在加拿大
The call of the North Great pay, good jobs lure new graduates out of the city and north to a land of adventure and opportunityMar 20, 2007 04:30 AM Christl Dabu Toronto StarTo Geoffrey Metz, a die-hard urbanite, the remote northern wilderness sounded irresistible. Fresh out of dentistry school, the 28-year-old University of Toronto grad was looking for adventure and a job that paid some serious cash. He found both in the land of the permafrost: the Northwest Territories.It didn't matter that he had to brave the darker, harsher winter."I just wanted to go up there, have an adventure, and earn a good amount of money for a little while and take care of debt from dental school," says Metz, who returned to Toronto in late December after completing his six-month contract. A shortage of dentists in the North meant he saw more patients and made twice as much money as he would have earned in Toronto. It's more expensive to live in the North, but in Inuvik, population about 3,500, there are limited ways to spend. Without the mega-movie theatres and malls, it was easy to save, Metz says. Instead, he got into the local scene with berry picking forays, hikes along the tundra and snowmobiling. Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon are a gold mine for jobs ? many with salaries that are generally higher than in the rest of Canada.Every year in the Northwest Territories, 100 teaching positions need filling and there are always openings for nurses, says Charles Dent, minister of education, culture and employment. "People with an education in a profession, or who have finished their apprenticeship and have a skilled trade, don't have trouble finding a job," says Dent, on the line from Yellowknife. He cites 2005 statistics as an example. That year, 800 new jobs sprung up in the Territories, particularly in the health care, service and education fields. This continues the trend in the employment rate, at 72.3 per cent the highest in the country since 2001, according to the NWT Labour Market Review 2005-06. Nicole Gordon got a heavy dose of culture shock her first weekend in Nunavut last August when a friend in Iqaluit invited her to go beluga whale hunting. Overwhelmed by the adventure she passed. The 25-year-old Winnipeg native has since settled into her life and job as a medical lab technician at Baffin Regional Hospital in the city of about 6,200. She's saved a lot of money and gained a lot of experience, and done both quickly ? mainly because she is on-call often since the hospital is regularly short-staffed. Nunavut is "isolated from the rest of Canada," she says, but she isn't homesick. She quickly made close friends among both Inuit residents and other newcomers like herself through her work and by volunteering at the neighbourhood gym.Gordon is smitten with Inuit culture, from the music ? she's impressed with the traditional throat-singing performances ? to her new collection of wildlife paintings and soapstone carvings.She's found life in Nunavut so enjoyable since arriving last August that she's now considering staying for at least a few years.True, there are big social problems in some communities with substance abuse and suicide, says Gordon. But, she says, "it's not as bad as people may think," adding that, like other places she's visited, there are good and bad areas. "For the most part it's a great community ... I found everyone so welcoming. I like the mellowness."Iqaluit is not for die-hard shopaholics, she adds but if you don't venture out to try new activities such as snowmobiling, fishing and hiking, those ―40C temperatures will make for a "really long winter." Now that she's settled in, Gordon is looking forward to a second whale-hunting invitation. Recruitment challenges exist partly because of the cost of relocating and living in Nunavut, says Hal Timar, executive director of the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce, in Iqaluit. To adjust for that, many employers offer housing and relocation expenses as part of their benefits package, he says.Gordon was able to take advantage of this and received a $12,000 northern-living allowance, on top of her wages, which can start at $32 an hour in Iqaluit compared to $20 an hour in, say, Winnipeg. As well, the Nunavut government paid her airfare and arranged her move, along with subsidized housing at $900 a month. "It's tough to compete with the wages and benefits being offered in booming Alberta," says Victor Tootoo, Nunavut's deputy minister of human resources, who assures more competitive salaries are on the way. The Northwest Territories' Bureau of Statistics found that resource-based development, coupled with an aging population, mean the labour demand will grow in areas beyond the health care and education fields. Electricians, engineers, pipe fitters, welders, journeymen and other jobs in the gas, oil and mining industries will all be needed, says employment minister Dent.Salaries for government workers in the Northwest Territories are generally higher than in the provinces and are topped off with a northern allowance ? compensation for the higher cost of living and travel ? that runs between $11,000 to $16,500 a year, depending on the community. "You can really climb very quickly. No one really cares how old you are as long as you prove yourself," says Elaine Carr, 28, who moved to Yellowknife from Edmonton in 2001 to work as a mechanical engineer for a consulting company. "If you're willing to stay here, you know you are going to be really valued because you're tough to replace," she says. Loneliness was the hardest part of moving to the Northwest Territories, admits Carr. "People are friendly, but it takes time to find good friends and establish a social network," she says. "But by getting involved in activities like volunteering and sports, slowly I met people who became my good friends."She's also found that her definition of a good friend has expanded. "I now have friends that include two or three generations of a family, and people of a range of ages and backgrounds that I might not have gotten to know in a bigger city," she says. "I ended up challenging preconceived notions about myself that I didn't even know I had." Carr's new friends hail from beyond Canada's borders and include Zimbabweans, several families from South Africa, as well as members of a Scottish pipe band, a Filipino cultural association and a Ukrainian dance group. The greatest need for employees in the Yukon is during the high tourism months from May to August, says Carol Corbet, manager of Employment Central in Whitehorse.Minimum wage will be $8.37 an hour in April but it's rare for employers to pay that low. Wages for general labourers can be from $9 to $12 an hour, depending on working conditions.Pointing out the great things the North has to offer is the best way to attract newcomers, she believes. "We have a beautiful winter. The sky is blue ... There's lots of skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling. The air is clean," says Corbet. "If you're looking for a relaxed place to live, this is the place to come." Lisa Beynen and her husband Kevin an RCMP officer, moved to Victoria Island, on the Nunavut side, last July. They plan to stay for four or five years. Beynen, a 26-year-old junior high school teacher from Hamilton, had a tough time finding a teaching job in Ontario, and decided to relocate.And so far, her experience in the North has been one of learning. Her new neighbours brought fish and caribou they had caught to welcome Beynen and her husband when their first arrived. She soon noticed that the Inuit raise their eyebrows to say yes, and scrunch their noses to say no.Classroom etiquette was also different than she had experienced. The Victoria Island students practise a very informal pattern of attendance ? not at all what she was expecting. But Beynen says she is learning to adapt even to this.Occasional feasts held for the community of 1,500 people are a highlight. "The people up here are friendly and they're very accepting," says Beynen, who is of Chinese heritage. "You get in touch with nature again, and learn the Inuit lifestyle, and learn to appreciate how different it is from your own," she says. "It's learn as you go and have an open mind ... It's a good opportunity up here. You get to make decent money and you also get to meet a variety of people. The culture is amazing."I'm pretty happy and satisfied here." Back in Toronto, Metz, the UofT dentistry grad, appreciates the time he spent in the North. Even though he now works two part-time jobs in different dental clinics downtown, and is making far less money than he pulled in up North, he still plans to stay in the city. "It's very difficult for people to stay for a long time there," says Metz of his Territories' experience. "I missed driving a car. I missed being able to go out to a restaurant. And I missed seeing lots of people."Sometimes, it just felt so empty ... I like having public transit and movie theatres ... I'm a city person at heart."
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08年7月1日终于踏上了梦中的家园--CANADA！in Edmonton now! 赏 2007-03-21#8
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