Supneet Chawla, a qualified engineer who moved to Canada from a tiny town in India, had very little support settling in Canada.
“The difficulty began the day I landed,” Chawla added, noting that language and culture obstacles were challenging to overcome.
Despite being a fully trained engineer from India, she had to return to school and retake seven examinations to obtain her professional engineering designation. After six years of working as a professional engineer, she got laid off; she chose to follow her passion. She decided to help tradespeople struggling with the red seal exam despite taking the secure path forward.
She launched ACE Community College and ACE Trades and Technical Institute fifteen years ago in her mother’s garage with no investment capital and office. She began teaching and guiding struggling immigrants, just like she had when she first arrived in Canada. She passed out flyers at SkyTrain stations, local supermarkets, and Punjabi radio stations. She trained folks from all around Canada who were attempting to pass their exams in less than six months. Since then, ACE has grown from a one-woman show to a designated trainer for the Industry Training Authority, offering training in over 20 trades to hundreds of students.
She started teaching because education has always been near to her heart. The language barrier is significant, and many competent immigrants are terrified of taking the exams. They’ve been in Canada for 10 or 15 years and are still working for minimum wage as they have no support or guidance and wind up performing dead-end jobs to feed their families. That’s why I started training tradespeople so they wouldn’t have to go through what I did.”
She began working toward her objective of opening an institute that would train tradespeople exclusively, teach them, and assist them in finding a solid and steady career in 2013. After nine years, Ace Community College, located at 9486 and 120 Street, is still assisting students in beginning a new job, with a placement record of over 95%.
On the other hand, Chawla argues that education, not her or ACE, is the key to success. The key is never to give up and keep pushing through each challenge to become stronger. Chawla intends to encourage her three-year-old daughter to pursue a career as an electrician. She has found the skilled trades to accommodate immigrants and women, save from a few unfortunate incidents. She urged women, people of colour, and immigrants to participate. Her journey is motivated by the desire to leave a legacy for her daughter. I don’t want her to accept anything less than her ideal situation. Being aware and in a zone where you believe you deserve and will receive something is critical for a female. The conditioning of females encourages them to think that they are inferior to men. But you’ve earned it, and you’ll get it. She is hell-bent on setting an excellent example for her kid.
