This First Person column is the experience of Satya Patel, who lives in Mayerthorpe, Alta. For more information about CBC’s First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
My stomach turned during my training at McDonald’s as I learned how to wrap breakfast sandwiches. I had never eaten an egg and the smell of meat was overwhelming.
As a new immigrant to Canada from India, I needed a stable source of income. Never did I dream that with my multiple degrees and certificates in pharmacy and business administration, I’d be working in a restaurant. I’m a vegetarian and I hoped the nausea I was experiencing was not mirrored on my face while I worked at the west Edmonton fast-food counter.
But there’s also no way I could have known that seven years later, I would be sitting in my own pharmacy and be welcomed with homemade baked goods and gifts flooding in from my patients at Christmas time.
Satya Patel and her husband, Hetal Patel, celebrate Canada Day in 2013 at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton. (Submitted by Satya Patel)
Out of my comfort zone
In 2012, when I received my permanent resident visa for Canada, I was plagued with doubts about moving to a new country nearly 12,000 kilometres away from home. Should I go? Do I want to start over again? Is it worth the risk? So many unknowns. Plus, we would leave behind our family, friends and culture.
What tilted my decision toward Canada was the thrill of a new adventure and the satisfaction that would come from being able to establish ourselves on our own.
I knew that the transition wouldn’t be an easy one, but then I told myself, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”
My husband and I took a leap of faith and decided to give Canada a try. We arrived in Canada on April 30 that same year and were completely exhausted after a 40-hour plane ride from India. My husband had contracted food poisoning during our layover in London, eight hours prior to our arrival in Canada, and was in no condition to help me navigate this strange new world to our new home.
It was beginning to hit me just how out of my comfort zone this journey would take me.
Seven-year-old Satya on family vacation in western Rajasthan in India. From left, Satya, her brother Surya, mom Saroj and dad Shailesh Amin. (Submitted by Satya Patel)
Speed bumps on my journey
My early days in Canada were not easy.
After applying for jobs everywhere based on my previous experience in clinical research, I failed to get any interviews. I tried working at McDonald’s, but I lasted only a day.
Next, I landed a part-time job as a cashier at a Superstore.
My job as a university professor in Ahmedabad in western India was being held for me, with the option to go back to my position within three months if I decided to return to India. I would be lying if I said the thought didn’t cross my mind.
Thankfully, the universe had a different plan for me. One evening, a lady walked into the store and asked me if I was new there. I was surprised and said, “Yes, I am new, how did you know?”
She smiled and told me that I did not look like a regular cashier. Then it hit me how visibly nervous I was. She asked me what I did for a living back home, and after talking briefly, asked for my contact number, which I reluctantly provided to her.
A rural opportunity
Just as I was ready to give up on my new venture in Canada, I got a call from the cousin of the Superstore customer. He owned a pharmacy and was looking for a pharmacy assistant.
WATCH | CBC host Adrienne Lamb took a road trip northwest of Edmonton to Lac Ste. Anne County:
Our Edmonton: Road trip to Mayerthorpe
19 days ago
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Join CBC host Adrienne Lamb for interesting stories from the capital region, including a road trip northwest of Edmonton to Lac Ste. Anne County.
After a formal interview, I landed the position, which was located in Evansburg, Alta., — a hamlet about 90 kilometres west of Edmonton with a population under 1,000.
My first thought upon arrival was, “Where is everyone? It is so quiet here.”
I saw a deer crossing sign for the first time and I asked my new boss, “Do deer actually, physically cross here? In town?”
I grew up in Mumbai, a concrete jungle, so the thought of seeing wildlife in the middle of town was inconceivable to me.
I wondered if the pharmacy even had enough customers to warrant hiring me. But I soon found out that I was wrong. Evansburg is a bustling little community and the pharmacy was very busy. People were friendly and soon I knew most patients by name.
Going for my dreams
My boss pushed me to renew my licence to work as a pharmacist in Canada. It took me three years to do the paperwork, endless hours of studying with full-time work and unfamiliar regulations that I found challenging.
During this time, I also worked as a relief pharmacist in Edmonton and realized the connection I made with my patients in a rural town is totally different from the city. They didn’t feel like a number to be served.
When I was finally ready to open my own pharmacy, my husband and I visited multiple locations in rural Alberta.
We wanted a community with all basic amenities and close to the city if needed for a day trip. Mayerthorpe, Alta., a town just north of Evansburg and about 130 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, ticked all the boxes.
Patel, wearing a scarf made by a patient, poses with the Grinch during Mayerthorpe’s Christmas Lite-Up Night in December 2023. (Submitted by Satya Patel)
Mayerthorpe Value Drug Mart opened in December 2019.
Many people were surprised that I knew their names when they came to my store and my patients started referring their friends and family. My lifelong superpower of remembering names clearly paid off.
The community welcomed me into their fold. During my second Christmas in Mayerthorpe, as pandemic lockdowns kept most people inside, my wonderful clients dropped off gifts like crochet socks, table runners, earrings, candles, soaps, plants and flowers.
Patel holds a business card holder made of deer antlers — a gift from a patient at her pharmacy in Mayerthorpe, Alta. (Submitted by Satya Patel )
One of my patients dropped off fresh apples and asked me, “Do you know how to make pie?”
“Not at all,” I said and laughed. The next Monday, I had three pies at the store to share with my staff, thanks to that kind patient.
I am thankful to everyone in the town of Mayerthorpe for accepting me with an open heart.
Nilufa Virji, the Superstore customer who I was reluctant to give my phone number to, is now my close friend. I called her after every pharmacy exam I passed. We often meet in Edmonton, and after I moved to Mayerthorpe, we stay in touch over phone calls and texts.
Rural communities are frequently overlooked by bigger institutions. But in my opinion, they are the heart of Canada and the reason I’m still here and plan to be for a long time to come.
Mayerthorpe is now home and it feels like everyone knows my name.
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MONCTON, N.B. – New Brunswick RCMP say two youths have been arrested after an emergency alert was issued Monday evening about someone carrying a gun in the province’s southeast.
Caledonia Region Mounties say they were first called out to Main Street in the community of Salisbury around 7 p.m. on reports of a shooting.
A 48-year-old man was found at the scene suffering from gunshot wounds and he was rushed to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police say in the interest of public safety, they issued an Alert Ready message at 8:15 p.m. for someone driving a silver Ford F-150 pickup truck and reportedly carrying a firearm with dangerous intent in the Salisbury and Moncton area.
Two youths were arrested without incident later in the evening in Salisbury, and the alert was cancelled just after midnight Tuesday.
Police are still looking for the silver pickup truck, covered in mud, with possible Nova Scotia licence plate HDC 958. They now confirm the truck was stolen from Central Blissville.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – Golf Canada has set an impressive stretch goal of having 30 professional golfers at the highest levels of the sport by 2032.
The World Junior Girls Golf Championship is a huge part of that target.
Credit Valley Golf and Country Club will host the international tournament from Sept. 30 to Oct. 5, with 24 teams representing 23 nations — Canada gets two squads — competing. Lindsay McGrath, a 17-year-old golfer from Oakville, Ont., said she’s excited to be representing Canada and continue to develop her game.
“I’m really grateful to be here,” said McGrath on Monday after a news conference in Credit Valley’s clubhouse in Mississauga, Ont. “It’s just such an awesome feeling being here and representing our country, wearing all the logos and being on Team Canada.
“I’ve always wanted to play in this tournament, so it’s really special to me.”
McGrath will be joined by Nobelle Park of Oakville, Ont., and Eileen Park of Red Deer, Alta., on Team Canada 2. All three earned their places through a qualifying tournament last month.
“I love my teammates so much,” said McGrath. “I know Nobelle and Eileen very well. I’m just so excited to be with them. We have such a great relationship.”
Shauna Liu of Maple, Ont., Calgary’s Aphrodite Deng and Clairey Lin make up Team Canada 2. Liu earned her exemption following her win at the 2024 Canadian Junior Girls Championship while Deng earned her exemption as being the low eligible Canadian on the world amateur golf ranking as of Aug. 7.
Deng was No. 175 at the time, she has since improved to No. 171 and is Canada’s lowest-ranked player.
“I think it’s a really great opportunity,” said Liu. “We don’t really get that many opportunities to play with people from across the world, so it’s really great to meet new people and play with them.
“It’s great to see maybe how they play and take parts from their game that we might also implement our own games.”
Golf Canada founded the World Junior Girls Golf Championship in 2014 to fill a void in women’s international competition and help grow its own homegrown talent. The hosts won for the first time last year when Vancouver’s Anna Huang, Toronto’s Vanessa Borovilos and Vancouver’s Vanessa Zhang won team gold and Huang earned individual silver.
Medallists who have gone on to win on the LPGA Tour include Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., who was fourth in the individual competition at the inaugural tournament. She was on Canada’s bronze-medal team in 2014 with Selena Costabile of Thornhill, Ont., and Calgary’s Jaclyn Lee.
Other notable competitors who went on to become LPGA Tour winners include Angel Yin and Megan Khang of the United States, as well as Yuka Saso of the Philippines, Sweden’s Linn Grant and Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand.
“It’s not if, it’s when they’re going to be on the LPGA Tour,” said Garrett Ball, Golf Canada’s chief operating officer, of how Canada’s golfers in the World Junior Girls Championship can be part of the organization’s goal to have 30 pros in the LPGA and PGA Tours by 2032.
“Events like this, like the She Plays Golf festival that we launched two years ago, and then the CPKC Women’s Open exemptions that we utilize to bring in our national team athletes and get the experience has been important in that pathway.”
The individual winner of the World Junior Girls Golf Championship will earn a berth in next year’s CPKC Women’s Open at nearby Mississaugua Golf and Country Club.
Both clubs, as well as former RBC Canadian Open host site Glen Abbey Golf Club, were devastated by heavy rains through June and July as the Greater Toronto Area had its wettest summer in recorded history.
Jason Hanna, the chief operating officer of Credit Valley Golf and Country Club, said that he has seen the Credit River flood so badly that it affected the course’s playability a handful of times over his nearly two decades with the club.
Staff and members alike came together to clean up the course after the flooding was over, with hundreds of people coming together to make the club playable again.
“You had to show up, bring your own rake, bring your own shovel, bring your own gloves, and then we’d take them down to the golf course, assign them to areas where they would work, and then we would do a big barbecue down at the halfway house,” said Hanna. “We got guys, like, 80 years old, putting in eight-hour days down there, working away.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
NEW YORK (AP) — Fenway Park has the Ted Williams seat. And now Citi Field has the Grimace seat.
The kid-friendly McDonald’s character made another appearance at the ballpark Monday, when the New York Mets unveiled a commemorative purple seat in section 302 to honor “his special connection to Mets fans.”
Wearing his pear-shaped purple costume and a baseball glove on backwards, Grimace threw out a funny-looking first pitch — as best he could with those furry fingers and short arms — before New York beat the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on June 12.
That victory began a seven-game winning streak, and Grimace the Mets’ good-luck charm soon went viral, taking on a life of its own online.
New York is 53-31 since June 12, the best record in the majors during that span. The Mets were tied with rival Atlanta for the last National League playoff spot as they opened their final homestand of the season Monday night against Washington.
The new Grimace seat in the second deck in right field — located in row 6, seat 12 to signify 6/12 on the calendar — was brought into the Shannon Forde press conference room Monday afternoon. The character posed next to the chair and with fans who strolled into the room.
The seat is available for purchase for each of the Mets’ remaining home games.
“It’s been great to see how our fanbase created the Grimace phenomenon following his first pitch in June and in the months since,” Mets senior vice president of partnerships Brenden Mallette said in a news release. “As we explored how to further capture the magic of this moment and celebrate our new celebrity fan, installing a commemorative seat ahead of fan appreciation weekend felt like the perfect way to give something back to the fans in a fun and unique way.”
Up in Boston, the famous Ted Williams seat is painted bright red among rows of green chairs deep in the right-field stands at Fenway Park to mark where a reported 502-foot homer hit by the Hall of Fame slugger landed in June 1946.
So, does this catapult Grimace into Splendid Splinter territory?
“I don’t know if we put him on the same level,” Mets executive vice president and chief marketing officer Andy Goldberg said with a grin.
“It’s just been a fun year, and at the same time, we’ve been playing great ball. Ever since the end of May, we have been crushing it,” he explained. “So I think that added to the mystique.”
