Alka Merlin ’08: Helping Others Find Their Way After Finding Her Own

(SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY — May 5, 2025) Twelve years after Alka Merlin ’08 first arrived in Canada and nearly two years after she became a citizen, the native Croatian received the King Charles III Coronation Medal for her contributions to her new country.

Merlin was shocked when a member of the Canadian Parliament called her last March. “I was very confused,” she recalls. “I said ‘Really? Me?’ But we had a conversation, and he told me, ‘You really fought tooth and nail to get people the type of support they need to settle and build their lives here.’”

Merlin’s award-winning work, which she graciously insists was collaborative, took place during her time as the director of communications and external relations for Immigrant Services Calgary (ISC), a nonprofit that helps immigrants settle in Calgary, in the province of Alberta. Her tenure at the ISC, which ended in September 2024, coincided with the war in Ukraine and the large influx of Ukrainian refugees fleeing to Canada.

Her Own Resettlement

Merlin knows firsthand how hard it was to settle in Canada. Her passion for working with refugees grew out of her own experience as a newcomer to The Great White North in 2013.

 “Canada is a wonderful country, and it provides a lot of opportunity for a lot of people but it’s not as easy to build your life here as one might think,” she says. “I didn’t know anything about life in Canada. I had to piece the information together for myself.”

Living in a different country was nothing new for Merlin, who was born in Croatia, grew up in Libya, and attended the University of New York in Prague, where she got a degree in communications and mass media from Empire State University in 2008. As a child, she spoke Croatian at home, English at school, and went on to learn Arabic and French.  

After college, she returned to Croatia, where the unemployment rate was climbing. Merlin managed to find an administrative job working for a real estate developer but knew she wanted something more.

One night, she saw a news segment about young Croatians moving to Canada on a one-year work and travel permit. Merlin was immediately intrigued and began doing research.

“I decided at 2 a.m. that I’m going to apply and began the application process,” she says.

Four months later, Merlin received a working holiday visa, which gave her a year to live and work in Canada. She sold everything she owned and boarded a plane to Calgary, where a childhood friend had encouraged her to live.

“I didn’t think Croatia could give me what I deserved,” Merlin says. “This was my chance to build the life I had envisioned for myself.”

A Difficult Start

Getting a job in Calgary, however, wasn’t so easy either. People were nice and polite, she says, but she sensed their judgment of her as an outsider.

“The minute I opened my mouth, and I have an accent, they would look at me differently,” Merlin says. “Is she smart enough? Is she capable enough? Oh, she wants to be a communications professional. Is her English good enough? It was a continuous battle to convince people you are worth something, that you have expertise, and a skill set, and they should hire you.”

Once in Canada, Merlin knew she needed an employer that would sponsor a work visa for her.  She found that job at a liquor store, first as a cashier, then as an assistant manager

Determined to resume her career in communications, Merlin continued applying for jobs but could not get an interview.  She asked two friends — a recruiter and an HR professional — to review her resume and tell her what she was doing wrong. Both said her resume was fine. One offered to buy her beer.

“She said your name is a problem because it’s not English sounding and it’s not Anglican,” Merlin says. “What is Alka?  Your last name is kind of an international name but what is Alka?”

Merlin finally got her break when a friend told her about an opening for a communications assistant at the United Way of Calgary and Area. The friend put in a good word, and Merlin got an interview, then the job. “That was one of the happiest days of my life,” she says.

After two months, the vice president called her in and told her she was clearly not an assistant. Merlin thought she was getting fired. Instead, she was promoted to corporate writer, eventually rising to become the head of external communications.

Helping Others Settle in Calgary

Merlin’s experience primed her perfectly for her next role as director of communications at the ISC. When Russia’s war against Ukraine began in 2022, the Canadian government started a temporary residence program for Ukranians that expedited their work and residency visas. The goal was to give Ukrainian refugees a safe place to live until they could return home.

The government offered settlement programs that helped the new arrivals learn English, navigate the Canadian job market, and access healthcare, childcare, and housing. Merlin’s job was to help them tap into those resources. She oversaw an outreach team that greeted refugees at the airport, traveled around Calgary doing presentations, and worked with government officials to make sure the supports and services were adequate and culturally appropriate.

It was while she was helping Ukrainian refugees that Merlin herself became a Canadian citizen on June 5, 2023, 10 years and one day after her arrival in Calgary. Today, she is married and working as the director of communications for Vibrant Communities Calgary, where she helps to alleviate poverty.

Merlin still remembers the exact moment when she knew she was going to stay in Canada. She had been in Calgary for five months and was walking home from work at 4:30 p.m., in the early darkness and frigid cold.

“It was minus 40 degrees Celsius (-40 Fahrenheit), when your eyelashes freeze,” she says. “Everything was frozen. I was all bundled up, and I had a 15-minute walk home. In some ways it was one of the most unsettled times of my life. But I realized for the first time in my life that it was easier to breathe. I felt like I had found my place, and I just smiled to myself and said, ‘Yeah, I want to stay.’”