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By Allan Hoffman
[ More Job Q&As ]
Kenneth Saxe, 48, moved to the United States in 1990 from Canada. Saxe grew up in Montreal, where his family had a manufacturing business. He loved the city, and he still does, but the possibility of Quebec separating from Canada -- and fears about what this would mean for non-Francophones --- led him to leave the country for Vermont. Saxe now works as a special educator, with a concentration in employment and transition, at Colchester High School.
Monster.com: What led you to move to the United States from Canada?
Kenneth Saxe: My wife's American. I'm Canadian. I grew up in Montreal. There's been talk, all my life, about Quebec separating from Canada, and it was a combination of the uncertainty politically -- all this talk of constantly breaking up the country -- and that I had the opportunity to come here. My father was from Vermont, actually -- he moved to Canada as a child -- and I had connections here. We spent summers here, and I always liked it.
Mc: What was the opportunity?
KS: I read an article in a magazine about a school here that had a paralegal program. In Vermont, there's something unique; you can do what's called "reading law." As a paralegal, you can article (intern) for a lawyer for four years and then write your bar exams without going to law school. I had thought about going into the law, and I thought this might be a neat way to do it. The opportunity was there. We were ready to move. I liked Vermont. We came here temporarily, and I did the program for a year, and did very well, but I decided I wanted to have nothing to do with the law. But we liked it here, we ended up buying a house, and I ended up going back to school a second time -- this time I got my master's in education -- and now I'm a teacher.
Mc: What do you see as some of the main differences between Canada and the U.S.?
KS: I guess socially there's a different mindset. Canada is really a social welfare state. It provides medical coverage, and there are strong welfare and unemployment programs. There are very high taxes -- sort of like Sweden. There are very strict gun laws; you have to register every firearm, no matter what it is. Here, it's completely different. Here I consider medicine a business, rather than a service. It's certainly not an entitlement. Guns, well, don't get me started; the proliferation of firearms is really scary. I tell friends that here people focus on individual rights; where I came from, it was more the collective, and the common good was definitely a major part of decision-making. But, all in all, I really like it here. I can go back and forth across the border. I've never taken out American citizenship, though I considered it this year, because I wanted to vote in the election. When I finally went out to check it out, it's still a two-year process, and I said, Oh, well, no use in rushing now. My son was born in Canada, but he came here when he was a year old, so he's a dual national. My wife never took Canadian citizenship. She's American, I'm Canadian, and the continent is open to us.
Mc: What was it like growing up in Montreal, seeing some of the changes, and deciding to leave?
KS: On the plus side, I think it is one of the great cities in the world. It was a wonderful place to grow up. Safe, clean, very modern. Culturally, there are a lot of things happening. There was the World's Fair, the Olympics, and all kinds of festivals. But the politics was the downside -- the separation stuff. It just kept on and on. It ruined the economy. Most of my friends left. As non-Francophones, they felt there wasn't much of a future there for them. They got tired of the pressure. People were afraid. They were worried that what money they have there might be in jeopardy. In essence, what happened was the uncertainty in Quebec was the best thing that ever happened to Toronto and Vancouver. Business moved there. My sister lives in Vancouver, my brother's in Ontario. We were all born and raised in Montreal. I was the last one to leave. My mother's still in Montreal. She's in her seventies, and she's settled there, but she worries about all this stuff.
Mc: To what degree did the changes precipitate your decision to come to Vermont?
KS: I worked for the Quebec government before I came here. To be blunt, I knew I was only going to go so far. It just got frustrating. Why should we wait? We basically lost a family business. The separatist party came into power in the 1970s. We had a big manufacturing business, a family business. When they came into power, basically all construction came to a stop. We were making electric heating. But if buildings don't go up, you don't make too many heaters. Basically, we lost the business. Then it started up again at the end of the 1980s. That's when I finally said I'm not sticking through this again. I said, I want to go. And I always wanted to live in Vermont. I'd always loved it here. It's a very special place. It's not like anywhere else in America. I like the people here; I like the proximity to Montreal.
Mc: What was your career transition?
KS: I had been in manufacturing in Canada, and I did consulting work with the Quebec government, working with disabled adults. I also had a retail store, a flower store. When we came here, the intention was to do the law route. Then I went back into mental health here, doing similar work that I'd done with the Quebec government, working with developmentally delayed adults in professional foster care. I did that for a little under two years. I found that I hit the ceiling quickly, because I didn't have a master's. Someone told me about a program at the University of Vermont, a master's program. I literally walked in, had an interview, and walked out with a full scholarship. I came home, saying, Good country, America. I got my master's, and now I've been teaching for six years. I am a special educator; I work at Colchester High School, which is [located in] a bedroom community of Burlington. Basically, I'm a traditional special educator. I have kids on a caseload. I do evaluations and testing. I also focus on employment and life skills training. The big thing with that population is being taken advantage of. They're very trustful people, and I have to teach them to be suspicious sometimes.
Mc: What advice do you have for someone coming to the U.S.?
KS: Have lots of money. Don't come here poor. You've got to have something to start with. Come here with some very specific skills. Don't come here at the bottom of the pecking order, because they're going to eat you alive. If you come here with skills, I think there's incredible potential. There's still the potential to do anything.