Purva didn’t have any plans to go to Canada. The 29-year-old software engineer was doing well in the IT industry and had a comfortable life in India. Purva isn’t her real name, but while narrating her Canada experience, she prefers to conceal her identity.
Purva reached Canada after her marriage. And it has been quite a journey from Pune to Kitchener, from being an employee of Infosys and Mastek in India, to a factory worker at an automobile engine plant in Canada.
Contrast this with the story of 33-year-old Ravish Garg. An under-graduate from Kapurthala in Punjab, Ravish moved to Canada in 2012 on a study visa. He studied for two years and then opted to work as a truck driver.
In 10 years, Ravish has gone on to own three trucks and a house in Brampton. He is happily married and is pursuing a bigger dream of establishing a full-fledged logistics and transport company in Canada.
Purva and Ravish, who we will get to know better subsequently, are two sides of the same coin — classic examples of the struggles and successes of Indians in Canada. Their stories also tell us what is now wrong with the Canadian dream. How there’s a mismatch in aspirations, education and job opportunities.
Read the first part of the series here: No house, no job: Canadian dream turning into nightmare for Indian students
And the problem is getting compounded as Canada opens doors for immigrants. This year, Canada is on track to welcome 500,000 permanent residents on top of a staggering 900,000 international students. In 2022, Indians formed 40 per cent of the international students in Canada.
The route to citizenship is cheaper, easier and faster in Canada in comparison to other western countries. And Indians are increasingly taking the study visa route. But what is to be kept in mind is that most of the courses offered by the private Canadian colleges aren’t job-oriented. Canada’s economy isn’t growing at a great pace and there is a dearth of white-collar jobs and an availability of blue-collar jobs.
“It is unfortunate that many diploma-churning mills do not offer future-ready courses which can otherwise assist the students to secure quality jobs, fill in vacancies and at the same time achieve permanent residency much easily,” Manan Gupta, Canada-based registered immigration consultant, tells IndiaToday.In.
“Blue-collar jobs are in demand as Canadian-born millennials are shying away from jobs like truck driving, technicians, plumbers, electricians and welders among others,” says Gupta.
FROM INFOSYS ENGINEER TO FACTORY WORKER
Purva didn’t plan to be in Canada. The thought was drilled into her head by a friend who stayed in her gated society in Pune.
“She wanted to be in Canada because of the lifestyle that the country has to offer and she wanted me to be part of her plan as her parents were conservative. Now, I am here but she never made it,” Purva tells IndiaToday.In on a call from Kitchener.
Purva applied for a study visa in Canada even as she was working with Mastek. She had already put in 3 years with Infosys and was earning Rs 85,000 per month. Simultaneously, she also put up her profile on a Maharashtrian matrimonial website.
As her profile mentioned that she had applied for a study visa in Canada, the interested matches were those who were already in Canada or who planned to be there. Purva got married in June 2022 to a person who was on a work visa in Canada. She reached Canada in February this year on a dependent visa.
Read the second part of the series here: 5 stories to help decide if Canada dream, struggle are for you
She was finally with her husband but it wasn’t the honeymoon period that she had expected.
The housing crisis-fuelled high rents got them to move to a basement and shell out $1,250 per month for it.
“My husband works as a quality inspector with an annual income of around $60,000, which just about takes care of our rent, grocery and essentials,” says Purva. So, she started looking for a job so that they could save some money and go on short holidays.
“For five months, I kept looking for IT jobs as I had experience in that field but nothing materialized. Finally, I had to take up a job as a worker in a manufacturing plant that produces automobile engines and earn $19 an hour. Had I got an IT job, I would have made $35 an hour,” she says.
Other than the pay and the job she would like, she has no problem working on the factory line. There is no looking down upon any professional or profession.
“There is a dignity of labour and every job is treated with respect and a harassment-free working atmosphere,” says Manan Gupta, adding, “Anyone wishing to settle down in Canada needs to have an open-minded, hard-working attitude to maximise on their potential.”
Indian youths, says Manan Gupta, are primarily getting into the supply chain sector with a focus on truck driving jobs, fulfilment centres and warehousing, ride sharing and food delivery apps among other blue-collar professions. Indian students are an essential part of Canada’s gig economy.
INDIAN TRUCK DRIVERS RULE IN CANADA
“The shortage of skilled workforce like drivers, dispatchers and technicians makes trucking an attractive career path with decent financial returns,” says Gupta.
That is the route Ravish Garg took and found success in Canada.
Garg was an undergraduate when he landed in Canada on a study visa in 2012 from Kapurthala, Punjab. After a two-year diploma in business accounting, he started working in a department store but was looking for better job opportunities.
That’s when he decided to become a truck driver. After doing a short course, he became a trucker in 2015.
“A truck driver can earn anywhere between $50,000 to $70,000 a year depending upon the route and distance,” says Garg, who used to cross across to the United States every day.
Garg bought his first truck in 2015 and owns three trucks now. He says he has given up driving since last year and is now also engaged in truck sales.
“I saw my father work very hard but the result wasn’t proportionate to the effort he put in. So, I thought of trying my luck outside India. I tried for the United Kingdom and New Zealand but didn’t make it. Then I tried for Canada and here I am,” says the 33-year-old who is now based in Brampton. Ravish Garg’s father owns an electrical shop in Kapurthala.
Garg owns a house and says he wants to have a full-fledged logistics and transport company some day.
He admits that he didn’t reveal to his friends and relatives back home in his early days as a truck driver. “We tend to judge people and professions in the way we see them in our surroundings. Truck drivers are well recognized and respected in Canada unlike in India,” says Garg, emphasising the dignity of labour in Canada.
Immigration expert Manan Gupta says that getting entry into the trucking and gig economy-based jobs is comparatively easy due to less stringent educational and regulatory requirements. “The South Asian community has made great strides in all aspects of the trucking sector, which provides a readymade ecosystem for newcomers to join it,” says Gupta.
PROSTITUTION, SUICIDES: HOW CANADA HAS CHANGED
Things haven’t been the same in Canada since it opened its doors to large-scale immigration. The change is visible in the people coming into the North American country and the situation it has created.
“In the last 20 years, Canada has adapted to the changing technology and economics. Now we see more IT professionals and entrepreneurs coming here to pursue their North American dream,” Brampton-based Peeyush Gupta, who made Canada home in 2003, tells IndiaToday.In.
The things that have gone worse is too much inflow of people from war-torn countries ending up as street beggars, says Gupta, who is from Chandigarh. “Not only do these people find it difficult to adjust, but they are also a big drain on government welfare coming from taxpayers’ money,” he adds.
Gupta says there has always been an initial struggle for immigrants, but now it is getting tougher and tougher because of more demand and less supply. It has also affected the living standards of new immigrants.
Peeyush Gupta says that the immigrants are shown rosy pictures of Canada by the mafia of educational institutions and their agents and only realise the real truth after landing here.
“Now, we often hear about youngsters dying by suicide or entering into the trap of illegal activities such as prostitution, drug consumption and trafficking, car and retail thefts,” says Gupta.
Trucker Ravish Garg, too, says that youngsters are influenced by films and social media posts and drawn to Canada. “They want to be in Canada just to show off,” he says.
Ravish Garg is very happy that he came to Canada at the right time and says that Canada’s education and medical systems are excellent. “We have a much better quality of life and it is much safer too,” he says.
Purva, however, is in two minds. “I keep on asking myself if coming to Canada was a wise decision. I would tell people, to come to Canada only if you aren’t making enough money, only if you haven’t lived a comfortable life in India. Because here you will have to struggle,” she says.
But the silver lining for her is that Canada is safer, doesn’t see any crowding, and she gets to breathe much cleaner air. “I just hope that I get an IT job soon. That will make everything smoother,” says Purva.
(This is the last of a three-part series on Indians in Canada)
Read the first part of the series here: No house, no job: Canadian dream turning into nightmare for Indian students
Read the second part of the series here: 5 stories to help decide if Canada dream, struggle are for you
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