August 1, 2024
For some of you this story may seem rather familiar. For others, we cannot imagine what it may be like to pack up our entire lives and move to a foreign country, thousands of miles away from what we have known, to start anew. A new language, culture, environment, seasons, everything. To make matters even more challenging for those like Farouk Ben Hassine, his education and almost 10 years of experience in architecture do not translate to Canadian standards, making career opportunities severely limited.
Traditionally, someone in a specialized field who immigrates to Canada must go through many steps, such as going back to school before they can begin working in their field. However, A49 Ottawa’s Patrick Lajeunesse in concert with former colleagues from Hobin Architecture started a program in 2023 that addresses this issue. “We’ve seen a large influx of immigration and certainly a lot of well-trained architects that are having a hard time finding meaningful work in this region,” explained Patrick.
The foreign trained architect internship program brings together four firms; Architecture49, Fotenn Planning + Design, Hobin Architecture and CSV Architects, who will each hire one person through this program for a period of six months. At the end of the six months, each person will move to the next firm for a cycle of two years. Or at least that was the original intention. But as Patrick explained, the program is more of an opportunity and if things are going well with a participant and a firm, why change up a good thing?
That is exactly what has happened with Farouk, A49’s first hire of the program. Given the nature of A49 Ottawa’s work in the security and defence sector, by the time Farouk was onboarded onto some of his projects, his time was almost up. Patrick explained that in this instance, six months didn’t feel like long enough to really have Farouk sink his teeth into his projects. Patrick said, “I think he saw that he really enjoyed working in this environment. He also has shown that the work he’s doing here is meaningful.” Farouk’s stint with A49 was extended another six months and it is a relationship Patrick said A49 is keen to continue.
Farouk credits the program with the opportunity for him to familiarize himself with Canadian standards and expedite his efforts to be licensed in Canada. He said he is also fond of his participation in the Ottawa office’s volleyball team. “I enjoy this atmosphere of working and having fun also,” he said. While the ultimate goal is to be recognized by the Canadian Architect Certification Board, Farouk said his immediate goals are to “work in good firms, bring value to those firms and learn at the same time.”
For both Patrick and Farouk, they mentioned the value in seeing this program generalized in other industries and throughout the country. “I would love to see a program like this actually happen in Toronto and other locales across Canada,” said Patrick. “But it’s not limited to architecture. This can be transferable as a concept to other types of services. Ultimately the program’s goals are centred around providing open arms and the opportunity for newcomers to have a meaningful experience.” Farouk added that the benefit extends beyond the candidates who can work in their field and also to the firms who get to call upon the skills and experience of specialists who have interesting and different experience.
Patrick explained that the original concept will likely remain the same and A49 will welcome other candidates as they cycle through their six-month terms as well as a new batch of candidates when the first two years are up. The collaboration between the four firms is as Patrick said, “a great motivator. We are four firms, and we are doing this together and we’re bringing some good to the community.”