Transcript – “My New Home: Haut-Saint-Jean Region”

Claudia Lolo

The Haut-Saint-Jean region has really become my home. My kids even told me, “Mom, if you sell the house, we’re not talking to you ever again.”

Speaker

Welcome to My New Home, a podcast that dives into the heart of Welcoming Francophone Communities across Canada, brought to you by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Claudia Lolo

Hi, I’m Claudia Lolo. I am originally from Guadeloupe, a little island in the Caribbean. I came to Canada with my four children. We settled in the Haut-Saint-Jean region in January 2020, and I’m a head chef and executive chef.

Claudia Lolo

The Haut-Saint-Jean region includes the city of Edmundston, the rural community of Haut-Madawaska and the Madawaska Maliseet First Nation. It’s situated at the U.S. border with Maine and is 20 kilometres from Quebec, so we’re in a good location not far from big cities. There are many lakes, lots of woodland and trees and altogether, it’s really lovely. We mainly speak French, so all public services are in French, medical services are in French, the doctors speak French, the schools are in French. I should add that the region is part of the province of New Brunswick, which is bilingual—officially bilingual.

Claudia Lolo

I had a dream, and it was to come and visit Canada. So, we came with the kids. I had the chance to visit Montreal and the surrounding area, and when it came time to go home, ah, my kids were so sad at the airport, I didn’t understand what was going on. They finally told me, “Mom, we don’t want to leave, we want to stay here.” And my second daughter was prepared to hide in the airport bathroom so that we wouldn’t have to go back and wouldn’t have to get on the airplane. I told her, “Unfortunately, it’s not happening because the border officers will force us onto the plane.” But it was really quite cute, and I promised her that we would come back. I talked about it with my children, and we all agreed that we would make a plan to move to Canada.

Claudia Lolo

After coming back from vacation, I started to research what the steps were to come and live in Canada, and I went to Destination Canada. It’s a forum, I went to the one in Paris, but there’s one in Brussels too. It connects employers and people who are interested in working in Canada, especially in Francophone communities outside of Quebec. I met an immigration representative. When I told her I was an executive chef and head chef, she told me, “Oh, that’s really interesting, that’s the type of profile that is in high demand.” So, I started the process, but my kids said to me, “Hey, Mom, you come from the Nile, you love the sun, and we don’t see 40-year-old you in Canada.” So after that, we packed our bags again and in February 2019, returned to Canada for two weeks. It was then I finally met my employer, who was really impressed and definitely wanted to hire me. So, I told him, I’m going back to France and then I’m there. Since I had found a job, the immigration process was to get a work permit for that employer called an employer-specific work permit. So, I got my affairs in order, organized a container to ship all of our belongings—there were five of us going, me and my four kids, so there was a lot of stuff to take. And we did it, we got on the plane for Canada.

Claudia Lolo

When I arrived in the Haut-Saint-Jean region, what surprised me was how welcoming the people were. Yeah, the folks, they were so accepting, they wanted to know and learn about where I came from. The culture also surprised me because I realized there were similarities between my West Indian background and Canadians. I was really very surprised and continue to be. With respect to food, there are dishes that are similar, some that are basically the same, like when I went to an international meal and there was a First Nations chef who baked bread for us. And it was exactly the same bread that we eat at home in Guadeloupe. So, I said to myself, “Oh, surely we have similar origins.”

Claudia Lolo

At first, I had to learn how to deal with snow and I discovered what a snowstorm is. My friend had told me, “Don’t go out when there’s a blizzard,” and I said to myself, “Really? Why can’t you go out?” They’d announced a storm was coming, I looked out the window and I said, “Come on it’s fine, there are a couple of snowflakes, it’s not that bad.” So, I took the rental car with the kids and we went out. And I hadn’t even gotten as far as the city when huge snowflakes started to fall and then, yeah, we had to push the car because it wouldn’t go any further! The car was stuck and then my kids had to get out of the car and push because, well, we were buried in the snow! I said, “OK, I will never again go out during a snowstorm. I get it now. Nope.”

Claudia Lolo

When I arrived in the province, organizations were a big help as I was able to access the North West Resource Center for Newcomers, which in the end helped me get started professionally. Also for my kids, since they needed to register for school, but I didn’t know how it worked, they gave me all the necessary information. They organized activities like canoeing and wildwater canoeing, picnics, learning about Indian corn. Because well, I know about corn, but Indian corn, at first I didn’t know what they were talking about. And yeah, basically I was able to meet other immigrants like me, with families and even students. Later on, well I became a volunteer because I thought to myself, I should help newcomers, new immigrants coming to the region. Since they gave me a helping hand, well I could reach out and give them a helping hand too. The region is becoming more and more diverse and there are more and more people from different cultures. What unifies us is language. Someone who comes from Togo, who comes from Senegal, no matter where, comes from Morocco, we all speak French. It’s truly the thread that connects us all in the end. We are not just Canadians and immigrants, we are a Francophone community.

Claudia Lolo

The North West Resource Center for Newcomers and the Welcoming Francophone Communityhelp us in all aspects, whether it be schooling or housing, they give advice and also help professionally. In terms of employment, there is a real need for workers, people, families who can bring their skills. It’s true that maybe we won’t start with our diploma or the position we had back home, but what’s interesting is that we always have the opportunity to evolve. For me, I can see it in my journey, I’m an executive chef as I said and a head chef, private chef. Of course I didn’t start out as a head chef, I started out as just a cook—and now I’ve changed my job and evolved, becoming the assistant manager in a restaurant. So, evolution is possible.

Claudia Lolo

Quality of life is essential for me and my children. My children have to be able to find a balance. We don’t have family here, we are building a family with friends, acquaintances, so it’s important to me that my children are happy. I love taking care of the birds and listening to them sing in the morning. I like the summer and that’s why I also like this province. There are a lot of lakes, lots of lakes, greenery, so you can go for a walk in the forest or visit Baker Lake, which isn’t far. Edmundston is truly my new home, my kids have even told me, “Mom, if you sell the house, we’re not talking to you ever again.”

Claudia Lolo

If I look at my life, if I look at myself since I came to Canada, so close to three years now, I’ve changed enormously. I can say that I’ve become more patient. It’s true that life here has made me see things differently, more calmly in fact. I’ve always been close to nature, even when I was living in France, but here it’s something else, it’s really not the same. It’s like I’ve finally put down my bags somewhere and then said to myself, “Good, you can stop moving, you’ve arrived at your destination.”

Speaker

Thanks for listening to My New Home. A podcast from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, with the participation of the Welcoming Francophone Communities initiative. Don’t miss the chance to discover other episodes on Welcoming Francophone Communities across Canada.