Immigrants sometimes receive confused looks when they say P.E.I. is home

Meric Akmel was vacationing in New Brunswick last year when the owner of the B&B asked where her home is.

Akmel had moved to Prince Edward Island from Turkey seven years ago, so the answer was easy. "P.E.I." she said.

The B&B owner looked confused. Maybe she had not heard of P.E.I., Akmel thought. So she clarified. "Prince Edward Island … Charlottetown."

What the woman really wanted to know was where Akmel was "originally" from. "I'm like 'Oh, OK,'" Akmel recalled. "But that was really a revelation to me. Home is P.E.I. for me."

Akmel told the story during an event Saturday in Charlottetown called We're Canada Bound: Stories of Making a New Life in Canada. 

It's almost like learning everything from scratch because everything is different.— Meric Akmel

It was presented by the Confederation Centre of the Arts, along with the Immigration and Refugee Services Association P.E.I. and  Glenaldale Heritage Trust as a way for others to understand the challenges and rewards along the journey of immigration.

Akmel said leaving your home country is difficult, but moving to Canada was worth it for her. Turkey was going through some political and economic chaos at the time, and she wanted to live in a place more stable and comfortable.

It meant leaving her friends and family behind.

"At first, of course, it was, like, exciting and frightening at the same time. It's almost like learning everything from scratch because everything is different — the laws are different, society is different, how you do things are different. And I came here at 41, so I thought I knew some things in life, but I had to relearn all of those."

Others echoed those sentiments.

Nayana Sunila shared her story about coming to Charlottetown eight months ago to get her masters in education at UPEI. Her husband and young child remained in India, but hopes they will be here by the end of the year.

Sunila spoke about the many differences between the two places — most notably the population.

When you apply for a job, there could be 10,000 others competing against you. The employer can then exploit the educated workers by negotiating a lower salary, she said.

Festivals and gatherings are bigger in India. There were 3,000 people at her wedding, which was celebrated over a few days in 2018.

'Peace and potatoes'

The streets are so crowded in India it's sometimes there is no room on the sidewalks, she said. She had the crowd laughing when she spoke about first arriving in Charlottetown and wanting to see the "city lights" and going to the mall Sunday night only to find it closed.

But there are a few similarities Sunila appreciates. She said both India and P.E.I. are diverse and welcoming.

She enjoys seeing the same faces in her tight-knit community every day.

"Even the bus drivers, we are seeing them multiple times a day itself. That is a really good thing…. I love P.E.I. in a sense that it gives me a lot of peace. Peace in the land of peace and potatoes."