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I don’t agree with Quebec as a whole being up so high on the list. They have their own tax and medical system , much higher cost. You must have your children in a unilingual French School unless you have substantial proof that they have a solid English background. English speakers for the most part are ostracized in most of Quebec except some areas of Montreal. All government work places speak only French and there are no English rights in Quebec unless you work for the government of Canada and then good luck getting a job in Quebec as they are designated a unilingual French language speaking province for Canadian government jobs and you won’t qualify unless you speak and read and write French. All signage is restricted to French and the province doesn’t follow any international standards. Even the air traffic controllers only speak French which is why most major airlines don’t fly into Quebec as the standard of language for them is English world wide except Quebec. They have different road rules, tax legislation and pension than the rest of Canada. Wouldn’t want to live there myself. I have a sister in Montreal. Don’t know why she stays.

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.

I’m Canadian born but mums family is from Europe. \n\nIt’s seems like not a lot has changed since the 1960’s my grandfather had trouble finding a job for a while due to not having Canadian experience. \n\nIt took my friends 7years to become citizens here. As a born Canadian. They had to go back to school. Unless you are in the medical profession I don’t see why you have to go back to school. \n\nMost of our health care does come from taxes yes I can’t tell you how great it is that I don’t have to pay $80,000 per surgery. I have 17 over my life. In other places in the world that would make me homeless. \nBut the dental care has cost me a lot because of my condition. But even for me that is a fair trade off. (I rather drugs, dental would be covered) \n\nTaxes also include subsided things for the public, libraries, roads that fixed, reduced fares for public transportation, reduced health cost for low income families that’s not covered by the government. etc. Not all great but the health care coverage is great to not have to pay in full. I only pay $6000 in taxes at most a year. I have a low income. The more you make the more they will tax you because it helps get the services for everyone. That’s why you are taxed more if you make more.

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)

You say that both countries are very patriotic but I must say, as a Canadian, I really don’t see the same level of “patriotism” here in Canada than in the States. It’s definitely not expressed the same way. Maybe being from Quebec is influencing my view on this a bit haha, but no I don’t think I would have used the adjective “patriotic” to describe Canadians in general. I don’t mean we hate our country, but it’s not like at the centre of our thoughts constantly.

I have 5 canadian friends 3friends 2bestfriends welp they’re online and yeah they’re online because I don’t live in Canada tho I do see Canada as a wonderful place and if I were to go anywhere/travel I would only go to Asian places but Canada’s one of the places I’d visit or live in thats not Asian <3 (I’m Chinese)

Psychology student here. In the interest of accurate information, I would like to point out some flaws I find with some of the studies in this documentary and question the conclusions reached. I understand that CBC Marketplace are not personality psychologists and therefore cannot be expected to produce the same quality of work as a scientist. However, I think it is worthwhile to think critically about the information in the media that we consume. I am also open to anyone who wants to engage in debating the contents of this documentary.\n\n\nThe following are some notes I took while watching the documentary outlining the individual hypotheses of the studies I think are flawed and descriptions of their respective accompanying errors. \n\n\nThere are three possible research questions, and thereby dependent variables, being answered by the apartment hunting studies.\n1. If there is no discrimination between the white man and the first-nations man, then they should get equal treatment, including quotes and availability, when apartment hunting. \na. Could the gender of the landlord be a confounding variable (perhaps men are more discriminatory than women)? \n \n2. If there is no discrimination between the white man and the first-nations man between Toronto, Montreal, Regina, and Victoria, then they should get equal treatment, including quotes and availability, when apartment hunting. \na. Could total apartments visited be a confounding variable? (4 in Toronto, 3 in Montreal, Regina, and Victoria) \nb. Could the gender of the landlord be a confounding variable (perhaps men are more discriminatory than women)? \nc. They only showed the black man apartment hunting in some of the trials. I am considering him out of the study for consistency purposes. The first-nations man is the only one who got unfair treatment in the footage of apartment hunting. \n \n3. Possible hypothesis: If male landlords/agents are more discriminatory than female landlords/agents, then the white man and the first-nations man will get different treatment at different Canadian apartments in equally diverse cities. \na. Don’t know all the information about the genders of the landlords/agents, not all the footage is shown, but the ones where they get ripped off are male. The others shown are female. The remaining interactions are not shown.\n\n\nThere are also some factors that may have influenced the racial bias survey and, in my estimation, rendered it scientifically unreliable.\n\n\n1. The bias survey and accompanying tests at the CBC attributed the differences between the studies to unconscious racism. What if it was just due to familiarity with certain racial groups over others? \na. The black participants had no bias between European-American and African Americans, supposedly indicating no racism, while the white and first-nations participants did, supposedly indicating racism. Is it possible that another interpretation of this result is that bias is a function of familiarity: that we are comfortable with the majority demographic in the geographical location we live in, as well as our own kind. Therefore, the black guys are less biased against black people due to being both black and living in a white majority demographic? \nb. The participants took the survey knowing the objectives of the researchers was to study racial discrimination. They might have influenced the answers they gave \nc. Whether the participants agreed with identity politics or not was a confounding factor that was not controlled . You can only be racially unbiased biased if you think that racial identity is a means of accurately viewing the world. People who do not believe in the existence of identity politics may answer the questions quite differently, which could be a different reason for the results.\nd. I took the study myself. The words that participants were required to match were a mix of adjectives and nouns. It is known within psychology that nouns have higher levels of imagery. This was not properly controlled and therefore is another confounding variable. \n \nAll the other studies looked fine to me. I welcome any discussion on my observations.

Do yourself a favour. Don’t read the comments...a lot of toxicity coming from toxic people...being a Punjabi Indian living in Ottawa, I don’t mind people of any background (white, black, brown, etc.) as long as all respect the bylaws related to driving, house maintenance, garbage...what pisses me off is that people from my community (not all) are actually creating troubles...seen that...seen indians trashing on the streets to talking shit about white and black people in their language be it hindi or punjabi, rash driving, seen some good indians truly respecting the laws...maybe it’s time for the Canadian government to realise that laws should be tightened and people disobeying the laws should face harder penalties...

As a Canadian I don’t accept her and we’re not all like that

As a Canadian I feel sad for all the families who cross the border seeking refugee status and don’t get accepted, but at the same time you can’t just come into a country illegally, without proper documentation and with no threat back home and expect to become a citizen.

I’m not Canadian, so I don’t have as much of an understanding of their process; however, much like in the U.S., you have to have a legitimate and compelling reason to seek asylum, for example, those escaping a literal war in Syria where death was imminent. Not that I don’t have compassion for this man wanting to better his life and that of his family, but seeking asylum from El Salvador because they have a lackluster economy, crime and violence (while a good enough reason to relocate elsewhere) isn’t a case for asylum. *shrug* Asylum is meant for exigencies, emergencies, imminent danger, which doesn’t look like it applies here. My guess is this man thought seeking asylum would be a way to go around needing expensive documents to do a standard immigration and the process flopped on him.