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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.

Thanks for making this video. After nearly 13 years as of Jan 1st 2022, I'll be leaving Canada on a one-way ticket; not to my country of origin, but further into new ventures.\n\nIt's been a slog to become a citizen and try and make life work here. It's a good place to be successful financially if you make sound choices, and then to live a fairly quiet, isolated life. If all you want is to live within your own ethnic community and have a better quality of life, it's a good place.\n\nUnfortunately, it's never had enough culture or meaning for me. Life feels pretty empty no matter how much money you make. The national identity being based around home-ownership feels extremely depressing to me.\n\nAnd you're both on point about the reserved, passive-aggressive nature of Canadians. I've become like that too now. It's pretty obvious that it costs us dearly; people are unable to be genuinely warm, to take risks and form real friendships. Everything feels surface-level because no one risks taking the steps that might even be a bit of intrusion into each other's lives that is the signal of the start of a close friendship. I'm sick of the surface relationships I've had here.\n\nAnd the wholesale import of U.S. narratives with complete ignorance of our own realities. Most Canadians think they live in the U.S. and seem unable to name a single important issue in their own province or country. I truly came to see the Canadians as a colonized people who refuse to truly admit that they are colonized behind a thin veneer of insecurity posing as a virtue-superiority complex.\n\nI sound harsh but it's the outpouring of someone who's fallen in and out of love with his country.\n\nI don't know what I will find on the other side, but it's going to be different and I honestly can't wait.

Aslaamo alaikum\nDear Ashir i have listened you carefully but the thing i think is, how can a man like me get migrate from Pakistan to Canada?\nI am a driver now, before this i had spent 50 years of my life in jobs since i was 19. I got my education upto F.Sc., due to separation in parents i had started to do jobs and still in struggle to make my kids educated. When you disclose the reality about difference between two countries please think 1% or may be sum bit, people like me feel that they are failed by the word KISMAT and you understand who make Kismat. I feel heavy heart while i had struggled for better but never got success just because i am from those who are really poor and more over belongs to a community which never been stoped to be discriminated. I am very much upset in trying to be truthful just to see most of whom had a corrupt money or ethic they get success and rate it by adding that Pakistan left no values nor else what. I know Allah is every where and sees every moment for his creature spent in living a life without any luxury or normal and always put in struggle with an end of this life. I request you to tell the truth that don't make decisions as one wants but remain calm that Allah will give you better in after life. If you feel that you didn't understand what i want to say you can mail me, my id is mfarooqaslam1@gmail.\nPlease don't feel bad i am v much sorry if so. I have pain and waiting for end of this as per Gods will.\nRegards and gratitude\nFarooq.

I used to live in Brampton and this is the city where I first landed. No hatred for the city but people have ruined it. I'm a brown guy myself so I can't be racist against my own people and tbh, some of the best people I know in Canada are Sikhs but even they accept the fact that there is a large number of bad apples in their community. Sikhs have played a major part in both positive and negative way, to make and break this city.\n\nInsurance scams in Brampton cost their citizens to pay one of the highest premiums in the country. Generally, drivers in Brampton have no fuckin' idea how to drive because the licences were literally bought. \n\nA large number of people of our brown community always hell bent on abusing the system, wherever they go. We bring the same back home mindset here in Canada rather follow the system. \n\nThe only thing mostly brown community is focused on is how to make money and that's all. Don't try to learn the language, don't like to mix with people, don't care about the laws or anything. They only like to have nice big houses, show off their leased fancy cars and that's all.\n\nI left this city for good and don't regret my decision at all when I see numerous videos about the bad situation in Brampton. I'd love to move back to Ontario but cannot live in this city anymore. One thing really pissed me off when I was there that most people expect every brown person to speak Punjabi and when I used to tell them that I don't speak or understand Punjabi, you could see the surprized looks on their face.

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 -