Jane Taylor

I came to Fredericton from the small town of Dalhousie on the north shore of New Brunswick, to go to UNB. I was born just outside Belfast, Northern Ireland and immigrated to Dalhousie when I was a toddler with my Mum, Dad and brother. When I look at photographs from when we first moved here, we were dressed like little British children. When I came home and would cry, “so-and-so picked on me, I’mdressed funny” my Mum would say, “we chose to come to this country, you’ll adapt, you’ll adopt. You’ll figure it out.” Without sounding dire, there was no going back. We didn’t have a choice, we couldn’t quit. This is where we had to be. The strength and support my parents gave to my brother and I helped us become stronger people. If there was anything that I could say came from my childhood immigrant experience that I could share, it would be to give everyone some hope. It was drilled constantly into us, this is the best country in the world and you will have opportunities here you will never have anywhere else. We come here, we are so determined to make a go of it. We work so much harder that everyone else because we don’t want anybody to say, “oh you lazy immigrant." If you are determined and put the effort into succeeding, there are no barriers in Canada. And that’s why this is the best country in the world. Keep the hope and dreams alive and seek out positive support.

I also married an immigrant. My husband was 22 when he came to Canada and he is Scottish. We met here in town… He actually wrote a song called “An Immigrant’s Prayer”, about how proud he was to be Canadian. And his goal was to sing it on Parliament Hill, for the 125 celebrations, 25 years ago. We wrote letters, we sent tape recordings and we called. And Frank said, “I’m just not going to get a gig.” And I said, “One more, look there’s an 1-800 number here, let’s call that. Don’t give up, one more phone call.” And we finally connected with someone who booked Frank for the gig in Ottawa for the Canada 125 celebrations. This is an example of what a great country it is. If you have a goal and you are willing to work towards it, there are no barriers!"