It was a hot summer day when my dad got back from work and announced the big news, our immigration application was finally accepted and we were moving to Canada in less than two months. I’ve been waiting for this news for over two years by now, but I suddenly felt the sadness wash over my thoughts, the idea of changing my life around truly terrified me. I opened my mouth to protest but nothing came out. I don’t think I was ready to leave everything behind and start a new life. Normally I should feel excited about this change, but I only felt emptiness inside, but all my feelings didn’t matter now and it’s too late to turn back.
We arrived in Canada on the 7th of August 2010. I have to admit that the first year was very difficult and unpleasant to go through, the reason why is because the Canadian culture and lifestyle was new to me, and plus I was learning in a language I never spoke before. A lot of the times I caught myself thinking, is this really worth it? Am I just wasting time here? Because I knew I had a pretty good life back in Syria, so did I have to leave it all behind and go through this entire struggle? My need for answers was killing me and I needed explanations to ease my mind, so I went for my dad seeking answers.
My dad explained to me that most people that find out that I am from Syria think that I moved to Canada to escape the war, although this is the case for a lot of immigrants around the world right now, It wasn’t the case for me. In fact, the conflict only started a year after I moved to Canada. Another common cause for immigration is poverty, people move to first world countries like Canada hoping to find a better job than what they did in their country. Fortunately for me, money wasn’t a factor that influenced our immigration, to be more clear on that, I was in on the best private schools in the country that cost $3000 a year.
It turned out that the main reason why we moved to Canada is for a better education, not that the education is Syria is bad, it’s definitely harder than here but the problem is, it’s very unfair, and here’s why: In order to study what you like after graduating High school, you have to accumulate a certain amount of points in order to be accepted in that domain. For example, if you want to study engineering, you need to get a total of 229 points on 240, so you only have 11 points to lose on all 10 of your exams, and these points only include your final exams, so nothing you do throughout the year counts towards the total of points. Basically, your whole future is determined on how well you do on your final exams, if you’re sick on an exam day and you end up losing 11 points, you can either kiss your dreams goodbye or redo your grade 12 year.
Another reason that influenced our immigration to Canada was the brighter future that we dreamed of here. It is safe to say that if you work hard and study hard in Canada, you are a guaranteed to have a good job and a good life in the future. Unfortunately, it’s not the same in Syria. For example, you can have the highest university degree in a specific domain and still not be able to find a job that suits your experience, that’s why a lot of doctors and engineers leave their country to work in western countries because they are truly recognized for what they are worth, It’s because of this kind of injustice that made my dad realize he didn’t want his kids to grow up that way and so we came to Canada looking for a brighter future.
The effects of moving to Canada are definitely great, mostly because it reshaped me as a human being. In other words, I became more open minded about the western culture and I was able to take what’s good in it and combine the good things in my culture to create a better person of myself.
Coming to Canada, I also benefited from learning a new language, French. Before I came to Canada, I never dreamed of learning a third language, but here I am, studying in a fully French school.
Work experience is also another important effect on my personality. Since I moved to Canada, I’ve had several jobs in different domains which have taught me to be more responsible and that I have to work hard to earn what I want.
Moving to Canada has also granted me a very stable future, although I may not be able to experience it at the moment, but I will definitely appreciate it in the long run.
In summary, from my personal experience in Canada, I can affirm that immigrating to a first world country is definitely beneficial.