Speaking Plainly

Get a job. Or go to school. It’s your choice. (Really?)

cw — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 06:45:45 +0000

As I wrote last week, my wife Irina is now a Permanent Resident of Canada. A wallet sized plastic card will soon arrive to confirm this. With it, she’ll be able to get a job, or go to school and get a Degree–whichever she prefers. Being one step closer to Canadian Citizenship means that Irina can work, study, pay taxes, and travel between Russia and Canada without a visa. The only thing she can’t do right now is vote. However, given our choices of late, she’s really not missing out on anything. So, let’s look at what she ‘can’ do. Work or study.

We’ll start with work. Irina is a Lawyer. A prosecutor actually. Specifically she was Assistant to the Senior Prosecutor in her Oblast of Tomsk, Russia–her job was to assign caseloads and oversee the work of several other prosecutors. A hardworking, and talented, legal student, she took her ‘Red’ diploma (honours) on graduation, and quickly rose through the ranks of junior prosecutor to the “Number 2″ position, by the time she was 27. Wow.

Prior to her arrival in Canada, she had her credentials evaluated by World Education Services (WES), to be converted to North American equivalencies. WES determined her formal education to be at a Graduate level, and she received Bachelors and Masters standing–with Legal specialization. But not good enough to practice Canadian Law.

We next attempted to go through the National Committee on Accreditation, a body acting from the Federation of Law Societies of Canada (FLSC), that evaluates and accredits foreign trained lawyers. They wouldn’t even speak to us. On hearing that Irina was a Russian Lawyer, the curt guidance from the other end of the phone was “Go to Law School.”

End of discussion.

And, with click of the line, my wife was left with two options: spend the next five to six years studying to satisfy the Canadian bureaucratic legal machine, or forget about being a lawyer and get a ‘job.’ (Perhaps cleaning guestrooms or serving tables.)

We are now brought to my wife’s second ‘option’: study…and the route she has ‘chosen’ to take.

It is unfortunate that in an aging country such as ours, bureaucracy overrules common sense and bars foreign trained professionals from practicing their trade. But, while they seem to have no grounding in reality, especially as Baby Boomers march to retirement without adequate replacements, these are the rules by which we play.

So, to Irina, I say: Don’t quit. Don’t give up. However long it takes, whatever it takes, you will do it. And you will enjoy huge success.

To all the other foreign trained professionals who have come to Canada and are discovering the difficulties faced with practicing their trade, I say: Don’t quit. Don’t give up. Band together. Form associations. Talk to each other. Write letters. Contact your MLA or MP. Make your collective professional voice heard. The ‘rules’ make no sense, and do not benefit this country. They are protectionist in nature–nothing more.

And, to the person I spoke with at the FLSC–the one who didn’t have the time of day for us–I say: Shame. Shame on you.

Tagged: BC, Chris Mis, Christopher Mis, foreign credential evaluation, Foreign trained Lawyers, Immigration Canada, Irina Veretennikova-Mis, Law School, National Committee on Accredidation, Oblast, Permanent Resident Card, Permanent Resident of Canada, Russia, Russian Prosecutor, Tomsk, Vancouver, WES, World Education Services

A huge WELCOME to Canada’s newest resident…and a big KISS to the love of my life…

cw — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 07:04:22 +0000

Congratulations Mooshka!

Yesterday was a HUGE day for Irina, as she ‘entered’ Canada in Vancouver and received her Permanent Resident status. It’s been over two years since I met the most amazing woman I’ve ever known, and nearly a year since she arrived, to begin a new life with me.

Neither of us can believe how fast the time has passed–but as I watch my (better) ‘half’ update her ‘Russian’ Facebook with the many photos of places we’ve gone, and things we done, it strikes me what an eventful year it has been. Marrying my 101% perfect girl. Jasper. Banff. Passing of my Granfather. Leonard Cohen. Annie. Lion King. Elk Island Park. Shumka Dancers. Passing of Grandfather’s sister. Then his brother. Irina’s 30th. Canada Day. Dad’s 65th. And…Vancouver…

And here we are. As she organizes her photos, and Whisper sleeps, I think of all we’ve done, the past 12 months, and am simply…happy.

My flag waving baby...

Tagged: Annie, Banff, Broadway Across Canada, Christopher Mis, Edmonton, Fort Edmonton Park, Jasper, Lion King, Russia, Shumka Dancers, Vancouver

Ahhh Vancouver…

cw — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 08:44:25 +0000

It’s raining. Not a gentle drippety drizzle, but the usual faucet-on-full-drenching-from- above that IS life on the West Coast. Not that I’m complaining–there’s a reason everything is so green around here. And quite frankly, a good rain refreshes one’s soul. Well, mine at least.

Having spent the last nine years in Alberta, where you need to look ‘rain’ up in the dictionary to remember exactly what it is, I now look outside, and inhale deeply with a big wet smile. Alberta is not green. (It IS fun however to count how many shades of brown there really are.)

Mental note: buy an umbrella tomorrow.

But hey it’s late and being a Hotelier by trade, I need to be up early for work (yep Saturday). Just wanted to say ‘hi.’ It’s good to be back… in Vancouver…and writing. If you remember the RustyPress from a couple year’s back, then you probably remember me. I not sure I have anything more to say now, than I did then… at least not anything important. Really though, who cares? I love to yak.

See you soon.

Chris.