By Shaira Tasnia
In addition to being an ambassador for the Education & Allyship Program (EAP) at BCS, I occasionally volunteer at other community centres and groups. I think I never made the conscious decision to volunteer at a variety of places, it just ended up happening as I got more involved with the community, slowly but surely since the 9th grade [a few years ago now].
A few days ago, as I was volunteering with another group, I was sitting idly with a Bangladeshi senior that also volunteers for this group. He began to tell me a bit about the story of his life, and I thought I would share it below (I received his consent, he just did not wish for his name to be mentioned). This senior is a highly-educated, stellar, and personable volunteer that is friendly and gets along with everyone, despite everyone’s diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. However, his story has to do with discrimination based on race, and discrimination based on age.
This is based on my memory of his recount, so although specific minute details may be amiss, the major plot points and core messages are resolutely the same.
—
This Bangladeshi uncle arrived in Canada many years ago, perhaps well before the 2000’s. Before then, he had completed his higher education (BCom) in Bangladesh. He had signed with a headhunter / employment services company to find work in Canada.
In Bangladesh, he worked for a garment factory on the financial administration side of things (not a corrupt one like the Rana Plaza, although that may be what comes to mind when one hears “garment factory” and “Bangladesh”). He went to several job interviews in Canada, and he told me about one of them.
He told the employer at this interview that he worked in administration at a garment factory in Bangladesh. The employer suddenly left and took out two pieces of fabric, asking him to distinguish between them. The uncle was taken aback, but asked the employer in what terms he would like them to be distinguished in. The employer asked him if it was print fabric or dye fabric, and he answered. Then, the employer asked if he could use the computer well, and the uncle said yes, but very little, as computers were not very commonplace at the time. He went to a computer and used it, and after this, the employer said that he does not think he is fit for the job, but that he is not confirming yet, he may call him later on. The uncle said ok, no problem.
After a while, he got a call back, asking him to come for another interview. After doing another one, they called him back for yet another. After a few times, the uncle finally said, “No, thanks.” He never liked their attitude towards him, but it was getting ridiculous.
He said he faced this quite a few times, where employers would call him back again and again, but for nothing in return. He began to wonder if they just wanted to talk with him for fun.
After realising quickly that Bangladeshi education is not recognised in Canada, and after receiving unsolicited abuse and nonperformance from employment services, he was not able to find a job in Canada at this initial time. Therefore, he went to the States (USA), where he found both work and an educational institution to complete an additional undergrad and Masters, all out of his own pocket. He used the job he found in the States to fund the education that he was also receiving in the States. All because Canada could not get him even a single opportunity.
After completing his American education, he came back to Canada and tried to find a job once again. He signed with a different headhunter / employment services company this time, and recommenced his search. But the discrimination doesn’t end.
This new headhunter place lost his resume 4 times. They would call him back again and again, saying that they had lost his resume, and if he can bring another copy. The first and second time, he didn’t mind, he went and dropped it off. But after the fourth, he thought it was time to talk to the manager. He asked about what is going on, about why the lady in charge of his resume keeps losing his resume. I’m not sure what events ensued after he spoke with them, but the lady lost her job later on. The uncle said he felt bad since he knows how difficult it is to find a job.
At this headhunter company, his recruiter was this Francophone, thick-accented man named T. White. His first name redacted for story’s sake, and White was actually his last name, not any subliminal messaging I am inserting. The uncle said he doesn’t usually remember peoples’ names from this time, but that he will never forget this man’s.
The uncle didn’t receive news from this company for a long time, but he saw many job postings / opportunities at their centre that he looked qualified for. So, he asked Mr. White about this. Then, Mr. White said, “You know, [name], you are lucky you are not on the streets. People like you should be on the streets.” The uncle asked him what he meant.
“You are stupid for getting an education in Bangladesh and the States. Don’t you know that only Canadian education and experience is accepted here?”
The uncle reported this. This entire time, he was polite and friendly, but when he was reporting Mr. White, he got a bit more heated, but not inappropriately.
He asked, “Where did you find employees that spout nonsense like this?”
Although the lady that lost his resume 4 times was fired, he does not know what happened to Mr. T. White. As far as he knows, he never got fired.
Eventually, he got a job at a company that he stayed at for 15 years. Do you know how he got fired? The discrimination does not end.
During COVID, many people got laid-off at his company, since everything was shut down. When things were starting to reopen a bit more, a new manager was hired. He explained to me that, when a new manager comes in, what they usually do is fire all the old people and hire new people that they know, or maybe just to get a fresh batch of employees: they don’t want anyone that has company seniority over them. This uncle was aware of this, and knew that he may be targeted as a senior employee of this company. As he expected, he got called to the new manager’s desk, but what he didn’t expect was that this new manager started to verbally abuse him. “You don’t know anything,” things like this. The uncle was too experienced with this type of abuse to give him a reaction, so he simply said politely, “Okay, that is alright, I am fine with being fired if that is what you wish. Just give me my severance pay, and I will leave no problem.”
But this manager said,
“No! I will not pay you anything!”
It took 3 years, but this uncle was able to sue this company for not giving him his severance pay, and perhaps for other things. He said he did get money from the suing, but that it wasn’t a lot. “It is never enough, haha,” he said. “Age is a problem in this country, I know.”
Although this uncle can be informally qualified as a senior, he is on the younger side of the term: he is barely a senior, more like a much older adult.
By the time he reached this point in his story, the participants and other volunteers from the group we were volunteering at arrived, so he stopped his story there.
Before he left, I asked him if I could write about his story. What is funny is that he said he was not even finished, implying that there was a lot more injustice and discrimination that he faced in Canada, as a Bangladeshi immigrant, despite his positive, mature attitude and extensive qualifications.
—
It baffles me that Canada invites so many immigrants from diverse backgrounds so that they can contribute to Canada’s workforce using their diverse ways of thinking and living, only to have that same valued diverse education be denied. The point of diversity is to gain the benefits of each different form of education and experience, is it not? I understand that different countries have different standards, and that regulation is needed, but regulation is different from outright denial.
“Age is a problem in this country, I know,” is one of the things the uncle said. His entire story is sad, but this especially. Age and seniorship are things to be respected, why should anyone ever be made to feel like it is a problem? It is the same as racism: no one can control what race they are born as, and no one can control their age. Time will pass, and it will pass perpetually without waiting for anyone.
Thank you for reading. I hope this story gives you more food for thought.
To be honest, reliving this story through writing it was quite painful, like a chunk of my heart has dissipated. Hopefully, through our anti-racism and discrimination programs, we can reduce these types of stories a little bit more.
Comentários