british black

Old Sep 5th 2005, 9:21 pm
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Default british black

this is my first post in the forum . me and my husband are black british we are thinking of imigrating to canada how is it for black people in canada.
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Old Sep 5th 2005, 10:09 pm
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Default Re: british black

Originally Posted by ola
this is my first post in the forum . me and my husband are black british we are thinking of imigrating to canada how is it for black people in canada.
Being British white, I can't see things truley from the same perspective, but I would say that Canada is the first truley multicultural society that I have come across. Racial hatred and intolerance is just not tolerated at all here. This is based upon by experience of living in Calgary and vacations in BC. Also, my boss is originally from Trinidad and he has experience of Ontario, Quebec and Alberta. He has been fully accepted in all three

I have heard rumours that some of the more "red neck" areas out in the sticks might not be ideal. Perhaps others on this forum can provide further insight.
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Old Sep 5th 2005, 10:47 pm
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Default Re: british black

Hello ola and welcome to the forum.

I agree with Posidrive that this is the most multicultural society I have witnessed. On the other hand, as Posidrive also says, those of us who are white cannot pass an opinion from experience. We have not walked in a black person's shoes.

A white friend of mine in Calgary is married to a university professor from Ghana. She also is a stepmother to her husband's son from his first marriage. She tells me that both her husband and stepson suffer from racial discrimination in Calgary.

The discrimination at the University of Calgary came as a surprise to me. I would have expected the university to be more enlightened than the rest of society, but apparently it is not.

I also have heard claims about discrimination at U of C from my East Indian friend who is a retired professor of engineering. (I've never lived in the UK. As I understand it, Brits don't call people from India East Indians but simply Indians. Canadians use the term East Indian to distinguish between people from India and the aboriginal people of North America who sometimes are referred to as Indians.)

Another surprise to me is the racial discrimination that apparently is not uncommon in the federal government's bureaucracy, i.e., in the treatment of federal civil servants. This has been thoroughly documented by such immigrants as Dr. Chiv Chopra.

I would not be surprised if other posters jumped on what I've said and claimed it was untrue. They could point to a million and one valid examples of tolerance in Canadian society. But, unless my detractors themselves are black, I will take their disagreement with me with a pinch of salt. As I said before, in my opinion the only other person who could give you an accurate insight into this topic would be another black person.

Another factor that I'm not in a position to weigh up, since I've never lived in the UK, is how the degree of racial tolerance in the UK compares with the degree of racial tolerance in Canada.

Also keep in mind that many white immigrants come to Canada and are frustrated because the qualifications and experience that they acquired before arriving in Canada are discounted here. Just do a word search on this forum for "Canadian experience," and you'll find heaps of threads on that topic.

All the best.
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Old Sep 5th 2005, 11:31 pm
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Default Re: british black

Originally Posted by ola
this is my first post in the forum . me and my husband are black british we are thinking of imigrating to canada how is it for black people in canada.
Hi my family living in Ontario (we are black) love it out there and wouldn’t come back. In fact my mother and sister came over two months ago to visit sick family and couldn’t wait to get back on the plane to Canada. They no longer class the u.k as home and comment on its general decline. However they inform me that at `tolerant` and as `multicultural` as Canada is they have their share of discrimination. The far right are gaining momentum (all be it slowly) and racial ` incidents` are on the increase. It seems also jobs within the institutes (immigration, police, government type jobs and so on), are coming under the spot light more and more as there seems to be a ceiling to promotion if you are non-white.

It appears for all it’s boasting there is a certain amount of lip service. I also have to say without offending too many people on here, that if you look at forums like this one and others you will find a lot of peoples stating their reasons for leaving the uk is due to `over crowding` and to many `immigrant` and so on. Reading between the lines I take that to mean too many people of colour or ethic background living in the UK. I mention this as these people and there views will be moving over and settling in Canada with you.

Finally I have to say that on my many visits to Ontario, ( haven’t been anywhere else ), I have been well treated and the people seemed genuine and nice, so I guess in truth you can only take people as you find them.
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Old Sep 6th 2005, 12:35 am
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Default Re: british black

I'm white and have lived in Toronto for a long time. I've worked with people from all over and have heard a lot of slurs thrown at people because of their ethnicity. Aboriginal Canadians, Chinese, Newfoundlanders and Muslims have come in for some abuse and I have known cases of discrimination against each of them. I can't say that I've heard the same against black people, the police are rumoured to be biased, and I believe they are, but I don't think the public at large share their sentiments.

I have seen one case of overt discrimination here, a black American associate of mine was initially refused a room at the Marriot in Toronto because he wanted to share the room with a white woman; his wife. He demanded to see the hotel manager and later said he was convinced that the problem was one bad desk clerk. He said that otherwise he had never felt any sort of discrimination during his many trips here.

The landlord of the pub at the end of our street is a Jamaican. It's nominally an Irish pub and the Irish are not renowned for their acceptance of others so I asked him if he'd had any trouble. He said there have been two incidents of people leaving, explicitly because they didn't want beer from a black man, that's one incident per year. In order to compare you'd need to ask a black publican in, say, Kilburn.
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Old Sep 6th 2005, 1:37 am
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Default Re: british black

Contrary to popular belief, I beleive that 'racism' is alive and well in Canada...it's just less 'vocal'...and as a consequence, less obvious!
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Old Sep 6th 2005, 4:02 am
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Default Re: british black

Originally Posted by macadian
Contrary to popular belief, I beleive that 'racism' is alive and well in Canada...it's just less 'vocal'...and as a consequence, less obvious!
The only really overt racism I'm seen here is against the native Indians. Not really the subject of this topic though.

Racism can also take other forms, not just colour based. My wife is German and to be quite honest we will be glad to escape the "Seig Heil" comments that my fellow countrymen find so amusing. Makes me ashamed to say I'm British at times. I won't say what I was going going to do to the next person who sends my 10 year old son home in tears by calling him a Nazi b!"£*(d.

Calgary seems to have many thriving sub communitities that act as a useful support group for those days when you are feeling bad and just want to be in "familiar surroundings", but the key issue here seems to be integration. In my expereince you don't find "ghettos" for want of a better word, containing just one ethnic group. If you work hard you will generally be accepted for who you are.
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Old Sep 6th 2005, 6:34 am
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Default Re: british black

Originally Posted by ola
this is my first post in the forum . me and my husband are black british we are thinking of imigrating to canada how is it for black people in canada.
Just to add to well observed comments above - you might find some Canadians surprised by your being black and having a British accent. It's not as bad as it use to be but there are still Canadians who have very out dated associations.
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Old Sep 6th 2005, 9:36 am
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Unhappy Re: british black

Originally Posted by Posidrive
The only really overt racism I'm seen here is against the native Indians. Not really the subject of this topic though.

Racism can also take other forms, not just colour based. My wife is German and to be quite honest we will be glad to escape the "Seig Heil" comments that my fellow countrymen find so amusing. Makes me ashamed to say I'm British at times. I won't say what I was going going to do to the next person who sends my 10 year old son home in tears by calling him a Nazi b!"£*(d.

Calgary seems to have many thriving sub communitities that act as a useful support group for those days when you are feeling bad and just want to be in "familiar surroundings", but the key issue here seems to be integration. In my expereince you don't find "ghettos" for want of a better word, containing just one ethnic group. If you work hard you will generally be accepted for who you are.
My cousins are First nation Canadians in NB and yes....there is racism against them.
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Old Sep 6th 2005, 10:16 am
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Default Re: british black

Originally Posted by macadian
Contrary to popular belief, I beleive that 'racism' is alive and well in Canada...it's just less 'vocal'...and as a consequence, less obvious!
Racism in Toronto is also very complicated, "everyone" is from somewhere else and brought his or her prejudices. Israelis and Palestinians regularly make the news by shutting down Canadian universities while squabbling, but the strength of feeling between Macedonians and Greeks is equally strong. Koreans don't like Blacks but they likely hate the Japanese more. I don't think Toronto's multi-culturalism works because there's no race hatred, rather it works because there are very many hatreds spread over a wide range of the population.
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Old Sep 6th 2005, 12:54 pm
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Default Re: british black

Originally Posted by ola
this is my first post in the forum . me and my husband are black british we are thinking of imigrating to canada how is it for black people in canada.
II remember an incident in Kitchener Ontario, where my girlfriend (she’s white) and I (black) went to the bank to change traveler’s cheques. She was in the queue in front of me and showed her passport and duly had her cheques changed. I went after her and was told by the same clerk that in order for me to have my cheques changed I would have to produce three types of identification. When I asked to speak to the manager there were red faces all round. When I told my mother she said it s been known to happen quite often
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Old Sep 7th 2005, 12:47 pm
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Default Re: british black

White living in Ottawa. Difficult question to answer without offending anyone but here goes. I don't think you will find any country in the world that doesn't have race problems. As for Canada, as mentioned, it is here but not spoken about. There are problem areas in the burbs so research the area you want to move to, avoid areas that concentrate the minorities, this tends to lead to gangs. The red-necks do exist and sound outrageous sometimes, but they generally harmless and have similar views about anyone who doesn't own a 4 wheeler/pick-up/sled. I have several black coleagues who don't appear to have too many issues, but I think you would get a tougher time in NA if you were arabic in origin...
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Old Sep 7th 2005, 2:36 pm
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Default Re: british black

Well the only thing I have to add is that racism here is not restricted in its Uk sense to white v's others..

Her it can come form any direction.. some ethnic area are very intolerant of "others" who want to live in their areas

But as somebody else pointed out once outside the cities the "rednecks" can be very xenophobic...
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Old Sep 7th 2005, 2:50 pm
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Default Re: british black

Originally Posted by MikeUK
But as somebody else pointed out once outside the cities the "rednecks" can be very xenophobic...
Except in Alberta .... everybody from out of province assumes you're redneck anyway no matter what you're skin colour is
 
Old Sep 8th 2005, 4:26 am
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Default Re: british black

Racism is alive and well in Calgary - anybody who thinks otherwise is very naive. I have been here 5 years, and have experienced racism in all walks of life - the office, the kids playground, the pub, even some restaurants.

I'm white myself, but have had to stop myself from punching plenty of 'locals' who have complained or discriminated against other races, particularly East Indians. They will rarely confront a person of a different race, but in social circles the hatred spreads far and wide. In fact, I hear racial slur more often here than I ever did in London.

'Avoid the NE because it's full of ......' is probably the most common cliché told in Calgary - even a realtor said it once.

I challenge anybody who lives here to disagree with me!
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