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2022-07-30 0
I was born in Quebec, I grew up there, studied, worked, lived almost all my life, except for a few years in Toronto and Ottawa for studies and work, where I never really felt at home, but like in a foreign country. I love Quebec, its history, its culture, its language, its way of life and Quebecers in general. I get used to its climate, its six months or so of winter, but still with nice, hot summers. I also put up with the high cost of living due to the multiple taxes to be paid, the highest in North America, which means that, paradoxically, it still costs less to live here than elsewhere in Canada and to the social safety net Quebecers benefit and which is the envy of many citizens elsewhere in the country. The shadow on the board: the hostility and racism of English Canada, including most Anglophones in Quebec and the allophones who join this recalcitrant community towards Quebec and Francophones in general, the ambient wokism, the complacency of the mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, who has transformed the city into a huge bike path, Justin Trudeau's hypocrisy regarding Quebec legislation for the protection of language and secularism, which he intends to challenge before the Supreme Court of the country . If I weren't so attached to Quebec, these would be the main reasons that would make me leave Quebec, but to go where, like the wandering Canadian of song, banished from his homeland... Where? Any informed suggestions?
2022-05-17 0
I was one of those immigrants who decided to move back to my home country. I lived in Canada for a year so I survived Winter and Summer in Toronto during 2020. I had so many situations against me to stay in Canada and I also had a void in my soul that didn't let me make the decision to definitely stay. I also couldn't put up with the pressure of my acquaintances so determined to stay forever, even though my plan at first wasn't to stay, I still feel guilty for haven't done a little more effort to stay but no regrets. I am thankful for my Canadian experience and I know that it will be helpful in the future if I decide to go back to Canada.
2022-01-03 0
Many leave their own country, and come to Canada BECAUSE of their dislikes; extremism, culture, religion, laws, identity and in some cases backwards thinking; attempt to turn what we in society would consider as sexist, and discriminatory in some examples….\n\n…however when those same individuals finally achieve citizenship, or in some cases this starts (attempt to change Canadian law(s)) before obtaining citizenship, making moves to force the above, everything they despised, hated or disliked about their own country, into this new country ? Its like, the expectation is that we assimilate to them, not that they assimilate to their new chosen country??\n\nIt appears in some cases, going as far as attempting to rationalize why the the very thing they left their own country for, should now be a part of or have a place in Canadian society….where in any place in the World does this happen? Would it happen? Can you imagine, if I were a guest in someone else’s home, being invited over for dinner, but they had rules…like taking off your shoes when entering their home…or demanded they change their menu that they worked hard making for me to eat..or that I do not put my feet up in the coffee table or furniture…but I said, screw that, I don’t agree with their rules..I’m just going to do what I want! What would be the outcome do you think if I were to disrespect their rules?\n\nWhen Canadians have the audacity to say NO, we’re not interested in adopting …the rules/laws of the country they just abandoned…we’re now somehow insulted, or angered the guest? …the same Canada that has welcomed, provided safety, roof over their heads, food on the table, an education for their children, and provided access to our medical (albeit far from perfect) infrastructure.\n\nTo stomp their feet, bang their fist on the table when discovered that it’s expected to take four years of your life to become a doctor (which btw if you’re smart enough to become a doctor, you should be smart enough to of researched the expectations, PRIOR to coming to Canada) in the Country that YOU have chosen to spend the rest of their lives in, to have to work in a job to help support you and your families transitions,…imho, is NOT an unreasonable ask….that 4-5 years of their next 40-50+ ? Well, if that is considered a hardship, then maybe they need to rethink their intent. Maybe, the grass WAS greener in their former Country?!! \n\nI think to expect or demand to just step into or handed on a silver platter all the goodies without having to except to take the not so good…is imho ignorant, arrogant and selfish.\n\nEven with our flaws, Canada is one of the best places to live on the planet. It’s takes hard work, investment and community to make/keep Canada
2021-12-28 3
As an older Canadian who was educated in Canada with a B.Ed. - then worked away from Canada for thirty of my forty years. There is no way to say that any country is the best one to live in; every country has strengths and weaknesses- that especially relate to your specific needs and wants. Coming back to the country of my citizenship was also extremely hard for me after working away for so many years. The way to do well anywhere in Canada, is to build up credibility/seniority at one job and stick with it. Whether you are university or self-educated- which is considered just as valuable in today's job market- you are going to face an uphill battle unless you are fairly established. Canada has a high level of unemployment and some sectors, have an overabundance of trained workers. When my Middle East friends tell me they would like to live and work in Canada, I give them the advice I would give anyone. First, think about your family or friends that you want to have around you in your daily life- that is number one. Nothing is more depressing than being alone. Weather is a big factor, but it can be tolerated if you are with your core family or friends. One hundred years ago when my ancestors fled war and revolution, they had no choice but to do their best to make a life in a very difficult climate (literally)- culturally and weather-wise. There are a number of refugees today that are in similar circumstances. They do their best to get past the difficulties for the sake of their children's futures. If you are not literally refugees, think hard about you choice to leave your core culture and people.
2021-10-09 0
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
2021-10-01 5
I'm a Canadian, and can comfortably state that Canada's reputation was cemented in the early seventies, and anyone choosing to come here based on that reputation, does so under false pretences. The majority of the immigrants I have come into contact with quickly become disillusioned with Canada, and eventually feel compelled to leave. The cost of living, combined with a lack of opportunities, and low wages, means that leading a normal life here is largely out of the question. Crime is a huge problem in BC, as Vancouver has become the de facto money laundering centre for North America. As a result, Canada is now extremely attractive for all the wrong reasons. At present, Canada is experiencing internal mass migration patterns driven by economic necessity, as the cost of living is prohibitively expensive in most urban centres. There is also a corresponding mass migration pattern of those who were born here away from the major cities, as Canada now lets in 500K, largely unvetted, immigrants into the country each year, most of whom are from war-ravaged, or third world, countries. With so many disparate languages and cultures from all over the world, it makes life utterly chaotic. The different nationalities never mix, and there is no effort expended to integrate with the Canadians who were born here. The Chinese live in Richmond, the East Indians in Surrey, and they have NOTHING to do with each other. Having traveled abroad, it's shocking how primitive it is in Canada. My advice to anyone thinking of coming here: Would you buy a ticket for a cruise on a ship that has a massive hole under the waterline?
2021-08-15 0
I know Canada is not perfect and I find you’re a bit hard on the red maple leaf... just because you don’t find the same things as your native country. It’s like\nfrench people coming from France, going to Quebec province an complaining about the food, the weather etc... well we’re not France, sorry to say! But I can\ntry to understand your situation; it’s probably inevitable that the comparison between your country and Canada would show up eventually. I see regularly \nimmigrants moving here and it’s true that it’s not easy. (Some people will have to be cab drivers because they can’t find work in their field). But you have\nopportunities if you work hard. I have the example of a Russian truck driver who move here with his family (wife, two kids). The man started by working for\na general transport company, then was able to buy his own truck. Now he’s able to work with whoever he wants. So I think every experience is different.\nOne other thing I noticed is that for families coming here it will always be easier for kids (even teens) to adapt quicker then their parents. I live in the east\n(the maritimes) and there is not very large cities. Some immigrants that come here will stay for a while but then they would move to a larger city (like\nToronto) because that city must have the most ethnic diversity in Canada. For cultural differences true that Canadians are like Americans in the «none»\nfashion trending. It’s a different mentality then Europe because over there fashion is a statement; you are judge on your appearance. Here, not as much.\nIt shows you don’t like winter and if you don’t your not a real Canadian! :-) Don’t generalize, a lot of people here like winter. And for taxes I don’t have a clear\nexplanation other then we have a huge empty country that needs roads, infrastructures, etc. and someone has to pay for it! (fun fact, all the population\nof Canada could fit in a country like Poland... it shows how empty it is here). Finally, and I heard this many times, maybe the people or the part of the\ngovernment to blame is Immigration Canada. Maybe they give to much of an idealistic image of Canada! I truly hope that all will be fine for you here.\nDon’t forget that you can make a change to the society; if you don’t like it, you can make it better! Cheers! (Sorry for this long message)
2020-08-31 0
Canadian government, can u make all filipinos go home and lets see how ur country stand without us in ur country because if u can't respect as filipino in ur country u should do all the in here i think there are too many filipinos in canada and if we leave this canada because of this issue because the president of the phillipines will heard about this ur country's economy is in grave danger plus phillipines will cut all the ties with canada and it will make ur economy crippled and i know canada doesn't want to get blame for the reason of phillipines braking ties with western civilization and join china and russia.
2020-01-25 0
While racism is real, there are certain people from some religious dicatorships in Canada spying on the free people of this country and making people uncomfortable too. there are those who want to push their beliefs on all Canadians and there has to be a balance in terms of acceptance and inclusiveness. I find many times people also play the race or discrimination card to push their beliefs and ways of life on others while I have heard them for example swear at and judge Canadians for example who don't cover up their hair or wear mini skirts......that is also discrimination and judgement and is also 100% wrong, even though they may be doing it quietly or in their own language. There is sometimes (besides obvious cases of racism of course) that there are 2 sides to the story! People that come to Canada also need to respect its values of respect for all, not just ask for it for themselves. While a lot of wonderful people come here and have the utmost respect for Canada that is NOT the case with those pushing their beliefs and particularly religious views on the rest of Canadians making them feel like outsiders I have heard many stories about.
2018-07-31 0
As a Canadian screw Trudeau . I'm ashamed to call him my prime minister. At least his dad gave us the bill of rights and freedoms which is a historic document... His son aka Justin is literally ruining Canada .\n\nSo far he's put us in a tonne of debt , has no economic knowledge/political experience, is a hypocrite, went back on his promise for electoral reform (as the old system made him win lol) , is an Islamic extremist apologist , literally gave millions of tax $ to a terrorist because he was detained in Guantanamo aka Omar Khadar -_- etc ... The list goes on.\n\nWasting my tax dollars on people who not only are breaking the law but it's a joke - They just literally walk on over. Many have no skills or anything to actually bring to Canada either. They're not asylum seekers. They're economic migrants who broke the law by coming to the states illiegaly. Now because you actually have a president with balls to kick them out to where they came from they're coming to Canada where they know our PM can't even admit there's such a thing as an extremist Muslim. \nHe keeps using the excuse that Canada was built on immigrants. Yes. True. Legal ones. Or legitimate refugees fleeing war or persecution. Not bloody Donald Trump and a pretty developed / stable country aka the US. Smh. \n\nThe only good thing he's done is legalize weed and even then he's managed to screw it up by making it a government monopoly vs a free market the many US states have where entrepreneurs can thrive.
2018-03-29 0
RE: Canadian healthcare, my wife broke both her hips in 2017 in two separate falls, she was admitted immediately to hospital without delay and operated on the next day (half hip replacement), after physio and occupational therapy she was discharged and provided Homecare, 16 times per week plus weekly Day Hospital. Our cost for both operations was roughly $160.00 for parking spots for me so I could visit her and about $140 in Tim Horton doughnuts for staff. The system does not have enough of certain types of specialists thus wait times for those specialists, and there are wait times for elective surgery. The system has not really been reviewed since its inception in the 1960s but making significant changes is the third rail of Canadian politics and a hard look is justified after 70 years. Re: illegal crossings; The gentleman in the video has a problem in that the US and Canada have signed a “safe country” agreement and neither will accept refugees from the other as both Canada and the US are deemed “safe havens”. He crossed illegally, if he had crossed legally he would have been immediately turned back at the border but he clearly entered the country between border crossings and was likely arrested and released on recognizance but not returned immediately as the agreement is silent on illegal entries (yes, seems a touch strange). As many people are leaving the US for Canada the system is overwhelmed. Tent cities have been set up in Quebec and public housing used in Manitoba to house illegal immigrant pending processing - those with criminal records are held for deportation. Canada has accepted roughly 25,000 Syrian refugees from camps in that part of the world. These refugees were first vetted by the UN then Canada. These refugees are completely different from the people crossing the border illegally from the United States. This pales to the 75,000 boat people accepted after the fall of Saigon. Canadians have been generally accepting of refugees but wants the process guided by the rule of law. Immigrants are a separate from refugees and the rules governing their entries into Canada are different.
2018-03-05 0
The issue is that the intending migrants and the general public are ignorant as to asylum law. The public think of asylum as some far reaching, grandiose humanitarian gesture- when the truth is that asylum laws provide an EXTREMELY LIMITED basis of relief. \n\nMerely coming from a dangerous country is NOT enough to win asylum, in the U.S. or Canada. A person must prove they are specifically persecuted, by the GOVERNMENT, because of some specific basis. A Central American claiming Central America is full of gangs and poverty, while true, is NOT a basis for asylum. This is why it's my personal belief that the thousands of Haitians making a run for the Canadian border have an almost zero chance of receiving asylum- ESPECIALLY after NOT living in Haiti for many years. \n\nIn spite of this, migrants still make these claims because it forces the country to go through a time consuming legal process, and is a way to buy time and prevent their deportation. Or perhaps allow them time to find a local job, continue their education, or have a child born in the country and then make a humanitarian argument to allow them to stay, even after losing their asylum case. \n\nThe truth is, unless a country holds asylum seekers in detention for the entirety of the process, it's a given that failed asylum seekers will NOT return to their country of origin, and will simply go underground.
2014-08-05 2
My experience in Canada has been largely positive, with only minimal racial difficulties.  As a teenager, I do recall some kids making blatantly racist comments, when I was the only minority in the room; but they were silly girls, popular and full of themselves, and most of the students who heard did not laugh with them. We all knew it was wrong.  Another time I was told, by an agent, that a potential employer claimed she would not hire me because of my race.  I did not hear these words firsthand, though, so it was impossible for me to verify the truth. In the end, I let the matter alone. Other people,  I realize, have endured severe injustices; such have not been my experience, but this does not subtract from their reality.  Indeed, racism does exist, and shall remain as long as there are imbeciles wallowing in the mire of ignorance, people who cling to an absurd sense of superiority for lack of something more meaningful to hold.  As well--and it must be said!--quite likely, we all have, at some point, entertained discriminatory thoughts. 'Tis not a 'black and white' problem but a human one, and we must be mindful of it beginning with ourselves.  Canada, then, with its many inhabitants and complex history, will never be the exception. We can't expect perfection among people, here or anywhere else in the world.  Even so,  I believe there are enough fellow Canadians who strive to treat people as individuals and are happy to make friends across cultures.  My life has been and continues to be a testament to that!  Whatever our troubles, we still retain a proud heritage of diversity and progressive ethnic harmony.  We do try, and for this reason I love my country.  I am deeply patriotic and immensely proud to be part of it!  
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