Victoria Santos - Hurdles

My mother initially had trouble finding occupation in a field related to the education she had. This difficulty was due to the different standards of education between Philippines and Canada. Refresher courses and examinations ensure that those immigrating from other countries are suitable to work within Canada. After overcoming this initial hurdle, my mother was able to find a suitable job in downtown Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital. Her job as a registered nurse did not go without its own set of setbacks and hurdles.

Within the workplace she sometimes had difficulty communicating with other nurses due to a slight accent. The other nurses may have seen this accent as a weakness and took advantage of the fact that my mother was an immigrant.

On some occasions my mother was faced with racism early on in her immigration to Canada. This racism consisted of rude remarks in the park or public areas that did not directly hinder her from any opportunities but rather deterred him from embracing Canada early on.