Close Reading

Trust me Canada is the land of scams not milk and honey where you come here earn pennies and pay in thousands then go in debt and depression and that’s if you find a decent job. No matter where you work and what you do, you are not going to be able to afford life here. Rent is extremely high and it’s everywhere around the nation not in a particular spot or city. Buying a house became a dream. People are living on top of eachother like pickles in houses or apartments due to high housing prices. And what make it worse are the wages. It is pathetic that the average income here is roughly 3,000 dollars where most of money is going to rent. The only people that are living high quality life here are people who are living on child benefits plus welfare and cash money. My recommendation is move out of the country ASAP before it is too late. It’s a trap..

Trying to find a job here in Canada is insane. i dont live near a big city by any means, but all low skill, fast food/grocery store jobs are now filled with punjabs. i see the job postings and i apply every time, but I'm constantly overlooked because i am not Punjabi. It is illegal to discriminate against job seekers but they do it so blatantly!\nive lived here my whole life, and now trying to get a job that requires no qualifications is one of the hardest things to do. i think immigrants can be beneficial to our society, but not when they come in swarms from the same country, unskilled, and are butting heads against the lower class people already living here for housing and jobs. just, no.

I'm a 28 year old Canadian, I don't want this to come off sounding like a pity party, so I'll keep it brief for all and any of those thinking of moving here. I live with my parents because I could never afford the rent (and I don't even live in a major city like Toronto); my buddies moved in together and paid 1600 a month for a SMALL 2-bedroom apartment and they STRUGGLED to find an apartment. everyone I talk to is struggling and scared about their mortgage payments. My parents built a new home just a few years ago and got screwed over at every turn and on every level, their only saving grace was that their lumber package was locked in so they didn't have to worry about the lumber inflation. the job market is straight up trash and we're taxed through the teeth for every little thing. On the news we see stories about immigrants having to go back to their country because they can't afford to live here or find affordable housing. don't move here, it's shit.

Canada is as broken as an Ubisoft game and its terrible here. i love living in Toronto as its my home city but the quality of life here decreased. our healthcare is messed up that i had to wait 3 months for a therapist so i can start walking again after i had surgery on my leg. by the time one was assigned to me i was already walking and back to normal and didnt need any assistance anymore. also Toronto rather spend 20 mil on renaming a major street to some African name(that has nothing to do with Toronto) for some dumb reason instead of spending that money elseware to improve our medial/housing/food crisis.

I lived on the streets of Toronto for over 3 years between 1997 & 2001. I'd always been a bisexual 'loose, wild and crazy girl' as they say, and for me it was a natural progression. When I was 20 my family immigrated here from South Africa but I was way too immature so Quebec City and I didn't get along. I and a girlfriend hitchhiked out to run wild in Toronto. The fun only lasted the summer and then I spent 3 years living on the streets there. Doing 'the job' just to get by becomes a chore for sure. I spent one winter in a tent city near the lake but too many people made it a violent place. My last winter out there I spent in the Don Valley with a small group, moving our encampment every few days. I would likely have ended up dying out there but a guy I scarcely knew at the time drove all the way to T.O. and spent a week looking for me and just by luck found me when I was at my lowest and willing to go home.

What a great video. For my personal experience the current recession and how it has affected the job market and the interest rates (inflation) is the root cause of all this. I also came as student BEFORE COVID and it was also hard to study and work to keep up with your basic expenses BUT at least there were jobs. Now the problem is the lack of jobs. Criminality is very relative and as you mentioned depends of your own expectation and environment prior arriving to Canada. The homeless and drug adicts problem is really concerning, specially here in Vancouver where I live. What I do is avoiding the downtown as much as I can. I would not mind to live in a smaller city or town as long as the salaries are good enough however the problem is that the living cost there are as high as here in the cities.

Look I have NOTHING against Immigrants. But housing has been long ignored by all parties and now we can't even support our own population let alone new immigrants with somewhere to live. It's INSANE. Housing prices are absurd. We are doing immigrants wrong by telling them this is a great place to live. That's just false advertising. My city is super multicultural and I love that about it, but more and more I meet uber drivers that used to be professionals in their country. They're struggling here and it hurts to see that. They deserve better. We ALL deserve better. Something needs to change, and considering how much Galen Weston makes and the fact that the rich keep getting richer, I think we have the means to solve this problem. The CRA has done next to nothing to close tax loopholes. It's gross.

I think the best part about Canada that you can't find anywhere else is the people and the landscape. Everyone here is so friendly and willing to help their neighbor. I find when I travel, the world feels much colder than here. Unfortunately it's all these amazing people who are suffering to no fault of their own. I haven't been to a doctor since I moved to Quebec (Born and raised Albertan) and I think it's among the worst of the provinces in terms of healthcare and infrastructure and considering it's the highest taxes in all the provinces. Luckily in Quebec City though it's still very affordable (relative to the rest of the country) but the housing market is still getting expensive here very fast. in 2020 my friend bought an apartment for 300k and within 4 years it's easily almost doubled in value for no reason other than inflation in the market. I love this country but indeed things need to change

FYI Vancouver is the 2nd city in the world where the most languages are spoken. More than 170. I lived in Vancouver for 30 years and my grandparents from the late 1930's until they died. All in all, Vancouver was part of my life for over 50 years. You can not compare Van with TO. Vancouver is very multiculteral with not alot of segregation depending on where in Van you are. TO is much larger. No mountains. No oceans. No big evergreen forests or close by trails, ect. I liked the people I met in TO but would never live there again. Van NO ice storms. But yes, Van rains much. It is West Coast after all. Victoria has many more annual sunlight hours. Van is land locked, surrounded by ocean. Most of those from TO speak negatively about BC in general. We would ask them why they are here (VCR) then. I left 12 years ago as Van is now ruined; nothing like it used to be.

ive been living in Toronto my whole life and this video is true, in the past few years alot of citizens and international students who came here are living in the most absurd oplaces simply cause theres not alot of work and job oppurtunities, this was a great video and as bad as the video makes it seem toronto isint that bad its a good city but its slowly going to shit..

I was born in Canada to a Polish immigrant mother. My mothers family came to Canada to escape the tail end of communism and seek better opportunities. I’m 22, I have a degree from a good university and I’m now living with my mother working part time at a liquor store. I was told as a teenager as long as I got a degree I’d have a job and have enough to live on my own. I was lied to. I’m currently working on getting my dual Polish-Canadian citizenship and doing a certification to go teach English in Europe. I can’t have a good life here the way prices are and the stress being in this country brings. There’s homeless encampments everywhere, even in front of my city hall. There’s a couple homeless people who sit outside the store I work at and it’s a heavy reminder I’m one argument with my mother from sitting where they are. I am constantly worried I will become homeless.

I came in Windsor Ontario as a foreign worker in 2009, wasn't the best time to look for a job there but still. I did 1 year of studying, worked again, left for Alberta in 2012 where I still am. Got my PR in 2014 and citizenship in 2022. Most of the things I hear against living in Canada must be true, I don't doubt it but I'm just not aware of them. I didn't even know there was a bank account freezing during COVID. It wasn't easy to get a good job, I had to leave for a small community in Alberta to get the most of what I wanted and that's why I am oblivious to the harsher reality that people have to endure in Toronto or Vancouver. But the thing is, as soon as I landed in Toronto and got robbed 50$ by some guy (this is just an anecdote not the real reason), I knew I shouldn't try to make a living there. I know job opportunities are in those big cities but please, if you can, there are great communities that need people, workers, consumers and families. If you can land a job there, move! At least try. It doesn't even have to be that far up north, nor to be a mini small village. Small city, rural living, no criminality, cheap housing, lots of space, family friendly, no traffic, no wait time to see a doctor, friendly people, douchebags, we have it here. Are they drawbacks? Yes of course. Need to drive 1 or 2 hour to get a scan or an MRI, car dependance is exacerbated but hey, it feels like a free country where no one have been overpriced...yet.

This is very true. I am an Austrian citizen that tried to immigrate into Canada from 2021-2023, I worked my ass off, working 2 jobs for most of my stay and living as cheaply as possible. I still burned through all my savings and a significant amount of money my family sent me to help out. I had an accident and waited for hours for an ambulance to show up, they transported me to a different city because in this town none of the two hospitals had a fucking X-Ray machine. Then the next morning the hospital in the other city kicked me out again, with a fucked up back, because there were no beds available. Had to call my neighbours to come pick me up again (thank you Tracy, love you) because I couldn't get home anymore. Lost one of my jobs thanks to this and started a different one, couldn't afford live in BC anymore and moved to Winnipeg because I heard live there is cheaper. It is, but not significantly so, but you pay for this by living in terrible conditions. Rent was still high, salary was shit, the public transport system is.... Existent but not reliable and the city is so incredibly dirty. There's garbage everywhere. Between my apartment and the nearest dollar store was one garbage can and that was a 20-30 minute walk, here in Vienna there's garbage cans everywhere and thanks to them the city is cleaner. \n\nAnyways, I gave up on moving to Canada and came home. Still dealing with my fucked up back (though it's getting better thanks to Physio and a good doctor) and the debt I accrued in the last few years. But my apartment costs less than half for the same size, my job earns me significantly more money, my phone plan is better and costs less than half and the food is both much much cheaper and much much better. \n\nI am happy with life now. Thank you Canada for showing me how bad even other parts of the developed world are, I really learned to appreciate Austria while I was away.

I just moved up north Ontario from Orangeville Ontario area and rent up here is cheap and I moved to a bush last year due to homelessness and now CMHA helped me get a place and in this small town I'm in that's falling apart, is now a meth city and it was a huge gold booming town. I got 6 meth dealers on my street lol when the snow leaves I'm back to my bush the CMHA (Canadian mental health association) bought me a 800$ generator and a 200$ rain barrel so I can go live in the trailer again so other homeless can get my apartment

Born here and sadly spent a few years homeless in Toronto after both of my parents died (orphaned) when I was younger. I remember being told I had to be at least 25 years old to get help from Streets to Homes in Toronto and was homeless at 17 with no living parents (orphaned). It wasn't until the beginning of Covid that I moved away and another city helped me get off the street in 4 months. Have my own wonderful place for the past 3 1/2 years.\n\nSo glad I never gave up, and so glad I never started drugs.

Leaving Canada??? Are you kidding me? If all these disillusioned immigrants are leaving, then why do us born and raised Canadians see every major city of ours being overtaken over by these immigrants, specifically the South and east Asian variety, in every single one of them? Here is statistic for you on one of them.....more than 75% of the people who live in Toronto, are from another country!! 75%, and Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, and every other big city we have are catching up to that percentage as we speak. I laugh my ass off when I when I see a tiny minority group like yours claiming that immigrants are leaving at a rapid pace. I suppose though it might appear that way to you if you were not born here to begin with and witnessed the massive change in our immigrant population over the past 30 years like us born and raised Canadians have. Dont get me wrong either. I am all for immigration and know how necessary they are to our successful economy and I do feel for the ones that try to make a decent living here but get pushed out for whatever reason, but to say that there is alot of immigrants leaving is simply not true by any measureable standard or why are there so many of you everywhere? Something isnt making any sense here and I know its not coming from us born and raised Canadians either!

Never trust the average « house price » on Internet…856k in Toronto? That was a price 20 years ago. Today, this is a condominium and not a house. If you Google average house price in Montreal ut say 500k… impossible. At least not on Montreal island. You can get a 1 bedrooms condominium for that price.\n\nI grewup here in Montreal and even if our city is very multiculturalthere there is still less visible minority here: 32% compare to 57% in Toronto. Employers can be more selective. I have a immigrant name, and my husband is a native French Quebecois, we both have the same bachelor degree and I even have better grade than him, but he always get 10 times more interviews than me. People change their attitude instantly when they heard that I have the local accent. « Oh, you are from here! » If you don’t speak perfectly French and master English, you can’t find a job in a big corporation. The language is also a natural barrier that protect the local job to be exported.

Here in my city Langley, almost all services are filled with Indians. You go to a bank, 99% are Indians, you go to supermarkets, 99% of the CS are Indians, you go to a gas station 99% of CS are Indians, where ever you go, you see Indians. Indians are everywhere in every sector. Most jobs here are taken by Indians. Looks like haft of India is here. I don't think there's no shortage of jobs for Indians here.

Perhaps I will not name the most popular destination for relocation, but I suggest coming to Russia, there are many positive reasons for this (I take Moscow as an example):\n1) Affordable housing with reasonable prices. The price for a one-room apartment in Moscow, for an apartment with a good renovation will cost you about $500 Plus utility bills with the Internet will be 50%. (The most surprising thing for foreigners is that in winter you can wear a T-shirt and shorts in apartments, and sometimes it will be hot), my cost of heating in a three-room apartment is $35 per month for 95 sq.m.\nDo you want a house? Please! House 435 sq.m. 3 floors for $100,000.\nAre you a young family? Get a preferential mortgage. Got a baby? Get money! A second one appeared. Get even more! Third child? Children's camps, travel card, free school meals, as well as a lot of benefits.\n2) Developed infrastructure, accessible public transport ($30 pass for all types of transport in Moscow and the nearest Moscow region), unlimited travel pass. 783 parks in Moscow, numerous shopping centers, countless child development centers; in winter you can ski and snowboard in these same parks. In general, you will definitely find something to keep yourself busy.\n3) Affordable medicine. Russian citizenship can be obtained after 5 years of permanent residence, BUT foreign citizens have the right to obtain a medical policy for themselves after obtaining a residence permit. The price comes out to be approximately 30-60%, depending on what risk group you are in. After obtaining citizenship, all medicine is free, seriously, a foreigner I know from Australia asked me about this: “What do you mean it’s free?” All this is included in taxes, and the cost is peanuts compared to yours. The level of medicine is high, this is a separate topic for discussion, I don’t know why, but our medical centers are compared with India, this is not so. The current clinics look like Cyberpunk 2077, seriously. In the regions, unfortunately, it is completely different. In December 2023, I was hospitalized with double pneumonia, and I didn’t pay a single ruble for treatment.\n4) Security. You can calmly walk around Moscow at night and not be afraid of anything. There are cameras everywhere in Moscow, on shops, on poles, and video recorders on cars. Everyone knows perfectly well that if you commit a crime in Moscow, you will be punished, and no one in their right mind needs this. Here I advise you to look at the channels of your fellow countrymen. Banditry is an echo of the past, in the 90s people survived as best they could, then the ruble depreciated and everyone fought for food as best they could, now the situation is different.\n5) Racism. I won’t rant, here you should also watch the video of your fellow countrymen who live in Russia, not those who accuse us of racism while living in their country and who have never visited us, but those who live. If you feel other people’s eyes on you because of your dark skin color, excuse me, it’s out of interest, well, there are few of us like that. On a personal note, no one cares what color you are, as long as you are a person who lives within the law as a peaceful citizen. If you act like an asshole, behave inappropriately, use insulting words towards other people, you will feel it quickly. In general, if you are a good person, you can forget about this word.\n6) If you receive a residence permit, education for your children is free. Our state generally cares excessively about children. And I still remembered! Summer holidays for children are 3 months, so where should they go? Summer camp, give mom and dad a break from your nasty whims))\nIf you want to send them to the Black Sea, if you want to send them to Altai to a health center, you can send them to a city camp (They brought the child in the morning and took them away in the evening). Previously, I was constantly sent to the black sea on a permit that was given to my father at work (Shipyard). Now this is only possible in special cases.\n\n7) Vacations. You are required to go on paid leave for 28 days a year. 12 public holidays.\n\n8) Sexual minorities. Having seen enough of cancel culture, where the minority opinion became higher than the majority opinion, these communities were cancelled. When people are openly threatened for their opinions on gender. Fire teachers for using the wrong pronoun. Where pedophiles try to legitimize themselves. We are not on the same path with this.\n\nNow there is an acute shortage of IT specialists, maybe this will be interesting for them.\nFarmers like to settle here; 100 hectares of land can be bought for $16,000. Compared to Europe at $5000-6000 per acre. A well-known foreign representative is Justus Walker if anyone is interested.\nIn general, Russia is open to new citizens of the country, the state gives everything to create a unit of society, on your part you just need to be a law-abiding citizen and live a quiet life. We have problems in the country, they are the same as in any other, but nowhere will there be freedom to implement your plans as in Russia.\n\nAll the best!

Speaking as someone living in South Vancouver, here are two rules I live by:\n\n1) Never leave your bike outside for extended periods of time. Especially closer to a downtown area because it will get stolen. If thieves can't get through your lock, they'll just strip the bike everything that isn't locked down. It's actually very common to see just a bike frame locked to something while missing every other part. \n\n2) Don't go to downtown Vancouver as it's drug city. It's the one downtown area in metro Vancouver that I say has zero redeeming factors. All the other neighbouring cities are nice, with Richmond in my opinion being the best of the bunch, but downtown Vancouver? It's the closest experience to Seattle in Canada that you'll find.

I lived here since 1961. The biggest negative changes have occurred over the last 25 years. Yes a million condos bringing tons of new city tax revenue (wasted) but so unreasonably expensive, as so many new immigrants naturally flock to Toronto and need housing. Which\nmeans traffic sucks, too many downtown roads closed, unused bike lanes steal car travel lanes. Toronto is generally dirtier and meaner than in 60s, 70s, 80s, even 90s. People are less friendly, less polite, less caring, and reside in self contained cultural enclaves. I used to ride the subway daily till 1990s, but i was shocked by my recent ride, with delays, so overcrowded slow service and bummy looking passengers now, scary. Quite a negative unwelcoming transformation!?

Left the GTA in 1999 to raise my children...one of my son's was in school that went to sixth grade, there were gangs and there were swarmings at that time...our three bedroom was 935$ plus hydro then..Shudder to think what it would be now. Live in NB now...house is paid off on a five acre lot, kids are grown, great place to raise grandchildren. Best decision we ever made. I missed the city when we moved here, but after a visit a few years ago...not so much.

Please come here in Indonesia. The largest muslim country in the world ?. Here we have private schools based on religious beliefs. My daughter goes to public school but they have all religions in curriculum. So if the student is muslim, they will learn how to practise shalat and read Quran in school. And you can find place to shalat in any places, like mall or rest area or market. You can find mosque in every street. Halal food is a must. And we only have 2 seasons here, dry and rainy seasons. And we have many tropical beaches and forest too. And the living cost is way cheaper than Singapore or any western country. But if you live in Jakarta, it's a bit pricey i guess. Come to Bali or Yogyakarta or any city in Kalimantan island. You'll live a wonderfull life here, insha Allah ?

I lived there for 13 years. Loved it. Then COVID happened, lost my job, got evicted, had to move back in with my mom in Vancouver. Another unaffordable city. Can’t afford it here, or there but am looking at buying a house in the EU

As a Torontonian born and raised here it’s had a couple shifts in feel over the past decades. Around the mid 90s, there was an increase of gun violence, crime and theft in the city which caused my family to move out to the burbs. I moved back during the 2009 recession for higher education at one of the institutions downtown. At that time, there wasn’t much violence at all. We went out til the wee hours of the morning from Fashion district (Queen and Richmond) to Honest Eds (Bathurst and Bloor), to Yonge and Dundas square. There were still some homeless people then, but fast forward to now, it’s gotten aggressive. Instead of the homeless people keeping in their camps, but now, they have been displaced, are angry, mental health issues are rampant and incidents can happen anywhere. I think we have the right mayor in place now to make some positive changes for the social issues in the city and I am optimistic that we can get it cleaned up over time. For now though, I agree with the sentiment, come for a visit, but maybe skip out on living here until the social issues get sorted. You always have to keep an eye on the back of your head these days.

As a canadian i never thoughg of living anywhere else vanxouver is so beautiful. Growing up govrnmebt started cutting programs and services in schools ans public resources. And kept doing it. \n\nNow they are removinf beautiful homes to build ugly apartments no yards .\n\nThere is not enough public space. Everyone is moving to the city. We use to be able to go to the beach on a weekday in spring and there was no one. Now its packes. To get to the bathroom was almost a block long. The bathrooms are small. Goos for population we has in the early 90s. We need somethings 4x larger now. \n\nIm ok with new comers but if they create a new community in the rural areas. We have so many areas up north no one moves to.\n\nOr lots of space to build new communities up north, not deatroy the current communities that already exist. \n\nWith all the new apartments there is not enough space for cara, no parking and no room on public transportation.\n\nSimply, the city cannot support anymore people. Its unrealistic. \nI worked with a girk who shares a 1 bedroom apartment with 5 other people and she still paid 1500 a month for rent.\n\nThis will soon be like america - run down, extreme poverty & homelessness. The homelessness has gotten so extreme.\n\nWages havw increased maybe 3x since i was a kid, but pricea rose eveey year.\n\nAs a kid we paid $850 for 3 bedrooms. When i mo ed to my first apartment i paid $800 for 3 bdrms. My friend pays $3000 now for a 2 bedroom aptt.\n\nThere are more crimes more thefts now. My old houae was 600,000 that same house is now 1.5 mil. \n\nI make 2x what i made 3 yeara ago ans things are even more expensive than, i have less now vs when i was making less. Ill never affors a house i can barley affoes to save.\n\nIm certainly looking at gettinf out of here. This country is going to trash

A big part..........at least here in Vancouver why the healthcare system is broken here is due to the ongoing opioid crisis. The downtown eastside where many of the homeless and drug addicts live is known as the vortex because it sucks in all 1st responders across the lower mainland. Yet when someone who lives somewhere else in the city needs an ambulance you are screwed. Last year I had to wait over 8 hours for an ambulance........I live less then 10 minutes away from the nearest hospital. Because I couldn't move I had to sit there while my roommate had to call 9-11 over a dozen times to get me an ambulance. Doctors are even telling people to take a cab to the hospital if they can walk, because it's faster. \n\nAnd even when I finally got to emergency I had to wait hours to get looked at. The doctor didn't see me for almost 6 hours while i'm lying there screaming in pain. And this was on a Tuesday night, not even a weekend.

I am a South African and today more than ever, I can say I am a proud South African. \nIt is not always all sunshine and roses. ? Well, actually it is sunshine. At least 300 days of the year.\nI don't live in an Islamic state but in my country we make provision for all religions and cultures. \n1.7% of the population is made up of people of islamic religion. That is more than 1million muslims living here. 78% are Christians. We have Mosques, halaal food in nearly every city and Islamic schools in certain areas where there is a higher populations of muslims.\n\nFor the muslims who prefer to attend a normal school, provision is made for islamic cultural and religious events within these schools.\n We hear the Athaan 5 times a day. In fact we hear it so often that we dont hear it anymore. It has become part of who we are as a nation. We hear the church bells ring. This reminds us of who we are. I live opposite a Jewish cemetery that has a synagogue. With religious events we cant get out of our drive ways because of the congestion if traffic due to this. But we still respect and understand. \nWe have a very diverse culture and most of us respect the diverse cultures.\nI live in Cape Town and would not want to live anywhere else. \nGood luck with your journey and follow your heart.

Aside from being a Filipina Muslim, I like plants too. I don't think, my plants can survive there. I still love Philippines especially here in Mindanao area. Baguio City, Bukidnon are also great. I like Camiguin too but there's a volcano.

As someone who has been in Canada my entire life (except the odd travels), I would leave Canada if I could. Unfortunately I have family circumstances that require me to be available for my family in a short timespan (so I've bought a house within one hour drive from my parents with my partner). But if my life circumstances were different (and I can convince my partner) - I'd be out of Canada within a few months, once I find a job overseas. It's quite depressing here and I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. \nNote: I do not live in the Toronto area or the Vancouver area but still a pretty medium/large city.

Im a Canadian, currently living in Vancouver but I've lived in many countries and will expat again. What it boils down to is if you have a good professional job that pays well, quality of life here is fantastic (among the best). Great schools, clean, great for young kids, and unparalleled acces to the best nature in the world mintues from a world class city. But life gets difficult quick when you cant afford anything. All these other complaints are blown out of porpotion (politics, drugs, etc...) by many and mostly don't really impact most people. In my experience, most people really leave because of better pay in the US, or because Europe has more culture, or asia has many more contries to explore close, or has LATAM has better weather etc...

I think that a lot of people who seem to hate Canada in this comment section are either from Toronto and Vancouver, the two most expensive cities in the country, but these two cities don't represent Canada as a whole. \n\nPersonally I live in a smaller city in Québec (Saguenay) and life quality is super good, there are a lot of job opportunities and housing is very cheap, and it is an amazing place for outdoor lovers\n\nI saw many comments saying that the US is cheaper than Canada... Those people simply don't compare what's comparable. If you compare Toronto with comparable cities in the US like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, Toronto is in fact MUCH cheaper. If I compare my city with comparable cities in the US, well it turns out that Saguenay is much cheaper\n\nSo before wanting to move to another country, you can simply think about moving within Canada. If however you hate winter, then there's no reason to stay here ?

Assalam w Alaikum! Dear Saleh family... It is an inspiration to see your vlogs and the good work you have been doing .. May Allah be pleased with you... i am glad that you have taken this decision and it is never too late... The reasons you have mentioned, do make sense and I wish you all the best and pray for your next steps that you find a good place to settle soon... I suggest you to consider UAE as your next destination, specifically Abu Dhabi as a city where you and your kids will find it much comfortable to live and practice a good healthy life... you may hear that it is expensive, but trust me it is worth it, especially when it comes to Health, Safety and Environment friendly ... The leadership here are young and have good vision for the development and prosperity of the people. Any support required i'll be more than happy to help in my capacity... inshaAllah ... Peace!

I live in NYC, and have been to Canada at least four times, but the last time I was there was quite some time ago. I always had a good thought about Canada, because it seems like some of the problems we have in this city, Canada also has in some way. Right now the city is a complete mess; at post pandemic and with a bit of a recession and a noticeable increase in groceries to basic things like cat food and tissues. That's not the biggest problem, it really is the legislation or lack of for people who not care for themselves. Those homeless people are almost not helpable and I don't feel threatened by them, but other people definitely do. The way the government has handled these undocumented migrants is a complete disaster and couldn't have come at a worse time. We have a serious housing crisis as well, and people can end up paying for high rent, for not the best places, but they want to live in a certain location. The migrants are coming in at about 60k in the last two weeks. You see mothers with little kids or babies selling candy all over the trains and it's becoming too much. Many see it as a form of child abuse or exploitation and we do not respect it at all. I think they feel we are weak and will just pay double for something we don't need. At one station today I must have be approached 3 times and interrupted 2 times while using my phone. It's just too much and we already have a lot of immigrants here, so I'm not sure where these people believe they will find any meaningful employment and the cold is coming. I wasn't born here, but came legally as an infant. I think the border situation is a disaster and it's obvious to a lot of people that the government lets things happen that will definitely effect citizens in the next couple of decades. The city is crowded enough and I do not know where this is all going, people do not want undocumented migrants house a few hundred feet from a childrens school. I just don't understand how they let this happen....I guess this is how Biden does things and all the groups that cheered buses pulling in when it first started are dwindling down....they just want them passed on to someone elses responsibility, but wouldn't want them as neighborhors necessarily. It's a lot of hypocrisy here. Canada seems better in some places, and the same in others.

Interesting video! Here's my perspective:\n\nI'm from Quebec City, of Chinese descent, born and raised in Montreal, where I lived for 21 years. I've also lived in Vancouver for 3 years, Toronto for 5 years, returned to Montreal for another 3 years, and have now been in Quebec City for 15 years.\n\nAs a Quebec City resident and business owner, I find the city amazing. During the pandemic, there were many programs and subsidies available. I even wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau regarding the CEBA program for businesses, suggesting some changes to the eligibility criteria. They followed through, and Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau sent a detailed response, signed by him but likely written by his staff, explaining the revised criteria and suggesting other potential programs. Provincially, my MP's staff guided me through various programs. Ultimately, I received nearly everything I needed to survive and potentially thrive through the pandemic (to be confirmed in 2024).\n\nTaxes are high, but I feel safe in Quebec City. Crime rates are low, and I've experienced little racism, possibly due to my fluency in French. Starting a business here has been easy, with minimal costs and bureaucracy.\n\nAs a gay man, I've never felt endangered. I can comfortably express affection for my spouse in public without feeling judged.\n\nHealthcare, including access to medication and doctor consultations, is extremely affordable. Super Clinics offer next-day appointments at no cost.\n\nI own a commercial condo for my business, which cost significantly less than it would have in Toronto or Vancouver. My rent for a one-bedroom apartment is CAD 755, and electricity bills are remarkably low.\n\nWith the shift to online business, I've accessed international markets while benefiting from a low-cost, safe environment. I received a CAD 2400 subsidy from the Canada Digital Adoption Program, among other government-funded programs, to expand internationally.\n\nAlthough homelessness exists in Quebec City, many supportive programs are available, and most homeless individuals here are polite, likely because they face less stigma.\n\nI believe it's crucial to explore different locations when moving to Canada. Many smaller cities offer great opportunities, which works to my advantage.\n\nRegarding the judiciary system, it's not perfect but feels less biased compared to the Supreme Court of the United States, such as in cases like Roe v. Wade.\n\nMy advice to immigrants is to learn the local language fluently for effective communication. Utilize all available federal and provincial tools, like legal aid, and don't hesitate to contact your MP. In my experience, they've been very helpful.\n\nAll the best, Febby!

I move from one country to another every five years because of the nature of my job. As a practising Muslim with children here are some of the countries I’ve lived in which you guys should consider :\n- Turkey is very developed and your family will have to make less adjustments in terms of quality of life. If you can speak Turkish then you are good to go.\n-Morocco has a very rich culture and the economy is relatively stable.\n- Malaysia is beautiful and has great community sense. Very helpful people. The main adjustment will be with the eastern culture which is very conservative. The cuisine is also very unique.\n- Qatar and UAE are both similar in the sense that finding jobs won’t be a problem and lots of people understand and speak english. Also these two countries are developed and the \n education standards are the highest I have seen in countries following sharia. Also these countries are less strict than Saudi Arabia which is my native country. I really hope you two \n aren’t considering it. Your girls will not grow up happy in Saudi. Trust a women who has done it. I love my religion but inshallah no child should go through that environment because her \n parents were attracted to the holy land.\n-Lastly this is a rather outlier in this list but you should consider India. There are mosques everywhere in almost every city and even the Hindus fondly wake up to the azaan. Most \ninclusive non-Muslim country I have lived in. My children loved it. We lived in one of the many Muslim communities near a mosque in a city called Hyderabad which was ruled by a Muslims for hundreds of years. Even though they have their own languages nearly everyone speaks english. The schools are great. The police create spaces for Muslims to worship on the roads so that traffic doesn’t disturb them. Very inclusive and the city itself is beautifully developed. The job market is great and it is a very affordable place to raise a family.\n\nI hope you guys check these places out. I’ve only listed the countries which I felt were the best options but I’ve lived in almost all the countries with a sizeable Muslim population. Best wishes to you folks from the Sayyid family. Allah be with you.

I'm from Birmingham in England. I was raised in a Christian family, but living in such a diverse city made it easy for me to revert very smoothly to Islam. We have a very strong Muslim community here, with many mosques and schools. I had considered moving to California with my children so I could be with my fiance (who is also Muslim originally from Jordan) but, he will be moving here instead, as he feels like we may not be safe there. I'm so happy for you all, I imagine the children must be so excited ??

I wish you the best ?\nWe, (me my husband and my 7 years old girl) live in the UK Kent county BUT for the last year I stayed to think about moving. We are originally from Bulgaria but Turks and came to UK 10 years ago, we just bought our house 3 years ago, basically created everything from scratch. It is bot an easy task to start from the beginning again but I believe that if Allah maid to think about moving that means He will help you.\nAs a hijabi muslim woman in a community that there are not other Muslims around I can say I feel relatively safe BUT some days I notice the look of hatred in n some peoples eyes. The other thing my girl started to question some topics they have been receiving at school and it is a constant battle for me to keep explaining to her the right and wrong. More over she is listening for now but not sure for future and this scares me.\nAs you said praying and being a practicing Muslim is difficult here as well. We are Turks but do not have Turkish nationality but when we go for religious holidays in Istanbul I feel completely different, it just feels like I have to live there near the mosque. My inner me begging me when we are in Istanbul in the old part of the city to stay there forever. \nI really know what you feel and want. I am looking for Muslim countries where possible we can move BUT unfortunately I made the conclusion that there is not a place even in a Muslim land that we can live the way of peaceful practicing and being a Muslim what we want to be. \nJust advise be careful with the Arab world, other than that if you look at Türkiye I would say do your research really well, not in every town there you can live your religion. Azerbaijan is excellent I would say but they are still under the influence of Russia. \nSo really difficult decision, may Allah guide you. Amin

ALina I see you are a jet setter ( going around the world seeing different places which. Is great and educational ) but remember your dear. dad. he. raised you in a good and Loving way and he’s getting older not younger have you ever considered Living close. too him. and working from home ( And I agree Toronto suck’s I trucked 18 wheeler’s in there delivering product’s in the the 1980s for a. while and everything you said is true about Toronto , I also worked. there. about 5 year’s ago on night shift on a union pipeline job, and stayed at Bradford, Ontario about 40 miles or. so north of the city of Toronto , driving a small truck , I don’ t want too sound. negative either but you couldn’t pay me enough. too. Live there, Now. or Never not. my cup of tea / I grew up most of my Life in. Saskatchewan , I’ am about the same age as your Dad or a year younger , / A good Looking Lady Like you would do well in Saskatchewan , and if you didn’ t Like the cold in the winter you could be a snowbird. you and your Dad ( go away for a few month’s too a warmer place) just. saying. there are a lot of good people in Saskatchewan (Ukrainian, German, Norwegian,Finnish, Irish and English and Scottish just. too name a few, I think there is a good future for a young person or person’s in. Saskatchewan for. a future, and Listen too your father , he Looked Like he’s worked hard all his Life on. the farm, I can tell Listening too him , he’s no dummy ,smart man, I still have a neighbour where I had a small acreage 17 acres south of Tisdale, Saskatchewan ( Brent Butt country ) he farmed across the road from me ( still owns the farm ) retired Lives in nearby Melfort, Saskatchewan has an apartment room he’s around your dad’s age , / I. Live in a small town on the edge of town between Toronto. and. Ottawa ( winter are quite damp here , do too all the Lake’s in Ontario )Anyway the best too you and your Dad in the new year if he is still. farming l hope he had a good crop this ( or if the Land is rented l hope the renter got a good crop) also. best too you and your Dad / Bill S. Canada

All of those issues are the same in any OCDE country. \n\nHousing market is shit in Europe too, even worse I would say, but at least they have decent public transports, so you can live outside a city and still go to your work fast. That’s the only real advantage. (Okay maybe construction quality and norms also)\n\nFrom experience, aka a French software engineer now living in Quebec, cost of life is waaaaaaay cheaper here than in Europe. I just don’t buy shitty stuff I don’t need, and eat responsibly. \n\nSure Canada have a lot of issue. Probably due to the current liberal government and the usamerican capitalism, healthcare is in shambles (as any other healthcare system in OCDE), public transport is non existant, etc. \nWherever you go, at some different levels, theses are issues you find in any developed countries because this is just how we made our society and how it’s deteriorating because our model is just bad overall. \n\nI do have gripes with Quebec stuff, which I think it’s one of the worst province in the country, but as far as I’m concerned, as well as most of my immigrant friends, this is still a prime country to immigrate to. \n\nAlso, the Canadians are really welcoming, progressive, kind. (In general, not all of them, don’t get me wrong)\nOne of the best people I’ve encountered and this is very important when you immigrate somewhere.

In my province healthcare is ostensibly nonexistent. Wait times at ER's are well over 12 hours and you're often directed to go home without ever seeing a doctor. \nThere is an extreme deficit of doctors. I've been waiting 6 years for one and there are people who have waited much longer with no relief in sight. \nHousing is unaffordable. A decent (nothing special) one bedroom 1 bath apartment is around 1600 a month and this is a largely rural province, not a metropolitan city. \nHomes are being bought as fast as they go on the market at extremely inflated prices by people moving here to escape the more populated provinces. This has raised property taxes by 20% in the last 2 years.\nThe economy is in shambles. Homelessness is exploding and the government seems uninterested in fixing it in any realistic or helpful way.\nFederal and provincial income taxes are nearly 50% of your income (44% for me and a bit more for my wife). So, what money you do make you get to keep a little more than half.\nElectricity is about 3 times what it is in the US and the rate here is increasing by 29% over the next 3 years.\nGroceries are unreasonably expensive and becoming more pricey by the day. Provincial sales tax is 15% on top of those groceries as well. \nThis is a short list of a few of the more glaring issues but there are far more. Canada has transformed over the last 5 years into a place I hardly recognize anymore. If something isn't done about it soon we'll be living in a third world country by 2030.

They show a lot of grocery stores when they talk about monopolies, but it’s in everything. When I was getting my internet set up I found out only one of the two main companies in Canada is provided for my area (they do this on purpose). So I pay over $100 a month just for internet. And literally have no other cheaper option other than living with no internet. (I’m in a small town so there aren’t even any cafes or anything to pop into). And live alone. Another thing, we’ve got a big country, and I live in a rural community, so most of my colleagues drive at least 45 minutes to get to work, one way, because they’d rather live in the city. And this is NB so you can’t take public transportation like trains to get here, you’re driving on the highway to get here. Since the pandemic houses have more than doubled, I did get a raise, but it was I think 4% over the last three years. So cost of living is definitely increasing at a much higher rate. Before the pandemic I could buy a week of groceries for one person for $60, now it’s more than $100 for a week easily, and that’s with looking for bargains and reducing the amount of meat and fresh produce I eat. It can’t keep getting worse, because people already can’t afford it, so something is going to have to change before everything breaks completely.

things go downhill\nman i love this city \ni grew up here all my life\n\ntheres those funny memes going around like WHY didnt i buy a condo in grade 3 when the prices were nice lol\n\nwe need UBI government can send billions of dollars to other country for all kind of other purposes but cant build their own infrastructure\nwhy are humans so backwards\nwhen it comes to growth and well being\nwhy? \nsomeone tell me why

I was born and raised in Toronto. I have no family inheritance to give me a jump start. I make good money (middle upper class) but I’m still struggling financially. Not because I spend like crazy or anything, but because taxes are crazy and everything is so expensive. And now with the high interest rates, my monthly expenses went up $4000+ for no reason. Just based on interest rates. I had a pho lunch for 2 last week and it was freaking $70! Crimes are increasing like crazy and the government keeps having talks of handing out money when we are in so much debt. Seriously the government right now is discouraging talented hard working ppl and encouraging lazy leeches to keep being lazy. Our healthcare is also a joke. Doctors know nothing and are only there to write prescriptions. The amount of people I know that was misdiagnosed for conditions so obvious that any 10 year old can figure out by googling their symptoms is ridiculous. \n\nBeing a Toronto native I really hate seeing the city/country crumble like this. I am starting to question if sticking around is the right choice. But I’m so established and embedded here I don’t know how to uproot everything and move elsewhere. And I wouldn’t even know where to go. The states have their slew of issues too

I got half way into this video and couldn't stop laughing. You are talking about inadequate housing construction. It is absurd to claim that local governments here are not permitting new housing projects. I live in Yaletown in Vancouver and am an avid cyclist. I ride all over the city and post vids of my ride on my YT channel. If you watch any of those, you will quickly realize that construction projects are ongoing throughout the city. You will also see lots of sign board notices along the Cambie and Oak St. corridors of future construction projects. I am an old guy and lived here my whole life. Vancouver has never seen construction like this before.

Nice and well thought out video. Even though I don't agree with everything, you said it in a considerate way and shared your honest experience. It was just unfortunate that you did not get enough time to settle down. Moving to any new place is extremely tough and especially when you are moving to a completely new city. I live in Germany and I love it here. My wife and I came here to study, but my wife came first and she had a really bad first 6 months in winter. Things got much better later. We Indians miss house help so much in early days, but the fact is you have so much free time here and things are well organized. You don't waste time in traffic, you don't have to go 10 times to a government office to get work done, you don't have to sit with kids everyday to do homework, kids can come and go to school on their own, there is little dust so houses don't get dirty every day, everything is planned and no one is visiting your house suddenly. So in reality, doing the house chores aren't such a big deal because you have a lot of time.

I stopped visiting Canada 40 years ago because of insane or corrupt border control policies. I traveled to Canada from California to record an album for a popular rock star. My crew number 4 people and we had reserves a month for basic tracking in a studio there. We bought our own reels of 3 inch wide recording tape because the studio wanted twice the rate as normal and since my studio was a distributor for the mastering tapes we brought from my own inventory. Each reel of tape was 3 lbs and brought 30 reels. We got to customs and they said we owed money for importing the tape. Normally a reel would have been $180, and customs wanted $38,000 x 20, and would not let us retrieve it to take it back to the US side of the border. How can a tape worth $180 suddenly have duty of $38,000?\nIt was explained to me as the Potential Value of the tape which meant AFTER a hit song was recording in it. Most recordings are total losses and the tape cant used on a new project even if properly bulk-erased. They expected me to pay on the spot $760,000 in duties. I gave up and left the tape with them. I called the artist and said we could not do the project in Canada and we went back to California. The artist came to us a few months later and the result was a minor hit, and probably barely made its production cost since the label only distributed it in Canada. I talked to an international trade lawyer about what happened and he said customs officials were wrong in Canada but they are given full latitude with no appeal so his advice was never take anything over the border that I did not mind being confiscated. Sometimes they would let it in because it was going back out in a month, but likely they sold it off and pocketed the money. The US is corrupt on a federal level but Canada is corrupt on the local level. I moved out of the US 24 years ago have a much higher quality of life than is even possible in the US, and live very cheaply. Total cost of living with a very active social and cultural life impossible to duplicate in the US which as some of the least options for culture. And my cost of living is $1500 a month, less than utilities alone for one house in California, and that is for 2 people. Last month for example I attended world class opera, ballet and symphonies 9 times, and went out to dinner, in jazz clubs or dance clubs, visited12 top museums, and it was still under $1500 for the month. A pair of tickets to the MET in NYC for lower grade performance, sets, orchestra ad theater, was $1800!! $600 for tickets to drama for 2. Here there 237 drama theaters within walking distance of my city center home, and can walk anywhere at any time of day and be safe due to VERY low crime rates. Free medical is good. I am not citizen but still I had an operation and 10 days in a vip single room for $5300 and despite my insurance I had been paying back in California $824.month, it was going to cost me out o pocket $500,000 and one day in a recovery 12 bed room, and require paid nursing attendant for 30 days. The results were great and was treated like king.\nCanadians have lost control of their government but Americas are screwed regardless, with lower than international standards for everything, with crime, corruption in Washington, extreme cost of living, no access to culture, few if any safe parks. My adopted city is not only far more beautiful than any US city, my GF can walk, alone, anywhere in a city of 7mil at any time of day through any of the 600 beautiful parks open 24/7..at 3am. There are no homeless, and 80% of those over 20yo own their home clear of debt. No college debt despite twice the % of people having degrees. The rest of the world caught up and has surpassed the US and Europe in quality of life. \n\nI have only been back to the US 5 times in 24 years and each time I am shocked by how much the entire society has declined while most of the world outside of Europe, Canada, US, UK or Australia have dramatically improved.\nEvery year since 2008 more Americans leave the US to live elsewhere than legal immigrants arrive.

ha ha ha\nyou \nspeak\nmy\nthoughts\n\nlmaoo\n\nim an immigrant. i came here not for settle down my life here or not anything like that at all.\ni decided to come here, because my family is living here.\ni come from a Asian country.\n\nyesh.\nwhat i had been experiencing in my country, my city are actually better than Toronto, tbh.\ni didn't expect that i will come here and then settle down here.\nafter one year, my mind has already thought about moving to another continent after a few years in Canada.\ni missed my family. i love them.\nbut i just cannot.\nhere is not what i want for myself. i don't feel that i belong to here.

Many recent immigrants I have known have left Canada because the cost of living is too high. From my experience they work very hard, usually working 60+ hours a week. After some time they crunch the numbers and realize no matter how hard they try they will not get anywhere so they leave. For those born in Canada we find ourselves being chased out of our hometowns because it is too expensive to live there. For myself it was either stay in Vancouver, surrendering more than half of your income to rent or move out of the city to buy an apartment. In the major cities there is a mass exodus of young people and the strategy has been to replace that exodus with immigration. The problem is that is not sustainable as now new immigrants, seeking a better life are not finding it in major Canadian cities. For those who already own property in the lower mainland the selfish mentality is to do whatever you can to deny construction, thus maintaining the scarcity and value of what little land/housing there is in desirable areas. Zoning laws are beginning to change but progress is slow and municipalities have failed to keep up with infrastructure so the growing pains is going to be immense. It's beautiful here now doubt but if I had no ties and a solid financial footing I would have left long ago. Generations ago you could show up to Canada with no money and thrive if you were willing to work hard. Now hard work won't get you anything.

I'm Canadian too, born and raised, and I have to say this is accurate. Shit health care, insane taxes, low pay, impossible cost of living.... I live in a rural town now (used to live in a city!!) and even here it's becoming unbearable. Genuinely thinking of changing countries in the next 5 years once I get my act together.\n\nThe video also didn't address the political problem. Only 3 serious parties (the rest are niche and don't address Canada properly as a whole), and two of them partnered so you effectively have two parties. One of them has ramped up the deficit and deflected all housing problems, and the other is hellbent on private healthcare, ignoring environmentalism, and helping their rich friends. Impossible to vote for real representation.