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My parents immigrated in the early 90s and I was born in Canada. It’s very hard to relate to the new immigrants in the last 10 years because we’re so different. The families that immigrated in the 80s and 90s had to assimilate and become “Canadian” which in hindsight was for the best. I learned about my culture and language at home, but my parents, emphasized the importance of being “Canadian first” and being a part of society and “fitting in.” This wasn’t at all a bad thing. I learned to ski, skate, make ice lollies with snow and syrup, went camping, played sports… I feel embarrassed when Indians are looked at in this light, but its true. 90% of this new wave of immigrants on “student visas,” dont intend to actually obtain any sort of an education, instead they use it as a pathway for permanent residency. I know this because I have relatives who say this out loud behind closed doors. I don’t agree with any of it, and quite frankly it’s very embarrassing, but most of us first generation Indian Canadians feel very upset about how its all played out and the negative light in which our people are now viewed under. Personally, I agree they arent interested in becoming culturally Canadian, they just want to be in Canada for financial reasons. They stay in their groups, dont integrate and think somehow this will play out well. It isnt discrimination when your own people also feel this way. I have yet to meet a first gen Canadian who disagrees

Learned the hard way about dishonesty, fraud and Indian academics 30 years ago.

I am so happy people are starting to speak up. Sadly, I am changing. I am becoming angry. Angry at immigrants and the system. Am I becoming racist? Or just so lost at how things seem so wrong. My main upset is for my teen son. Turned 16 after Christmas. So excited about looking for a part-time job, earning some money, getting experiences and (unbeknownst to him ) expanding his social circle. This excitement came from me. LIke all us Canadians who remember our first part-time jobs (mine was at a McDonalds), I regaled my son in stories of that first part-time job. How much I learned from it, and the so many benefits it would have for me as I got older. He listened, and couldn't wait to turn 16. Also, like most parents, I raised him on the benefits of working hard in school, getting good grades, learning, getting involved, etc. Do these things son, and you will have a good future. He listened. Honours student all his life. Played on school teams. Performed in talent shows, Volunteered his time, etc., etc. Not a bad resume for a first time teen seeking a job. It is now heading into September. He has applied at all the traditional teen job hotspots, (all the fast food joints, grocery stores, drug stores, etc). Dozens of resumes, online and in-person applications. Not a single response. Then I walk into the local Burger King. Not a single Caucasian, Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, or Far Eastern employee. All East Indian (or Pakistani). Suddenly I am really noticing this trend everywhere, especially in the franchise fast food industry; especially upsetting when I even see it in a Harvey's (even more Canadian than Timmies). It's either East Indians or Arabs. I don't know for how long I have been hearing about diversity and fair hiring practices (which I have always supported); but to see this trend makes me furious. Are the owners of these franchise exempt from fair hiring practices? Are they not taught we are a diverse country? This is wrong. I want to finish with two sad situations which we should all be concerned about. When my eldest was looking for part-time work after the pandemic, he walked into a Mr. Submarine. He asked if he could leave his resume or fill out an application. The Arab cashier told him in broken English they were not hiring. As he was walking out, a young Arab man walked in. He approached the same cashier and asked for an application. She gave him one. WTF. My last comment, is the most concerning of all. My 16 year old, who works so hard at school, and at everything he does, recently commented, after yet another non-reply after handing out a slew of resumes, "Dad... what's the use of working so hard if I can't even get a job at McDonalds." I wonder how many other Canadian teens are feeling the same way. Not just white teens. Black, Hispanic, Indigenous and East Asian teens. Seems the broken English East Indian and Arab teens and young adults aren't asking themselves that. How long until my son thinks I am just spewing BS about this hard work thing? This is not about racism. This is about fair hiring practices, especially in more and more franchises; however, I do find myself listening to more and more of these videos, and find myself developing sucb negative feelings towards these two cultures. This is not Canadian. To be thinking this way, especially, is not Canadian. What do we do? Speak up, and we are racist. Stay quiet, and our teen kids move into adulthood without job experience, money put away, or just having a life experience that any of us over 30 (no matter our race) experienced. Something has to change; but I haven't a clue how to do that.

Thanks so much for this video! I admire the hard working and awesome culture of most people I have met who have come to Canada from India! We definitely needed help in filling in the deficit of employees that are needed in Canada! It is a shame that ALL political parties did not solve the housing issue which we knew was going to be a problem, many decades ago, even well before the Harper government! This is not rocket surgery! LOL\nIn Northern Ontario we have a LOT of Indian immigrants. All the ones I have met are very well educated even though they are working in the service industries! I know several Indian Canadians who are Doctors, Teachers and Engineers! Almost all of my experiences have been positive! Of course it is human nature to always highlight issues, for example: I caught one group of people throwing garbage in a parking lot, and immediately notified them that they had dropped something, and even followed them with the garbage. One of the group stated, it was just trash. I told him there was a garbage can right over there, and I just KNEW that they did not want to throw it just lose on the ground, and wanted to help keep our town clean. They said sorry and politely picked it up and placed it in the garbage can. Hopefully lesson learned! I politely and respectfully spoke out, to a good resolution.\nMy parents were immigrants from war-torn Germany. I know ALL about prejudice for new immigrants. Our parents being German-Canadian at a time right after WW2, where MOST Canadians had an Uncle, a Father, a Grandfather or someone they knew who had fought and some died because of Germans! Although I am not a person of colour, so I personally do not know that side of prejudice. We all need to treat each person as an individual and try not to paint all peoples with one brush! Love is the only way forward! \nThanks again for your well worded video!\nPeace n Love!

Somehow Poland accepted Ukrainian refugees with open arms. And why yes, some commit crimes and behave in unbecoming ways but vast majority learned to speak polish,work polish jobs and uphold cultural and social norms. Having lived in migrant-rich places in UK and Scandinavia, this is simply not the case with migrants from Islamic countries. Their culture, heavily influenced by religion, doesn't have the same values, promotes seclusion from unbelievers and using unbeliever's resources at will because they see non-muslims as beneath them.There are Muslim women in Sweden who are there for 20+ years and speak NONE of the language. The epidemic of sexual abuse , property crime and gang violence, the statistics about learning the language, culture, statistics about employment, even personal interviews are good enough proof that majority of these migrants aren't willing to uphold our rules, our culture and are NOT going to be suitable citizens of Europe. Why should we be paying for people who gleefully admit to not wanting to work and feeling entitled to social benefits? Only France and UK were colonial empires, the rest of Europe had NOTHING to do with the state of Middle East.\nWe sympathise with people wanting to escape from religious fundamentalism, from fear of retribution for their identity and there are separate programmes for them. However we have every right not to want Islam and it's rules and it's fanatics anywhere close - religion is a remnant of the middle age and religious fundamentalism, be it Christian of Muslim is nothing more than an excuse to be hateful and bigoted. Europe has worked hard to free itself from that kind of mentality, to have majority of people who genuinely believe in things like gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, disabled rights, right to healthcare, equality under law and so on - vast majority of which are not compatible with what vast majority of practicing Muslims believe. They don't like us, they don't like the way we behave and dress, they don't want to live like us and follow the same rules- why are they here if not for the resources? If they were there for human rights issues, they wouldn't be bringing the opressive faith that is the source of the human rights violations in their homeland.

I have mixed feelings about this. I feel like a total first letter of the alphabet-hole for not thinking of helping right away. When I lived in San Diego, it was a palpable daily reminder. Lots of people have cross-border lives. Family, work, home is on either side of the border. Now living up in Washington State, it's different. Here the border with Canada is all about preventing Canadians from stealing technology from us while allowing them to work for us. Some partners who come visit us often times get searched for technology. Like pen drives, samples, etc. It's a totally different story. Canada probably has less homeless than all of south America. It's an easy claim because literally, if you can't insulate your self in winter you go visit the great gardener Jesus and his weirdo multipersonality disorder. In south America, you just need to eat and not get eaten by things. So the result is that people survive way below the poverty line. Then, the big lie tells them that the US is better so they come over to eventually learn how the others found the three headed gardener the hard way. I feel like maybe if they got a tour of the country and learned how shitty it is to live here too, they might think twice about coming over. There are periods and ways when the US opens it's borders but it's looking like a real shit show right now. We don't have enough jobs and not enough houses to house everyone. At least in south America you can live in the family house and no one bats an eye. People help each other in poverty.

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.