Have a good and safe Flight,
Bon Nuit,

Jerry

Hello... are we not all either actual or impending immigrants on this site? Isn't a xenophobic immigrant an oxymoron?

I met some new neighbours the other day. From Reading, I think she said. I lost interest when she announced they had moved over here because of England being "flooded by foreigners and East Europeans". I did attempt (but only momentarily) to try and make the obviously unique distinction between these two unfortunate groups. I didn't dare tell her that her immediate neighbours to the left were away on holiday and would be back next week. They are away visiting family. In India.

So Canada is simply a piece of land to be marked out and turned into a copy of the home country?

That's not immigration, that's colonisation.

K.

It's not black and white. Every immigrant will integrate to some degree or another It's unrealistic to expect an immigrant to forget the first x years of their lives, culture, tastes and become 100% Canadian. Likewise, it's unrealistic to expect immigrants not to have to change their behaviour to become more Canadian as they have to interact with society.

I cannot say what the right balance is, but I can say that I can't wait to be in Canada to visit all of the different cultural areas, taste new food, learn about different cultures etc. It's a major reason why we want to come to Canada in the first place.

Societies change and adapt and this dynamic is almost impossible to control. Creating laws to try this will only end in failure and hatred.

That's what the French and the English thought.

Failed somewhat then haven't they... or there wouldn't be so many immigrants from the UK and France, bien sûr!

In fact, a lot of French immigrants leave Québec because it isn't sufficiently like France for them. They hate the lack of social welfare.

I think it's also worth remembering that a lot of immigrants into Canada might not actually have made the conscious decision to migrate - people that make up the family class (a very large proportion of immigrants) and people who are refugees. Both groups could be in Canada because a decision was made for them and have less motivation/incentive to learn English or French.

I agree with that completely. No-one expects Apu Nahasapeemapetilon to pretend his parents are Herb and Judy Nahasapeemapetilon. But at the same time, it's a question of intent: is there an intent to become Canadian and subscribe to the core values of Canada as a country?

It's the same problem in rural France: Brits coming with no intention of learning to speak French, no intention of participating in French culture (other than buying cheese, bread and wine). Unsurprisingly, the French are objecting.

K.

I think nowadays we've come to realise it was an injustice to the people here before then.

K.

Really do get tired of the Brit Bashing which goes on in here sometimes - seems to come a lot from either people who had a two week holiday in Canada or people complaining about the amount of immigrants in the UK. It really does surprise me as one of the first things you see upon arrival in say Toronto airport is every black 'limo cab' driven by an Asian ( who probably has more qualifications than I do !

Keep those red and white sunglasses in your bag when you finally arrive I say.

Canada was colonised by the French and British and other European nations. I lived in the Ottawa Valley and each town was set up by immigrants from different parts of Europe. So many towns have strong Irish, Scottish , French, German backgrounds. I was surprised by some of people I worked with referred to themselves as being of good "Irish background", being second or third or fourth generation born immigrants. They spoke with an Irish Canadian accent as well.

In Barry Bay immigrants moved from Poland from 1854 onwards, but Polish is still spoken by Polish Origin inhabitants. I found it interesting visiting these pioneer towns and seeing the remains old culture's still in place after 100- 150 years.

Other parts of Canada have Dutch and Ukraine's settlements and still retain many aspects of their traditional culture and language.

The cities and urban areas in Canada are more diverse in the mixture of immigrants, much like you see in cities such as London in the UK.

Whenever I take a taxi lately I always ask the driver, who is usually from Pakistan, India or Vietnam, about their immigration experience (I can't help it, I'm an anthropologist). One guy I met is a medical doctor and has been driving cabs for 4 years. I was really surprised by his attitude... how positive he was about life. He gave me a piece of advice... "Miss, if you ever need medical attention... don't call 911. Call a cab!" Was funny but I can only imagine his humour covered a lot of frustration.

I personally would disagree with the 'was' bit and I'll now jump out of this thread.

I think that's fab! It's a great example of cultures that mix and provide something that's really unique. I imagine a lot of the people had an 80% Canadian culture, so very integrated, and 20% something a bit more interesting.

I'm more and more looking forward to coming to Canada. BTW, my OH feels a lot like this. She's 3rd gen Polish, but the family still has about 20% Polish culture and is trying to hold on to the language. OH's generation don't speak Polish, but grandma (Babja) has made sure the 4th generation do!