SHELLY
Hotel Worker, Resident for Less than a Year, Temporary Foreign Worker from Asia, 30s
“I came from the Philippines. I applied as a temporary foreign worker. I landed here first in Alberta in Grande Prairie but after two weeks… My employer has a branch of hotels here in Fort Mac and Grande Prairie. They need people here, workers here. So that’s why I end up here. I arrived here [Canada] I think it was April, 2008. I have a 24 months’ contract. We have to go back home actually after we finish our contract. But if our employer want to hire us to maintain us working, I think they are going to renew our contract for another term…Lately we have the opportunity to apply for the Nominee Program.”
“I had good jobs actually in the Philippines, I also worked in a managerial position in sales, and marketing and those stuff until I got married. [Now,] housekeeping, that’s what I do….I don’t want to lose my life, to end like this, in a hard labour. Everybody deserves more than this…I’m not happy honestly I will tell you but it’s still challenging for me. It’s still part of my sacrifice, it’s part of my decision and determination to be here so I have to face it, that I landed in that kind of job and it means a lot of patience and hard work for me to finish my contract until such time I will do it legally with my papers. My goal is really to acquire a good career here or I can study here, I can upgrade here. I can have my own certificate here and deserve a better job later on.”
“Money and cold. Money, opportunity, and …Fort McMurray’s cold but money’s there.”
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Mapping Life in Fort McMurray 