londonhatter

Hi All

I see a general pattern here

If you live in a large town then you will find most people either standoffish or non-committal. However if you live in a small town then you will find people more willing to accept you. This is the same in the UK and Canada.

I live in London but I hail from Manchester. Where I used to live people still say good morning to ya and are quite happy to chat about nothing in particular. In London I still try this experiment but people look at you as if you were from another planet and avoid you like you had the plague.

Thats just the difference between small and large towns and is not centric to Canada.

I guess the answer is ... Get over it


You don't live where you used to or indeed anywhere like where you used to live


Ho Hum

Lorna_D

And I say Vive la difference

Dave+Jules

We all have very few really good friends, were ever you live. Most are aquiantances. I left home at 16 and joined the Army. The friends I made in there were very close, share their car, put their life on the line for you etc... Then once I had left the Army they melted away apart from one or two.

My new life as a civvy saw a procession of neighbours and work colleagues that were just aquaintances. Now in Canada we have a much busier social life and lots of acquaintances and one or two new friends who are and Expats and I have a Canadian friend who would put himself out to help.

Much the same as my experiences in the UK.

ClareBC

nope, don't agree, got some really close friends, it did take a while though.

And not that many are Brits (mind you, do you agree ... I swear the nicest Brits emigrate!!

geo4

As an aside- I generally avoid Brits out here like the Plague.

If I am out for a few pints in a bar and hear an accent I run for the hills.

We are the most obnoxious island ever, possibly with the exception of Manhattan.

If Canadians want to be your friend they will make the effort- trust me. So it is probably just you.

startwin

My first thought was - how do you define what a "Canadian" is. After all, 90% of Canadians are from different ethnic backgrounds, mainly ex-Brits, and more recently, Chinese, Jamaican, and practically every ethnic group you can think of.

When it comes to making friends, the answer is in yourself. Close friendships don't come from working at it, often a close friendship starts in the schoolyard. Or, at the schoolyard waiting for your kids.

To blame Canadians for the fact that you have no close friends here is very lame. And quite honestly, I find most of the people in this country far less shallow than back "home". Sorry to be so blunt, just my take on it.

dthomas

Looking at the posts, and having travelled in Western Canada often, therin lies the answer. I find Western Canadians to quite xenophobic and insular (look at their attitudes toward French Quebec). A family I met in Vancouver found out I lived in Quebec and then proceed to ignore me during the meal with the assumpton I was a separitist anglophone!

You'll find snobbery across Canada - but centred in the west!

R I C H

You're not welcome in this thread.



Can't honestly say I've noticed the attitudes that you mention are exactly commonplace here.

Steve_P

Absolute utter BULLSHIT!!!!

BC Hopefuls

I agree, We live in a very small town, population >700. A lot of people knew were were coming 3 years before we arrived and I was astounded, during during my first week here, to be stopped in Main Street every few steps by people saying 'Hi, I'm ... you must be the new English people who have bought the campground'. So, after less than a year I am greeted by name by all the store & bank staff, I play cards & bingo and even helped cook suppers for the Chamber of Commerce and Elks & Royal Purple fund raisers. This is something I would never have done in UK. Wouldn't have had the time for one thing!!!

We regularly have supper with at least 3 couples, including the local RCMP & his wife. I know if they needed help they would call us and in return they have helped us out in many ways. OH's pal is round here almost everyday while they 'play' in the workshop well ... that usually turns into a rum fest!

Now I don't think this has anything to do with being in Canada, I think is is due to the size of the village I live in and the fantastic community spirit here.

There are always lots of newcomers to the town so people get used to making new friends. Many of us have lived the best part of our lives elsewhere so we don't have the school friend network .

I don't believe I would have made many friends if I had moved to a city and had a regular 9-5 job. I would have been living the same routine as in UK.

yorkie lad

I have only been in Canada for about 2 years but have made some really good Canadian friends. Perhaps its just you?????????? lol

yorkie lad

Snobbery my ar*e, what planet are you living on??? Perhaps its you and your bloody attitude that makes people ignore you?:curse:

startwin

Now that's funny. And utter balderdash.

dbd33

I've been here for yonks. I lived maybe five years with a Swiss woman, couple of years with a Bluenoser, eight or nine years with a Newfie, now I live with an American. Most of this was in Toronto, now we're in the boonies. In all that time we've been reasonably sociable, three or four nights a week in various pubs, lots of sporting activities, theatre subscriptions, not being shy. All along the way we went for dinner at people's houses, invited people for dinner, generally mingled. At no point did we know any born-in-Canada-to-two-parents-born-in-Canada-Canadians, what my kids call "ethnics". I know loads of people from all over but what Canadians are like is, by and large, irrelevant to me; they're doing that ice hockey thing, the rest of the population is living.

Dave+Jules

What a sensible attitude ok ok I am joking