A Belgian criminologist on the land of the Inuit

Hi everyone:

When I was 17, I lived 1 year in San Francisco and it's probably where I got the idea that one day, I would immigrate. It's only 13 years later that I actually started the process. The first plan was to go to the States. I knew nothing about Canada at the time. So during a few months, I search a way to move there ... without any luck. Immigrating to the States is not an easy task.

During this process, I met many people who I told about my project and they all told me the same thing : you speak French, you are a criminologist, GO TO QUEBEC ! Well, all I knew about Canada is that it was freaking cold. But as I kept meeting people who only had great things to tell me about Quebec, I started investigate on the subject. And the more I investigated, the more interested I became ... About a year after I started the process, I decided to go for 1 month in Montreal, in January (you have to see who will be your enemy, right), rented an appartement, got myself a project with the Agence Wallonie-Quebec, set appointements with some professional contacts and there I was.

Felt home right away. That was it : Montreal it would be.

As soon as I got back to Belgium, I applied for immigration. 2 years later, I finally moved to Montreal. Alone, knowing noone.

Found my first job very fast. I didn't want to work as a criminologist right away because it is usually very demanding and I wanted to focus on my integration. So I got a very interesting job at the University of Montreal, as a editorial assistant.

After 1 year 1/2, my life in Montreal was going great. I then decided to look for a job as a crininologist. 40 applications later, I got the perfect job: coordinator of a project in Inuit communities. I was based in Montreal and was traveling across Nunavik (north of Quebec, where the Inuit live). Amazing experience. After a few months, I realized I couldn't do my job well from 'down south' ... so I decided to temporarly move to Kuujjuaq for the remaining of my contract (4 months) ...

... I'm a city girl, I never thought I would like it here (it was a real challenge to myself) ... but I happen to love it and I was offered an even more amazing job here in Kuujjuaq. So I decided to move all my stuff here and stay a bit longer ...

Life is like a box of chocolate ...

Claribou