A Philippine national who spent several years in Saudi Arabia before reaching his dream destination, Canada, likes the Gaspé even though he is 13,000 km from his wife and two boys.
Originally from Dasmariñas in the northwest of the South Asian archipelago, Sherwin Dela Cuesta, a fiberglass laminator, first left his country in 2003 to work as a machinery operator in Saudi Arabia, but he had Canada in the lead for a while.
“One of my relatives lives in Vancouver and he spoke to me a lot about his adopted country,” said the 44-year-old man in an interview.
The announcement of an employment agency that was looking for workers for the LM Wind Power wind turbine blade plant in Gaspé in 2019 was like a sign of fate for him, and he jumped on the job with both feet. ‘opportunity.
“My first winter I was amazed by the snow. The second and third, I slowly began to realize the cold that accompanies this type of weather,” said Sherwin Dela Cuesta arriving in running shoes at the appointment we had agreed for the interview last month, so that a cooling of -10 degrees was felt quite well.
Although he likes Quebec, he finds himself here even further from his family.
“Of course it’s hard, but I’m doing this to give them a better life,” he said, mentioning that while his country has fiberglass handling expertise, the salary there below is far from competitive with those of Saudi Arabia or Canada. As soon as he has the opportunity to take vacations, he goes to see them as often as he can.
In addition to his full-time job, he takes a French course on one of his days off. “It’s a lot of involvement, but it’s completely normal, it goes with the job,” underlining the French-speaking character of the region.
Photo courtesy, Véronique St-Laurent
Speaking mainly English and Tagalog with the other Filipinos of LM Wind Power, he practices the language of Molière with his French-speaking colleagues. However, he was not comfortable doing the interview in French, but hopes one day to be able to do so, he who has the ambition one day to be able to settle in Gaspésie with his family. “If the reality of housing is easier, yes,” he says with a sneer, he who lives alone in a small apartment.
Socializing in Quebec was not too difficult for Sherwin Dela Cuesta. He does this in particular by chairing the Association of Filipinos of Gaspésie, which aims to bring together members of the community during various activities.