Emigrating for a job can be the toughest decision of all

Almost one thousand shipyard workers in Britain’s historic maritime city of Portsmouth are now having to make the decision to become unemployed or emigrate for a waiting job.

Shades of the Irish potato famine and its subsequent mass emigration to the USA are haunting the Portsmouth shipyards as BAE Systems closes down its operations. The closure comes as a result of the cancellation of a contract to build UK Navy frigates at the Portsmouth yards..

North Harbour’s Marriot Hotel served as a lifeboat for many of the experienced shipbuilders recently, seeing most of the soon to be unemployed arrive to discover what life and work would be like in a Nova Scotia shipyard. Canada is investing heavily in new vessels for its navy, and there are plenty of jobs waiting in Irving Shipbuilding’s newly-opened facility.

Vice president of Irving Shipbuilding Scott Jamieson, a former Portsmouth resident, said the city was the obvious recruitment hub for highly skilled workers. However, the decisions faced by those who have extended families and elderly parents are as tough as they can possibly get. J

amieson is happy to encourage the shipyard workers and their wives and children by setting out exactly what jobs are available and providing information about Nova Scotia’s people, lifestyle, housing and schools. However, he realises that packing up and leaving the close-knit world of the shipyards with its friendly communities is incredibly difficult, even for younger skilled workers with no dependents.