I almost used photos of Ryan Gosling or Drake for this post, because Gosling and Drake are Peak Canada for me, but I decided to go with the Ryan Gosling of world leaders: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Why are we talking about Canada and Canadians? Because now that America has a President Donald Trump, it seems like a lot of Americans want to move to Canada. As the election results started coming in last night, there was a spike in searches for “move to Canada.”
"Move to Canada" search interest appears to have skyrocketed over the past hour. #Election2016 pic.twitter.com/aTkKm5m1RN
— urbandata (@urbandata) November 9, 2016
Not only were people idly searching for how to immigrate to our Northern neighbor, they actually checked out the official immigration site. So many people were searching it out that the site crashed:
Not joking: Canada's Immigration site just crashed. #Elections2016
— Peter Shankman (@petershankman) November 9, 2016
Not only that, the immigration site has been down for hours. I feel you.
Meanwhile, PM Trudeau was one of many world leaders congratulating President-Elect Trump (I keep typing that because I need to convince myself).
I congratulate President-elect @realDonaldTrump on his election victory – please read my full statement: https://t.co/Kv7fK6B5BA
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) November 9, 2016
So will all of the American people and celebrities who said they’d move to Canada actually move to Canada? This might usher in a new era of Canadian arts! I wouldn’t mind crashing on Drake’s couch for a few years too.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I knew I should have immigrated there a decade ago.
Good luck Canadians are racists,why don’t you see many people of color there.
There are racists everywhere including Canada, but many parts of Canada are much more receptive to people from all nationa than many other places on earth (and most certainly than any state that voted for President Cheetoh)
you’re joking, right? yes, there are racist people in canada (it’s pretty much unavoidable, unfortunately), but canada has an incredibly diverse population that is only getting more diverse. and the majority of canadians are not fear-mongerers with a hatred of “others” – we voted that shit out of our politics a year ago.
Mimosa…our black citizens came here of their own free will as opposed to chains in yours.
Excuse me Lady Mimosa? Canada is a very diverse country, and calling a whole nation racist is out of line.
good luck to you Mimosa with your easy jugedment! we canadians, have the good luck to live in one of the most diverse and peaceful countries of the world!
@Lady Mimosa I’d normally tell you if u ou need to tell yourself that to feel better, fine -but I’m over excusing ignorance. You sound foolish.
Yes we have issues with prejudice but we elected a leader who wants to work on them…and roughly 20% of our population are visible minorities (you don’t see them because you’re not looking), and 100% of them are likely feeling more secure today than America’s POC.
I don’t know, dude. I saw lots of POC in Toronto today, including when I looked at myself in the mirror.
(You do know that the city is looking to be more than half POC by 2031, yes?)
Wow, what an extremely unintelligent blanket statement.
Do you live here? Because if you did, you wouldn’t talk such foolishness. Don’t put your country’s shit on us.
At least they didn’t elect one.
You obviously have never been to Toronto.
My husband and I were just in Montreal and unfortunately I do have to agree that people are super rude and racist. They outright refuse to speak to you in English, they have such a disdain for American’s. We get it, our country isn’t the greatest, but please don’t individually punish each of us. I’m not speaking for all of Canada, but my experience with the nearly exclusive French areas have never been pleasant, but I still love Canada.
Umm, have you ever been to Canada?
Yup, canadians are so racist that we welcome refugees with open arm.
So racists that there was movement like “Knit a beanie for every refugee coming from Syria”.
Your comment is very stupid and ignorant.
Of course there are racists canadians. There are racist fuckers everywhere.
But we never elected a racist misogynist prick.
@Dani
Please try to remember that just because Canada is a bi-lingual country it does not mean that everyone can speak both languages. I, born in Ontario, cannot speak French at all. It is entirely possible that many people you met in Montreal could not speak English. I know I found that when I have traveled to Quebec.
I have never found that French Canadians had any distain for Americans but rather a long-standing dislike for English speaking Canadians. We don’t get too up in arms about it though. They have their reasons.
@mimosa ummm ya, that’s a joke. You obviously know nothing about Canada
I was born and raised, and it is super multicultural.
Multiculturalism is enshrined in the constitution for crying out loud
@dani – what KAI said
We have fewer people of colour because our history of slavery is not as broad, deep and entrenched. There is racism and other significant social problems but never fought a civil war over it. And never elected a Donald Trump either.
It’s not like Blacks in North America refuse to migrate to Canada because they find the USA a less racist place.
Lady mimosa,
There is intolerance and hatred here too, it’s true. However, there are no rallies, regressive stances on bills that protect rights and freedom, and when I walk down the street as a gay woman I do not fear for my safety. Maybe the Canada you know is different than mine? And yes, that’s a question and not a statement.
@ Lady M,
In my final year of highschool I was the only white person in many of my science classes.
Canada, or at least Ontario, is highly multicultural.
We have our racist contingent, but the people voted for Prime Minister Hot Hair over the Old Stock Canadian pushing Robot Prime Minister. We defeated our Cheeto Mussolini. He was just much nicer because he was Canadian, and you know, not quite so openly unhinged.
We Canadians have had a shameful past record of brutal treatment in residential schools for the Indigenous people. They received an apology and and there is currently payouts being given to survivors.
We do have people of all nationalities living here and I wouldn’t use a blanket statement that we are all racist. That’s like saying all Americans are stupid for voting for Trump.
We Canadians have had a shameful past record of brutal treatment in residential schools for the Indigenous people. They received an apology and and there is currently payouts being given to survivors.
We do have people of all nationalities living here and I wouldn’t use a blanket statement that we are all racist.
Are you insane? I live in the northern most populated city in the country, and there are people of colour everywhere! Yes, we have our disgruntled, prejudiced and sometimes rude citizens, we have marginalized and disadvantaged people… But do not lump us in with Americans.
If you are Canadian, I don’t even know what to say, other than you probably are a generally unhappy person and need a perspective shift.
Times are now bad enough. I can’t even hate, I’m just so disappointed.
Peace to my brothers and sisters in the US that supported your most humane candidate. I truly feel for her loss, and hope your country now can recover and still move forward.
@Dani,
That is not racism, that’s called having a rude waiter.
In Calgary, 38% of students are English Language Learners. Some schools have over 65% of their population coded as english language learners, with services provided to support english language reading, writing and development. One of our school boards has a Lutheran Christian public school, where 50% of the students are Sikh, and fully integrated into the school community. Many schools around the country made physical space and resources available to Syrian refugees, something we do for the refugees we accept every year. We aren’t perfect, and still have some people who are racist, but I see and hear of much more embracing people of other cultures and visible minorities than vitriol. I hope that we are much less racist than other countries, especially the US. We have made systemic changes to be inclusive of other cultures and religions. (The biggest exception is our Indigenous population. There is a recent push to change that and to integrate their stories into our cultural fabric so that we can improve our relations and understanding of the barriers for the Indigenous people. They are representing themselves, though – it isn’t like Trump talking about the people in the ‘inner-cities’ instead of speaking with them. I hope we continue to support this change, because we need to do better)
Sure, except did you miss the 39.8 percent increase in pop alone due to immigration from predominantly non-white immigrants, or was that too much reading? Please, walk down any street, we’re a hodgepodge of different identities. Now, maybe you’re talking about the rural communities, where not too many immigrate to, unless of course you discount the large and extensive rural aboriginal communities. Did you even try?
Our site did not crash, it was shut down due to the number of people who would apply out of anger only to change their mind. Our town paper and radio had said Parliament was prepping to shut it down. No offense but you are not Canadian material. Were too laid back guys n guns are not popular here,lol.
LOL you’re kidding right? your town paper has no idea what they’re talking about clearly.
We’re laid back in some ways… but if you’ve ever checked the comment section on CBC or other news outlets – you’re going to see that a large number of our population are not better than the Trump supporters. And there are over 7.1 million firearms here – hunting is still huge in Canada, so I wouldn’t say they aren’t popular.
Not all Americans like guns.
And Canadians generally use guns to shoot deer rather than their fellow citizens.
Funny you would mention others as not being Canadian material…
I made the move 20 years ago. Glad that I did it when I had the chance!
We made the move about 10 years ago. The immigration lawyer said, “The time to move is when you can, not when you want to.” I wish that weren’t so prescient.
Remember how many British people said they were moving to Canada in June? Their website crashed then, too. I’d be interested to see numbers of how many people actually applied.
Feel like Canada is the only western democracy not overrun by right wing movements – look at France and Germany, both being shoved to the right by their right wing movements. Argh
The rights party in Germany has about 15%.
Many people were afraid and angry after thousands of women were molested, some even raped, in Cologne, Hamburg and a dozen other cities in Germany at New Year
Nothing happend to any of the molesters.
Nearly all of the molesters were North Africans guys, MiddleEastern guys, or as they are called Southlanders.
Many molested woman were surrounded by 10 to 20 young guys that stripped the women nearly naked, Finger raped them in their private Parts, touched them everywhere aggressive and hold them everywhere so the women couldn’t escape without a lot of pain. They also robbed all these women of everything they had with them.
Only a few of these thousands of young aggressive men, less then TEN from all these guys of all these cities even got in front of a judge.
Most women had no chance to identify their molesters.
There are millions of refugees and migrants in Europe and most of them got a lot of help from volunteers, people were protesting against the rights, none were taking the rights for real.
After New Year, there are still a lot of protest against the rights, but more and more people stop volunteering for migrants, more and more people talking about problems with young men from middle Eastern origin.
My husband is from turkey original, he is 40 years old, he had never this much problems in all his years because of the growing antipathy against guys with his coloring.
There are a couple thousands radical idiots here, molesting women and wanting to kill in the name of their god and their prophet, and everyone one fleeing their home countries because of the radical there, is now seen here with the same distrust that just arised because of the over religious and women molesting, homophobic radical.
The German AfD will end up with 10-20 % in the enxt election, but saying that the German government is “being shoved to the right by their right wing movement” is a huge overstatement.
Like i said, the rights AFD, is around 15 %.
The CDU is not right wing, it is in the middle.
Maybe not overrun, but there is a shift to the right. I try to be optimistic, but the fact that so many people feel like it is ok to be so openly and proudly “a concerned citizen” is disgusting.
And CDU/CSU may be considererd middle, but I feel like especially the CSU part leans mostly right, or conservative, as they call it.
@Clare
All my husband’s colleagues (all engineers, mind you) who had asked for a Canadian visa just before or after Brexit have already left UK. So yes, it’s happened and it’s happening.
However, there won’t be many who possess qualifications to move to another country and to make it through points-based immigration systems (New Zealand has raised the bar recently too, in terms of immigration) and the quantity of people who will be granted a visa to move away is going to be very limited.
If you meant to say ‘who would like to move to Canada’, I’d be first in line to say yes, unfortunately I’m not wanted enough……
There’s lots of demand for immigrants that aren’t considered to hold high wage “in demand” positions. Lol, how north are you willing to move? And note, northern communities tend to not have the best track record for obeying labour relations laws.
Canadian here, we’re all in a state of shock. I actually thought with how our last election went – coming together to get the previous Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, out of office – that it would bode well for what Americans could accomplish as well. No one will ever underestimate racism and white supremacy again.
Canadian here, too. I am absolutely numb. I actually called in sick today because I don’t have the ability to adult. I’ll put up anyone in my house from CB that wants to make the move.
We had our version of Bush in Harper, but Trump is a whole new ballgame. I feel so sorry for our neighbours, the uncertainty of things to come kept me up all night.
I am so proud of be Canadian today and I know we as a nation, collectively, feel a deep letdown in last night’s results.
We’re horrified. My FB feed is filled with smug Trumpkins telling everyone to simmer down and work together. They seem completely oblivious to what the vote meant to anyone who isn’t white, Christian and straight. No one admits it was based on racism. The party line is, “I don’t REALLY like Trump but I wanted to send a message and shake up the establishment. ” Ugh.
My 11 YO daughter’s first words this morning were to ask if Trump would deport her best friend who is Latina. My 9 YO son asked if we could move to Canada.
We are horrified but some of the people that supported trump, at least the ones on my FB, were women and at least one POC.
I tried to sign-up for MapleMatch this morning but it only supports iphone.
Yes! I just read that 49% of college educated women and 29% of Latinos voted for him?! There’s a quote from Lyndon B Johnson, “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.” Maybe it applies to other minority voters who hope if they vote with Trump they’ll get to look down on someone? Otherwise I can’t explain it.
People voted against Hillary more than they voted for Trump. They hate her that much.
I am seriously considering Canada. I made it through Bush, from which we still haven’t recovered…. I don’t think I can make it through Trump. When do we get to thrive cuz just surviving sucks.
We are going to build a wall and make you Americans pay for it. 🙂
After the president against immigrants win, millions of americans become immigrants.
Yes isn’t that funny. The country that wouldn’t allow Syrian refugees in, now has an abundance of people begging to move out ! I bet those Syrian refugees are happy Canada welcomed them instead !
Ha!
Already told my friend that I would be on her doorstep. I have two trips to Europe one in December. I could just not return home.
Because a majority of British people showed their tolerance of immigrants when they voted for Bretix? Or rather Germany, now the AfD (Alternative for Germany, very right-wing party) is growing every year? Maybe France, where their “Front National” got the majority of voters at the European Parliament election 2014? Switzerland, that is a constant struggle of xenophobia and support for immigrants with every popular initiative? Greece? They are rock-bottom, still can only withdraw a very limited amount of money and struggle with refugees… and are next to Turkey.
Don’t even go to the Easter European countries, but that’s not what you had in mind anyway, correct?
Trump is the most prominent in a long line of raising politicians who represent mysoginy, racism, xenophobia… Europe is no exception, unfortunately. Immigrants are only minimally more tolerated than they are in the USA… if at all.
What OMG said, unfortunately.
Plus in UK you risk to get beaten up even if you’re white and with a non-British accent. Good luck with finding an European country that accepts immigrants at the moment (I’m in UK and want to move away but can’t find where!)
Somewhat related. I have been skimming the_donald subreddit and “deplorable” doesn’t come close to describing those redditors. They have a thread listing celebrities that they want out of the U.S. immediately. It is predictably mostly women celebs and you can imagine what they are writing about people like Amy Shumer.
Meanwhile, reddits admin has warned them because apparently they are going onto other subs and sending the users there threats by private messaging. The most ungracious winners ever!
Amy Shumer is racist, she’ll be fine.
It’s more like Amy Schumer has money and connections, she’ll be fine.
I don’t WANT a lot of the people who’ve said they’re moving here.
There are going to be a lot of disappointed people when they realize how strict our immigration laws are. You can’t even cross the border with a DUI – even if you’re not driving and have no plans to drive.
Canada doesn’t need any more idiots here – we have our own brand of stupid we have to deal with. That being said – I’m open to the sane, kind portion of people wanting to move.
😝
What if we trade? All the Democrats come to Canada, and we send them our Conservatives.
They can deal with each other and their “values” while we lead the way with real progress.
But who keeps Bieber?!?!
Cute idea, except if you look at a political spectrum, their dem party is still further right, albeit not by much, than our own cons party. Sooo…. you’re trading for something further right.
Yes, is not that easy to move. You have to really bring something into Canadian society in terms of education, experience and languages. The humanitarian category is for people in real need of help from tragedy and war-torn countries and the last one is for people that has family here and wants to be reunified so I don’t see many options out there. Plus the delays in some provincial permanent immigration programs can take 3 to 4 years, is not immediate the change
What Esmon said.
Plus native speakers need to have IELTS anyway to pass the first screening, I don’t see many Americans who will gladly sit the test.
What makes everyone think that they will escape bigotry by moving to Canada? My Canadian Twitter buddies tell me that things are not much better there…
Unless… this is all some kind of sick reverse psychology to get me to not jump Canada’s border…
Honestly – we have our fair share of problems, but overall, I don’t think they’re at the levels that the US is at right now. I suppose though, it largely depends on where you’re moving – some cities are a lot more progressive than some of the backwoods towns – just like anywhere else.
To be frank – a large portion of my inlaws were absolutely pro-Trump, so I guess it all depends. They’re largely uneducated people who believe all of the sensationalized articles that were shared on facebook though.
I agree Erinn. We are not perfect, but we proved in our own election last year we value diversity, and our citizens all have the same rights under the law. Now, with C-51 the interpretation of those laws is up for grabs BUT I trust Trudeau will fix a lot of it in the next 3 years. I have to trust in that.
Also, we welcomed many refugees and will continue to do so. Watch Trudeau’s first United Nations speech. That is who is leading us, thankfully. I trust in him and the Liberals. Never before have I felt so grateful and just damn lucky I can say “I trust my government”.
My sister & niece live in Florida. The racism my niece faces there every day (she just graduated college) is astounding. As a Canadian, we have racism, and a whole host of other problems, but it’s not at the level it is in the US. I’ve seen it personally and can attest to it.
I agree that while there is racism in Canada, it’s not as deep and entrenched – and certainly not written into law – as it is in the USA. Though people from indigenous communities still have had a terrible experience in this society. In terms of racism against other POC, it is a little different here.
What everyone else said, but more importantly, our Charter of Rights and Freedoms is part of our Constitution, so except in the most limited of circumstances, no legislation; federal, provincial or municipal can discriminate based on race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. And because our healthcare is government funded we effectively have a constitutional right to free access to abortions (along with all other healthcare).
So even if we have some racist individuals, we have more constitutional protections against systemic racism and misogyny. Our most conservative Prime Minister did not oppose recognition of same sex unions nor would he entertain any suggestion from the religious right to ban abortions. All of our legislated protections removes the hint of legitimacy that racists like and while they exist, they know their views do not represent what we as a country stand for.
I’m not intending to bash Americans, but there really is no comparison.
My thoughts on Trudeau’s statement
Sometimes you say what you have to, careful words and sentiments. I think this statement is more of a “let’s remember why we are here, Mr Trump” than anything else.
He has no choice but to get along, and I for one am glad. This was the only choice.
I had a friend call me last night and ask if he could stay at my place in Toronto for a few weeks if he can manage to get a job transfer or find a job here.
My mother called this morning to say, she and my father are planning on selling their winter place in Florida. They do not want to be in the US anymore even if it is for a few months in the year
Also emails from other friends in the US who are dead serious about leaving and moving elsewhere. They are scared about the future of the United States and their families .
This has gone from joking about the great “Orange One”to the shit is real.
Remember the fast ferry to Rochester NY? It was like our version of the monorail from the simpson’s.
Bet that would be a Big hit now! Lots of one-way tickets being bought.
Toronto is one of my favorite cities in the world. Best chinese dumplings evah.
I just had a son and I cried last night thinking about what kind of country we’re leaving him. What kind of example of a world leader. In fact, I’m tearing up right now. Canada might have their issues but you don’t have an insane madman with his gross little fingers on the nuke codes. I fully admit, I went on the immigration site this morning. I live about 30 min away from the border so moving there would still allow our family to go back and forth. Trying to figure out if my husband’s engineering license would be accepted and if going back to school there would help. Any Canadians on here want to weigh in? I’M deeply, deeply ashamed and disgusted by this country right now. Everything we held dear is being attacked and I can’t stomach the thought of raising a family here anymore.
The basic answer is, if he can find a job here, then that’s an option. Otherwise, it’s the immigration process and that’s a pretty tough one.
Sunnydaze if you guys are serious, have him check the provincial engineering regulatory group to see if his credentials/license would transfer. In Ontario, it is the PEO. With experience, it may be a quick transfer. Don’t be surprised if transcripts are needed, etc though. Canada needs certain types of engineers so it is a possible thing. (I work with labour market data so have some insight.)
Your best hope is him finding a job, and I think engineers are in demand. You might try a free consultation with a reputable Canadian immigration lawyer. Charlie above gives good tips on being an engineer. If he finds a job, they can move him and you’re in!
The other plus is you already live pretty far north so the weather wouldn’t be as much of a shock as it would be for people moving from southern climates.
Whatever you ultimately decide, I think most of us would urge you to investigate IMMEDIATELY. Gather your information, including required documentation and timelines. There would be more competition in the months ahead. Many people obtain their papers as a kind of “insurance policy” and then see if they need to use it. You’re lucky in potentially having someone with skills that Canada may want.
Do it as soon as possible because Canada immigration website also crashed after Brexit and we know a few Britons who migrated there already.
Here’s a good place to start searching out Engineering jobs in Canada. Some temp. some perm etc. Randstadt is a very reputable placement agency in Canada.
https://www.randstad.ca/jobs/s-engineering/?utm_source=hotjobs&utm_medium=links&utm_campaign=hotjobs
You all are truly amazing…thank you from the bottom of my heart!!!
America, why do you have to pull Canada into this?
misery loves company I guess
Right? Keep us out of your mess.
They think Canada is this peaceful land full of rainbows and unicorns. We have our own problems…look how First Nations gets treated here…that tells you a lot. Each country has it’s own issues. We can’t all just run away. We need to make change, peacefully, but still we need change…running is not the answer.
You guys, Trump will have sole discretion over whether to launch nuclear weapons. That scares me more than anything else.
Yes. That’s what I keep coming back to as well. 🙁
There are diverse populations in many countries now. The concept of the global economy really started to pick up steam around 1987.
Stunned and shocked Canadian here. Although we have things pretty good in Canada, the election result makes me think that we shouldn’t take what we have for granted. We’ve seen some ugly and racist stuff here too. I always (for some naive reason) just assumed that we as a society were past the mainstream racism, bigotry, and misogyny. I had no idea that these views were still so common. Trump’s election has pushed me to reexamine my assumptions about western society, and the values I thought most people had.
Yes. I think some of this is milder here, but also better hidden.
Nope you Americans should stay right where you are and fight for your country. Don’t wuss out and come running to Canada. Canada has it’s own issues. I live here, I know. We have racists too, plenty of them ! Immigrating to another country is not so easy. Do people really think they can just walk right into Canada and live here?
This comment made me tear up. You’re absolutely right, it’s time for the US to fight for their country.
Um, many Americans worked so damn hard in this election to defeat Donald Trump but they found it impossible to overcome the strength of the NRA and the right-wing churches, gerrymandering, voter suppression, fallout from the Great Recession (engineered by another set of Republicans) and entrenched racism and sexism. Americans did this to avoid armed protest and to maintain an orderly, peaceful transition of power. Now what may happen is anybody’s guess. But never underestimate the desire of most Americans to fight for their democracy.
@ Who ARE These People?
Let’s hope they stay in America and try to get a hold of their country again, running away to Canada won’t solve anything.
So the people upset by racist Trump are now going to move to even whiter countries? Take your money to a country that can really use it.
I cannot fault the desire of an English-speaking person to live in a more security society, especially for the purposes of raising children. To many, Canada is familiar “enough” and the ability to find employment maybe easier than in other countries, without having to learn a new language at the same time. Resettlement is hard, costly, disruptive. It’s not extended tourism.
Same for French-speakers to Quebec.
We are not perfect but but we receive a high quality of education, healthcare and our highest percentile for race is mixed. Let’s not kid ourselves many of the Hillary voters that we feel bad for today due to the election results have more than once mocked our accent,how they think we dress, money, our eh (which you use wrong 99.% of the time) stating nothing could be worse than being us..so riddlemethis..why would be we so eager to let them possibly be our literal neighbours?
Many are so arrogant they think they be able to just buy citizenship into our country on amazon.
If this was reverse you think the US would show us any compassion? Nope they would just make more ridiculous eh and maple syrup, you have funny money Canadian tuxedo jokes.
By all means come visit we will have a great time catching up but let’s just treat this like last call.. you do not have to go home but you can’t stay here.
I didn’t sleep last night and I cried when the win was confirmed this morning. I feel so sorry for all the people who are going to be in even worse shape because of your government. That being said you guys made your bed. This what happens when people don’t participate, become complacent, and take things for granted. Unfortunately things usually get worse before they get better. Good luck! Hopefully your President doesn’t kill us all.
Im not going to Canada. Its cold there and I just planted a garden in my back yard.
What I will do is fight with everything I can to change whatever I can. I will organize groups of belligerent women to cause legal trouble for this monster at every turn.
Its still our country. You are allowed to make noise. You are allowed to protest. You just have to actually do it. And not be afraid of a little disturbing the peace charge.
You want peace? You must work for it. All is not lost.
You are talking as if this was going to be a normal presidency not the dictatorship that will evolve.
I aint afraid of no dicts!
I am an American living in Canada. I have had a difficult transition up here. I find Canadians cold and distant, hard to get to know or get close to. Yes they are polite, but they seem to have 3 friends for 20 years and don’t need a lot of friends/acquaintances like us Americans have. My closest friends are expats from other countries. I have lived here 4 1/2 years and hope to apply for dual citizenship soon because despite it all, this is a far better place for me than the US right now. More opportunities, higher wages, better healthcare, more freedoms. It’s hard to immigrate and you go through a bit of culture shock, but it’s ultimately worth it. The hardest part for me is my friends in the US who are like my family who have to deal with this now.
I’m sorry to hear you are having trouble finding your circle. I don’t know what city you are in, but hang in there. I moved around a lot before settling down where I am and it took me a bit to find my people, but I did. I think some people are more reserved than cold but I have yet to meet anyone who didn’t respond positively to my saying that I’d like to get to know them better. Sometimes the best thing you can do is be vulnerable and give a person the opportunity to be there for you. It worked for me and I wish you the same.
Andrea, I’ve been in Canada nearly 10 years and agree there is more “social distance” — you have to work at it and it’s more formal than in the States. Takes a while to get used to the rhythm and subtle cues. I hope you find people who share your interests and can feel at home socially as well as appreciate the benefits of living here. It’s hard to only have an intellectual appreciation – it helps to love it at least some!
Though I entirely understand why many Americans want to flee right now, please don’t. Not because you wouldn’t be welcome here, but because your country needs you now more than ever. You need to stay present and engaged in order to fight for truth and dignity and undo this mess. You can count on Canadians to help in any way we can.
I’m Canadian. I love my country. I live in a city which borders a major US city. I live in Ontario. We have our fair share of problems but nothing like the USA. I love the States, have family and friends who live there, and cross frequently to shop, have dinner, and travel.
Canada is a wonderful Country. I am happy to live here. I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Good for you. pfffffffffffffft!