Konstantin Toroshchin is fulfilling his father's dream of living in Canada, all while trying to carve a new future for himself and his family.
The Russian native comes to Estevan via St. Petersburg where he studied and decided to migrate to Canada.
His father, a geologist, settled in Siberia in the resource town Novy Urengoy or New Urengoy. Toroshchin said it's much like Estevan, a city built around the resources underground, and founded because of the immense gas field in the area that spurred an economy driven by drilling, an atmosphere many of those in Estevan will be able to relate to.
There are many roads that lead to Estevan, and Toroshchin's took several years, though the seed was planted many years earlier.
As a geologist, Toroshchin's father had an opportunity to travel to Canada for work. He spent a few weeks in Alberta when his company sent him there to observe drilling rigs and work with technologists in Western Canada. After that, his father wanted Canada to be his new home, the place where he would raise a family and continue to work.
"His father always dreamed of moving to Canada," said Oksana Miller, Toroshchin's wife. The pair got married in Estevan through a justice of the peace at the Estevan Court House.
"(My father) applied for immigration. My mother, as a construction engineer, and my father as a geologist, were accepted, but then they had to pass an English test. My mother, she passed, but my father failed. Then they gave up. End of the story," Toroshchin said with a laugh.
After he graduated in 2009 from university, where he studied hospitality management, he said his father was bugging him to look into his options in Canada.
"It was his idea to send me to Canada, so I went to Canada."
Toroshchin studied English at the International Language Academy of Canada in Toronto when he first arrived in Canada in July 2010. He spoke minimal English, but studying full-time at the academy helped him.
With his student visa he attended Niagara College, enrolling in their two-year hospitality program.
"It was very different," he said of his Ontario college classes. "All the professors, those people were more practical guys. They were familiar with the business. They weren't just reading the books. They were guys who worked with companies in the industry."
He completed an internship working at the Hilton Hotel in Niagara Falls. When his student visa ran out following the completion of his college program, he went back to Russia while waiting for his work visa to come through. After a few more months, he came back to Canada, first landing in Regina looking for work.
A number of things drew him to Saskatchewan when he was deciding where to find work in Canada, particularly the strong economy and the attractive Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program.
"It's a very attractive program for immigrants. The immigration process was easier in the SINP," he said.
While he had some difficulty finding work in Regina, after a month or so he moved to Estevan in 2012, getting a job as a floor hand at a well servicing company.
He worked for a few other companies over the last couple of years, but for Toroshchin, simply working in Estevan wasn't enough. He wanted to be his own boss, something rare for immigrants who don't yet have their permanent residency, and while he wasn't sure if he was even allowed to open a business, he found nothing restricting his desire to get himself started. Registering a company name and getting through the application process, he now runs Beeline Taxi, a service he expects will grow, adding a pair of drivers by the end of the year.
"Canada is really open for new people to realize themselves," said Miller. "Estevan is a good place to start a business. It's a small community, but it's really busy."
"There's lots of opportunity," added Toroshchin. "You just need a start."
