With patience, María Esthela has managed to open her own business in Canada and to become a nutritionist in Vancouver, a long but promising road.
By Nayeli Martín del Campo /@NinjeliSaya
Maria Esthela is a Mexican woman who decided to move to Canada with her daughters to start her life anew after going through different situations in Mexico that forced her to move. She sold the restaurant she owned, packed her bags and moved to another country.
With an entrepreneurial outlook, she knew that she could start her own food business in Canada and that eventually, with more money and stability, she would have the opportunity to resume her career as a nutritionist. However, life showed her the challenges she would have to face in order to resume her career as a professional.
“I imagined that everything would be much easier at the beginning. Like in Mexico; in Mexico you can start a business very easily and start it from scratch from home, with suppliers of many things and here it is not like that, here for everything you need a license, a permit and starting things cost us a lot of work and a lot of money. It was not as easy as it had been in Mexico, it cost us a lot of time”.
Although over time Esthela has had the opportunity to get the necessary licenses to return to the kitchen with her own Mexican food business, the road does not end there because for her the main challenge is to get the necessary credentials that will allow her to practice the career she studied in Mexico City, nutrition.
“I want to become a nutritionist. We do have a business and everything, but I want to become a professional. I have taken many courses and done a lot of work to be where I am and yes, I can work in Vancouver with Mexicans or with people who do not have medical services, but I want to be able to earn a fair salary and have the opportunity to be in the medical service formally, I want to be a certified nutritionist in Canada”.
According to the WorkBC website, the nutritionist and dietitian profession could have an income of up to 83,424 Canadian dollars a year and it is necessary to have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in the field or in a profession related to the science of nutrition, to have 10 months of practical training under supervision, to have a registration with the College of Dietitians of BC along with an exam that must be passed and the successful completion of the Canadian Dietetic Registration Examination.
However, many Mexicans who decide to validate their degrees abroad need to take several steps before becoming professionals. Within Canada only 20% of the professions are regulated and these professions need to have a license or a work certificate to work in Canada.
Some of the regulated professions are: accountant, architect, carpenter, physician, electrician, nurse, teacher and welders.
Other professions such as: bookkeeper, computer programmer, hotel manager, marketing executive, sales representative and web designer, are not required to have a license or a certificate of studies.
“I studied at the Ibero and before coming here I was told that it was possible to validate my studies, that my career is compatible with universities in Canada. Although I had to revalidate certain things, for example, in Mexico the internship you do in Mexico lasts six months, here in Canada it lasts 10 months. The biggest problem right now is that to get into any Canadian institution you need to be a permanent resident. They don’t allow it if you are a temporary resident”.
According to the WorkBC website, employment as a nutritionist and dietitian has a projected growth in employability of 1.6% for new positions within Canada and 1.9% for those that are replacing retired workers.
María Esthela, like many other Mexicans and Latin Americans, has contacted the regulatory bodies to learn about the necessary documents to revalidate her diploma and to read directly from the official portals the necessary details for the application of the validation of her career, exams and certifications.
“I called the College of Dietitians here in Canada who are the ones who give you the certificate to say that you can practice and they were the ones who were telling me what steps to follow, what to send, and they have helped me a lot. It has not been difficult but it took a long time, as everything in Canada takes a thousand years, not to despair, not to throw in the towel. It is very bureaucratic.
Maria Esthela is currently in the process of waiting for the resolution of her Permanent Residency in Canada and continues with her food business at Valentina Mexican Cuisine https://www.lavalentina.ca/ where she supports herself to continue and pay her applications and personal expenses.
JOBS INFORMATION AND OFFICAL PROCEDURES IN CANADA
One tool to find out if the job is a prescribed occupation or not, who the regulatory body is, if there are jobs available, the average pay among other topics is the Canada Job Bank which is an official platform where you can formally get a job in any province of the country: https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/findajob/newcomers#sectionTitle2
Also if any person is interested in knowing the details of their careers, average salaries among others in Canada, it is necessary to check the WorkBC portal https://www.workbc.ca/index.php/.
And finally, to identify if the career requires any certification in Canada, there is the Canadian Information Center for International Credentials https://www.cicic.ca/2/home.canada where you can learn the particulars of each of the professions and their exceptions.
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