Close Reading

I don't like the fact that im becoming racist..look wats happening to our country!,this is not the Canada i happily grew up in..im not the proud Canadian i used to be..our country is in ruins!!,getting worse by the day..lets house and feed our own people before these immigrants, hire Canadians first!!..DEPORT DEPORT DEPORT 😢😮

Simple answer - Liberals and bleeding heart woke liberal voters destroyed this once great nation that I used to be proud to live in.

I used to be proud to be American. Now I wish I lived in Canada ? Our country sucks right now

We should NEVER be in ANY sort of warfare with Canada, a country I love as if it were my 2nd home. This breaks my heart.\nLove yall.\nIm sorry and embarassed. I used to be proud of my own country. Its very hard to feel pride right now.\n-USA

I am an immigrant. My parents used their own money for hotels while we bought a house. We go ZERO assistance. I am proud to be American. I support LEGAL immigration.

I can tell you one of the major reasons. It is the fact that these immigrants from India do not want to assimilate into Canada. Instead they bring their ways with them into Canada and some of those “ways”, are not acceptable in Canada. One example of that is the whole using the bathroom on the beach. But one that hits hard for me is the insane amount of immigrants that are harvesting spawning salmon with nets, without any of the properly paperwork that is needed to fish salmon with a rod. Using a net is illegal, I know they know it because when I catch them doing this. They become quiet and all of a sudden, after hearing them just speaking English, they pretend they do not know English… I can tell you this is all true. The other thing I have seen with my eyes is shop lifting from the local grocery store. I have never seen that before, not ever in all my years living here. It would be somewhat different if they were stealing essential items and essential foods. But they are not doing that, they are stealing all the luxury items. I am a white Canadian and I am proud of it, but guess what. I am also proud of the fact that I have a doctor that came from India and his family is thriving here. It makes me proud that he chose our country try to come to, with his educational background, it also makes me proud that he and his family have taken the time to try and assimilate into our culture. When I say assimilate by the way, I do not want them or and immigrant to completely abandon their cultures, I just would prefer it if they assimilate to the point where we can have a healthy community instead of all these separate cultural areas in our towns and cities. I love the fact that you spoke some harsh truths here sir, much respect to you and your family sir. I hope you can continue making such informative videos for people to learn from. The other thing I have to add is that the word racism is thrown around too much and too easily in our current woke cultural climate here in Canada and this is just making the immigration issues worse because it produces a culture of fear for those Canadians that would like to help educate those immigrants that need help. But they do not do so because they are afraid of being labeled a racist or some other word and having their livelihoods and overall lives ruined. I am in a position in life where I do not care if people want to say such things about me. I am also well educated and in the position to come up with well articulated arguments in my defence. My main issue with immigration that bothers me more than the rest not only affects us Canadians but also affects the immigrants as well. Ok so before mass immigration was a thing here in Canada our healthcare system that we all used to be extremely proud of the as showing too many cracks and we knew it was falling apart. You think the government would place more funding into the healthcare system. Well that has not happened and if anything they have taken more funds away from our healthcare system than any other time in our country’s history. So before the mass immigration begun we had a major issue with having way too many patients and not enough medical staff to adequately treat everyone in a timely and healthy manner. So now think about that, the healthcare system was already stressed with the current population before mass immigration. How do you think adding waves and waves of more people every year via mass immigration is affecting that system? The answer is this… if the system was stressed beforehand, it is collapsing now. I am one of the lucky few that has a family doctor right now. It takes three months the just for me to see her… If I have an emergency and have to call 911, the ambulance will take me up to the local ER and then I will be wheeled out to the waiting room, which defeats the purpose of me calling 911 for a ambulance. I have waited two days at the local ER just to see a doctor. So here is where it affects the immigrants coming in. If a Canadian that was here before you is already having major issues with the healthcare, then I can only imagine how hard it will be for a new citizen to our country, nuff said really… the local er near me had a person die in the waiting room this past January. Add to this fact that I am actually pretty sick at the moment and so are my parents and you can understand why I am upset about our failing healthcare system. The politicians do not have to worry about our such issues though because they can afford to pay to go outside of Canada and pay cold hard cash for medical treatment. That is why they do not mind removing funds from our healthcare system, it will not affect them and they get to line their pockets with more of our tax money… I honestly place most of the blame for what is going on right now on Trudeau’s government and not the immigrants. The immigrants could help make this crappy situation a lot better for both of our parties though if they tried a little harder to adapt to our ways of life here. When in Canada try to live like a Canadian, I do not think that is asking much. Again, as for racism, I believe in judging a person by their actions and not by the colour of their skin. Racism is such an antiquated way of thinking… Our skin colours maybe different, just like our cultural backgrounds, but after all is said and done we are all members of the human race. Cheers all!!!?\n\nP.S. There is one other reason that hatred towards member of your country is going up and it is simply because our hatred for our own government is so high right now and we are all only human. Some of us lash out at people that do not deserve it when we are really upset. That doesn’t make it ok. But I know that the fact that we Canadians hate our government more than ever right now, is due to the simple fact that our own government is not listening to our issues and what we want done with our country. Then that same government will labels us as right wing extremists simply for the fact that we no longer support our current government for example. Canadians are more angry now than they have ever been. The RCMP have been advised about this across the whole of Canada, so you know it is a real issue. I can control myself and will never snap at others due to how frustrated I am, so I would like to apologize to those of you that may have a bad experience with another frustrated Canadian. This is really not our normal behaviour. We’re are all stressed out and being called the bad guys by our own government just exacerbates the whole issue. Again, cheers to you all!!!

My issue is people immigrate here and bring there customs here but refuse to assimilate to our original customs we could all live together and get along but they left there countries to come here for a better life so to say so leave your crap and enjoy our customs and freedoms you were coming here for stop destroying my way of life to bring your customs here force mine out and reap our benefits I used to be okay with it but as time passes I’m becoming more intolerant to this I want the society back that I lived in as a child it was great now my kids live in a country that they can’t be proud of it’s a joke I’m counting the days till there is a uprising of Canadians that are fed up and will take this matter into their own hands and straighten things out probably will be ugly but you back a calm individual into a corner they got one way out and that’s viscous and aggressive

I used to be proud to be a Canadian, the last 6 years drastically changed that.\nI can't even find a simple part time job, to accomodate my full time

used to be proud of saying i was from Toronto, now i wear it like a badge of shame. working on getting tf out of here asap.

I agree with you leaving. I am a 3rd generation retired Canadian who used to be proud to be so. Now I am not, in fact I am embarrassed to say I am Canadian as it is nothing to be proud of. I think of how good things were in the 70's and 80's while I was young and now how bad things are today and it is truly depressing. Back then if you are willing to work, you could make a decent living, buy a car, a house and raise a family - today, good luck with that. The people in the west have had no say in the faulty governments we have had as Ontario and Quebec have put the final nails in our coffin when they elected that buffoon JT for a third consecutive term and then the NDP kisses his butt to join up and torture us more when most sane Canadians did not ask for this. JT is truly an embarrassment for this country although the US is in step with comatose Joe. I feel sorry for the kids and many others that are trying to survive, make a living and buy houses. Reverse discrimination has been at play for 20 years or so but is really out of control these days when a white Canadian kid that has got 5 yr honours degree in University has trouble finding a job today because you are the wrong colour. Our national anthem was changed a number of years back for no good reason. Immigrants are being imported by this idiot called our PM and handed out living accommodations, jobs and our hard earned $$ that he stole from us while our own people fall deeper into the quagmire. Many of these immigrants are bringing their hatreds and views with them to are country and are causing chaos. We are heavily taxed for driving our cars and heating our houses on FALSE pretenses with the govt saying it is to save the world - nice try - BS. The government and schools are pushing the alphabet children protocol per the WEF. These are just a few things that are wrong with this country that is sinking quicker than the Titanic. Everything this country stood for is now gone. It is so obvious to anyone that doesn't consume the main stream medias programming what is going on here (and when you do look at it you see how ridiculous what they report, how they report, they are no longer reporters but merely reading the scripts they have been handed by the powers that be) , however there are far too many people with their faces in their phones that are zombies today which is what the governments want. Good luck to you and anyone else left that is sane. Unfortunately too many people are simply programmed beyond repair and will continue to keep their faces buried in their phones, consume the garbage the main stream media is pushing on behalf of the powers that be and continue to vote to keep the same idiots in power.

I used to be proud to be Canadian, but this is no longer Canada

i used to be proud of our diversity. i’m 41. \nbut starting a year ago. no. it’s just too much. where did all these people and specifically from india come to canada? it’s out of control.

I think every day I say to myself. What has happened to the Canada that I loved? I used to be proud but now I feel like I'm in India. Maybe India is cheaper.

Canada used to be a place you could be proud of being from. Right now I think I'd rather be, in no particular order, living in USA, England, or Australia. I don't have issues with anyone or any culture in particular, but demographics are something that should change slowly over time, such that you don't really notice, not something that is ramrodded down your throat.

I used to be proud to say I’m Canadian.

What a loser this guy is . I used to be a proud Canadian .

Toronto used to be a wonderful beautiful very clean and proud CITY it was reverd as one of the BEST known all over the world ?\nNow I refuse to even go there OMG\nI used to work Contruction all across Toronto in the early 80's it's truly a very sad thing\nI tend to shutter a the thought of what it will be like in a nother 10 to 20 years \n(Oh yeah I'm a VERY proud CANADIAN and most proud of all to be able to that my Grandfather fought at Vimy Ridge)\nIt's time to turn things around and make it a proud,clean CITY AGAIN!!!!!

Canada has become a disgusting version of what it used to be. I used to be beyond proud to be Canadian. I no longer am.

As someone in his late twenties living in Quebec, I got to say this is very accurate. I won't say things are as bad as some other people are saying in the comments, but I do feel like the country is going downhill. For me, these are the main three things that feels wrong:\n\n1. We, as citizen, tend to offload every responsibility to the governments. Each election, they promise to handle more, but fail times and times again to deliver on their existing responsibilities. But we still vote for them, because we fear personal responsibilities. They created these immovable bureaucratic monsters and they lost control. They promise new shiny things instead of fixing what is already in place.\n2. We lost all notion of what is necessary. People gets more and more entitled which leads to overconsumption and frustation. Quebecers used to be proud peoples who survived with the little they had. Now greed has consumed our identity and nothing is holder us together.\n3. I feel that jobs are less and less useful to the society. Even I, as an electronic/software engineer, wonder if my job as meaning. I feel we lost touch with the concrete world. Some people have 0 contribution to anything useful and have really good salary and work conditions, while others bust their ass in shitty conditions. I feel like everything that we need is produced/done by a frighteningly small amount of individuals.\n\nBut from what I heard Canada isn't the only country to feel these. It maybe just hit us harder.\n\nP.S: It came out way worst than I initially intended. Maybe it is that bad...

Our country is in shambles. I used to be proud of it, now, I can't wait for the health system to fail me big time. I'll pick another country in my next life!!!

I used to be proud of Canada

Chokor Millionaire, I don't agree absolutely with the blame on the government. At least from what I have seen in Ghana, people are starting businesses.\n\nI am going to say something I observed about Ghana. I found out that women, as usual, are more hard-working. I realised that the men don't have work because they are lazy or have too much pride. I have watched so many videos where so many business owners complain about the ineffectiveness and inefficiencies of the workers. They are not dedicated when they work for other people. I watched these business owners whose workers in the farms are mostly women, and they were very happy that women are easier to control and have good work ethics as opposed to men. The men prefer jobs where they don't use their energies such as Yahoo Yahoo boys, selling in shops where they don't touch anything or lift a finger.\n\nGrowing up, we knew that men were supposed to do the hard-working jobs in society. But these days, men like to idle around and touch nothing. The reasons being that the African culture teaches us that men are not supposed to do anything at home. They are supposed to be served by women. Then, instead of the men going out there to do the hard work and make the money, they wait around expecting cushy jobs that don't make them lift a finger.\n\nLook at China that you mentioned. These boys work absolutely hard. Even in the villages. Look at Muslim countries. You will never see women working on the streets. The men are even the ones who cook the food on the streets and sell. Check countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. In Africa, most things are done by women.\n\nAll this japa that people are fighting for. Have we ever thought of the agenda of these people needing free and cheap labour? I came to realise that we stupid Africans don't yet understand. Our children eventually become strangers, and we remain just surrogate parents. Most of our children are never going back to Africa, and when they get to an age, they become like strangers to us. Whatever we say, they look at us like archaic. What then makes them Africans anyway. We have seen so many of them who barely know their countries of origin and have never ever been there. They do not know their relations. In fifty years' time, that generation has lost their roots, and was that our intentions initially? This all dawned on me recently with my children, and I feel absolutely dejected because they are not interested in our country. All my hard work is gone down the drain, and all that can happen is for us to leave our children behind and live like people who never had children in the first place. For now, most people see it like something to be proud of, and are happy to say ( my children live abroad). Africans are the most stupid people I know, and that is why we are always used for slave labour. Why are they all approving all these visas and allowing all these people to drown at sea? \n\nThese countries allow these fake visas deliberately because they drain African countries to enrich their own since they can't get the minerals easily these days.

I’m a Canadian myself, and it’s very interesting to see your reaction to Canadian’s response to that question. I think what you said about being desensitizing is true, I think because the gun violence, the crazy politics, and the attacks on women’s and minority rights, these are things that have become so common in the US that American started to see these things as “normal”. And to a lot of Canadians, these are our core values. A lot of us are proud that we don’t have that (serious of) these issues here, so I am not surprised in any sense that majority if not all of those people in that subreddit said no.\n\nI used to travel to the US for a living, and I actually asked to change my job so I don’t have to do that anymore. I didn’t feel safe, I didn’t feel good when I travel there. You mentioned it’s depending on the cities, and you might be right, but I can tell you I have met A LOT of very crazy people during my years of travels, and they are all friend very different places: the east, the south, the west, big and small cities.

As a Canadian there looks like some great places to visit in the USA but i would never move to the US. The biggest issue in the US is Gun violence, there attachment to guns. Number two is health care, number three is weather volatility and more adverse weather conditions. Instead of one main government the US seems to have two which prevents any real change for the better. Money controls more government and political decisions than even in Canada which is already bad enough. The NRA controls more government and policing. They are seen as the bigger risk to American safety and security. I believe many Canadians believe the NRA are on the cusp of being the largest domestic terrorist organization and closure to a major cartel. Not even the military could control the NRA if the US decided to enforce new laws that the NRA felt would effect their financial, political or perceived control in the US. This is a big reason Canadians may not want to move to the US. To think there is a private military ready to go to war against their own people in the drop of a hat, reminding North Americans of the war between the North and South. There are beautiful places to see in the US, there are hard working and brave people in the US and i am sure there are more good people than bad but those with power, control and weapons have the great degree of balance. The US has a lot to be proud of and still so much possibility and ability to grow if it were not for those with the majority of power that is not being used for good or in the best interest of the majority of US citizens. Love the architecture and old districts and those trying to preserve the environment, farms, seed diversity and best of what made the US great.

Tab berrr knack!\nShort for Tabernacle, it's a common term used in frustration in Quebec.\nIt insults the Catholic church, yet I found most of the French speaking people that I spoke to and asked about this were actually Catholic. It puzzled me. Like being frustrated and insulting their own beliefs. \nNo, sorry, I am happy to live in Canada and visit my friends and family there. \nYou have so many fabulous things to be proud of as an American. I have seen most of the states and would love to do it over again. I have met many, many wonderful and warm decent people there.\nBUT irresponsible gun ownership, mass shooting increasing to the point that other countries are recommending that people not visit the US!!A country divided politically and violently by ignorance of the minority, and allowing people to lose their houses when they lose their health? And women dying from poor pregnancy outcomes although predicted by their doctors....And the gay right thing, and school curriculum foolishness going on in Florida? I'm glad I visited Florida so many times before that craziness. Yey more people keep moving there. 31 million now!Why? I hate the heat an hour and a half above the border! And hurricanes! And massive tornadoes. And Malaria now!\nCome up to Canada. Bring your family too. It's safer. Less people equals less danger.\n\nKeep on keeping on! ❤

People who are still proud of being Canadian have blinders on. I used to be proud of being Canadian but this country is completely broken and living amongst people that are actively voting to strip me of my rights is painful.

How can you be proud to live in a country that has contempt for it's own people making basic life as hard as possible and taking away basic rights at every turn? The USA is fast approaching a Third World Fascist Society. I'll pass at every opportunity. I have lived within 30 minutes of a major border town for over 60 years, and we are used to having US tourists shopping amongst us. You can pick them out in the parking lot. They are rude, ignorant, loud, brash, demanding, insulting. It's like they have never been taught manners and politeness at any point in their lives.

My parents came to this country in the 70s from a small country in SAmerica. they brought me 3 years later and my handicap brother 2 years later. The USA embassy made my parents sign a paper stating that my brother will not used any government assistance ( he had polio when he was little so he has to walk with scratches) and that's what my parents did until my brother got a job. He worked for 40 years in the same job until he retired 6 years ago. With the exception of the mass rehab center for job training, my brother never used government assistance. \nI remember my mother and I we used to wake up at 4 o'clock in the morning to shovel the snow from the driveway so it would be safe for him to walk to his car to go to work at 5 am. I am very proud of my brother. \nSome people think that receiving government assistance is smart, but we think is not bc it makes you a dependent, you loose your sovereignty as an individual. And these people don't realize that. Personally I think these people are getting paid to do this bc this is not normal. \nIn the other hand, the USA government in the quest to protect its interests ( mainly the corporate interests) support candidates that will go along with what the US says. \nI would like to point out that in this country, there's plenty of corruption, do u do anything about it? ! Jan 6 is the only time that I see it happening ( for me, Jan 6 will forever be a very important holiday)

I have lived in Canada my whole life and I used to be proud of my country but the last 20 years I have lost that feeling no one should have to work the kind of hours we do here just to pay our Bill's and paying into our pension plan knowing we have to go to 70 to get our full pensions and still won't have enough to servive. It's truly wrong and our government is a waste of our time .its sad what the Canadian government has done failed canadians.

I was born and raised in Canada. My family immigrated in the 70s. Growing up I was proud to be Canadian but after living in other parts of the world I can tell you, Canada isn't it! \n\nFirstly our Prime Minister is a puppet he works for the Commonwealth and whatever they say goes, they profit off all of your hard work. \nThey keep you sick so you rely on the health care system. Medicate you instead of solving the problem. Doctors are exhausted, rude and over worked, emergency rooms are a disaster and if you book an appointment to see your doctor...be sure you're waiting at least a week. If you go to a walk in clinic you risk getting a doctor that seems like they paid for a fake degree.\n\nYou know when you go to a mall in one town and then hear about a mall in another town that has really cool different things??? Ya, not here! Everything is monopolized! Same stores everywhere you go. there's a mall in Toronto called Vaughn Mills mall, when I was in Calgary they have an exact replica just a different name. Small businesses are hard to keep because everything is so expensive. There needs to be more indoor things for people to do in the winter. \n\nWhoever said Canadians are polite, has never been to Alberta!!!! I've never experienced racism in my life like I did out west, not just Alberta but also Northwest Territories and Manitoba. \n\nOn top of that they want everyone to be gay and not believe in God, they push the agenda so hard in the schools, they institutionalize and confuse your kids. If you believe anything different they literally hate you. The children are hypersexualized...teenage girls looking like they're 30 year old drag queens. They bully kids so badly in school, especially boys. Parents have no time to get involved because they're busying working multiple jobs to pay for their 4000 dollar mortgage, husband and wife barely see each other. And because they're not involved the children have no respect for their elders or teachers. the teachers don't care to get involved like they used to because everything's a liability...a problem. We had a 13 year old girl call a male teacher a pedophile for pushing a little girl on the swing. He quit on the spot, because now he's worried for his career. Kids have no shame anymore. \n\nIF YOU WANT QUALITY OVER QUANTITY (WHICH YOU MIGHT NEVER GET), DON'T COME HERE! or, Come here and send all your money home but don't educate your kids here unless you have enough money to put them in private schools and there are good private schools. If the only thing you want out of your life is freedom, freedom to just be left alone and no one hounding you...you like being alone. Then, that you can have here. \n\nIf you are from a colonized country we are all slaves to the system!

Yup I'm Canadian and used to be proud. But Canada has gone to shit in the last 20 years. I will eventually be moving my family out of Canada. You cannot retire here. Cost of living is so high they will keep you working until you die. They do not care about you. Health care in Canada IS NOT FREE. Biggest lie they tell the world.

I was born and raised in Canada and left 30 years ago. I went to Vancouver about 10 years ago to visit family and I also found it ugly. The big glass buildings looked so dirty and outdated. It felt like an old outdated logging town. Like most Canadians, I used to be proud of the medical system but now I've realized it doesn't cure people it just keeps the citizens sick. Everyone I know there is sick and they are all proud of how many operations they've had and how many pills they take. I remember paying 30% in taxes as a University student with a part-time job. It just wasn't fair. The last straw was when I saw how the Trudeau government responded during covid. They hijacking the news stations and brainwashed the citizens. And then, they froze bank accounts of those who dared to protest or even support protesters. I lost a lot of respect for people there who I thought were intelligent and It made me realize how that place turns people into drones. Now I'm ashamed to be Canadian. Most Canadians live in a bubble and think it's the best country in the world but that's because they don't know what it's like to live. Good for you for leaving. I wish you all the best.

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 hate seeing this in Canada. What happened? We used to be proud to be open and welcoming to people from other countries and religions. Canada is becoming like America. How sameful. No more Canada the good.

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 -