Fynnley

Evening all, I have been living in Alberta for nearly 14 years (hope to move to The Island next year) and didn't go home once until 2012 and have now been back close to a dozen times. Whilst living in The U.K I was one of those people that thought Brits were miserable, unfriendly beings. I think this notion in someway comes from our garbage tabloids who like to stir the pot. For the first few years in Canada I found people pretty friendly, albeit in a superficial way. But since going back to The U.K many times over the years, I can say from my own personal experience, I find Brits much friendlier than Canadians. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy living here, but theres just something a bit odd about Canadians. I find them rather cold and extremely reserved. Which is ironic because Brits often get tainted with the reserved brush. My wife who is Canadian sees the same as I do. Literally every time we fly into Gatwick we are met with a smile and jovial banter from the Immigration officers, but upon our return to Calgary, cold, robotic and downright unfriendly.
Im not writing this post to slag off Canadians but just wanted to put my thoughts out there and see what your thoughts and experiences are.
Don't get me wrong, for the most part I do like Canadians, they are fairly mellow, mostly polite people and yes there are of course friendly people here, but by and large I just don't see the friendly Canadian stereotype that Canadians themselves talk about.
Discuss.

spouse of scouse

No

scrubbedexpat091

Worst part of leaving Canada for vacay is having to deal with CBSA on the return.

I find Canadians mostly polite but not very friendly.

TheAwesomeMatt

If you dislike Albertans then you might not like the Island too much, we're full of them.

dbd33

I don't have an opinion of Canadians, I haven't met enough of them to form one.

scilly

Interesting post ...............

I wonder if your facial expressions as you re-enter Canada says something?? Or if it is just Calgary CBSA

We're almost invariably greeted with smiles and happy comments when re-entering Canada in Vancouver. Very friendly welcomes at the land border, also.

We have few Brit friends, they're nearly all Canadian with a few of other nationalities ............ and I find the Canadians generally more pleasant than the Brits!

Maybe it takes getting out and meeting Canadians on their grounds?

Danny B

Is that you oink using one of your troll accounts?

beckiwoo

scrubbedexpat091

Need a US passport....lol. I have a 90/5 with the US people, 90% chance of friendly and polite and limited questions and 5% for a grump. I really think the passport makes a difference sometimes,

CBSA is 50/50 with my dealings with them, inconsistency is my issue with them. One day I am told only to hand them my PR card and they dont need my passport, next time I do just that only to be told they want my passport as well, ffs make up your minds.

I've crossed into the US quite a lot of times where I have not been asked one question, just a hello and have a nice day but those times I am alone without my wife, they ask a bit more questions when she is with me.

Weirdest one was CBSA asking once if I bought anything in Oregon, so random, why Oregon? How about the things I bought in WA?

suzeandmatt

DigitalGhost

I think friendliness and racism are two different things. People in major Canadian cities are very, very used to foreigners at this point and there probably is more racism against certain groups in UK cities than there is in equivalent areas of Canada.

I imagine rural Britain and Canada are probably much of a muchness in that regard though.

R I C H

That's not my experience. I never came across any immigrant related racism in rural BC - these places are often no less reliant on the Indian doctor, German cafe owner, Swiss salesman or English builder than more urban areas of Canada. If there was racism, it was most notably aimed at First Nations.

In rural Britain (north Cotswolds), where I've returned to, there's obvious and underlying racism against the Poles, Bulgarians, Lithuanians or whomever's deemed to be flavour of the month. Rural Britain struggles to embrace/accept cultural heterogenization far more than my experience of Canada.

DigitalGhost

Well to be fair in the British countryside they don't even like outsiders from other parts of the UK. They're not likely going to take people from other countries into their bosom, especially if those people are workers from poorer countries and don't speak English natively. That's the main reason why I'm strictly a big city person when it comes to the UK.

I have heard minor horror stories from ethnically Indian and Chinese Canadian colleagues in the past about their experiences in rural Canada though but obviously Canada is a huge place.

dbd33

Here, rural Ontario, it's not unusual for farmers not to speak well English. They're second sons who didn't inherit the farm in the Netherlands or Denmark or wherever. I don't know if they're racist against anyone but, as far as I can tell, no one is racist against them. There's a smattering of visible minorities, given that there aren't many people at all, there are proportionately likely as many Asian (either usage) and African looking people here as in Toronto and more of the latter than in Vancouver. Again, I don't hear any racism against them. That said, I'm English so it may be that the die hard Canadian nationalists just don't speak to me.

R I C H

Where's your personal experience of this drawn from? I've lived in Scotland, Wales, N.Yorks, Somerset, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and never felt an outsider. I think you're just using stereotypes to justify your choice to live in a city rather than anything substantive.