Close Reading

I like how y’all have created this video by not applying a negative undertone rather more of an informative approach to caution prospective movers of what potentially awaits them. All I would like to highlight is the fact that some people will experience all these points as negative aspects or maybe even one or two that might lead to the breaking point.\nIt all depends on where you come from and how life was in your “home” country.\nYou might come from a higher tax environment with non existent healthcare and education. From that perspective, 40% taxes might look better and the healthcare might be great or crap depending on what your health issues are. I personally haven’t had any struggles with most of these aspects - finding a great job was relatively easier, (key word - relatively) the healthcare system worked for me when I needed it to, I was mentally prepared for the high taxes, I culturally adapted to the point where people thought I was Canadian and didn’t realize I came in from a very different environment. I’m sure this cultural adaptation helped me with my job and made it easier to live here.\nAll in all, you can say I’ve had the “perfect” immigrant experience that most people would dream of. But what do i think really? Personally, I have come to realize that Canada at the moment does not fit into my personal goals and values and that is okay. Loneliness away from people you love can be tough. It just isn’t the same feeling making new friends and hanging out with coworkers who are much older than you are and in a different place in life. I’m very close to my family and friends who I’ve grown up with and are on the other side of the world. My parents are getting older and I want to spend as much time with them as possible. For that reason, I might consider being somewhere closer to them. I’d perhaps consider coming back here some day when I’ve got my own family and kids which I currently don’t have. To me, that’s a personal value high on the list. I guess my only takeaway from this video and advise to people looking at each of these points - take each one and compare it with your home country. If you think you’re better off in Canada, then move - it’s a great place! If not, think about it real hard and weigh out the pros and cons.

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.

It’s too bad you didn’t have a great experience in Canada. It’s a beautiful country to live and work in. Study, get a good job and work hard and you’ll get good benefits. Medical system is worth every penny and more. Weather varies greatly. West Coast is the best. Yes, it does rain. But everything is green. But with climate change, it is quickly changing. \n\nSo if you’re willing to put in the effort and patience. All good things will come in time. Even if the taxes kill you.

I'm currently planning to immigrate to Canada. As for me, the very reason why I want to move there is to have better life. There are some great points mentioned to this video but for some cases, most especially if you talk about other underpriviledge countries, Canada is much more better. I'm from the Philippines and I would say that our country is suffering from everything. High price of goods, salary for CAD375 minimum (for a month even you're bachelor degree holder), no health benefits (unless you are working in a private company that offers benefits), no educational benefits (I would consider scholarship but that wouldn't enough to survive in every semester that you'll take). Senior Citizens / PWD that only gets benefit from their 20% discount in every purchase they make for medicine and food and seniors sometimes didn't get their pensions... so on and so forth.\n\nI think, it all boils down from what country you came from and differences of the gov't system that they have. And all of us needs to work hard to get a better life. It will always depends on our decision on what lifestyle do you choose or how do you live your life or what life do you want to live.\n\nBut to conclude this, this is a great video. This a great heads up for those who wants to come to Canada.

20:09\nLol this just happened at my local Walmart \nIt rang twice so a white couple got beeped on their way out and they stop and look around and just walk off \nAnd on my way out a single person a white dude beeped when he was leaving and he didn’t stop he just left....\nOkay now a month before a native family gets beeped and they are chased even when they stop like as soon as it beeped one of the workers just started a jog towards them and asked them all to come back in and searched all their bags while the kids were cryin..so their was this huge scene and at the end they were told they can leave...it happens sooooo much it’s like apart of Walmart staffs training or something lol

for people who are commenting why didn't he just do this or that with that money.... I'm from El Salvador and you have no idea how many immigrants live in the US and Canada without being able to get their legal status fixed even with money in their pockets. I have saved a bit and I want to leave, but countries are just not that welcoming.

I'm calling bs. I grew up in Scarborough, the schools in my area were mixed Caribbean, Canadian, European, Indian (and other South asain), Chinese (and other East Asian), middle Eastern, African, Latino, everyone went to the same school. Everyone's families were and are poor going through the same struggle. By the time I got to highschool I took the higher level courses, I went to class everyday, I wasn't a smart kid I didn't get to uni, I took a bridging program in college and got into uni. It's not hard to climb the latter in Canada if you work for it. Meanwhile at the same school a large percentage of Carribean and Somalian black students do not go to class, they skip, they dont care. In fact these same kids picked and made fun of the Asian kids that did go to school. They have zero respect imo. You can call me whatever you want I am just speaking my personal experience. School never seemed like a priority to them. I'm not Chinese or Indian but those 2 cultures always seemed like the hardest working. Those kids went to every class and got the best grades. Again Caribbean and Somalian black students in my area were more likely to be distruptive in class and get into fights. As were Greek kids and Canadian/Irish white kids. I am only pointing out the black students in relation to this video. Personal accountability is important, I don't disagree there is problems with the system but let's not act like there isn't a problem within black and even poor white culture itself. Sometimes you have to look in the mirror.

I don't really understand one of experiences during my visit in Canada, I am a HongKonger and one time when I was visiting Toronto, some people with different ethnic background made a comment on my English, they said my English was good. But the fact that there are tons of Chinese/Hong Kong looking people living Toronto who speak perfect English or better than me. I really don't get this, those people who made comment are Indian, Russian, even Canadian born Chinese, they didn't even know I was just a visitor. I don't know much about the standard/definition of racism in Canada, is this incidence considered some kind of racism/stereotype? I am humbly asking for your perspectives on this.

Mean while there watching the black person and its usually sometimes its the white person that's stealing the item. I've seen situation like that. I've even gone in to department stores looking to purchase something and being ignored by the sales rep they would rather help the white person than the black person in a situation where I wanted to purchase something the sales rep went to help the white lady who she spent half-an-hour with and that white woman did not purchase anything I was in a hurry ended up getting help from another sales rep ended up spending $300 the first sales rep who didn't help me looked over and saw that large purchase and thoughts to herself I should have helped that black girls. I mean in both cases you can't just judge a person by their colour a thief is a thief.

Quit watching it not even minute and you can already see him race-baiting. The lady told the white man that the price was not set but it would be roughly around 900. The other guy came and and she gave a set price of 930 and tried to insinuate that it was cuz our racism. She said it was around nine hundred for the white guy didn't put a set price. Secondly white people get followed around in stores just as much as blacks. does it matter what color you are hang out in Walmart too long and see how many people start following lol.

Thai here. Used to study at US for 5 years. Got a job at a local mart owned by a couple of Thai elders. I was super liberal back then but after 4 - 5 months.... Turne out stereotyes exist for a reason. I don't like it but that's how it is. We didn't have enough staffs to keep eyes on every customers. And 95% of all the shoplifters are a certain specific race. \n\nThey don't even care about the cameras. Only way to prevent loss is keeping eyes on them and get the merchantdises back when they tried to fled.

I am Latino, more or less capuccino skin (with extra milk), I can say that racial experiments here would be very interesting. I finnished university and have experience in my field. I've been looking for a job for a while, not much luck, I'm don't get called to interviews that much, I only get calls from agents that show me positions in company that I apply for but 90% of the time get rejected right away. \n\nI have white friends, one of them didn't study university. It hasn't been easy for him either, but he's pretty lazy, I know for a fact he didn't search much and got 7 interviews in 3 months while I hardly got called for 3 companies with the help of 5 agents. He got a job for which he needed training, I got rejected for that job and I do have experience in that field. I have to say it hurts. Funny thing, even he says it's suspicious because he couldn't answer many questions on the interview

About apartments i didn't get what's wrong? Im owning two flats, not in Canada but in Europe and I do not accept families with pets and more than 2 kids. Yes I do not accept arabs, because they smoke a lot and im my apartment I do not allow to smoke.And? People cold have preferences. I prefer young family with one child. I don't care about wishes of others, when they buy they own properties they can give them even for free

My parents live in Ontario and they’re Muslim. My Mom doesn’t wear either head scarf or a face covering, however she does wear it while praying at home or at the mosque.\n\nWhy I left Islam is a very long story. It didn’t seem right how after 9/11 Muslims around the world were celebrating, including my uncles and cousins back home. I came to Christ in 2010 and I’m so blessed to be saved by grace. I’m so glad I have a choice to love God and not forced any more. I’m really worried for this lady Farzana, I’m sure she gets death threats by other Muslims. I experienced it myself when I told a Muslim man I no longer practiced Islam, and that I’m a believer in Christ. He was furious! I told my parents how I got away and even though they are devout Muslims, they realize how I am in danger and my Mom told me I shouldn’t tell other Muslims about my faith. I told her I wasn’t gonna deny Jesus. She worries about me but I told her, I know my destiny for a fact. I had a personal encounter with Jesus and there’s no way I can deny Him. My only prayer is my family will know Christ and one day we will be in heaven together. I’m looking forward to that day. I honestly don’t want to be here in this awful, world where there is so much hate. I want to be with my Savior soon. I don’t even care if I’m killed by a Jihadi. If that’s how God will show my parents how corrupt Islam is then so be it. I just want them to know Christ.

Islamic people do this because we get harassed for what we believe it imagine a white or black gang doing this would you guys say all these mean things to everyone no of course not you all are racist not us Islamic people as we are the right religion see you didn’t like me to say that huh? So don’t be racist and even if they are doing this give them a fine it’s so simple and again if a white person does this no video will be made will there exactly so go to hell.

Jill fienstien said in 1993 that America can't sustaine 60 million illegals. But even the right say 20 million 30 years later. I have news for those in college grads in charge, the number didn't get smaller.

Damn I didn’t even know that I get discriminated without knowing .I’m a black teenager and when my family goes on vacation and look for apartments or somthing like that the prices are not what it say

Number one she's a complete f****** liar. Number two she's using stats that are not verified by any government agency anywhere. But you didn't notice they get the same benefits as Canadian citizens. Which is all the welfare that can digest. Here in the United States they get permanent residency and citizenship right away. Once they get refugee status they never have to work a day in their life in this country they will be funded in full by the American taxpayer. Then they will sponsor all the relatives. They're five sisters which are really their wives. This is what people are not understanding what's going on. Looking what's happening in Dearborn Michigan cured in 10 years the population has quadrupled. It does not even look like an American city anymore

As a Mexican American I have faced all types of racism from people of different races, including my own. I lived in Mexico for a while when I was young and would get bullied by kids who knew I was born in the U.S. Teachers also treated me different; some treated me worse than they treated the other kids, and others favored me because I was American. When I moved to Philadelphia I attended a school that was predominantly black and asian. I was the only hispanic in my class. At the time Spanish was my main language and my English was “rusty,” which led to constant bullying from classmates. They would call me “dookie face,” tell me to “go back to my country,” and even had some girls put gum on my hair. I would cry every day. I later on moved to Chicago to an area that was mostly hispanic, and that didn’t stop the bullying, either. After I finally refined my English, I no longer wanted to speak Spanish unless it was to my parents. Yes, I guess the constant bullying pushed me to feel like I had to separate myself from my hispanic heritage. When my hispanic classmates spoke to me in Spanish I only responded in English, which would make them mad and they would think that I thought I was “better than them.” Anyway, that was long ago and now as an adult I can reflect on these things so that I don’t make the same mistakes. I get along with everyone and the only thing that changes how I feel about someone is their character, not their appearance.

I remember when my family immigrated here over 15+ years ago and my brother was only 1 years old. 2 weeks after coming here he slipped on the floor and cut open his forehead on the hinges of our door and he was bleeding everywhere (he later had to get 6 stitches to fix it), my father was out working and we didn't know how to contact the police or hospital because we didn't have a home phone yet. We used our neighbors and the ambulance came and I strictly remember that because we didn't have our health cards yet they wouldn't start work even though my father said he will pay when he gets there. I remember my mother and I feeling helpless while my 1 year old brother was bleeding out (the hospital staff tried to stop the bleeding with cotton ball and bandage) and I distinctly remember that they did not start helping my brother even WHILE my father was paying but only started work after the bill was completed. Even though my family felt helpless at that time and we felt it was unfair, we never blamed Canada because it was their policy and they have every right to follow protocols. So it makes me angry to see people who walked into our country illegally getting far better treatment than my family ever got even though it might not be anything as life threatening as ours was. It makes me angry that our hard earned tax dollars are used to help people who have no motivation to help the country that gave them asylum during war.. It's actually the opposite as a lot of these families call their free housing "disgusting" and compare it to "living like a slave". I'm angry because little girls at my brothers own school are getting shoved and assaulted by refugee boys as young as 6-7 and are let off with a simple "don't do that again" and a meeting with the parents. This is not the Canada my family came to love and call home so I can't imagine the hardships of Canadians who are living here for 3, 4, 5+ generations 😔😔

What are people talking about saying half of Canada is french! Canadians are English and there used to be tons of us in Montreal, but 300,000 left in a mass exodus to get the French whip off their backs, they even fill the French text books with lessons given by the French whip instead of the truth about how the French didn't want to fight in the war and the old cemeteries are full of Irish, Scottish and British soldiers like my grandfather and uncle buried in veteran memorial plots with sad little Quebec government markers! Meanwhile, their English speaking grandchildren like myself not only have a back full of lash marks from the French whip but the French speaking immigrants think they can use the French whip to grind us into the ground our ancestors are buried in as well!!!

He wishes he'd bin bettervinformed.Well it is up to a person to inform themselves. IT IS NOT UP TO THE COUNTRY YOU ARE IN ILLEGALLY . I can't get over someone other learning the language of the country after 15 years of working and living there illegally either..Sorry for the children, but not for Jose who has repeated his I legal action in one country after another.Canada gave him a chance and he didn't even show up as asked to his hearing...All this costs the taxpayer who is struggling..

I’m always scared to get accused of shoplifting, not because I’m black but just because I take ages to look at 1 article. I can stay more then 1 hour in the store. I usually do every aisle even the ones that don’t concern me like the baby section. I just like to see what is new, what is available. \nI live in a country where shoplifting is not really an issue, so I’m used to doing what I want in the shops. I went on holiday in the US and completely forgot that I was not home. I went to target and didn’t take a basket as I was suppose to only buy 1 thing. When I picked up more then 5 articles I put a few in my pocket. It’s only when I got to the cashier that I was like “ I’m crazy this is not my country “. Good thing nothing happened. \nAlso I’m a day dreamer so I always look suspicious in shops.

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 -

I'm from a Hispanic background but I was born in the U.S and I do fit the stereotype for a young latina. At the age of 12, I walked into a small convenience store and was instantly kicked out and was accused of stealing a pair of ear buds. I had no bags or backpack on me and was the first time I went there in 2 weeks. It was the first time I was accused to stealing actually. Upon asking how that was possible, I was told that I grabbed the ear buds and walked to the bathroom, wrapped it in toilet paper and then walked out. I haven't even went into the bathroom. It scared me to be honest, I didn't really want to go back to that store since I was afraid the cops would get called on me. To this day, I'm a very studious, I don't wish for my personal record to be marked over racism or false accusations.

Nice video, Derek. I'm gonna add something you didn't even mention. Here in the U.S., there is the Patriot Act, and a growing Police State. Our liberties and Constitutional rights are being trampled by the day. Our privacy is being lost at an alarming rate, and there are more checkpoints than ever before, tighter security measures at airports than ever before, metal detectors even at high schools for students just to attend class, and worst of all shootings of innocent people by cops (often homeless, mentally ill, etc.) than ever before. I don't know for sure, but I don't think Canada has the degree of the same problems, and if they do, they certainly aren't at the magnitude that they are happening here in the states. Those shootings are about 2,000-3,000 just in the last year!! Please be careful, especially in California, and know your U.S. Constitutional rights if/when you get stopped on the road or anywhere else.

This might a little of topic but many of the practices that Muslims do are very good health wise \n\n1) while making wudo (a special wash before prayer) when we rinse our nose with water to that cleans until the the bone at the top of our nose is so good that it actually finishes allergies like if you have pollen allergy because when you clean it is getting less sensitive and more stronger I know someone (I've met someone) that had an allergy with fur or something and they made wudo very often and in actually 2 years they had no allergies\n\n2) when we pray:\nThere was a young man who wasn't so practising so he didn't pray he spent his time working out and doing track and field during one of his runs he fell and fractured a bone when the went to the doctor (non Muslim doctor) he told the guy to do some actions that will help in recovering his bones and the acts that the doctors showed him were the actions we do in our prayer, the guy decided to do these actions but not by itself but in his prayer and this was giving to him by a person that wasn't even Muslim!\n\n3) when Muslims cover ourselves many guys don't hit on us because when we cover ourselves its a sign so show that we are not into these kinds of stuff \nIf you want to see proof search up walking in NYC for 10 hours by AreWeFamousNow\n\nSo next time you say that we are crazy doing this stupidity we are protecting ourselves and we are treating our body good health wise.

I think UK needs that shariah law! what's wrong to ban alcohol and girls from dressing like prostitutes????? men get slaped on streets like dogs and is the men who still gets arrested! I got stopped from seeing my kids just because i didn't agree with my ex drinking alcohol in front of them.Im not even allowed to ask how my kids are, social cervices will not even answer phone 2 me anymore.