Pedro Andrade finally has a stable income of 570 Canadian dollars (some 467 U.S. dollars) a month during the worst economy downturn in Canada. It is a welfare cheque that Andrade calls "social assistance."
Andrade came to Canada from Ecuador when he was 11 years old. Walking out of an alternative college, unable to find a job, wrongly accused of assault charges, at 34, he has been hovering around the poverty line for years.
Currently, Andrade has only a part time job at a Toronto restaurant, for eight hours a week with the minimum wage of 9.5 Canadian dollars an hour. That is about 326 Canadian dollars a month.
With no budget for tomorrow's necessity, Andrade otherwise has a rolling debt of nearly 10,000 Canadian dollars from his college education and the legal fees. He huddles with his relatives at an affordable housing unit at China Town. The rent is another 200 Canadian dollars.
With only 126 Canadian dollars left, Andrade has to watch every penny carefully. Sometimes it is always about the two-Canadian-dollar-for-two-burger promotion for the day. Internet and cell phone are something he cannot afford.
"I used to have many seasonal jobs such as construction work. But it's hard to find these days," Andrade said, admitting the recession has an impact on him too.
"I should have made some money, but for the most of the case, I just don't get paid as what I was previously promised," he said, indicating that one of his employers left him empty-handed after six-month's work in Hamilton because the employer claimed he has to deduct his meal and accommodation from the salary.
Andrade is only one of thousands of "color immigrants" who came to Canada with high hopes for a better life but only find themselves struggling below poverty line. Various barriers that bar them from finding a proper employment is one of the important reasons.
According to a report entitled "Color of Poverty" jointly produced by several ethnic organizations in Toronto, between 2001 and 2006 in Ontario, employers were ordered by the Ministry of Labor to pay over 168 million Canadian dollars in unpaid wages to employees -- disproportionately people of color.
The report indicates that "racialized" workers are most likely to be in low-status jobs. They make up over 40 percent of workers in the sewing, textile and fabric industries, over 36 percent of taxi and limo drivers, and 42 percent of electronics assemblers.
Film director Haris Sheikh, who immigrated to Canada from Pakistan, drives a taxi cab in Toronto to make ends meet. Sheikh holds the masters degree in Political Science and Fine Arts he obtained in Pakistan but finds nowhere here in Canada to utilize his intelligence.
"There's a hidden deal for newcomers. Swap your credentials from minimum wage and work long hours and your kids will get the benefits of a quality education and better job opportunities. Meanwhile, you get a lifetime guarantee on welfare cheques, burritos and halal meat," Sheikh argued.
The recession is nothing new for immigrants. Jobs have always been hard to find. Work that uses their skills and pays them fairly is even harder to secure.
Far from getting better, this "racialized" economic downturn is getting worse, said Tanya Molina, the executive director of Mennonite New Life Center, a Toronto-based community center for newcomers.
Molina indicated that one of the biggest reasons why immigrants like Sheikh have been shut out of his field of profession in Canada is the "non-recognition of their skills and credentials," as well as "unrealistic demands for work experience in Canada."
"Even Ontario has released an official Anti-Poverty Strategy to attack the intergenerational cycle of poverty, for many newcomers, this intergenerational focus misses an important point -- poverty is not a learned behavior, but the result of systemic barriers," she said.
During the recession, Sheikh went back to campus, enrolling in Sheridan College's bridge program, Canadian Journalism for International Writers. At the same time, he is working on a documentary and writing a book to keep his dream alive.
Veteran journalist Innocent Madawo, originally from Zimbabwe and immigrated to Canada five years ago, blames protectionism as the root cause of poverty among immigrants.
"I have approached many local media outlets in the Greater Toronto Area, offering my close to 20 years' experience in international business reporting and editing but, in various ways, editors have told me to acquire local skills before I apply for employment," Madawo said.
"Employers and professional associations are reluctant to open the doors to 'outsiders,' particularly in professional and leadership positions. This is why there have been countless stories of doctors who end up driving taxis and engineers who become janitors," he added.
According to Statistic Canada, the unemployment rate for immigrants in Ontario in 2008 was 6.8 percent, compared to Canadian-born workers whose unemployment rate was 4.4 percent.
At least there is a silver lining: this year, Ontario government has released an official Anti-Poverty Strategy to address the diversity of poverty and racialized groups are among those to be helped. (1 U.S. dollar = 1.221 Canadian dollars)
Source:Xinhua
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