Was there enough opportunity in Canada for you?

Hi Everyone,

I returned to Canada a month ago after living, studying and working in the U.S. for three years. Prior to that I lived in the U.S. on and off for about two years.

I found the lack of professional growth opportunities in Canada, specifically among Canadian minorities and immigrants, to be one of my key motivating factors for moving, pursuing a post-secondary degree, and working in the country. I have Canadian family members and friends in the U.S. who also feel the same way.

Now that I am back in Canada, I am in the preliminary stages of a study about minority Canadian expats in the United States, United Kingdom and beyond. I hope to find out more about why other Canadians decided to live elsewhere, etc.

I value all of my U.S. work experience. As a proud Canadian, I recognize that Canada is a great place to live with a great quality of life. However, I'm curious to know how Canadian expats--of all races and ethnicities--view professional opportunities and growth in both countries.

Please let me know what you think. I plan to begin conducting surveys and focus groups, etc, in the next few months so any feedback you can provide would be very helpful.

There isn’t much data available about this topic, so I figured this website would be a good place to start.

Feel free to shoot me an e-mail as well at Sustainable Success Unlimited if you prefer that method: ssu-can@live.ca

Thanks!

I absolutely agree with you whole heartedly and 100%. I for one am among the visible minorities who found success difficult in Canada based on lack of work opportunties, growth and sad to say, sometimes race. I was originally supposed to move here in '92 however at the time I was a preteen who didn't know any better. Understandably, I didn't care to relocate and wanted to be among my school mates.

I met my hubby in Windsor, ON while he was studying his bachelor in Sociology. Originally once he graduated, he was looking for work opportunities in Michigan but decided it wasn't going to work out. We both decided to move to Florida because we both have family here and we also found there was waaayyyyyyyy...lol more opportunity for job growth and success. He has since earned his masters here and has found work in a field where he tried unsuccessfully to obtain in Canada. I am currently working on my own Communications Degree with the hopes of also landing a good job here...

Some folks on this forum have questioned why Canadians relocate to the U.S. when Canada "Has everything there is to offer" and that is far from the truth!

I graduated with a college diploma in Graphic Design in Toronto. I vounteered for a bit and found it difficult to even obtain an internship. Once I attempted to hit the job market you heard the same 'ol... YOU NEED EXPERIENCE AT LEAST 2 YEARS! For 2 years I looked and to no avail, nothing! When I came to Florida, one company was ready to hire me although a college dip. isn't enough for a TN so I decided to pursue my BA.

I love Canada as well don't get me wrong. But my husband and I are very business minded and will go where there is opportunity for growth. We may even trek to NYC but we also don't care to live where it's cold. Business opporutnities in Canada work for some, but not for all and in my opinion, it's not a place for success among minorities.

Here is a successful Canuck who couldn't do in Canada what he was able to do in the U.S. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtZ58BG91ds

I hope this helps

Depends what field you're in, what city you live in, and what your goals are really.

Unfortunately, graphic designers are a dime a dozen in Canada, and as Canada is population wise, a much smaller country, of course there will be fewer jobs available. Same goes for web designers. I need all my fingers and toes, plus a few extra limbs to count everyone I know in Toronto who went to school to learn web design, then couldn't get a job to save their life. Why? Not because they're a minority, but because the market is saturated with people with the same qualifications. And yet the skilled trades are lacking in talent because schools are/were pushing kids to go the technology route, rather than the blue collar route for so many years.

And I guess depending where you want to go in the US, you may or may not find opportunity. There are lots of places that are sucked dry, and will take decades to recover. Not even a McJob to be found.

That is true that Graphic Designers come a dime a dozen but it would've been nice if I had at least obtained an internship. Believe me, I know its competitive out there and what bothers me is that if you look on Miami's craiglist, there are a ton of design jobs I know I'm qualified for but again I would need a degree which I'm currently working my derriere off for..

I know that some states aren't that great for working opportunities but at least you have the option to trek a few hundred miles to relocate as opposed to Canada where you pretty much have to fly before you settle.

We really like it here and hope eventually we can stay if all goes well. As for minorities, well I've experienced enough of the foolery to know it wasn't going to work for me in Toronto. But it always worked out when it came to a sales job or customer service call centre. ... Where's the challenge or growth in that?

actually, from Toronto you could quite easily just drive north or east or west a couple of hours and settle. No flying required.

Again, I think it just depends on what you want out of life. Me, I'm just not suited to the American way of life. I'd give anything to be able to go back to Canada. And much more opportunity than where I am now. It would be nice to find a job that pays more than $10 an hour

I'm never really keen on comparisons between the US and Canada because I think it's more about regional variation than variations between the countries. BC and Washington aren't massively different. Saskatchewan and North Dakota aren't that different either. Parts of Ontario that border Michigan aren't that different from Michigan, New Brunswick isn't that different from Maine and so on.

If you compare say, Texas with Québec, then of course there is a huge difference, but it's an apples and oranges comparison. Is there really that much difference between living in Alaska as compared with Yukon Territory?

You can say, compare Québec to Alberta and there's little similarity.

given the unemployment rate in Michigan, I would say that the comparison to Ontario is pretty vast!

Windsor is in pretty bad shape though I hear as well.

I would say yes, absolutely, there was enough opportunity for me in Canada. However I then started dating an American and came to Minnesota on a TN. In about a year, we are going to start the outland application to get him into Canada. I can't wait!!! My field is accounting and I'm excited to do that in Canada!

"Windsor is in pretty bad shape though I hear as well."

Oh yeah you can say that again! I actually found a good job while I was living there for 2 years. Although things weren't so bad while I was there.

I moved back to Toronto in 2006 but was only able to land agency work for a year. I just always loathed that "unsettled" feeling in the job market in Toronto. Things are much better now I have to say amidst this crazy recession.

"It would be nice to find a job that pays more than $10 an hour"

I heard you loud and clear on that one.