By Amir Khan, Communications Assistant (Intern)
What began as a working holiday in Canada soon became a new career journey and home for former MOSAIC client Antonio Fadda.
Now a WorkBC employment consultant, Antonio participated in MOSAIC’s Social and Civic Engagement for Newcomers and Immigrants (SCENE) project in 2019. Today, the project is titled SCOPE (Social and Civic Opportunities: Pathways to Equity) and aims to foster equitable social and civic engagement opportunities for racialized newcomers.
Antonio considers himself a staunch advocate for promoting the education of “human diversity in all its forms” and hopes to use his skillset to help newcomers obtain positions that see them increase their confidence and potential to contribute to society.
“I have a strong passion for working with people with disabilities and vulnerabilities,” Antonio said. “I see my professional future as oriented towards supporting newcomers in their immigration journey to Canada.”
Antonio arrived in Canada from Italy in 2012, which was still recovering from the 2008 economic crisis that saw Italy as one of the most affected countries in the European bloc. He says his academic background made it difficult to obtain a career aligned with his vision of helping others, which forced him to work various jobs before going back to school for a certificate in career development and student advising.
“I became more and more interested in diversity, connecting with [other members of] the community through MOSAIC. I got to know a lot of people from different cultures,” Antonio said.
“Some were already [established professionals] …others were struggling a little bit like me and trying to also use that platform as a sort of a way to do networking.”
The MOSAIC program helped him build confidence, something he says is one of the main barriers for immigrants who wish to gain skilled employment along with language barriers and lack of Canadian education credentials. He urges those who are new to the country to be patient when networking and gathering resources to help them succeed.
The arrival in a new country without a support system may cause a newcomer to enter “panic mode”, according to Antonio. He says it can lead them to inadvertently make their settlement journey more difficult while trying to establish themselves – something he experienced following his arrival in Canada, but eventually overcame.
“As immigrants, because of that lack of confidence that we sometimes have there are some people unfortunately that don’t have the tools to succeed and so they can end up self-sabotaging in a way because they’re in a hurry [to gain employment].”
Antonio says his experience with SCENE helped with his career journey through networking and cultivating those relationships and advises his clients to do the same. He credits the program for providing him with reference letters that he says he still uses today to help advance his career, which otherwise would have been difficult to obtain if he had not enrolled with MOSAIC.
As part of his commitment to lifelong learning, Antonio plans to update his project management skills and hopes to eventually enter the Canadian political arena in the field of policy analysis.
After living in the country for over 10 years, Antonio says he is excited to earn his Canadian citizenship this month – congratulations!