How Saint-Hyacinthe became a magnet for immigrants

2023-10-11 08:00:47

Is Saint-Hyacinthe, the agri-food capital of Quebec, also becoming a center of immigration? African and Latin American grocery stores are multiplying and expanding. The refugees settle there… And then stay. New Quebec entrepreneurs receive top honors. Overview.

Héliosi Oropeza welcomes us into his brand new neighborhood which grows in the open field. He bought his home for half the price of an equivalent in a big city. “That’s the first advantage Saint-Hyacinthe has over Montreal,” boasts the Venezuelan native with a smile.

Trained as an agronomic engineer in his country of origin, he is neither an agronomist nor an engineer in the eyes of professional orders. However, he now works as a foreman for Olymel, the third largest employer in the region. Necessity reigns supreme on production chains lacking skilled workers.

“I see a lot of immigrants who are drowning in their prejudices. They say that because it’s winter here, people are cold. This is false,” he said. You just have to put in the work and learn French if you want to get a promotion.

I see a lot of immigrants drowning in their prejudices. They say that because it’s winter here, people are cold. It’s wrong.

You still have to enjoy the countryside. Working in your field remains the key to unlocking the Quebec dream, but being interested in the culture anchored for 275 years along the Yamaska River allows you to live it, explains Héliosi.

“A migration process is like a marriage. I first arrived in Quebec. Quebec, she is a beautiful and elegant woman. If you look at her feet, she is wearing cute high heels. But I like girls with dirt under their nails more. Saint-Hyacinthe is a girl in sandals! »

He is not alone, far from it, in choosing this city. Today, approximately 7.4% of Maskoutains are born abroad, compared to an average of 3.2% for all rural regions in the country.

Promoting immigrants to senior positions is “the fantasy” of another major agri-food employer in the area, the Nutri group, says the vice-president of human resources, Sébastien Mercier, “candidly” in an interview.

Half of his 600 employees at the egg sorting factory were born abroad and thanks to them, “the factory has become financially attractive again,” he says. Recognizing the skills acquired abroad by these newcomers would allow it to demonstrate that these workers “are capable of going further”.

Like many others, he is doing everything he can to ensure that these newly arrived workers feel comfortable. His company partly finances accommodation, transportation and training equivalencies. Such devotion causes some friction with native staff, recognizes Sébastien Mercier, but he notes “openness” on these questions on the part of the unions. “They understand that we need them, and that they need us. »

New wave

Immigration has been irrigating the agricultural sector of Montérégie for a long time. Before these temporary workers from Latin America who empty the fields today, it was the Swiss, the Belgians or the Dutch who plowed the fertile lands of the St. Lawrence valley yesterday.

The latest survey recorded the settlement of 637 new families of 48 different nationalities in the territory over the last year.

Many of these were recruited directly in Montreal, because it is easier and less expensive to find volunteers, says Ana Luisa Iturriaga of Technopole, a business aid organization. “In certain fields like finance or IT, in Montreal, you cannot work if you are not perfectly bilingual! »

Several communities, such as those in Bhutan or Afghanistan, have never been able to take root there. Those who remain do not just guarantee the profitability of employers in the region, she assures.

“Twenty years ago, we had cohorts that did not start in CEGEPs, in schools. Our schools are now being expanded. » A new primary school actually opened its doors last year and a second was started this summer in Saint-Hyacinthe.

It’s not just schools that are multiplying. Grocery stores with different flavors too. L’Afrique en marche, the first merchant of its kind in the area, doubled its surface area at the start of the year. When passing the DutyQuebec, Latino and African customers lined up to help themselves to the food counter with very intriguing dishes.

“As much as people want to keep their eating habits, people want to change their eating habits,” says the owner, Ossé Kwate.

Himself arriving in the region because he could not find a job matching his skills in Montreal, he gradually abandoned his role as a biochemist to take on that of a grocer, keeping pace with the growth of the request. “People from Madagascar ask me for business,” he says in front of pallets full of exotic products. “I’m struggling to find them for them…”

The entrepreneurship of the neo-Maskoutains is noticed. This year, the Chamber of Commerce awarded its “favorite” prize to Karla Agurto, for her dental hygienist clinic. She herself called her business “Fleur de lys”, in homage to the society that makes it so good.

“In the regions, people are embarrassed,” reflects the businesswoman. “We might think they don’t want to talk to us, but as soon as we ask, there are people there to give you a hand! »

Ville refuge

The other particularity of Saint-Hyacinthe is that it is a member of the special club of cities that welcome state-sponsored refugees. It ranks as the second smallest city in Quebec in terms of population in this group of 14 municipalities. As a result, Syrians form the seventh largest immigrant group in the region.

The last on this list of the damned of the world, the Ukrainians, swell the Maskoutan population every month.

For example: Alisa Karpova, who arrived in the region at the beginning of the year after having had a bad month in Montreal.

” It’s my choice [de déménager ici] », she says, met at her workplace. “Everything is close. The rents are really cheaper. And the people are nice. If I want to go to Montreal, I can take the bus and go there without problem. »

Word is getting around in the Ukrainian community that life is easier outside the big centers. She insists in her English interspersed with French words: “ I want to buy a maison in Saint-Hyacinthe. »

This report is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.