Perhaps because you've always been in the sticks.

I do think it would be difficult to get into the Ontario Korean Businessman's Association if you weren't Korean and not being a member would put you at a competitive disadvantage to the stores buying through their co-op.

I agree with BritishVixen that rural Ontario is no place to be brown though, to be fair, the town of which speaks is outstandingly inhospitable to people who do not share the local genes.

So far as big city policing is concerned I think languages are much sought after so a British person of Indian ancestry would be at an advantage if he or she spoke Indian languages, otherwise, in Toronto, no one thinks twice about another person's background.

Does you MIL live in Parry Sound? You just descrbed my FIL to a tee!
(he's banned from my house).

Hmmmmmmm.

GP in Oakville - Dr Parikh
Dentist in Oakville - Croatian
Cop who stopped and searched me in Oakville - Sub-continent extraction
Souvette's comanding officer in Toronto - Lt. Col. Sharma
Dentist in Gatineau - Moroccan
GP's seen in Ottawa - one Middle Eastern extraction; the other SE Asian
Canada's current Governor General - from Haiti
Canada's last Governor General - from China

Now I'm just an old fat white man, but my friends in the office are from all over the world, over 11 languages are spoken amongst 65 of us. We are also diverse in Religions or lack there of, and sexual preferences.

That is also pretty representative of Winnipeg, look on the streets and the whole worlds there.

As we are nearly all Immigrants (or children of Immigrants) we all have that as a common bond. Plus it is a well known fact that people who emigrate are on average of higher intelligence. So........ You should be alright.

I live and go to college in medium town ontario and work in small town ontario. I'm anglo saxon so havent experienced any racism but my impression is that the people I have met are less racist than the people I met in England. Thats not saying much tho.

I think there are a lot of different experiences of Canada that you can have depending on where you go.


And not just Korean, but they if it is a "Korean Businessman's Association" you would probably have to be a man, and in business as well as being Korean.



As for Vancouver, Asians (Chinese / Japanese??) are probably equal if not in the majority, especially in certain areas, such as China town and Richmond.

Barely ever see a black person here though. I didn't realise until I went to Montreal and saw black people again.

As for me, I'm not bothered whether you are black, white, brown, pink, green or purple, so long as you are a nice, hard working, caring person.

I never knew this but apparently there is a big stereotype by those this side of the pond, of the Brits having bad teeth.

Hence Austin Powers.

When it was announced at work that I would be starting, there were apparently some comments about teeth, and everyone was really disappointed that I have naturally straight, white teeth. It does explain why a few people mentioned that I had good teeth when I started.......

You learn something new everyday

It's a bit of an indictment on us all that you even have to ask such a question. I hope you don't get too many negative answers - I suppose there will be one or two - and I do wish you all the best in Canada if you do get here. I have to admit that I have heard some racist comments here in Canada that I haven't heard in Europe for many years fortunately but mostly from, dare I say, my (old) generation!

Old Chinese proverb: better to be loved for your teeth than not loved at all.

Obviously, I can't do it, but if I posted the family names of my students, you might notice that about 5% are vaguely Anglo. Sri Lankan, Indian, Pakistani, Iranian, Chinese, Russian (or former Soviet Union anyway) all are more common than Smith and Jones.

All that said, police are police: not the most progressive folk in the world.

<sits back and awaits arrest>

Not a problem with Police. I know loads of coppers, and i've never seen racism be an issue. I have never seen anything like the problems they have in the UK. If you speak another language, that can hep a lot. Police prefer post secondary education, so a couple of A levels will be the minimum, but the more the better. Testing is very in depth including a Polygraph.

Must admit this was not on our list of concerns about moving. I've always had the attitude that if you're prepared to integrate into a community / culture then aside from a possible minority you should be OK living day to day life. However, a little nervous about the comments about rural Ontario.

What about BC, specifically places like Campbell River, Powell River ? Should we worry about racism in places like that ?

Rural Ontario is no different to rural anywhere.

I've heard more racist comments in Canada than I ever did in the UK, all of them against first nations in Winnipeg, and even one time (socially) from an RCMP officer. It's not all love and kumbaya you know...

got to say the biggest policeman ive ever seen was a mountie in saskatoon
he was in his own words scots/canadian+ indian.
must be a citizen to be a mountie.
james