1 week Ago By Sydney Morton
For all of us, the COVID-19 pandemic was a curve ball we didn’t see coming, but for Folu Oloyede, it changed the course of his life. The Nigerian man was visiting his sister in Fort McMurray, Alta., and was scheduled to fly home in April 2020.
But when the pandemic hit, Canadian borders closed and planes were grounded, leaving him with no choice but to stay in Canada away from his wife, Kenny, and young son Dotun. “I couldn’t get a ticket out of Canada and then I was stuck. I tried everything I could because I left a four-year-old baby at home, so I tried to get out of here, but I couldn’t and then I was stuck,” said Oloyede.
During the lockdown, Oloyede stayed with his sister and her family. In August 2020 the Canadian government opened a new temporary policy that allowed visitors to apply for a work permit without having to leave the country. This meant Oloyede could find work; he was able to gain employment from a family in Fort McMurray to help their children with their online schooling.
Story continues below advertisement About a year later, his sister’s husband took a job at the University of British Columbia Okanagan campus in Kelowna, B.C., and asked if Oloyede would like to move to the Okanagan Valley with them.
The email you need for the day's top news stories from Canada and around the world. He took them up on the offer. He applied for a job at the early childhood education centre, Maven Lane in Vernon, B.
C. There, he was referred to the Rural Northern.
