Life is more expensive here than Iris expected

From paperwork to landing, Iris’s immigration process took six years. But now that she’s here, she says time has flown by.

In the four months since she came to Canada, she’s been trying to lay the groundwork for the kind of life she hopes to have.

“I’m Gabonese, and maybe one day I’ll go back there,” she said of Gabon on Africa’s west coast. “But I wanted to explore different places and different cultures in my life.”

Iris, 33, has a geology degree from a university in France, and hopes to get a job in Canada’s mining sector.

However, she’s here alone with her almost four-year-old daughter, and many of the jobs in her domain require odd hours in remote locations, which is difficult for a single mother.

Iris said she knew this going in, and believes things will get easier once her husband joins them next year.

“It’s much better to be two people with a young child,” she said.

In the meantime, she’s been getting settled: figuring out housing, filling out paperwork, finding daycare for her daughter, learning English and getting to know the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood where she’s living.

Next year she also plans to take another short certification course in her field to help her make contacts and get Canadian work experience.

For now, Iris is paying her expenses out of her “landing fund” — the money she had to save to be accepted for immigration.

Her husband sends some money as well, but she admits that life here is more expensive than she expected.

She is very grateful for Promis, the community organization that has helped her and her daughter with some basic necessities.

“People are very generous, very welcoming,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting that much support.”

Iris and her daughter are among the thousands who will receive a $125 cheque from the Gazette Christmas Fund this year. The money helps families in need get through the holiday season.

Iris believes the adjustment she’s going through is a “period of preparation” for a better future.

Once her husband arrives, she thinks they may move to a mining town where they can find jobs and have a good quality of life — hopefully buying a house someday.

Since her husband is in Africa, Iris and her daughter will go to a friend’s house for Christmas this year.

She said she’s looking forward to her first “Christmas in Quebec,” and of learning the traditions of the place she now calls home.