Finding the key to a brighter future

Laurent and Véronique Levy

Most Canadians have heard of doctors who immigrate and then learn it will take years before they can practice medicine here. But doctors and other professionals are not alone in their plight. Just ask locksmith Laurent Levy. He discovered there are barriers for locksmiths and others in the trades, as well. 

Levy decided to move to Montreal from France because, like many French Jews, he and his wife, Véronique, want more for their children. They worried that already high rates of unemployment and violent incidents in France would continue to rise. And, although neither Levy nor his family had personally encountered anti-Semitism, it was also on their minds. As a locksmith, Levy says he may have avoided problems because most of his customers knew him only as Laurent or Monsieur Laurent.  

When the Levys chose to re-locate to Montreal, Laurent Levy did his research. “I even took all the necessary steps to have my diplomas and training recognized in Quebec,” he says. Once in Montreal, Levy began the process of obtaining his certification to work in Quebec. Since French is his mother tongue, he wasn’t worried about the required language exams. As he’d expected, he passed. He was then told he’d have to take a health and safety course. He passed that, as well. Armed with his knowledge of French, his diplomas, locksmith qualifications and 20 years of experience, Levy thought it would only be a matter of time before he could work on any job site in Quebec, including new residential and commercial building sites. 

Levy was wrong. 

“I was told I would have to do 4,800 hours as a locksmith apprentice and another 5,400 hours of electrical training,” he says. “That would have meant another three years of training and three years’ more of “on the job” experience before I could get full accreditation to work on a Quebec construction site.” With four children to support, Levy couldn’t afford to start over from the beginning. But, unlike many professionals held back by similar barriers in their fields, he had an option: opening his own locksmith business. Within four months, he took the leap and opened “Serrurier A.T.S.” With his wife Véronique working with him, Levy is now making his name as a locksmith in the city and building a family business. And now, both his first and last name are on his business cards.  

The family has settled into life in Montreal. On their arrival, they contacted JIAS and Véronique Levy says she’s glad they did. It was one of her family’s first links to the community.  

Life here is good and yet, when he’s asked if there is anything he misses from France, there’s no mistaking the wistfulness in Levy’s voice. “My parents,” he says and, for an instant, the burly locksmith looks and sounds homesick. But his resolve is clear. Levy says he is convinced they did the right thing in coming here and, he adds, he likes Montreal and the way people get along, no matter who they are or where they come from. 

“It was not like this in Paris,” he says and this time there is no wistfulness.