Close Reading

I agree that it is boring, cold, expensive, high tax high services, I mean people didn’t work for a year and got paid plenty for nothing. Taxes are incremental based on income as they should be. Coming from a major Latin American city, you have no idea what it is to live under fear of assault or harm at any moment, having corrupt politicians, police, and people in general. You are privileged having been born here because it is much easier to make a living, with good laws, you should go to places where people drink on the streets and pee and shit everywhere. I’m sure there are better places in the world but you will never feel like at home, and each place will have it’s own difficulties. I don’t think we all need to live in the same place but don’t believe that you are able to move to any place in the world if you weren’t Canadian.

This is SO true!!! I am American but have lived overseas in the UK and Europe. I can’t believe the difference. Living in America is so lonely! It’s isolating. It’s very sad. It didn’t used to be this way in the 40s, 50s, 60s 70s. This is a new phenomenon. Without w church family (and I’m not religious) you are literally on your own - and that’s as an American! I can’t believe what it would be like being a refugee or an immigrant. Depression is high and largely due to isolation.

i’m typing this as an american native with 1st generation mexican parents. i lived all my life in suburbs , i’m 23. i started doing online school at around age 13 so i stayed home and basically quit hanging out with anyone by age 14. i feel i grew up online, no real life friends, didn’t get to know or hangout with cousins my age due to their own plans or schedule. i still live a very lonely life but this video very greatly shows why i want to leave the US. neighbors hardly know each other and don’t want to, they instead will purchase guns and be paranoid about everyone, despite all they do is drive to work, do 10 hours, come back. repeat. \n\ni visited mexico twice, i like the culture there, and i wouldn’t mind trying to live out there for a year see how i like it. there’s plenty of good land to work, i’m willing to work hard and i’m ok with eating simple. as of now i’m just saving my money and getting it into investment and hopefully semi live off that when i move to mexico in 7-10 years

Canada is what you make of it. You can arrive rich and end up poor and you can arrive poor and end up rich. In between that, you can have a great life that balances your needs. I’ve seen immigrants succeed simply because they see the opportunity in front of them . They worked hard in their own counties to stay just above the poverty line ,but when they apply that same effort here it pays off ten times greater. I feel that compared to a lot of immigrants, natural born Canadians come across as spoiled and a little lazy…we are. We haven’t had to struggle the same way someone from a poorer country might have. I’ve talked to people who’ve worked ten to twelve hours a day just to stay afloat. If you did that here you could make plenty of money to live and have some left over. As far as owning a house goes,yes it’s expensive . I feel that homeownership in any country is relatively expensive. Here is a tip; use that soaring home prices to your advantage. Houses are expensive but you can make a lot of money buying and selling. I recommend putting together a buyers group and share the house for a few years, then sell at a profit, buy a bigger house or two smaller houses.try to buy the worst house in the best neighbourhood and fix it up slowly . That house could double in value in five or six years in the Toronto market. This is nothing new of course ,the people from India and China seem to do this a lot here ,it drives up prices and profits. On the downside to this ,you are now part of the problem. As the housing prices are driven up the non wealthy can no longer afford to own a house . They are at the mercy of high rents with no rewards of ownership. They are caught in a cycle of hard work and (relative)poverty. This could also be you if you can’t keep up the house payments and are forced to rent.\nHow well you speak English is important but your native language is also useful here because Canada is half immigrants . As a Canadian that speaks only english (Irish descent)I have to say to all newcomers that I’m very impressed that you have learned a new language and that you may even speak more than two! Don’t be embarrassed about your abilities . I find that in my experience , Canadians do not look down on people just because they don’t know English. In fact ,I’ve known people that have lived here for decades and still know very little English. They are comfortable in their communities and they function just fine. Learn as much English as suits your needs and be proud of any gains you make.\nOutside of Toronto are other cities that you might consider when looking at southern Ontario.From my experience,most are generally the same, just not as big . There are large immigrant communities in London Ontario, Hamilton and just outside of Toronto where housing is just a little bit less expensive but the commute to work is probably longer. This is just my opinion but in the small towns there are less people of colour , (which is what people of no colour call everyone else . I wonder if I’m called a person of no colour in some other culture ? LoL ). That might make it harder for you to feel integrated ,if that’s what you want. I’m not saying that people from other cultures can’t make it in a small town , I’m just saying that it’s definitely not Toronto . Here, people of any nationality can feel like they have a place where they can belong . It seems that no matter where you are from ,there is a community already here that’s set up restaurants and stores and clothing shops and newcomer support systems. And if your from Portugal or China or India or Africa or the Middle East, there are large groups of your kin here that have established roots for generations and you probably know this already.\nToronto means meeting place and that becomes evident quickly. I was born here and it’s one of the things I love the most about my city. I’m not going to say that there isn’t systemic racism here ,the people of no colour still kind of keep the top position , but as we become a minority in a decade or so ,I hope that will shift to a broader spectrum. It’s certainly happening already. One good thing is that the police department tries to hire people of colour so that racialism may play a smaller role. We’re getting used to seeing our politicians more and more reflect their constituents.\nI have to talk about the weather. Because I’m from here I’m used to the extremes of minus thirty and plus thirty . Eventually you get used to it (somewhat). Dressing in the right clothes is important. Summer is easy , but winter is different. It’s trying to kill you. Spend the most that you can afford on winter cloths . If you can afford a quality parka you should get one. The hood can be drawn around the face and stay out of the wind.\nIf not ,think of layers with a outer layer that blocks the wind. We have things called long Johns that are basically full length thick cotton or nylon pants that go on under your pants and a pair of extra thick socks. Buy your boots to fit your thick socks. Try to get the best boots you can afford ,it’s something that you might spend a little extra for but never regret.\nAll in all we are a fairly organized and peaceful society. Most people are friendly and will give you a chance . We have a good social safety net here and you don’t have to be homeless or starving if you don’t want to. There are people and organizations set up to help ,that truly try to get people back on their feet. It’s a good investment that pays off in ways that matter for the quality of life in a big city. I’m not putting my American neighbours down when I say they do things differently. They have their ways ,we have ours. This is just something that we do because we’re trying to learn how to help those that society has discarded or can’t find their place. Sure we have one or two areas where the homeless have pitched tents and we have some resources for them if they want. Unfortunately The mayor recently forced a small camp to move from a very visible place to more scattered locations. There were social workers involved as well as protesters trying to protect them. I didn’t like that happening and I want to see even more resources dedicated to them ,but on the other hand ,we are trying to avoid something like what happens on the streets when it’s just ignored. When I see YouTube videos of the streets of Philadelphia I’m extremely saddened. I thank the lucky stars that I was born in Toronto Canada.\nFor all it’s pollution and expense and crowds ,I think it’s a great place to do almost anything your heart desires . For every ugly building there is a beautiful park ,for every honked horn there is a birds call , for every cold and dark day there is beautiful sunny one around the corner.

I feel bad for his innocent children to have to go through this. You want to live in another country, you need to follow the law like every else. You learn the language, get the same I.D. We all have to have , and be treated the same as if any American were to illegally cross boarders! What we have to go through just to have identification here should be no different for anyone else! You can’t just live off our tax dollars and government ins., food stamps etc.. While we pay for you to live here!! I don’t reap those benefits, yet I’m paying yours!! I can’t feel bad! When I go to a dr. Or dentist and an immigrant or a lazy able bodied parent gets everything done free and I’m struggling to pay with full ins.. I literally walk out so pissed off! These are straight facts!! He had fifteen years to make it right. Instead he took a shot doing it his way to reap the American benefits and the feel bad for me card!If they ever let him come back and he collected any kind of help in those last fifteen years, “if” , he should have to get proper I.D., citizenship, and pay back anything he was given! It’s only fair! He was able to save all that money tax free, hmmm must be nice! I don’t feel bad he had to spend it. That’s real life!I’m tired of watching my citizens no matter race or color, work hard paying taxes and giving their hard earned money away!!If we just let anyone walk right through our boarder than what’s the point of any American needing any I.D.??? Don’t people get why it’s so important to keep track for so many obvious different reasons!! I believe certain citizens with outrageous offenses should be chipped!In every race!I don’t care who the president is any president that doesn’t believe this is the right thing to do sucks! I didn’t vote for a Trump! I think he’s smart and a moron at the same time!

growing up in canada, i felt left out in the blk community b/c i am a 5th generation blk cdn on mom's side and 3rd on my dad's - when other black ppl not canadian born met me - i tell them i'm cdn, but i always used to get the question - where are you really from - they were looking for me to say the islands - when i told them my paternal grandma was born in 1901 in canada - that's when the questions stopped. i've been told that b/c i wasn't from the islands, i had no culture in college, but a mbr of the black student society put him in his place i heard he got into a lot of trouble. i was asked what do we eat as in food as canadians what kind of music do we listen to - at our blk canadian weddings, the only carribean song played was hot hot hot by arrow - we played straight up r and b and motown. i hv been rejected by other blk men b/c i'm not west indian enough...it was hurtful. even with 'friends' they made of my cdn heritage but i used to think, why are you making fun of me knowing that my family and ancestors were in canada first - they were 1st generation - i live in the usa now and i'm with an african american man - he has never treated me as if i were different and he loves going w/me to canada. my parents told me it was jealousy on those ppl's parts - one guy i used to be friends with in college, when i went to his house, his mom was from the islands, when she met me - she said, 'you cdn ppl are loud' and that did it for me - i didn't date her son but when he met my parents, they never said any of that crap to him. in the usa, the african americans don't treat differently at all - my ex mom in law thought we were american but decided to live in canada - b/c she was surprised that blacks do live in canada. her other daughter in law's family were from the islands - but she gravitated more to my family and felt comfortable around them more than her family and this ex sis in law would brag about the islands this and that and she would make comments about my looks being skinny and such but it was jealousy - i didn't care much for her b/c she was very insecure. i felt once again, i was a young girl in college again - being around island ppl....i would love to meet drake and ask him did he feel left out and isolated because he wasn't from the islands - he makes me very proud being a blk canadian - his dad is african american and his mom is jewish. i still hv dealt w/racism not much with wht ppl, but with my own ppl - which is quite sad and on top of it-colorism, that also played a part from my family - being called pygmy, chocolate dip, nappy hair - it hurt but these so called relatives, they aren't all that anymore, they had hard lives as children...when ppl see something in you that is special and they don't have, that's when their ugliness shows -