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My husband was working in the roofing company and he—they were all big tall guys, very big you know, strong guys. Blonde, blue eyes. And he was the only immigrant working there. I don’t know how lucky he was they accept him, but they didn’t accept them but they hired him but that doesn’t mean they accept him, because they even don’t like people from other part of the country to come work because it’s good pay job and that’s only for people who are born here in Victoria and so on.
So he was working and trying his best because—he is tall my husband is very tall but he look shorter beside those guys. And, it’s good when the discrimination is open because you can defend yourself. So one was telling him, “You were an immigrant , you have to do whatever I tell you.” Like that. And he went and say to him, “Look at me. I’m dark. I’m from this continent. You are blond and blue eyed, you are from Europe. Who is the immigrant here?”
Ruth Miranda was born in Los Sauces, Chile in 1951. Following the military coup in Chile on September 11, 1973, life became increasingly dangerous for Ruth and her family. Both Ruth and her husband Pedro supported the former president Salvador Allende and were under constant threat for their political beliefs. They decided to immigrate to Canada after talking to Pedro’s brother who had come to Winnipeg, Manitoba as a refugee shortly after the coup. Ruth, Pedro and their children immigrated to Winnipeg in 1979 and moved to Victoria, British Columbia shortly after.
The transition to life in Canada was very difficult and the family ended up moving back to Chile in 1986. However, the conditions there were challenging as the country was still under a dictatorship. The family returned to Victoria after only a year and a half in Chile. In Victoria, Ruth initially worked as a house cleaner and home health care provider. She later found work with the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria, offering settlement support to new immigrants. Ruth has been with the organization for over 23 years.