Joseph Gonzales: Choosing to Stay, Opting to Stay Strong

Joseph Gonzales and his family (Photo: Joseph Gonzales/Facebook)

Montreal’s Joseph Gonzales writes for us his story –

“I came to Canada on April 28, 2001.  I did not personally choose to land in Montreal.  It just happened to be the city where my wife, Ruby, lived. She was already a Canadian citizen when I met her. She is currently housekeeper working for affluent Jewish families in Montreal.  My daughter Jewel Rae Gonzales is a secondary 4 student.  She attends the international program of her school.  She is consistently an honor student.”

“I landed on a Saturday, but because I was stranded in Vancouver airport for almost 24 hours, I arrived in Montreal the following day, Sunday. Monday, me and my wife worked on my Medicare Card and my SIN.  Tuesday, I was already looking at ads in the newspaper and calling possible employers.  Wednesday, I was already interviewed for my would-be first job.  Thursday, I started working as a telemarketer.  While in telemarketing, I kept looking at ads and calling people for other jobs.  That was when I was interviewed for my first “real job” in Montreal.  The job was only as a contractual employee and it was to start only after a month.  I was never one to be idle, so I applied for a job at Mega Blocks.  I was assigned in production where it was noisy, smelly, dusty and hot.  Others with the same background as I would have already cried and quit, but I did not.  To me, it was just another enriching experience that will only make me better and stronger.”

“The challenges did not cause me to quit, but the gout that I developed in my right big toe did.  The more than 10 hours of standing and constantly walking at fast pace was too much for my feet that my toe became red and swollen like a Filipino sausage.  The lull wasn’t long as soon, my contract with Home Outfitters started.  As soon as the contract expired, although I could have been hired as a permanent employee, I landed my first fulltime job in Montreal as part of the replenishment team at the then Zellers.   As I was working at Zellers, I was hired by the Commission Scolaire de Montréal (CSDM) as the first Filipino teacher to teach Filipino at schools of the French school board in Montreal.  When Zellers closed, I was recruited by former Zellers managers who transferred to Walmart.  I am still a fulltime Walmart employee, at the same time, a part-time teacher.”

“I like Montreal because it is very similar to the city where I lived in the Philippines.  It feels so close to home that it makes me miss my hometown less. Although life in Montreal was initially very difficult, I found it to be very interesting and enriching.   Every day was a struggle for a teacher from the Philippines like me who has held nothing but a pen, a class record and a piece of chalk all his professional life.  The change of work place from a noisy classroom to a noisy factory was quite overwhelming, but I took the whole experience as just a part of life that will further strengthen and enhance me as a person.  To me, all that we experience in life, whether good or bad, provide a lesson that will only make us better individuals.  We are the sum total of all such experience and we are the human beings that we are because of them.

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Today, Mr. Gonzales is also very much involved with Philippine Benevolent and Scholarship Society of Quebec (PBSSQ), the Federation of Filipino-Canadian Associations of Quebec (FFCAQ), the FAMAS and the Knights of Rizal.

   PBSSQ is an organization that supports deserving students who are in their final year of elementary, high school, CEGEP or university.

(Joseph is the fourth child in the brood of five (5) of Pastor Gonzales, a tailor, and Rosita Vino, a dressmaker from Angeles City, Pampanga.  Both parents are very well respected and admired in their crafts in their hometown of Angeles City in Pampanga. Among the five (5) children, only one is in the Philippines.  Two are in Canada, one in Alabama, and one in Cyprus)

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This is an inset article to the story: Dissecting Intriguing Montreal and How Pinoys Have Come to Embrace it as Home

Bolet Arevalo contributed to this inset article.