Episode Description
In this episode, the third in our four-part series with Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC), I'm speaking with Ajlin Mehmedi, who fled the former Yugoslavia in her early twenties, arrived as a government-assisted refugee with an unfinished degree, and now manages settlement services in Vancouver, the same city that took her family in.
Ajlin's parents arrived Canada as experienced doctors. Her father was an OB-GYN with more than thirty years behind him, published work, and a project with Columbia University in New York. Her mother was a dermatovenerologist.
All of that didn't matter once they crossed the border into Canada as neither of them ever practiced medicine again.
Ajlin and I chat about:
What the country loses when it asks arriving professionals to start from ground zero
Starting out as an ISSofBC client and ending up managing the settlement program
The three years of disorientation after landing in Canada
Why she refuses to let being a refugee define who she is
Dozie's Notes
A few things that stuck with me as I listened through this week's conversation:
Canada's approach to experienced talent arriving on its shores is beyond frustrating. I think what stings most is how all those years of hard-earned experience are waved away under the guise of how we do things here. The solutions to some of what we say we lack are already here. We've just built the system that refuses to acknowledge that.
Belonging never announces itself. It doesn't happen because you got a job or bought a home or finally became a Canadian citizen. There's no formula though, which is either comforting or unnerving depending on how you feel about the idea.
Official Links
✅ Connect with Ajlin Mehmedi on LinkedIn
✅ Support refugees as they build their lives in Canada
✅ Read UNHCR Canada's report, Refugees are Good for Canada
One Ask
If you found this story helpful, please consider sharing it with one Canadian immigrant you know.
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This episode is the third of a four-part series with the Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC), telling the stories of Vancouverites who were forced from their home countries by circumstances beyond their control, and who refuse to be defined by that one day.