Close Reading

As a half century Canadian I have this piece of advice to all who want to come live here, in Canada, you MUST work, then you MUST contribute at least 30% of your salary to all Canadian benefits including a pension plan, healthcare, education, and low income help is also available. Then you get old and your Canadian kids think of which old folks home they will put you in, if you're lucky you have a good and safe life from war, gun violence, a fair election system, and open arms to ANY human that wants to become Canadian, and that's about it.\nSo if you're in for a free ride, or a easy living off way of life, forget Canada.\nThe beaver is our emblem, hard working, never quit, perseverance and determination.\nCanadians are known around the world for one thing, ? we are kind and forgiving.\nStay safe, and sorry you didn't like Canada, can't be perfect.✌️??✌??

I wish more people would leave , do not move here , the good jobs are gone .You two girls are stupid, half of your income , in taxes, you are both liars and exaggerating. Dental work in Cuba , I have been to Cuba it is dirty , a person that I know had to come back to Canada they went to a Cuban dentist and ended up with an infection . I am a born Canadian I am tired of people insulting Canada it should be against the law for immigrants to say bad things about Canada .

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.

So here is the thing about what you have said about retraining and going back to school over here in Canada..\nMy wife has spent ten years going to universities in BC becoming a counselor but now we have moved to BN they want her to spend another 4 years proving to someone in NB that she can do the job she has been doing for 15 years , oh and she is a Canadian!\nI have 20 years experience as a plumber even before I moved to Canada, I prove this to the canadain goverment I can do my job get my visa. Then you have to do this all over again because the unions are really in charge over here, they dont want people like me moving here from the UK taking their jobs as they put it...\nWhy say to someone that, hey you can come over as you are exactly what we need! then tell them they have to go back to Collage and sit more exams and do schooling all over again.. I came over as a Plumber been here ten years and have worked as a plumber in Canada for 3 years tops as it was getting harder to get work, what is the point in this? \nAnd don't even think about leaving one province for another and expecting to be able to just do your job, that is not going to happen.. If I had known what I know now about Canada before I came here I would still be in the UK

Then why the immigrants just don't come here to study at University and work a student job so that then they have a canadian diploma, a canadian job experience, a canadian credit score. Once you graduate in Canada from a program that is in hight demand, it's almost automatic that you get your permanent residency status.

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)

I do not mean to be negative here but anyone of you who is well settled outside Canada, don't come to Canada!, unless you want to do labor work. I know people who have done Masters in Software engineering are working in a Pizza shops. If there is one job opening there are 10 thousand applicants for the same job. Companies showing fake jobs to satisfy govt. pressures. Automated refusals replies of your job applications are common.\n People get hired on sources and within companies. Racism exists, results are killings every now and then. Go and watch news channels like CP24. Thieves are here. Things do get stolen. Recently mass graves are found near schools in multiple areas of small children of indigenous people who were tortured and killed by white supremacy in the past. Recently a whole family is killed by a maniac. No capital punishments so killers, rapists walks free after 10-15 years tops.\n\nAshir sahib is being a little dramatic. I guess the agony of Pakistani bureaucracy has influenced him so negatively that in his mind he is comparing Pakistani life with Canadian life. He himself was driving truck initially. may be now a days retired or staying home or may have sufficient funds. But don't get too excited with his kind words. He is only showing the good side of Canada in some sort of excitement. \nThe bitter truth is that unemployment rate is too high here. Govt hides the truth. They couldn't even handle the pandemic properly. Alcohol is cheap marihuana (Hashish, Charas) is legal now. Every 3rd person is smoking weed. Drunk drivers kills innocents on roads often. Every region have different rules and regulations and policies. I moved to Niagara region and they charged me $200 deposit for water $200 deposit for hydro plus monthly bills separate. $1800 to $2000 is the rent of one bed apartment. Burlington where he lives has $2800 to $3000 rent monthly for a house. Go check online! Price of buying a home is in millions of dollars. Go check real estate.

I am 17 and I plan to move from Romania to Canada somewhere around 27 years old. After I finish college I will first move to the UK for 2 years to gain experience and some money and after I move to Canada for good. I am aware of the process and that everything will be difficult but I will work hard. I will always come back here with updates from the process. I would like opinions on my plan and if it's good that I'm thinking about it. By the way, a very useful video and I will recommend it to my friends if they have similar plans :)

I know we have some people here in Canada , Ontario i have seen it all. We have our amount of unstable citizens. But i heard a person coming to me and saying the FBI was after him. I laughed because i know the Federal of Investigation can not come into Cnanada without the approval of the RCMP. And even then they have to work together. RCMP can kick the FBI out of our country at any given time if they see they are compying to our canadian laws. Just remeber RCMP is our FBI.

Justin Trudeau seriously caused a huge immigration issue of Mexicans and south americans coming to our country. Like dude I was born in Canada and my parents are immigrints who came legally so I can tell you my side. A non biast side. Since I live and work here I can tell u most people of colour r welcoming, however most people who are here and have trouble finding work dont wanna see more people come and make it harder like texas and arizonia. They dont wanna have a min standard and have a reguee take their job at a quarter of what ur asking. What Justin Trudeau did was really stupid IMO. U opened the door to millions of reguees. This causing a issue more for USA, so they jump 2 international borders. My personal view is lets stip immigration. CLose the border. WE gotta take care of who we have here already. I am sick and tired of seeing people not being able to get a job here, and adding more workers with less standards is not the answer for us. This guy automatically thought we would let him in? Seriously nothing is free and promised in this world. Thus sir please go back to Mexico. You will be fine there

People you must understand that Chinese government helps poor Chinese people to come to America, whit fake paper and professional diplomas , this people not even speak English, they just come to work here and send the money bank to Chinese government,

Okay. A lot of people here have no clue how the immigration system works both in the US and in Canada. “He should just have come here legally”. Well, most of the time a legal path to emigrating to the US/Canada just does not exist, and its getting more and more impossible to be granted asylum. In the US you can’t just apply for a work visa, you can’t just apply for a green card. You got to be eligible to apply for it. For a work visa you need a job offer first, you need proof of income and most of the time the employer will have to prove they couldn’t find an American to take the position. To get a green card you either have to get married to an American, invest at least $500,000 or try applying for asylum (which is almost impossible to get nowadays). ALSO to apply for asylum you need to be either inside the US or at a US port of entry. Try to be less “patriotic” and more empathetic. People flee their countries because of war, violence, cartels, gangs, terrorism, etc. They are desperate and want to protect their families and have a better life. If you were in their shoes and staying in your home country put your family in great harm you would have done the same thing. People need to stop judging, stop being selfish and start leading with empathy.

Stop saying that Muslims need to go back to their Muslim countries, GREAT IDEA but first leave their countries alone first, stop causing wars, financial crisis and other issues in their countries and all of them will happily go back to their so called sharia law countries and guess what????? we will have a major problems in running many different systems in our amazing democratic countries such as the medical industry, just a fun fact..... most of our physicians and pharmacists are actually Muslims also they are the core to so many sectors in N-America and Europe...... I really want them to make that big decision and go back to their home countries and serve their homes just so you all would UNDERSTAND how important these people are to us and why our governments are actually accepting them and even attracting them to come and live, work here but they will never admire these great humans just becouse they are Muslims (history shows that we were the haters and terrorists against them, they were always trying to protect themselves and their land from us) but again we never really learn from history.........

Montrealer here. Caribbean restaurants are notorious for having poor service, irregular hours, poor hygiene, long wait times, inconsistent food etc. I've seen them come and go by the dozens and it's sad bc so many of them have really great, whole food (nothing processed) for a decent cost but the reason they can't stay open has more to do with work ethic and business management than patronage. \n\nWe have a huge caribbean community and the locals love the food too but once u get attached to one of these places, they disappear a few months later. Jamaicans especially, Trinidadians seem to be able to make the business side work better.

Islam is a cult, the Muslims are told to lie in their Qur'an. Read suras 5 verse 51 and 9 verse 29 to start , then tell mee if it is a religion of peace. The hijab is not in the Qur'an. The women in Islam are second class citizens, it takes 2 women to equal the statement of 1 man. If Islam ois so good then ask yourselves why are they leaving their countries to come to the west?\nGoing back to the standards of women, sura 4 verse 34 read it. Do you know the punishment for leaving Islam? It is death, that's why there are so many horror stories in other Islamic countries. \nAll I am saying folks is open your eyes. What is the saying, when in Rome do as the Romans do, this don't apply to the Muslims. The want to come and change the laws to suit them, islamaphobia is just the beginning. Do you think you could've gone to their countries and demand your rights? I think k not, look all I am saying is blend in, don't try to change us to suit your lifestyle because it did not work in your country, remember you chose to come here for a reason knowing fully well what the west is all about.lastly, you label us as islamaphobe if we don't agree with your behavior,so what we call you because of your behavior towards other religious groups especially Christians under which this country was established?

They arent even speaking engish yet . They stay for the money and thought canada would be easy just to skate on in. Now all are supposed to feel bad. How bad can all feel for each situation? People need to stay in their countries and work things out. I cant feel bad for all these immigrants who just want toi come and make more money. I have to struggle. What country can I go toi and get all the free free? I live in the US and the immigrants get all the food stamps and benefits. Most here cant even get insurance and they can get medicaid. My symphathy is not with them.

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

I’m really not concerned about this person or his family being a threat to Canada. They aren’t refugees needing asylum. That said if they come legally.........welcome to Canada. He seems capable of working and wants to work. We can’t take in the entire Central American population. We can take some though. I would much rather have him and his family immigrate here than the Syrian refugees that refuse to work. Refuse to fit in and despise us.

You fled the richest nation in the world, for Canada\n What did you expect? \nCanada takes refugees from war zones not from NYY.. Canada doesn't just hand out money. Especially to people who think they can jump our border and our immigration process. There are plenty of people who spent a lot of time and work to earn their citizenship legally. How is it fair to anyone but you lol. Break the law pay the time. Don't come here without even spending a few hours looking into at least our laws ! Duh!

I can't believe what's being said in these comments. So the fact that he didn't speak English in the interview is the only thing that sunk in? Ok. Many of the immigrants that come here , come for the opportunities: Work, food, shelter, etc. Learning English should be mandatory in all immigrants applying for citizenship but we can't disregard someone because they choose NOT to speak English. For all we know, this guy (I'm sure) understands and probably can speak some English but for the sake of the interview the producers mostly likely asked him and he chose to speak in Spanish.

I used to be a very liberal person for most of my life and tolerant of other cultures and religious faith, like many others I may add.\n However my tolerance is wearing somewhat thin, like many others I may add again, after hearing the same old opinions coming from Muslims repatriated in western societies. \n They come into our cultures on mass and never assimilate into ours, but create their own little pockets of cultural being within our national borders.\n We hear time and again how the indigenous populist must be accepting of them, even though very few are accepting of our culture, using an analogy it's akin to inviting a stranger into your home and give them a safe place to live, food, money and all items that go along with it, and the next thing their sat on your favourite chair with your remote in their hand, even going to bed with your wife!\n We need to wear our head covering it's our right they chant, OK then, afford the same favours to us in your country, let my partner wear her bikini when she's walking down the road, let us drink alcohol, build Christian churches, you get where I'm going with this.\n If it's so great there why do you choose to live here? All the customs you seek are there if you feel that uncomfortable here? \nGiving Sewden as an example, there are now 180 Muslim 'ghettos' not the same you get in the US as the accommodation and welfare is quite generous there, a lot of them are 'No-go' areas even for the police, they mostly hate the Swedish people, a criminal element there will only rob off the swedes, and rape has gone up tenfold committed mostly by the Muslims, and it's only going to get worse as they are accepting another forty thousand of them, even though they have a crisis of a shortage of housing. \n If you ever needed an example of when your political parties have totally lost the plot, and are insanely progressive and what your country could become, then use Sweden as a barometer as to what your country could also decay into.\n The Muslims hate use, hate our freedoms, and just think of us as 'infidels' , multiculturalism has proved on this scale that it does not work, unless immigrants come with the mindset that they assimilate into the culture they are heading for, not the other way around.