Close Reading

I feel like Canada is a lite version of the U.S. \n\nI'm a lifelong U.S. citizen and been to Canada many times. Mostly in Ontario, Nova Scotia and Quebec. \n\nI totally agree Canada is and feels way safer. I've been to some areas of Toronto that are HOOD and I was taken aback. The 6ix is getting a little crazy, I don't know what's happening with the Lake Ontario air over there. Overall though, Toronto is so much safer, cleaner and much more pleasant to be in than in NYC or Chicago (from my experience and I choose those cities because they are usually compared to each other). Montreal has some sketchy areas but some of the sketchy areas of Montreal are comparable to a nice suburban area of the Bronx or Queens. The Zoe's in Montreal can be annoying but overall I never felt I had to be on alert. Again, Canada definitely is a lot safer (to me) and also way cleaner. \n\nAs for the cities, I think overall the urban areas of Canada are a little better with city planning but its not that much different. Other than Some areas of Canada you also need a car or if not, you're assed out. The provinces in Canada are HUGE and you can be driving all day in just one province. And like the U.S. the rail system across the nation isn't too great. Actually, I think the U.S. has a better bus (Greyhound/GhettoHound, Peter Pan, Mega Bus etc) and rail system (Amtrak) then Canada does. Not saying a whole lot but its still better I feel. \n\nWeather. If you're looking for warm weather year round, you will NOT find that in Canada. \n\nI think the U.S. provides more opportunity at the moment and overall, I think there's more to do and see and I believe it or not I think people in the U.S. generally are a little bit friendlier and more full of life. Of course, everything depends on what you're looking for but both are great countries but I find myself wanting to move up north to Canada nowadays but the gun laws are a deterrent for me.

You are wrong about Canada protecting and caring about homeless and in-need people. The reality is that even though you don't see all the homeless people, there are tens of thousands of them in each city, more so in the warmer climates. The UN has already been on Canada's back for the abuse of homeless people and the cruelty towards them and those with mental health problems. Canada is a fraud and has been deceiving immigrants and visitors for over a hundred years. Many of the homeless people in Canada, especially in the past 20 years and from the start of the pandemic, continuing to this day, are now including people with good educations and many years of high-level job experiences, as well as whole families. These people became homeless because of massive job layoffs and lost everything. Contrary to the popular Canadian ideology, homeless people are not lazy slobs who don't bother to work and need to get their acts together. Many of the homeless shelters are filled with dangerous people, bed bugs, and diseases. Many homeless people choose to find alternatives to sleep safely. Many homeless women experience terrible sexual assaults that rarely are reported and rarely ever taken seriously by the police. Most alternatives to shelters are limited and there are so many restrictions that qualifying doesn't always happen. Many have had their ID stolen, so they are unable to get jobs, rent homes, or even have a day to shower and clean their clothes. Most donations of clothes, blankets, and sleeping bags are disregarded because most homeless people don't have the means to carry things. Their nutrition is terrible, through no fault of their own. Many food banks will not give food to those without a home. Many soup kitchens will only help periodically and not for every meal. Canada's treatment of homeless people and mentally people is not just disgraceful, but criminal. The general attitude of many Canadians, as taught to them by deliberate government propaganda, is that if you are poor or were abused or a victim of crime, is that they did something to deserve it. Rents across Canada are beyond the reach of the majority of Canadians, yet, Canada refuses to set up a council house system like the UK. There are no emergency homes and no emergency assistance even close to what the UK and other countries across the world provide. Canada's continued abuse, ill-treatment, crimes against humanity, and genocide of the First Nations peoples is not a past history, but an ongoing history that is not about reconciliation. It is about shutting them up so that they cannot speak and get true justice, instead of just a federal government settlement of a meager amount that has only increased the addictions of victims, who have no one to help them or a place to turn. Canada lies about trauma help and treatment for people for having been victims, or have developed PTSD (this is a brain injury and only a mental health problem if the person becomes suicidal or is unable to do the basics of essential living), and worse, Canada lies about this in relation to kids. Alberta has a place that they claim is for treating trauma in kids. However, this place is nothing more than a low-level counseling center to reunite kids with their parents, who have been removed by law. Any child requiring help has to deal with just basic counselors, who are not trained in helping traumatized and PTSD kids. In relation to the First Nations peoples, if the teens have mental health issues, and if they have to be temporarily hospitalized by their parents, social workers and doctors will force joint custody with the parents, to treat the kids or remove them so they can carry on the government's crimes against the First Nations peoples. The crimes continue. In these past few months, a baby was left to die in a basket at a nurse's station in the Misericordia Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta. The mother was allegedly treated like garbage and her child was allegedly called a specimen. But this is not the only case of such abuse of First Nations pregnant mothers and their children. A case over a decade ago allegedly also took place, and the number of these cases in this hospital alone may possibly be much higher, and other hospitals may also be hiding such crimes. An infant, who was the victim of attempted murder by one or the other parent, was put in the care of relatives by social workers, who were totally unaware of the crime, but the one parent, who was put in the hospital's mental health unit, mentioned a version of what had happened, and when the relatives found out, they were allegedly reassured by the hospital that they would deal with the matter. The relatives believed, understandably, that the hospital would report the crime, but it never did. Allegedly the hospital covered up yet another crime. The police in the city, allegedly informed at some point, one of the relatives that no charges could be laid even if the child remembered as the Canadian health services do not believe that children below the age of 4 can remember anything. It was when I heard about this that I realized that the reason Canada has gotten away with the crimes against the 1st Nations, immigrants, Canadians, and who knows how many other victims, through the mandated alleged use of forced assimilation and the alleged Soviet-style education system, is because of this fake claim that children and even infants cannot remember things. This deliberate lie to those relatives allegedly by the police, shows clearly that Canada is following the dangerous path in a more stealthy fashion than the Nazis did to the Jews and others they rounded up, arrested, tortured, and/or eventually murdered. Your perceptions are limited by your obvious lack of real knowledge and real experience. Please, if you are going to make such a video, live in Canada, all over Canada for at least 30 years, then comment, please!

We need immigration but at the same time we need to take care of Canadians who need help and are borderline in similar situations so many immigrants come here are in. Canadians are in some horrific spots and need things like affordable housing that is actually affordable, jobs that don’t require much education but pay well, we need conservative premiers across Canada to raise minimum wage to a liveable wage. Canadians are struggling just like immigrants and refugees.

I'm sorry but you're coming off a bit precious this is a worldwide problem it's not just happened in Canada I think you do need to get over yourselves a little bit don't you just love First World Problems if you think of America is better why don't you move there I guarantee you won't like it there you have to pay for all your healthcare if you can't just go away and die and that country. Use a just come across like spoilt little brats who can't get your own way. If you don't like it in Canada you can always move back to your original country I know you make call that racist but it's a fact as I say you're just too selfish Brats.

Pretty good Adam I'd just mention a few of those things are...I don't want to say inaccurate but way more diverse. For instance French. Yes Quebec is the only French province BUT New Brunswick is the only Bilingual province and basically half and half. This is good for things like federal of provincial services because by law they must provide service in both languages but not so basically everywhere else. The problem with this is you can have an almost completely English town almost nobody speaks French and drive 15 minutes and be in a town where nobody speaks English. Research on this might be hard because a town with a French name may not have any French people in and vise versa. Also this problem is multiplied in the fact that if you Do want a French area we don't speak standard French or Quebecois but instead Le Chiac which is a difficult and confusing mix of old French and english (almost exactly like the Cajun dialect). Second part of this is that Montreal is easy to live in if you don't speak French and is so multicultural you are just apt to hear Swahili as French in public. Last part is be very careful where you move on the prairies as they have may isolated towns some that speak French also. Next is tipping I've never had to tip anyone for a haircut outside of the military and all other forms of tipping here on the east coast are purely optional and wait staff don't get upset if you don't leave a tip unless you were a jerk or left them extra work like making a big mess (I worked as cook for a while after I got out of the army and I rarely ever head staff complain) HOWEVER....tip a waitress well and she might accidentally give you 2 pieces of pie lol and tip a taxi driver well and he will not only get you the cheapest fare he will find ANYTHING you may need no questions asked. Lastly on the nice thing....we are nice for sure especially compared to our southern neighbours BUT there is a lot of passive aggressive nice that happens and this also varies greatly. For instance as a city boy of course you answered the way you did but a guy who have lived all over this country in big and small, French and English places who now has retired to a rural town I can say I find the cities quite snobby and the French and the English can be quite snobby to each other and where I live now if you asked a random stranger for 5$ chances are you would get it also driving down the road people you don't know will just wave at you as if you were the closest friends. Canada is certainly a weird place so many extremes and my advice to anyone wanting to move here is do your research and then visit and travel a bit if possible because even us Canadians can be surprised by thing or two across this gigantic country

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.

Hello sir, i m an electrical engineer with around 12 years of postgraduate experience across middle east and Pakistan and i really really want to move to Canada with my family. could you please let me know where to start, is it okay to pay money to immigration consultants for that purpose. need your sincere advice please

A compelling documentary, thank you. Why is it that black people continue to be so demonised and de-humanised? It is such a shame that follow Asians and even American Natives play such a role in perpetuating racism against African descent people, but I guess they have their issues of identity. Real shame nonetheless, but one thing at the time, we still have a bigger hurdle to overcome.\n \nOf course, it is still not easy to be a black woman, man or child today. Sadly our mothers are still crying for their children being killed or overly punished by the police institution, our kids are still targeted if not simply despised for being beautiful, bright, talented, lively and brilliant beings with deeper skin tonalities, and hair that speaks for us otherwise. It is still dangerous because there is so much hatred across the world against us as we are coming to understand. And hatred is unpredictable. It comes in different ugly shapes. \n\nAfrican descent people are institutionally exposed to a lack of opportunities based on race, leading to the disproportionate poverty levels in our communities, and poverty brings your far closer to crime. That should not be so difficult to calculate. We're faced with higher mortality and disease rates, covid 19 has rubbed that to our eyes, care systems medical world is in less favour and neglect black communities. On a day-to-day, I am so insulted about the security guard that follows me in the shop, it is so disrespectful and embarrassing, that makes me move suspiciously indeed, yet so low and ignorant I don't even want to have to confront the issue. \n\nI agree with the writer who writes about his experience (and shame?) of being a black man in Canada- the same is institutionally reflected in Europe and across the world let's not be naive, we're not welcome but they should know they have no choice. I believe what he really is trying to express is based on the fear of being a black man in a hostile environment, but we should certainly have nothing to be ashamed of. \n\nOn contrary, we should be very proud because we are still here, like any other citizens paying our taxes and playing positive roles in society by major. We have positive role models are everywhere, from the single mother raising her children with force and determination to the black father who teaches at a local school, from the black girl who's achieved top grades to university to the black young man who's been headhunted from the medical school. And all of us who are just trying. \n\nLook closely. While the media will continue to do its good job demonising and stereotyping us negatively, let's not forget that we are real people with real accomplishments who have always made impactful contributions to society. \n\nHere's the thing, we are admired, loved and celebrated because of the brilliance, talent, charisma, swag and wealth we bring to contemporary culture. Everyone consumes black culture, from the filler lip service to the quick fix tan, from rock and roll to hip hop and RnB music, to sports athletes to the amazing creators out there, no need to mention names. But, we also are doctors, politicians, judges nurses, waiters, carers, scientists, builders, bankers, entrepreneurs, employees or unemployed. \n\nSadly on a day-to-day, we are not viewed as equal people, with equal rights and needs, who, by large, just want the good for our children, our families, neighbours and indeed countries. STOP INSTITUTIONAL RACISM. We are real mothers, real fathers, real children who have a birthright to equal treatment, respect and human dignity, whether or not you choose to disagree.

The unspoken assumption seems to be that racism is a white problem. Yet across the years I have listened to Black and Chinese people express opinions which, coming from a white person, would have meant a day in court charged with the willful promotion of hatred.\n\nFurthermore, the young woman who has difficulty with people asking where she is from might want to consider the possibility that the other party is genuinely interested in learning more about her as a person. I am a white British-Canadian and am not in the least little bit offended when people ask me about my origins.\n\nIndeed, listening to immigrants and new Canadians share their life experiences and outlooks on things has gone a long way in shaping my own opinions as to how Canada can be a better country than it is now.\n\nCase in point; I have heard immigrants and new Canadians from nations as diverse as Jamaica, Trinidad, Nigeria, Ukraine, and the Philippines compare childrens' education in Canada with children's education in their countries of origin. Guess which looks better. Hint, hint, it isn't Canada.\n\nFolks, we need to be listening.

Trudeau going to have to establish a DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program in Canada now - people don't realize there is probably thousands like her scattered across the country mostly in the major cities. They all want similar relief from potentially being deported if they are caught. I have no problem giving it to them since most of them are young but I would enforce the condition that they have to resettle in Manitoba, Northern Ontario and the Atlantic Provinces - areas in Canada experiencing population decline, aging demographics and high job vacancy numbers. We don't need people who didn't follow the rules further overcrowding cities like Toronto and Vancouver where the cost of living is rising every year.

As a young child I remember viewing the Amish women as being in a chronic 'state of funeral' based solely on their signature dark garb. It created in my own (childlike) logistics that this was a type of society which I needed to keep at a distance from myself. I disliked their choices, finding them muted in a world layered thick in rich and vibrant fields of color. The color black in ancient cultures (apparel) indicates the refusal to acknowledge or be unresponsive, to be closed off. I can understand how many real (natural) Canadiens can view Muslim women in their communities in a strange light. An interview with a very rich Saudi woman (living in Saudi Arabia), in how she spoke of her own frustration by not being allowed to own a drivers license, instead being driven in her husbands pricey Mercedes by a hired driver. She forced this issue on her local, home town government when she attempted to embarrass the officials of this primitive law, which in her view, had outlived its purpose and no longer applied to modern women in her culture. This interview went viral being shown on multi media networks and the town became embarrassed by the exposure. We should all applaud these women for their natural right to be free from outdated ritual and constraints continue to impose these indignities upon women. Muslim women living in Canada who wear the typical dark cloth across the features of the face and over the body are putting forth a message that they are 'second class citizens', are 'less than equal', are 'one mans property' - not unlike a common barn yard animal but possibly owning less importance than an animal since an animal can be traded for goods or services for profit. One can understand how real (natural) Canadien women can view this type of apparel as a slap in the face of their gender, a violent slap to go to the 'back of the line', 'take it lying down and like it'. So much is fear based and these Muslim women should shed their fear as layers of dark folds are sent falling to the floor - once and for all...