COVER STORY

A PLACE TO CALL HOME

The founders of a neighbourhoodlocating website are making locating website are making the move to Canada easier for the move to Canada easier for newcomers newcomers

BY LISA EVANS PHOTOS BY RICCARDO CELLERE PHOTOS BY RICCARDO CELLERE

Mauro Repacci and Gustavo Burckhardt know one of the greatest challenges of moving to a new country is choosing a place to live, not only the city, but the actual neighbourhood. The Brazilian men both immigrated to Montreal and ended up living in neighbourhoods that weren’t ideally suited to their lifestyles. They understood that finding that perfect neighbourhood can mean the difference between a happy life in Canada or an unfulfilled one, so they set out to find an easy solution to help newcomers like them. So they created a website to help individuals and families find the right community for them, even before they landed in Canada.

They named their company Navut, a combination between two Swedish words that together mean “navigating a different land.”

“The Swedish Vikings were [among the first] people who navigated different lands and we saw ourselves like them, coming into a new place without knowing what’s coming,” says Repacci.

Repacci arrived in Montreal eight years ago in the middle of a December snowstorm with just two suitcases. After researching neighbourhoods online, he thought it would be best to live in the Plateau; an eclectic, trendy area of the city with a wealth of unique cafés, pubs, art galleries and gourmet shops, and populated by students, artists and young families. When Repacci started looking for a place to live in the area, he discovered the price range was far out of his reach.

He also realized many of the houses didn’t have garages, meaning most residents parked their cars on the street and had to scrape snow and ice off their windshields every winter morning — something the Brazilian couldn’t imagine doing. Repacci had to act quickly to find a new neighbourhood to live in and visited five different areas before ending up in Griffintown — in the southwestern downtown part of Montreal.

“At the time, it was a new neighbourhood. There weren’t a lot of services there, but the price was lower than downtown,” he says. Because price was Repacci’s main criteria, he settled within Griffintown, and within a few months of moving there, a grocery store opened nearby. “I got lucky,” he says of his neighbourhood find.

Burckhardt’s story is similar. Like most immigrants, his main criteria upon moving to Montreal in 2011 was price, but without taking any other factors into account, he ended up living in a neighbourhood that was very far from downtown and had poor access to transportation. Not only was the area inconvenient, it lacked many of the amenities the young, single Brazilian was looking for. “The majority of Brazilians I knew before coming here were families or couples and their idea of a good place to live was quite different [than mine],” he says. An apartment in a family-friendly neighbourhood wasn’t the profile the outgoing newcomer was looking for.

Repacci and Burckhardt’s stories are comparable to many newcomers who arrive in Canadian cities and end up in areas that aren’t a good fit for their lifestyles. Choosing the wrong neighbourhood can not only result in inconveniences (commuting long distances to get to work, for example), but can negatively affect your family’s quality of life in Canada. For instance, Repacci points out that public schools in Canada only admit students within a geographical area. “It’s not like that in other countries, so people come here and they just look at the house or the apartment, but they forget that their kids will have to go to school in that area,” he says. Navut’s website allows families to filter neighbourhoods for high-quality schools.

Navut was Repacci’s brainchild. An entrepreneur from childhood, he always wanted to own his own company. “I would be that kid who tried to trade things with people and make money,” he says. At the age of 12, Repacci sold kites during the Brazilian Carnival and always dreamed of having a business of his own. “It was just about finding the right moment and the right idea,” the company’s CEO says.

When he realized how much money you have to spend to move and that other immigrants like him had made mistakes choosing the wrong area upon their arrival in Canada, Repacci knew he was onto something. He put out an ad looking for someone with a technical background to help him design the website. Burckhardt, a program-

mer, replied.

The fact that the two were both from Brazil was a casual circumstance, but one that cemented their bond as business partners. “We both understood what the need of someone moving is,” says Repacci. The two men put in long hours on evenings and weekends, working on the early stages of Navut while they kept their day jobs. Burckhardt was the first to leave his job and focus exclusively on Navut. Repacci soon followed and in 2012 Navut.com was officially launched.

Since then, the website has been used in more than 130 countries by soon-to-be immigrants searching for their new home in Canada. They’re now in the process of translating Navut. com into other languages to make it more accessible to newcomers whose first language isn’t English or French.

Starting the business had some challenges, of course — namely, finding a team of individuals who shared the same vision and ideals. “When you arrive in a new country, you give up your network in the country you’re coming from,” says Repacci.

Fortunately, they found a solid team in designer Aureabelle Cruz, an immigrant from the Philippines who came to Canada as a youth, and sales and marketing professional Marcos Azevedo, who has moved 20 times in his life before settling in Montreal in 2009.

Repacci not only credits his team, who are all dubbed “co-founders,” for seeing Navut become a reality, but thanks Canada as a whole, too. “Canada is a great place to start a company,” he says. “There are lots of resources to help entrepreneurs.” The Navut team recently fulfilled the dream of many entrepreneurial Canadians by pitching their company to some of Canada’s most esteemed investors on CBC’s Dragons’ Den. Their episode is scheduled to broadcast in the 2014-2015 season. As new Canadians, the process of building Navut provided a unique learning opportunity for Repacci and Burckhardt to discover cities across the country. Not surprisingly, sorting through data on different cities changed the way each thought about their own neighbourhoods. “If I’d had this kind of information and knowledge I have now about the city [of Montreal], I probably would have made a lot of different choices,” says Burckhardt, who is planning to move within the next couple of months. “I have two new neighbourhoods in mind,” he says — both of which he found using Navut. Mauro Repacci (left) and Gustavo Burckhardt co-founded a website to help Canadian newcomers feel right at home!

Looking for information about living, learning and working in York Region?

Visit www.YorkWelcome.ca

On the move

Choosing the right neighbourhood in Canada for you

By Lisa Evans

The Navut.com team: Gustavo Burckhardt (top left) and Marcos Azevedo,, along with Aureabelle Cruz (bottom left) and Mauro Repacci.

Mauro Repacci and Gustavo Burckhardt certainly know the challenges newcomers face in finding a place to live. They’ve heard many stories of newcomers who have felt trapped in the wrong neighbourhood after signing a one-year lease before realizing the area lacked amenities that were important to them. Making a poor neighbourhood choice can be a costly error for a new immigrant. Not only is moving time consuming, but it can also be very expensive.

Follow these tips from the team at Navut to ensure you end up in the right Canadian neighbourhood: • Know what’s significant to you. Make a list of the factors that are most important to your life in Canada, taking into account your interests and lifestyle. For many newcomers, this list often includes budget, proximity to public transportation and amenities, languages spoken and cultural demographics. • Take into account proximity to your potential workplace. You may not know where you’re going to work when you first arrive in Canada, but choosing a location where there are employment options in your field close by can help guarantee a shorter commute. • Consider what neighbourhood amenities and services you will need. Is a weekly trip to a grocery store a 10-minute drive away sufficient for you, or are you the type of shopper who likes to pick up a few groceries for dinner on the way home from work? If you want to cook food from your home country, you may want to live in a neighbourhood that has an ethnic grocery store so you don’t have to travel a far distance to purchase it. If you’re a very social person, proximity to coffee shops, bars, restaurants or public libraries where you can meet new people may be at the top of your priority list. Consider what amenities you will need to make your life in Canada as comfortable as possible. • Understand the school district. If you have school-aged children going to public school, this will be an important factor for you in deciding where to live. Because public school children are normally required to attend a school within their geographic territory (often called a catchment area), selecting a neighbourhood with schools that have a good reputation may be your top priority. Navut uses data from the Fraser Institute’s annual school rankings to allow users to filter neighbourhoods based on school rankings. • Don’t rely on friends’ advice only. Having a friend or family member in the city you wish to move to can give you some inside knowledge, but keep in mind their criteria for a good neighbourhood may be different 16

than yours. If you’re a young, single person, you probably won’t think the neighbourhood recommended by an older couple with children will be right for you! • Look at the variety of homes in the area. Choosing a neighbourhood with a variety of home styles — from condos to to semi-detached homes to single detached homes — gives you lots of options if you want to upgrade your home at a later date, but want to remain in the neighbourhood you so carefully chose!

How Navut works

Navut helps users discover the best neighbourhood for them. Here’s how it works: 1. The user first selects from seven destination cities (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg or Ottawa). They are then asked to select the criteria they care about (such as schools, safety, proximity to local amenities, proximity to downtown, curb appeal, percentage of homeowners in the area, languages and cultural communities) and rank each according to its level of importance on a scale of one to 10. 2. Navut uses data derived from 20 different sources including the Canadian Census and the National Household Survey for demographics, the Fraser Institute’s school report cards and local police stations for safety to make neighbourhood recommendations for users based on what they have indicated is important to them. 3. The top five neighbourhoods are displayed on a Google map. Users can read through neighbourhood profiles that describe the area’s demographics, safety, type of housing, schools, types of amenities, employment, transportation and walk score, and can then search through property listings within their price range and can be connected with a real estate agent or property manager.

TOURISM INDUSTRY AWAITS YOU

Royal Roads University’s School of Tourism and Hospitality Management is a flexible and career-focused option for newcomers

If you happen to visit Hotel Le Germain in Calgary, you might just run into Jeet Jani, the boutique hotel’s guest services manager. Jani came to the job after graduating from Royal Roads University’s School of Tourism and Hospitality Management in Victoria, B.C. Although he lived in Calgary and had spent two years at a college there, the Indian hotelier decided to finish his degree at Royal Roads on Vancouver Island.

“Royal Roads’ BA in International Hotel Management came up as a good option because of the condensed, one-year curriculum, the small class sizes and the focus on real-life experiences,” says Jani about his university experience. “Some other programs I looked at were more like business degrees with some hotel management offerings; in comparison, Royal Roads University is preparing you to become a hotel manager working in the industry.”

With a focus on high-quality teaching, hands-on work experience via internships, rapid career progression and the development of professional networks, Royal Roads’ School of Tourism and Hospitality Management is more than just a place of learning; it’s a place to start and grow your career in tourism and hospitality.

A growing number of students are international students and immigrants, says Tanya Aindow, manager, School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, and an immigrant from England herself.

“We have quite a high number of international students, and … we’re finding the number of students coming in who are immigrants is increasing,” she says. “There’s a mix of a lot of different countries and a lot of backgrounds. Some come in with some qualifications from their home country, looking for some Canadian qualifications. Others want to progress their education; for example, they have an undergraduate degree and want a master’s.”

Options for students include the Bachelor of Arts in Global Tourism Management and the Bachelor of Arts in International Hotel Management, which are both designed as completion programs, rather than a full four-year undergraduate program. The school also offers a Master of Arts in Tourism Management that prepares students who already have a few years of career experience for higher management positions in the industry. The programs are offered on campus, with some blended online/ campus options, and run from one to two years.

Flexible admission When accepting new students, Royal Roads doesn’t only accept students with credits from Canadian colleges; it takes a much more flexible approach than that, which is great news for immigrants with international credentials. “We have flexible admissions,” Aindow says. “For example, if a student does not have postsecondary, we could potentially accept them on their work experience. We look at their whole history so we ask them to supply as much information as possible — any experience, any volunteering in the field and even clubs they belong to. Based on all that, we then determine if they are good fit for the program. We want to see our students succeed. The last thing we want is people to join us if they are not the right fit or will struggle in the program.”

Campus connections Getting an education at the school is not just about getting a paper credential for your resumé, however; it’s about practical learning and making connections, too.

In addition to an emphasis on students getting hands-on internships in the industry, the teaching methods are interactive, with small class sizes and feedback on assignments throughout the semester, rather than just a series of lectures and a final exam. “This allows us to highlight any extra help they might need. We may advise them to get some additional support, such as language training via our International Study Centre, for example,” says Aindow.

“We also do quite a lot of team activities. We break the students up into teams of four or five students and make them diverse not only in ethnicity, but in age, background, work experience and gender,” she adds. “Success for us is for students to graduate with lifelong friends, who know each other and support each other as they progress in their careers.”

It’s a similar case for faculty-student relationships, as many of the instructors are professionals who are currently working in the industry. “Some of the faculty have great networks and the students often benefit with job connections,” Aindow says. She adds that the programs’ internships also often lead to permanent positions for the school’s students. “When they take the internship as a capstone to the program, 80 to 85 per cent are kept on in their positions.”

The tourism and hospitality industry is indeed one of the largest employers in Canada, particularly in British Columbia, and it is growing across the country. While traditionally workers in the field begin in entry-level jobs and work their way up, educational credentials such as those offered by Royal Roads allow workers to speed up their career. “It definitely helps them to leapfrog the competition,” Aindow says. “People with undergraduate and master’s degrees in the field tend to climb a lot faster in their careers.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ROYAL ROADS UNIVERSITY’S SCHOOL OF TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT, SEE ROYALROADS.CA.