Stories of international students in Canada

Yannick: My name is Yannick. I grew up in Côte d’Ivoire, Abidjan to be precise. I am in my second year of studying automated systems electromechanics at the Edmundston campus of the New Brunswick Community College (NBCC).

The best part of this adventure for me was the day I received my acceptance letter for my visa. I was overcome with emotion… I was the happiest man in the world because I was finally going to the country of my dreams, the country where I have always wanted to go.

I decided to leave my home country because I wanted gain better knowledge education-wise. And the teaching in Africa, specifically in Côte d’Ivoire, is more theory-centric. I like the Canadian system more because it is more focused on practice. Canada is truly the best country to help me learn a lot of things in my field of studies: electromechanics.

Electromechanics covers three areas: electricity, industrial mechanic and instrumentation.

I chose NBCC in particular because they have instructors with experience in factories, who have hands-on experience with the subjects they are teaching, who have spent their time, practically years of their lives, working in their field. So they bring more experience, more advice about the work we will certainly do later.

What I like most about Canada, specifically New Brunswick, I mean the city of Edmundston where I am, is the warmth of the people, people who are very welcoming and who do not hesitate to lend you a hand. What I also love is the different types of seasons. Fall is magnificent! Winter here is also amazing, but a little cold.

It was my childhood dream to come to Canada, and when I see that I am here in the country of my dreams, it’s… I still can’t believe it. I often wake up and say, “Am I really in Canada?” And I am fitting in so well… that I really want to have a life here, to move here to live my full life.

Mary, Chemical Engineering, Dalhousie University: My name's Mary and I'm working towards my Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical Engineering.

I grew up in Dubai, United Arab Emirates but I was born in the Philippines. When I was back home I was really shy. When I first decided to come to Halifax, I wanted to put myself out there and get out of my comfort zone and over the two years that I've been here, I did exactly just that.

Dalhousie has really given me much support because I've been given opportunities to attend conferences where I could make connections with other women in engineering, also professionals in engineering.

As an international student on campus, the international centre always has events for us

so that we can gather and connect with one another and feel welcomed in the Dalhousie community.

Canada is an awesome country.

I'm really impressed and inspired by the openness and the respect that people have with one another.

It's also a great place to be more innovative and to be creative and therefore a great place to be yourself.

There's so much more that I can learn, so much more that I can develop within myself, that really makes me excited for what's to come.

When I first came to Halifax and walked down that harbourfront, I was like, This is it. This is my new home.

And when I do look back, I'll be like, "This is where I first started. This is how I grew."

Narrator: Meet Azadeh Dastmalchi. Azadeh began her study in Canada adventure in 2010 at the University of Ottawa. Since then, she completed her master's degree in biomedical engineering, became a Canadian citizen, and started her own company called Vital Tracer—a medical start-up that builds smart watches that measure blood pressure. We spoke to Azadeh to learn more about her journey and the start-up ecosystem in Canada.

On-screen text: EduCanada Asks: Why did you decide to study in Canada?

Azadeh Dastmalchi CEO Vital Tracer: It has a very strong history in STEM, like in insulin and telecommunications. And on the other hand, it's a multicultural country. It gives us—not only us, but our parents—peace of mind that we are in a safe country, studying, every single day.

On-screen text: EduCanada Asks: How did you get the idea to build the watch?

Azadeh Dastmalchi: The idea of the watch originally came from when my dad got high blood pressure and medical doctors asked him to take his measurements three times per day for a week, and he didn't like it at all. When I asked him the main issue, he said that it's hard to install and that the cuff, which inflates and deflates, he doesn't like it at all. So I find that OK, if we can build a technology like the watch, that would be the best solution.

Narrator: Azadeh’s solution was a smartwatch that uses optical sensors and artificial intelligence, powered by machine learning algorithms, to measure blood pressure. In recent years, Montreal has become an artificial intelligence hub for students, researchers and businesses. For Azadeh, Montreal was the perfect city to launch her start-up.

Azadeh Dastmalchi: I heard about lots of very good programs for entrepreneurship in Montreal, especially that they are more concentrated on A.I. I can say that since 2019 until now, we got around half a million dollars from Quebec government funds from the Ministry of Economy and Innovations, from Concordia D3, from IQ—which is Invest Quebec—and from Prompt. And these are all funds to support building our technology in terms of MVP—minimum viable product.

Going to the commercialization version, getting Health Canada’s approval and a bit of support for our clinical validation in hospitals.

Narrator: Entrepreneurship is a journey full of uncertainty and challenges. But despite all of the obstacles, Azadeh found her success in Canada.

Azadeh Dastmalchi: Canada’s government, during the pandemic, was super supportive for the SMEs—small and medium entrepreneurs—and for start-ups. Lots of support and subsidies for wages, funds, grants. And they helped us not only about the monetary, but in terms of mentoring, lots of free programs to make us move forward.

Marwa: My name is Marwa and I am a PHD candidate at Chemistry Department, University of Calgary. I born and raised in a small city in Egypt called Ismailia.

After I finished my Masters degree, I wanted to get a solid education in electrochemistry.

At that time, I had my baby and also I was married, so moving the whole family to a foreign country, it wasn’t an easy choice.

I choose Canada because I wanted a country that supports raising kids in a very friendly environment. I was targeting to join a very strong group in electrochemistry and my current supervisor is one of the big leaders in electrochemistry worldwide.

I think the main reason I have success and am still pursuing my PHD is the solid education I’m getting at University of Calgary – many resources, many chances to enhance your background, your study.

I think Canada is the best place to have a better future, career, life and education. You will also be very supported from the neighbourhood and the Canadian people. They are accepting anybody basically, whatever your background, whatever your religion, you will be accepted.

You can make friends from all over the world, like I have Canadian friends, Chinese, Iranian, Egyptian.

I would like also to be a source of an inspiration for my son, my family and all women, especially in academic environment. I’m just enjoying the journey and looking forward to graduate and have my career afterwards.

My greatest achievement since I came to Canada, I think it is confidence and being a strong woman.