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I was born in Seattle and left to Canada (married) when I was in early 20's!  This then was a good change for me as Vancouver was a great city compared to Seattle, moved right downtown and had a blast so for a young person (then) was great.  Met some great people from all over the world and had health care, medical/Dental etc.... I worked in the greater Vancouver area for 8 years and it was tough, very strict, and did not help that I was from the states, white bread Canadian seemed a bit jealous that I was there, sometimes not very friendly.  The Europeans I met were actually better to deal with and I got along quite well with them.  The cost of living was about the same as in Seattle.  After about 8 years being in Canada and working hard I saw America booming and the Canadian dollar was as low as $.62 cents (in late 90's) so I took my craft from Vancouver and brought it to the US just across the border, I became much happier working in the States, I took a little bit of bs but not bad from some that I had a Canadian accent (go figure when I moved up there I had a twang) I really never left the united states I will always be American and I have been still working in the US for over 20 years and deal with mainly Americans on a daily basis from all over the State of Washington.  Depending on where you grow up or end up you should never see a border Seattle and Vancouver have more in common than Vancouver / Calgary in fact most Canadians don't care much for the other provinces.  After 30 years of being part of both countries, I can say that people are people both have great offerings and if you took the best of Canada and America to combine then we would all prosper, there is so much both can learn from each other.  Bottom line:I take the best of both worlds and what they have to offer, yes, I have found less expensive goods in Canada than what they cost in the states.  I have seen it from both eyes, and if you cant be open culturally then stay away.

The most racism I experienced in school was from teachers. Its the most profound kind of racism, because they are authority figures. The thing is when your fellow students display racism it doesn't have the same gravity as it does when your teacher does it because you know your teacher does know better but they truly believe it.In University, I actually had a teacher give a lesson that was so tinged with racism that it really broke me down, because what I've come to realize is that so many people think that being racist is saying actual racist words and don't understand that perpetuating stereotypes are the most prevalent forms of racism.  It is demoralizing because it feels like a losing battle when your teacher is perpetuating racially disparaging ideas to an entire class, and you think about how many people are going to be influenced by that idea and in turn perpetuate it. I realized that this teacher really insidiously believed what she was saying was true, but that it just wasn't politically correct to say it. The main principle of white privilege is that white people get to be individuals but people of colour get grouped together by the most base stereotype of their race.  I don't think Black-focused schools are the solution. I think more integrated schools with diverse populations of students and teachers are the solution.\n Then there are concrete issues of race, space and the law. For example when you come to realize that carding continues in Toronto, and that most residents do not care that young Black men are being harassed and treated like criminals by the police because it does not affect their community, it makes you wonder if people are only inclined to feel empathy for those who look like them.