Annette Wilde, Artsci’80, immigrated to Canada in 1964. Now, she’s returning to Queen’s so that she can help other immigrants unlock their own potential. She writes about how she’s learning to give back “in a whole new way.”
It is 6 a.m., –15 degrees outside, and I am standing at the bus stop on Union Street outside Goodes Hall. The cold bites at my cheeks, but I hardly notice. This corner of Union and Alfred is more than a bus stop to me – it symbolizes a crossroads of my life.
Victoria Public School once stood here, my middle school, and just behind it was Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute (KCVI), my high school. And now, 45 years after I first studied at Queen’s, I find myself returning to campus as a student once more.
My family came to Kingston from Amsterdam in 1964, when my father arrived on sabbatical. What was meant to be temporary became permanent. Both my parents built their careers as professors of psychology at Queen’s, and the university quickly became the centre of our lives.
For me, the journey began at Sydenham Public School. I arrived with no English and had to learn quickly to survive in what felt like a very anglophone community. Those first months were daunting, but they taught me resilience and gave me a deep appreciation for the power of language and education.
From Sydenham, I moved on to Victoria Public School, then to KCVI, Ontario’s oldest public secondary school. Each step carried me closer to Queen’s, both geographically and symbolically. By the time I enrolled at Queen’s in 1977, the campus already felt like home, not only because my parents taught there, but because my own path had been leading me there all along.
Back then, Queen’s was a much smaller place. In the late 1970s, enrolment was around 10,000 students. Today, Queen’s has more than 28,000 students, including thousands from around the world. Walking across campus now, I feel the scale of that transformation. The limestone buildings I remember are still here, but they’re joined by modern facilities and a vibrant international community.
And yet, despite all the change, the spirit of Queen’s endures. Last year, I went to Queen’s Homecoming for the first time. I cheered at the football game, joined in a spirited Oil Thigh, and walked around the stadium to the sound of alumni and students cheering us on. It was a moment of pure belonging and a reminder that Queen’s traditions still connect generations across time.
Returning after 45 years, I feel the same sense of belonging I did as a young student. This time, I am completing the Queen's Graduate Diploma in Immigration and Citizenship Law (GDipICL) – a program that not only deepens my own learning, but equips me to help other families experience a journey like mine.
My work will be to help newcomers come to Canada: finding the right Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) program, guiding them through the maze of forms, and supporting them through what has become a tough process these days. I know firsthand how daunting it can be to arrive in a new country, unsure of the language and the culture. My goal is to make that path smoother, to help people find belonging in their new communities, and to thrive in the way mine did.
Education is not a chapter that closes; it is a thread that weaves through a lifetime. For me, Queen’s is not only where I began, but where I return, again and again, to grow, to learn, and now equipping me to give back in a whole new way.
