My name is Berto Volpentesta. I'm a first-generation Canadian. My parents emigrated from Italy in the early 1950s with their two infant daughters. My father was a skilled craftsman and was self-employed as a construction renovations repair worker of homes. My mother managed the household and raised the children, as well as working in a factory to make ends meet.
I was born and raised in one of the more ethnically diverse areas of Toronto. I have in fact been living the multicultural experience all my life. I attended high school along with adults and youth, and I think there were about 140 countries represented at the high school I attended. I made mention of that in my valedictory speech, where I pointed out that diversity might in fact be the strength we could draw upon as we moved forward in our lives.
When I was 16, my father suffered a serious illness, so I had to work while finishing high school and my two university degrees. I graduated from York University in 1988 with a specialized degree in public policy and administration. I focused on international relations, national policy, and defence. When I graduated there were few opportunities to enter that particular field, so I tried to gain some work experience. I worked for the Canadian Cancer Society as a fundraiser and a coordinator.
Around the same time, I was volunteering my time coaching a youth hockey team, and in that particular year we went to the finals. I could see the excitement on the kids' faces and I sensed their sense of accomplishment. This was in part what drew me towards teaching. I took employment as a curriculum coordinator with a youth newspaper. I became a mentor for the adult literacy program in a library close to where I lived. I also took volunteer positions as a teaching assistant in some of the schools around where I lived.
When I applied to teachers' college, I was selected as one of the 10,000 applicants who had applied during that year. I graduated in 1991 with a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Toronto. I was on the dean's list, and I was certified to teach politics and social sciences, and later I picked up law and English as a second language as my other teachable subjects.
As I graduated from teachers' college, a friend from university days, who was working for a social service agency helping immigrants and newcomers to settle in Canada, mentioned something about a backlog and the plight of some of the people in that backlog. He said it would fit the background I had in public policy and that I could help a lot of people; he thought it would be a good thing for me to do. It sounded very interesting, and that's how I started in the immigration business. Seventeen years later, I'm still practising immigration, and during that time I have found ways to combine my education with my business.
I became involved with the professional organizations that were around at that time, including the Organization of Professional Immigration Consultants, then later the Association of Immigration Counsel of Canada and, finally, when they merged, the Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants. I participated on a voluntary basis in those organizations as a committee member for education, as a chair of the education committee, and as second vice-president responsible for national education. I became the first ever secretary of the merged association, and I became the first ever paid executive director of the new Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants. I also served in the industry, volunteering with the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants, the regulator of the consulting industry, as a member of the exam review committee. I was also served on the disciplinary council of the society.
In March 2001, I was blessed with the birth of my daughter. By early 2002 my business partner was saying that he didn't want to do immigration anymore. It was a good time for me to re-evaluate where I wanted to go. I thought that being an IRB member would be a good thing to do, considering my experience and my goals, and all of those things.
So I reviewed the IRB website and then applied in August 2002. I went through the whole process at that time and made it to the list of those waiting to be appointed. But the term expired, and I reapplied in December 2006. I followed the application again on the IRB website, and by July 2007 I had received a notice that I had to be re-examined under a new process. I complied with all of that.
In late January or early February 2008, I received a phone call asking me if I wanted a position on the IRB. Of course I said yes, and I started turning my attention to how long I would need to wrap up my affairs. So I start my appointment on May 1, 2008.
Thank you.