'We worked. We struggled together:' Navigating financial system a challenge for new immigrants

Halfway to Home: Immigration Stories, a five-part series, began April 24 on Windsor Morning. Tune in on our CBC Listen app or live at 97.5 FM. We'll also be at the Budimir branch of the Windsor Public Library on Saturday for the event Creating Space. 

Three years after arriving from Nigeria, Abiola Afolabi's family needed a home in Windsor, Ont.

But back in 1987, she said, it was next to impossible to get a work permit as the wife of an international student. They had some money, but without employment, nobody would give them credit — and without credit, nobody would rent to them. They could, however, run their own company.

So when they found an ice cream bicycle business for sale, it was a perfect opportunity. 

That summer, their 15 Mr. Frosty riders pedalled all over Windsor, she said, while Afolabi, her husband and their three young children worked the truck and hustled to keep the tricycles stocked.

LISTEN | Hear the third episode, which is focused on financial literacy

By Canada Day, the Afolabi family had sold enough ice cream to put a down payment on their first house. But they kept going and growing. When the children were big enough, they started riding too.

"Our children worked … they were riding the tricycles to make money," said the mother of five, whose youngest two children were born in Canada. "We worked. We struggled together." 

In Episode 3 of CBC Windsor's Halfway to Home series, series creator Aman Ghawanmeh, speaks to Afolabi and to Khassan Saka, who came from Iraq in the 1990s. Both are now community leaders in Windsor, running their own organizations that offer immigrants the support they wish they would have had when they arrived.

• FIRST PERSON Conversations with other immigrants have been healing for me. I wanted everyone to hear them

WATCH | Abiola Afolabi, Khassan Saka and Aman Ghawanmeh talk financial literacy:

Newcomers to Windsor highlight gaps in path to financial stability

2 years ago

Duration 2:58

Khassan Saka and Abiola Afolabi became community leaders in Windsor after arriving in Canada and dealing with hard financial lessons they want others to avoid.

CLICK HERE | to watch the full 45-minute conversation on YouTube 

Halfway to Home highlights the experiences of immigrants in Windsor-Essex. About one in five people living in the region arrived as newcomers, which means it has the 11th largest immigrant population in the country, according to Statistics Canada.

During the conversation at Windsor Public Library's Fountainebleu Branch, both Saka and Afolabi talked about how they learned from their early financial mistakes and what they are doing now to help other newcomers avoid the same ones.

Taxes, credit cards, student loans can be new to immigrants

"When I arrived in Canada and I opened the bank account, they offered me a credit card," said Saka, who was working as a mechanic at the time. 

"And I abused it actually, to the point that I was in trouble, financially."

He recalled the surprise of receiving so many bills, of needing to work two jobs in those early years and learning lesson after lesson, each one setting him back financially at a time when he was already starting fresh. 

For many newcomers to Canada, the financial system is different from back home. Taxes, credit cards, mortgages and student loans can be completely new and complicated concepts. 

• More financial literacy training needed for newcomers to Canada
• Free tax clinics in Windsor offer help to newcomers 

People often find themselves trying to navigate this new financial system while simultaneously facing major financial decisions, such as buying into business, investing in education, or putting money into vehicles and homes. 

"I faced a lot of challenges," Saka said. "Purchasing a car, I lost money, renting an apartment with no lease … All these kinds of mistakes made me angry at myself [and] at the society."

A 2022 Scotiabank study found many immigrants feel "worried, overwhelmed and confused," by the Canadian banking system. 

As for Saka, he said he wished someone had been there to help him avoid some mistakes, and that's partly why he started the Integrative Canadian Group Organization, a Windsor non-profit that offers a range of services to newcomers. 

"I want to help people. I want to provide them with accurate information," said Saka. "I want to guide them because I understand."

'Back then, every penny was a lot of money to us'

Being unfamiliar with the system, including not knowing about financial aid opportunities, would cost the Afolabi family for years after arriving. 

When the family became landlords, they weren't aware until after they had done office renovations that they could have applied for a grant from the Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC). And they didn't find out until after their daughter started university that as a straight-A student in high school, she would have qualified for multiple scholarships.  

Afolabi said the betrayal she felt after trusting someone with a cash deposit for a much-needed renovation still stings.  

"We never saw him again. That really hurt," she said. "Back then, every penny was a lot of money to us."

Afolabi and her husband have also started an organization to help newcomers in Windsor. Though it's called Nigerian Canadians for Cultural Education and Economic Progress, the group supports newcomers from anywhere in the world. 

"Over the years, as we went through hardships and challenges and some successes and some happy times, my husband and I kept saying, 'If we get to the point where we're able to do something to share our experience, or share our knowledge or something with others to make things easier for them, we will do it if the Lord will give us that opportunity," she said. 

"We decided to pursue progress."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.