Bangladesh, and I had a wonderful career.
When I moved to the States I didn’t have the maturity or experience to realize what it really means to leave one’s own country and what it takes to settle down in a new country.  Now after living abroad for ten years I can say one thing, it takes lot of courage. People who are immigrating to Canada are usually in their late thirties, having a solid career back at home, and being used to the privileged life style. For those people to start a new life from scratch really takes great courage.
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In this piece of writing I will try to share some of my own experience from the last ten years and give some tips for people who are planning to move not only to Canada, but also to another country.Â
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The first and one of the most challenging barriers or obstacles for immigrants I would say is language. Most of the educational institutions in Bangladesh still teach in Bengali, very few institutions teach in English. So, even if an immigrant has a Master degree and is qualifying under the skill category class does not mean that he or she will speak and understand English well enough to communicate. I always considered myself to be good in English. I started schooling in Wales, UK, and never thought communicating in English would be a barrier for me. But surprisingly, when I went to the mall or the grocery store I couldn’t understand what they were saying and I felt embarrassed. My suggestion would be to watch English movies and Sitcoms. Watching sitcoms has helped me immensely to understand North American humour and also has enriched my vocabulary. Â
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The second challenging factor is the cultural shock. According to, www.wikipedia.org culture shock is a term used to describe the anxiety and feelings (of surprise, disorientation, confusion, etc.) felt when people have to operate within an entirely different cultural or social environment, such as a foreign country. People who are emigrating from Asia to North America will face cultural shock, as both the cultures are totally opposite. Reading about the country and its culture before starting is a good idea. Nowadays anyone can go online and search for information about the country they are immigrating to.
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The third barrier that I have seen in the immigrant class is not being open-minded about different cultures. Canada is truly a country of immigrants. The diversity amongst its population is very visible. Bangladeshis tend to mingle with Bangladeshis only, tend to stay very close to their own people, by doing this they close doors and miss out on the opportunity to learn from different cultures.Â
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The fourth is trying to adapt to any kind of job. I remember when we moved from Minnesota to Toronto, Canada me and my husband were quite confident that we both would get a job in our own fields, especially my husband completing both his undergraduate and graduate studies from the States and having US work experience as a system analyst for the last two years. But remarkably, it took him three months to get a job as a system analyst. Wherever we went recruiters said that we do not have Canadian experience. I would suggest, keep your options open. Start any job that will help you to improve your English vocabulary and also will add as a Canadian experience on your resume.
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Citizenship and Immigration Canada which is known as CIC, has various programs such as free English classes, job search seminars, resume writing etc for new comers. All immigrants should avail these services that CIC offers. One can only benefit from these programs, it will help to know and understand the culture, country and the language better.
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Farzana Chowdhury, Bindu residing in Toronto, Canada.
July 8th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Hi,
I get moved by these kind of story - it is nice that you turned your’s also to advise other’s who are planning to migrate to Canada. I know I can forward your message to a few.
As for me, my story was a little different. I wanted out.. My first choice was not US, may be one of the last, but that’s another story. I wanted out because at home I was equally treated as my brother’s, in some cases, perhaps more. But outside was a different story. I did not have a voice. That’s why I wanted to go somewhere where it won’t matter if I were male or a female.
Even trying to come here was a struggle.. So we formed a venture. There were 4 of us; 3 in Bangladesh, and 1 in US. Our joint venture was fruitful; we finally made it. Unfortunately, 2 of us ended up going to 1 college, the other 2 in a different one. The one thing we had in common in us was that we all looked for freedom. Freedom in what we wear, what we eat, freedom of speech, and above all freedom of our thoughts..
Cultural shock was big deal.. but being here for 18 years has morphed me.. to adopt to this new culture. I am very proud of my Bangali heritage, but I also acknowledge the new one. it is difficult to mix them, but taking the best of both is what we need to try.
I don’t regret my decision… I know I couldn’t have contributed , the way I am doing today. I don’t think I had the opportunity to be different if I had stayed back. I probably would have gotten sucked into being a no-one.
I hope to go back, in the future.I hope to help, may be in a different way than I am doing today, being more involved, giving back to the people. I have not arrived there yet.. but looking forward to those days. It’s a promise to myself, for what I owe.
-Madhury
July 10th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Thanks a lot Bindu for sharing your experiences. I am sure it will help a lot!
@Madhury, I had similar reason to come here (USA) as yours….better education…better professional life and most of all less obstacles created by our culture…it is perfectly fine to struggle with money, struggle with living…working hard to do what you want to do…but back home the struggle was different…you struggle with relatives/surrounding people ..with their choices…you have to make sure they are fine with what you do or you don’t do it….this sounds ridiculous and thats what we face…we struggle with all funny/stupid things…lost our energy on those and end up living a very frustrated and unsuccessful life back home…So i wanted to come here…I knew whatever I do there I’ll have to answer, but here, nobody asks me as whether I am right or wrong…if I am doing good…stablize..have a good carrer/education then they assume I am fine….which would have been quite difficult back home!!
In this era of 2008 we definetely need a break from this kind of obstacles and boundaries created by our culture and surrounding…I love our culture to the extent it does not affect our personal choices for doing something our heart desire w/o hurting anyone!!!
August 19th, 2008 at 12:27 am
When I came to the States I really had very little culture shock since I could speak, read and write in English. I also watched “Hawaii five o” in my childhood and “Magnum PI” in my youth on TV. Just kidding. The only shock that I experienced and which I continue to do so even after living in this country for 18 years is how lonely people’s lives can be here. I have a great, loving husband and two healthy children who keep me busy. I still work to stay busier, since there is really not much to do when they go to school or office. People here are private and believe in his or her own space. That took me a while to get used to.