My name is Celina Bernal, I am Mexican and I am also a Permanent Resident in Canada. 

I moved to Canada with my husband (a Canadian citizen, born in Nova Scotia) during June 2020.  Yes, during the pandemic!  I can confirm that it was not the best time for us to move to Canada from Mexico, but it was the time that we needed to move as we had already resigned from our jobs and we didn’t have an apartment and we had to stay at home and quarantine ourselves due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

I studied for a Master’s degree in Paris, France, therefore I speak French. I also speak English and I have worked in the English language. I thought having a Canadian husband, who also speaks the two official languages of Canada,  and the fact that I have lived abroad when younger,  would be enough to feel as if Canada was my home as soon as I arrived and yet, that wasn’t the case.

Like many other immigrants, I faced the lack of knowledge of the Canadian culture, the way of living, the approach to different situations, the accent, the rejection from recruiters when searching for my first job in Canada because I didn’t have “Canadian experience.”  I found it very difficult to make friends and I can tell you that I am a very sociable and extroverted person.  Of course, COVID-19 and all the restrictions did not make settlement easy. I took an on-line course with the University of Toronto, I participated on-line in a mentorship program to help me find a new job.  I had many on-line interviews and finally, after deciding to take a spoonfull of “humbleness,” I got an entry level job, and the opportunity to join an organization as Customer a Service Representative.   In Mexico my last job was as a Director of Operations in a consulting company.

It wasn’t easy, but after several months working on the phone and through emails, resolving enquiries from clients in English and French, I received a promotion and 6 months later, another promotion!  I worked there for 2 years and 2 months and I started to understand the Canadian culture.  Now I can tell MY story with pride, with recognition of myself but also of all the immigrants who come to Canada in other circumstances less fortunate than mine.  It is not easy to be an immigrant; a “newcomer” as we are called in Canada.  It is not easy to suddenly shift your way of talking, your way of being, to be part of Canadian society!  I am a very blessed woman, married to an amazing man, but I understand that not all the women coming from other countries are as lucky as I am and need to find “survival jobs” to feed themselves and their children.  Some of them leave their spouses or partners due to violence.  That is why I decided to become a donor to IWSO, because IWSO cares for women, but also for people like me.  This is MY way to tell you all… “You are not alone, women support women. ‘’