Country-bouncing and carrers...

[Zephii]

As many of you proably remember, Obi and I have chosen to not settle in either country - because that's not an option for us, at least not now. We may settle in Canada eventually but, that's in 6-10 years from now. So, picking a country isn't an option but most of our time will be in Canada.

Thus, we both need carrers that can be done in either country, and which does not have a seniority based salary. Obi lucked out. He has such a carrer. Good for him.

I put off going to uni to go to Canada to be with him, but now I'm back home I have the opportunity to study. (I couldn't study on the visa I had) And, for quite a while now I've had my heart set on becoming a civil celebrant. This is someone who can legally marry people, precide over funerals and perform other life celebrations, like rites of passage and baby-naming ceremonies. The course is fairly inexpensive and takes less than a year. Practically a dream come true for me...

Until last night when I googled to see if my qualifications would be valid in Canada.

In BC, they don't appear to have civil celebrants at all. They have marriage commisioners - but these people only do marriages, there are very few of them because the goverment decides how many are allowed in a region, and to be considered for the position you need to be retired. I'm 24. Retirement is a long way off for me.

Now, I've emailed the BC government about this in the hopes I'm wrong, but as I can't find any celebrancy courses or anything similar online... it's looking bad.

So, my choices are:
1) Do the course anyway, and work this carrer when I'm in Australia only. Risk resenting Obi every time we go back to Canada as it's yet another thing I'll be giving up.
2) Don't bother to do the course, risk resenting Obi anyway.

Adive? Opinions? What would you do?

[kteire]

I dunno if it's maybe just BC, but I have a family friend that's a civil celebrant in Ontario Would it be an option that long-term you could settle elsewhere in Canada to be able to work? Or are you really set on BC?
I know there's a group called CCAOC (here) that we actually get a lot of calls about at my office, as we're called CCAC. I'm not sure if they operate just out of one province or what, but it does seem like it's a possibility at least in some parts of Canada (and actually, I just googled "civil celebrant Canada" and found a few results out of vancouver!)
I'd say if you've had your heart set on it, go for it!! If you do the course and find you love it, you can figure that out for being back in Canada. Maybe see if you can find any celebrants in your area and contact them to find out how they got qualified?

I know the feeling though. Loic has a great career, and I've delayed the course I want to do in order to move to the UK next week. I don't regret doing that, but I am tired of not having my own career and niche!

[Zephii]

BC is our only option. We want to be close to family and friends, no matter which country we are in. That website looks promising though, thank you very much.

[Mara]

They don't have civil celebrants in BC? That sort of blows my mind a little bit.

I wouldn't do the course if when the two of you went back to BC you couldn't use it, but I would ask you is there anything else that you've perhaps always wanted to do? Or maybe there's something else out there that you'd really like, but just haven't discovered yet. I always had my heart set on being a writer, but that sort of thing doesn't really pay the bills unless your book does well so I ended up studying to become an anthropologist and now plan on being a college professor. Being a writer has always been my dream and something I may pursue to a lesser extent one day, but I can't say that I'm unhappy with the profession I've chosen because I'm not.

Or maybe, you could be a civil celebrant in addition to being something else? I know several people who have jobs outside of being a civil celebrant. Usually a bit of a 'day job' if you will.

[lucybelle]

I say go for it! Do what you love! But maybe while you're taking the class you could also start another job that could potentially be mobile. Like my cousin is a fabulous artist and loves to draw, but she's getting a degree in engineering with a minor in art. So she gets to do what she loves and also has a higher chance of getting a job. Is there anyway you could do something similar?

[Zephii]

Thanks everyone. It's still confusing but at least it seems doable now. There's so much misinformation on the web it's crazy. But I'm going to do it