How to traverse the health crisis in Canada ? The Express has interviewed the French on what has changed in their daily lives. Third episode in Quebec city.
In Canada, as elsewhere in the world, the counter of the coronavirus never ends – unfortunately – does not turn. Has the date of April 9, the country of the maple leaf had 20 748 cases of Covid-19, and lamented 509 deaths. Three provinces are, for the moment, particularly affected by the disease : Quebec (10 912 cases and 216 deaths), Ontario (5759 cases and 200 deaths) and British Columbia (1370 cases and 50 deaths), which has just been surpassed by Alberta in many cases, (1451, but “only” 32 deaths). Québec stands out by its management of the crisis, which allowed for the moment to contain the number of deaths in spite of a number of cases two times higher than in Ontario.
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How the French settled in these provinces live with the situation ? What has changed in their daily life ? Have they had a desire to return to their country of origin ? The Express has interviewed three expatriates in Toronto, Vancouver and Quebec. Third pane with Alexander Boissonnat, 23 years old, student in Quebec since August 2019.
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“When the school closure was announced, on Thursday, 12 march, by the Prime minister of Quebec, it took effect immediately. We have not even been able to return to retrieve our affairs. The courses are stopped all of a sudden, the premises have closed. I came to Québec with the help of the OFQJ for vocational training of 18 months in the web design. I arrived last summer, I need to finish by February 2021, so obviously for me there was no question of returning to France. For the moment, classes are halted until the beginning of may. But this is probably going to last longer. Since 16 march, I’m home, and it’s annoying because I don’t have on my personal computer the software that we train them, so I can’t even train me.
I also lost my job booster. I’ve been working on for the month of November part-time as a salesman in a chain store Linen Chest, which is specialized in the decoration. It allowed me to earn about $ 1000 per month. I have still insured my service on the weekend of 14 and 15 march, and then the store dropped the curtain. There were already a lot less customers this last weekend. Fortunately, I had my pay for the first two weeks of march !
An organization and adherence to instructions impressive
Here, there is no police in the streets, but people are coming out shortly. Myself, I only allows me one or two outings per week, to do my shopping and me time to stretch your legs. Everyone respects the safety distance of 2 meters. At the supermarket, the organization and the instructions are quite impressive. Customers are wisely waiting in the street, it may last for twenty good minutes, luckily the temperatures have risen, it is between 5 and 10°, it is bearable. At the entrance, the staff gives us a wipe to clean their hands, the shopping carts are disinfected at the beginning he even had disposable gloves available ! It is forbidden to approach a member of staff or another customer. A sense of movement has been put in place in the store, you can not go back on your steps : I had forgotten a product, I made a u-turn, I was scolded ! There are barricades between the shelves so that people do not cross. At the checkout, from the early days, the cash payments have been refused.
I live in a shared flat with two of Québec, in a large apartment with a balcony, but there is still a fair bit side temperatures to enjoy, there is always snow in the garden of the condominium. One of my roommates came home, in Abitibi-Témiscamingue. The other is used at the CHU de Québec, for the restoration and maintenance, then obviously it is in the first line. I have a colleague of training who went to work at the hospital, they need arms. It is well-paid, and 19 to 20 dollars per hour against the $ 13 in the sale. But I hesitate to do as she, I’m asthmatic, so I rather keep myself away from the Covid-19…
Hold without financial returns
At the beginning I was fairly serene, but now I am beginning to be worried about. I run the risk of having to take several months without financial inflows, it will require that I tap into my reserves and I still a loan to repay. I have not worked enough hours since my arrival in order to qualify for employment insurance federal. I’m waiting to know if I can be eligible to the benefit of canadian emergency. I have not been dismissed, when the activity resumes, so I should return to my job. We have a group on Facebook with the employees of the store to keep current. I also participate in a FB group that allows you to exchange between foreign students. I spend a lot of time on the Internet, the social networks, I watch movies, series and I of the “visio” with my friends.
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On April 11, I celebrate my eight months here, I was happy, training I like, there are many foreign students ; in the store there is a good atmosphere, I have canadian colleagues with whom I sympathized. The adaptation has been fairly easy even though we had a lot of snow this winter. On the 23rd of April, is my birthday, I had no idea to spend it alone…”