I am Francisco (Pancho) Chanquin. I’m from Guatemala, Central America. It was a long journey to come here. I met my wife in Guatemala. She was working as an English teacher. I was working in agriculture as well working with macadamia nut trees – planting them and watering them and some avocado trees as well.
We got married in 2018 and after we were married, I started applying for a visitor’s visa to come to Canada. I decided to come here to try and live this new experience abroad and with a new culture and help my wife to be close to her family as well. We came to Canada in 2022. My first impression was that cold! I was in the airport waiting to be picked up and I decided to go outside because I wanted to breathe fresh air and I started shivering because of the cold! I hadn’t brought any winter clothes so it was hard for me.
I have been working at Sandy Shores farm since May, 2022. I started as a field supervisor. I had to supervise our Mexican employees out in the asparagus field. And after the season was done, I helped on the onion processing line. I was then hired full time. I started the process of becoming a permanent resident in Canada. After we moved here and I started working here, it was easier because I was in the country already.
After a year, I got my permanent residency card. It is a long process but it is worth it. We have a son aged three. He has dual citizenship. He was born in Guatemala but because of his mom, he is a Canadian citizen. I like to go home to visit Guatemala. Last year, I was there for three weeks and we are hoping to go later this year. I like Canada. As a family, we like to do a lot of things like go for hikes, go mountain biking or go to the beach. Back in Guatemala, we used to go for hikes to volcanos so we like to be active and do all the fun stuff.