Close Reading

I was born here and it's too difficult to pay my rent which asks me at least 2 weeks of pay. Then you have to pay for the electricity, the phone and eat. Often I eat cereal for supper. I don't have a car because I can't afford it. I'm 48 and I can't take it anymore. It's not a life, it's survival! So to foreigners who think it's better here I tell you, start by seeing what you can do to make things better in your country.

I’m a Muslim born in Egypt and I will never leave Canada \nI came here legally and I won’t allow a white guy tell to go back \nAt least we didn’t harm indigenous people like the whites supremacists did

I’m Indian, born and raised in Canada. My parents came here in 1994 and they made the best decision for our future. We adjusted to Canadian culture and have respect for the country that gave us opportunity. It makes me disgusted seeing my own kind come here and make a mockery of such a good country. It’s embarrassing to be lumped into this mess when my family did it the right way. If you wanted to be in India you should have just stayed there. \nI carry a lot of shame just being associated with them.

I live in Canada. Born n raised. 4th gen farmer 2nd gen racer. And I hate it here. It was great wen I was a kid now it's hell. My kids will go through worse. I want out. Somewhere that's not to rough to live for a disabled racecar driver. I'm scared my kids will be homeless due to the immigrants

I'm sure Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh are a part of this. Now, i can't find a job because i am not from India, and I was born and raised here. Two sides to every story. Look at Brampton and Barrie....theyve taken over. Hardly hurting

Hi Febby, stumbled upon your video and wanted to know your experience in Canada. As someone who was born in Canada and left, I wanted to know about some current sentiment, especially by younger people. I think you had some interesting information. I'm actually sad to hear that crime and homelessness has gotten even worse, especially in places like you mentioned, DTES. One thing I want to share with you about the housing issue. Canada acts like a Federation. Meaning that a lot of decision making is delegated to the provincial and municipal level. Yes, Canada has goals for immigration. That's a super valid goal because every developed country is going through declining birth rates. Canada wants to lessen the damage that will be felt by so many other countries like Italy, Germany, China, Japan, etc. The issue with this federated government is like you said, a disconnect between goals and readiness. However, I really feel this will never be accomplishable because of all the lobbying that occurs at the municipal level that the Federal and even Provincial level government cannot control. Yes, there may be shortages in labour to do development, but even then, I really think that lobbying and corruption is keeping adequate supply from being built. From the homeowners and the perspective of the wealthy property owners, they want to keep the valuation of housing high by keeping supply low. Why else is the municipal government keeping such archaic zoning laws? From what I could find, there has been some talk about changing this (https://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-to-table-housing-law-targeting-outdated-zoning-rules-1.6627260) but I struggle to see anything really being done. That's probably because of lobbying. The immigration laws set by the government had too many loopholes and flaws ultimately. I don't think we are getting enough productive immigrants. Actually, the opposite seems to occur a lot. The wealthy from the countries I mentioned are abusing the immigration policies in Canada to transfer and preserve their wealth in Canada. I think it has hid in plain sight for a long time, and people have started talked about it in the last 5-10 years because of the struggles of housing affordability from the middle class. What about the immigrants that really want to start a life in Canada and find opportunities like you said? The housing is too expensive for them to do that. Really chicken and egg problem like you mentioned. And this issue can't readily be fixed with the way Canadian government operates. Look forward to hearing your thoughts. I hope you make an update video in the future.

As an Indian who was born and raised in Canada (immigrant parents from 1994), one of my favourite things about being a Canadian has been finding my own path as a citizen. I still love my culture but if I wanted to be in India, I would have just chose to move back. My parents came here to give me a better life and opportunity. I have fully embraced that. It frustrates me to no end when I see other Indians come here and disrespect the country that is giving them freedom. Canada isn’t your personal frat party to act like a public disturbance. I have proudly adjusted to Canadian culture and I associate with it more than I do India, and I always will. My parents didn’t give everything up and move here just for me to pretend I’m in India. \nI hate that I get lumped in with this mess sometimes.

As a born and raided Canadian I'm sick of this. I have 3 jobs, none of which have hours for me in my professional field, my bosses are hiring on foreign workers to do the work i can do. Our public spaces are overrun by people who stick together and refuse to acknowledge our culture, and have no plans of assimilation. I am 26 years old, educated, out of work, damn near broke, the thought of owning a home seems damn near impossible here in british columbia. I am drowning in bills for my vehicle, rent, gas, groceries and tax all of which are through the roof. Enough is enough when will our government take care of their own rather than bringing in foreigners and tending to them as if they're the top priority. We have a drug epidemic and our streets are full of Canadian people who are dying and openly doing the worlds most lethal substances in public spaces. Im fed up, frustrated, stressed out, depressed and scared. i want to have a succesful life and raise a family like my parents, grandparents great grandparents and so on but with the current state of the economy im struggling to pay bills and eat healthy food. what is this world coming to. we need change. \nFuck trudeau

Immigration is doing more harm then good and I hate throwing them to the wolves, but I cannot STAND the look on my mom's face because we cannot afford a permanent home. We are a nuclear 4 person family and doing OUR BEST, it's insane we built our lives here, I was fucking born here, and we've gotten our rent raised higher then homes costed a decade ago. \nWhen all this population growth imposes on MY quality of life, bet your fucking ass I'm bitter. I wouldn't have as many qualms if we could house Canadians AND immigrants but it's evident we can't!\nAnd!!!!! Call me fucking racist if you must, but immigrants, INDIANS, have a lack of respect for Canadian culture and Canadians in general! And it gets under my skin when they ignore our national anthem and land acknowledgments. Why live in a country and not, acclimate to the culture! You live here now! You are Canadian if you intend to make residence here! \nThe lack of respect is audacious.

I been in Canada since age 11 and now 48. It is great to be part of both sides as I m an Indian born but got best of both countries and values. I work for a very large company and I feel I treated fairly and with utmost respect. Fact is Canada was hard for me when I started school from grade 6 to grade 10. I then changed schools and I was not bullied and face racist people. I went to diverse school. So diversity is good. Now my kids grew up here and feels at home but now there so many Indians here and clearly people here are annoyed and racism is become quiet high. I was verbally abused by strangers with racist slurs in the last few months. When I go shopping I been getting picked on by strangers at least 5 to 6 years the last 5 years or so. But now people don’t care and they act more and more racist. Indians sending there kids here should be aware of this. Also kids from India come here and try to do parties and drugs also. This becoming common. There is also many idiots from Punjab also. Many have criminal and drug and alcohol problems and they bring it here. It’s getting quiet messy. The government issues visa without checking peoples background. It’s madness. Stay safe. Canada is good country but the risks are also there now.

I have been in Canada for past 10 years. Life have changed a lot since then. Standard of living has come down. Rent and mortgages increased. Job lay offs. Higher grocery rates and everything have gone up. It’s so hard to survive here. I had a severe sprain in my knee and I could not walk at all. I got MRI appointment 1 year after I went to doctor. This was the worst thing I experienced. My daughter was born very micro premature, doctors took good care of her and she survived here in Canada. We paid 0 dollars. In India the treatment would have costed close to 1 crore or I can say there is no specialized treatments in India for such micro premature babies. I’m thankful to Canada in this case. I have seen best and worst. So I’m neutral here. But I strongly suggest students not to come to Canada at this moment. This country does not have enough jobs, no proper education, no standard of living now

As a born and raised Canadian I’m so very tempted to flee to literally anywhere else

I'm a born and raised Canadian, and jobs that I was previously able to live off of 2 years ago I am now on the brink of homelessness every single month of rent. Working those same jobs everyday in the lowest rent apartment I can find. I do 10 hour shifts most days retail and spending more than 50 dollars a month on food bounces my rent and negatives my account which makes me pay more fees on top of it. I cant afford a car, or anything for transportation. The wage I'm making now was the perfect amount for me 2 years ago to live comfortably by my standards. Now I'm going to be a homeless 24 year old Canadian that works their ass off every day and can't seem to find a better paying job regardless of how much I put myself out there... In the last 2 months I have lost a total of 16lbs because I can only eat so much on my budget. I am a hard working Canadian that just wants the luxury of being able to not stress about these things because I work so hard. But that seems to not matter.

As a Canadian (Indo-Fijian background) born and raised here, there’s way too many Indian immigrants here. There are areas in my city that I literally feel like I’m in a different country. It’s not even multicultural. We are overrun.

As a native Jamaican, I can attest to the Canadian natives, that's how our government treats us also, they treat us as foreigners and strangers while providing all the best treatments to the actual foreigners.. A Jamaican has to wait for hours in a line even in the hot sun or the rain, while a foreigner would be attended to immediately as they arrive, and the list goes on, so I can sympathize with the native Canadians.. I'm not saying that they should not be treated with kindness and respect, but what about the born citizens?? Have they totally forgotten that the nation is actually the people, and the power that they possess was given to them by the people?? But on the other hand, some Canadians shouldn't be complaining, because they had it in their grasp, but didn't appreciate it, so it departed, and unfortunately, it seems it has landed in the hands of the majority of immigrants that don't appreciate it either.. But I'm sure there are some that really appreciate the opportunity.. I myself would, because I don't have it here in Jamaica.. So it's also partially some of the citizens' fault, but mainly the government's nevertheless..

Not just immigrants. I was born here, and I'm planning on leaving

Was born in Canada in 77 and I’m gearing up to leave this place. It’s become Mumbai. If you’re not Indian you’re in the back of the line for housing and work. These ppl are prejudiced and have no desire to assimilate to Canadian customs. Thanks truduh

Im Canadian born an I'm fed up with Trudeau forgetting about Canadian born people and bringing in immigrants we don't need. immigrants are draining our resources and social systems.

I'm a Canadian Citizen. Born and raised here. Went to school here from Kindergarten to College. Learnt French, Canadian history, etc...and today I have struggled getting a job. I have been unemployed for 4 months and my Government assistance E.I. still has not kicked in. I have not heard back from Service Canada after numerous attempts. It makes me wonder what ruins Canada is in due to the politicians.

I'm born here. CAN'T WAIT TO LEAVE!

Born in Canada, grew up down under and came back to Canada.\nI'm wondering why, now.

Born and raised in Canada, but I’m looking for a cheaper better living country❤

Not being racist I’m just being honest his family is originally from India but he was born here. If I went and moved to India with a uk girl and had a child and that child wanted to be a a leader of India but my child is white and his parents are from the uk India would send my full family back to the uk… I’m dyslexic so you probably struggled to read that

My wife and I moved to Canada about a decade ago from post-Soviet states, where we both grew up with not much more than our smarts and a strong work ethic. When we arrived, adapting/integrating Canadian values, especially work ethics, was a big deal for us. Those first few years were tough, we really had to hustle to improve our lives. Now, a decade later, we're both in pretty solid tech and science jobs. Our child had the incredible privilege of being born in Canada, and that fills me with immense joy.\n\nIt wasn't just our own grit that got us where we are now; we owe a lot to the incredibly welcoming Canadians we met along the way. I'm thankful every day for the awesome, kind-hearted folks we've met. Canadians are truly some of the best people around, and despite lots and lots of issues, Canada is one of the greatest countries in the world. I know this because I've lived and worked across many countries on many continents . We, Canadians, need to keep working to make it even better. I'm proud to be a Canadian immigrant. God bless my fellow Canadians.

I'm just frustrated that despite being born in Canada, I feel over the years (2020-) it feels like I'm in another Country.

As a born canadian, with all the stuff going on. im tempted more and more to move to Alaska. Our country used to be beautiful, it still is but i'm so ashamed of what it's become

Anyone who isn't born here should be forced out, The biggest slap in the face was done to me recently and made me completely xenophobic was never racist till i learned this and i'm shocked nobody else is talking about it.\n\nImmigrants get 70% of their wage paid, My ex employer told me that's why he was letting me go, He only has to pay 30% of the wage so by letting half the staff go and only hiring these fks my ex employer can just hire twice or even 3x the workforce.

Harrison, try to get PP to talk to you about this, I'm tired of him avoiding this NUMBER 1 issue on the minds of most Canadian Born citizens that want to know what he plans to do. Is he going to finish the job and turn this into Little India? He is sinking in the polls, he better wake up and start putting long-time taxpaying Canadians first, not last. \n\nYou had a tough time even finding some white Canadians to interview, that says it all. Then factor in all the kids these newcomers will have and we are doomed.

I'm a afraid on who is allowed to vote for the next priminister. I believe if your not born here. Then they should not be able to vote..and when people go to vote they should be scand properly to see if there born here. School record that they addtend here..

I was born here, own my house outright, and make decent money....and I'm considering leaving. Canada is on a very bad trajectory, with no signs of course correction.

I’m from Alberta and everyone I went to school with in elementary was East Indian and Sikih and seems like everyone on south side were from that area. I’m born and raised Canadian and you don’t seen many in my area

I live in Carbondale Illinois. I'm born in Chicago. People from other places tend to be more successful because it takes a go-getter to travel. I'm a go-getter and I do pretty well here, ironically I'm a Chicano (Mexican born in the US) and I'm considered a foreigner here. People get jealous because they think I'm a foreigner being successful.

Bramladesh.\n\nMaaan I'm Guyanese (Carribean West Indian) my family came in the 80 and I was born in North York in late 80s.\n\nIt was better when I was the only brown guy in school. Now it's the opposite. Lol.

I’m Punjabi I was born in Centrel Hospitial in Downtown Toronto my English is perfect. Tell me to go back to my country I dare you! Goofs lol The first Sikh came to Canada came in 1897 and we didn’t contribute to making Canada shut your mouths now!!

Came as a refugee 16 years ago it was a dream come true but 16 years later and 3 childern all born here in Toronto.... We planning to move back to our country of origin the biggest reason being that we can't afford life here in Canada any longer pluse I'm sick and tried of the winter I need sun and beautiful beaches ⛱️ another year and we're out bye Canada and thank you for everything but it's time to go home

My family moved to Montréal from the largest Greek island Crete in 1965 when I was 9 got a great education worked in mechanical/ engineering design 44 years and simultaneously 33 years as media/wedding and sports photographer as I work with top major sports team’s photographer. I’m now retired and thinking after visiting my hometown in Chania Crete the last 6-7 years I have met people that are offering me teaching jobs in AutoCAD tutoring or even night school teaching sports photography as I have a portfolio in many different sports of 40 years .. I’m proud born Greek and never gave up of my goals as I was the only Greek of 2,000 employees for a tool designer and pattern designer for a Pulp and Paper manufacturing company for 10 years in the 80s. Planning to visit again in October 2024 when schools open and kind of give back to my hometown Chania Crete.. life there is very peaceful with 100 meters to 3 beaches where all neighbours are from different parts of the world bought a house or hotel… ??❤️??

I'm a Canadian born senior, and the MASSIVE flooding of Canada with immigrants (mostly from India) is DESTROYING this country. As a senior I have been priced out of the rental market due to intense competition for housing with these newcomers. It has driven up inflation where many folks can't afford groceries. Do NOT come to Canada. We need to stop all immigration for several years until our infrastructure has caught up. Then resume at reasonable levels.

My parents are Pakistani ?? and my ancestors (I think my grandparents too) are Indian ??. As a MUSLIM TRUCK DRIVER born and raised in Canada ??, I’ll say this inshaa Allah . Racism has no place in Islam. However, stereotype is permitted in Islam. I’ve had my AZ license for 7.5 years. Believe, you, me, almost every safety class I took, whether it was with small trucking companies or big ones like Canada Cartage, I saw the male Indian students taking the class in a non-serious manner. They didn’t act like they cared. They were simply sitting there, cracking jokes, screwing around, saying stuff like \n\n“Who cares about this safety class? Just get the load, drop it off and that’s it.”\n\nBut when they get into accidents, they’re sitting their with their jaws dropped and pants down\n\nAnd I’m. It saying this driver took safety as a joke\nBut I know my Pakistanis and Indians just like I know my Canadians - they just don’t take safety seriously cuz safety isn’t really taken seriously in India and Pakistan

Yes I was born and raised in Canada and just moved to Alberta in a small brand new community and it's all Indian culture with all the houses worth anywhere from 1 to 4 million dollars and I'm the minority living and renting a basement Suite LOL. I feel like I'm in India visiting their country as a tourist??‍♀️

I’m Muslim born in England to English mother and Moroccan father I got 100£ for anyone who thinks they can say something to my face and I won’t do jail time over it! Let me catch any of you talking like that to innocent people

Canada is a corporation and I guess the more immigrants WE have then the GDP looks better. I am a Canadian and my mother was born here and my grandmother came to Canada in 1907 from the USA when she was 7 years old. I was born in the 1940s and brought up in rural surroundings. Back then We had traditional beliefs and I had farming background. Connection of relatives and helping our neighbours were how We lived. I became a schoolteacher. I saw that in 1954 when I went to school that learning was not natural and it was fear based. Then I completed a dip. of ed psy and then I decided that if I ever wanted to help change the system that I would require at least an m. ed. - leadership. I knew the university I went to would not be able to say no to me when I applied to get into this program. However, I was too much of an negative influence on the younger students and had to finish the last couple of classes at home and which I did. Today, the families have been divided, people do not connect or communicate properly and I have to question what living skills did I learn? Instead, my head was filled with propaganda which sadly, I've had to relearn. I say, stay in your own country and fix it there. Indian has some wonder ancient wisdoms for healing and health. The OWNERS of our nations like the banking families realize that when new immigrates come in that they assimilate more, and the older generations begin to question what THEY were taught and why. I remember when say a barn burned down or one had to be built that neighbours would help build the barn for the farmer. Then we would all celebrate and the women would get together and cook the food and we would have a barn dance. Life was simple then, but connection was authentic and we didnt lose ourselves. We must know ourselves and our history or we are lost and so many people live in chaos and ignorance. Learn to become our Divine selves. Learn to understand that WE are living in a fictional world when We are educated to be who we are not.

Some of the stats cited here are straight up wrong or... creatively employed, and there's a lot of contradictory information and the typical conservative 'the sky is falling' sensationalism and misattribution. That said, the bas supposition isn't wrong. The bubble we've been sitting on for 20 or so years has completely burst. As someone born and raised in the Toronto area, it's impossible for me to afford to own a house or apartment here on a teacher's salary. Even rent pushes me to the limit unless I want to live in a... less than nice area. I'm living hand to mouth and enjoying the benefits of living in a 'developed' country less. Here's why:\n\n1. Wages aren't really even close to keeping up with the cost of living. The first tick upwards a bit. The second just keeps rising on the back of housing, food, amenities, and inflation: the four horsemen.\n\n2. Our grocery cabal ruthlessly raise prices whenever we look away, and their lobbyists are all ensconced within the leadership of our three major parties, particularly the Conservatives (so if anyone thinks that electing them will help, they're in for a nasty surprise).\n\n3. We're experiencing 'labour shrinkflation': increasing duties are downloaded onto workers and more is expected: more productivity, more availability (almost 24/7 in some jobs), and higher qualifications. Meanwhile, real wages are decreasing relative to living cost, more positions are 'contract', which is basically a way for employers to not have to give you benefits, and job security is tenuous for a lot of people.\n\n4. Houses are being bought by investors and not owners. Foreign entities are money laundering. The wealthy upper crust of high population countries are moving here and buying property because Canada is (still) more safe and stable and less repressive than their home countries in most cases. \n\n5. There's a cycle beginning: as people are squeezed and forced to spend more on 'needs', they spend less on eating out, entertainment, and other 'wants'. These are significant drivers of the service economy and they're being hit hard. So, what can they do? They can let go of workers or lower product costs to remain profitable, but they their quality declines and, in a market where people are pinching every penny and looking for quality for their dollar, they're less likely to go back. They can raise their prices, of course, but then they price people out completely and their profits still tank. I went to a decent steakhouse for my dad's 60th last week. I can't remember the last time that I went to one before that. \n\n6. Our politicians and news cycles focus on the most niche and irrelevant stuff because it'll stoke anger and get tongues wagging. This carbon thing is almost a non-issue, but our conservative leader is harping on about it like it's singlehandedly the death of the Canadian economy when it's a drop in the bucket. Trudeau focuses on 'equity' measures, hoping for a bit of cheap good press, while his efforts are, for the most part, just window dressing and the issues, while meaningful, are often not of paramount importance or even applicable to the vast majority of the people who elected him. Meanwhile, the middle class is pretty much evaporating as he speaks. The NDP keep talking about this in a pretty real way, for what it's worth, but Jagmeet Singh is giving off an increasing vibe of just being another fat cat politician beneath his rhetoric these days. Also, third-party trolls and screeching conservatives try to bury him on social media whenever he speaks... a lot more than other leaders as well, oddly. I wonder why? Oh yeah, the Greens exist and there's Quebec and the conspiracy theory party.\n\n\nUltimately, what we're experiencing is the revenge of the feudal system. Instead of paying rents to your lord and doing labour on the land for him whenever commanded to, you pay rent to your landlord now and go to work even when you're sick or when work hours are over because you have no union protection or are working 'on contract'. Unless we want to live in the armpit of nowhere, 95% of us are going to be wage slaves living hand-to-mouth, not owning our own property, and working to please our corporate overlords if current trends continue unchecked. While some of Canada's problems are unique, I fear that most aren't. As for me, I'm headed to the 'armpit of nowhere' where I can at least have a ghost of a chance of affording life.

I also am a Canadian born and I don't recognize my country our culture has change, the immigrants are trying to take over our country and not give Canadian artists a chance to preform. What a shame indeed. They should be a shame of themselves and respect our culture. I'm in school and can't ever get a place to do my placement and I know of other Canadian borns who are struggling to get jobs and the ppl told them that they want immigrants and refugees first and then Canadians when is this going to end. I'm so sick and tired of this.

Good! I was born in Russia and immigrated here as a kid with my mom. A lot of Russians went back for similar reasons, and I’m happy for them. You should go to where people live your values…and not try to change the values of the place you go to.

I’m sure they are living high on the hog food banks might be a good wellfare cheque plus probably got more rights that born Canadians

I'm a born and raised Canadian.... can I please be deported

But still we have best Canadians who born here and they are well educated and polite . Soon as Im came here I’m noticed that those people are best in the world . I’m vote for them for the lovely people in the world . For that Im will stay in Canada .Yes it’s true that here is not available jobs , it’s true that the health care are making you do not come to the hospital , even once I’m nearly died they just send me home to die just because they didn’t have the empty bed . And the nurses weren’t nice . But I’m not angry about it, because I’m have seen how hard are they working.But for myself it’s important to see the kind Canadians ,and I’m will try to make the place better.

I'm black and was born in Canada but I'm leaving. If I wanted to live in Mumbai I would go there. Sidenote: I don't feel bad for white ppl, this is a reckoning for colonization and trying to use immigrants to prop up your standard of living. Ciao ?

As a indigenous born and raised I'm planning on leaving Canada I feel unwelcome and a stranger here besides I always loved America anyways lol

I'm a Japanese born & raised in Toronto, and used to love Canada. Now I'm seriously thinking of moving to Japan - a country that protects itself from migrants, and even over-tourism recently. I don't mind diversity, but not willing to live in Little India, nor listen to people preaching their Muslim/Islamic faith every day ???