Fortunately for Rogers, two of her guests in 2006 were a married British couple intrigued by the notion of seasonal, pastoral employment. Kevin and Jane Onn had worked in the telecommunications and banking fields respectively before taking early retirement, and their exposure to the Canadian North was life-changing. “We were blown away by the sense of freedom,” says Kevin, 60. “We had tried to immigrate to Canada, but I always seemed to be lacking candidacy by two or three points.”
During their second trip to the ranch in 2007, the couple learned about Allyson’s labour challenges and offered their services. “The money wasn’t critical to us, and being hired at the ranch would mean we would actually live in this wilderness, with horses being pretty much our main companions in winter,” says Kevin.
Allyson was less than thrilled. “Hiring guests is a dangerous place to go,” she says. “Country life may seem tranquil, but in fact you work long and intense hours.” But when the labour shortage took full effect, Allyson was compelled to reconsider. “The more I got to know Kevin and Jane, the more I realized they might be appropriate,” she says. “Our talks continued when they returned home to Britain, and by the winter of 2007 I decided to set the wheels in motion.”
Setting the wheels in motion was one thing; qualifying the couple to work in Canada was quite another. “I had to apply for a Labour Market Opinion from Service Canada, and place help-wanted ads to prove that I couldn’t hire Canadians,” Allyson says. “There were no end of forms to fill, and it was nerve-wracking because if you got a single word wrong you risked being thrown to the bottom of the pile.”
Allyson approached go2 for help, and she credits the organization for providing advice and supervision. “I was finally allowed to hire Kevin and Jane as food and beverage servers, but if it weren’t for go2 it would have taken me half a year instead of one month.”
Since 2008, noted go2, there has been significant improvements in streamlining the process and turnaround times for Labour Market Opinions. go2 continues to work closely with provincial and federal government immigration officials to address any issues and continue to improve the process.
While Allyson toiled at her end, Kevin and Jane were faced with bureaucratic hoops of their own. “It took three months just to get approval to apply for a work visa,” Kevin says. “And in Canada we had to go through more paper-filling and checks before the visa was issued.” Still, the permit, which lasted from May to October of 2008, was worth the headaches. Kevin and Jane enjoyed fulfilling their duties as servers, and during off-hours they honed their ranching skills and lived in a cabin on-site. “We felt completely at home from day one,” says Kevin.
Allyson subsequently obtained a two-year work permit for the couple, and she is hoping to sponsor them next spring through the Provincial Nominee Program so they can become Canadian citizens. What will Kevin and Jane do at that stage? “Our intention is to keep working for Allyson and buy a place of our own nearby, far from the madding crowd,” says Kevin. “It’s a dream come true, and we can’t stress how grateful we are that Allyson took a chance on us.”
