Aqua

And yes, it should read .... Why oh why!

Why are Canadians so rude and extremely racist?

Former Lancastrian

Shouldn't it be why are some Canadians? Name me a country in the world that doesn't have problems with racism? Canada is not unique in these regards.

DigitalGhost

The fact that Canada manages to do what it does with relative peace and social stability compared with most other western countries is nothing short of a miracle in my eyes. You are always going to get pockets of prejudice and racism in a country that has seen such huge levels of immigration over the past few decade, especially when the bulk of that immigration has come from the likes of India, China and the Middle East.

I'm not going to compare Canada to the US because it's in a whole different league but look at how Australia has moved politically in the last 10 years and then try calling Canada racist. Don't get me wrong, Canada has huge issues especially when it comes to acceptance of foreign work experience, qualifications and licensing in some sectors, most notably healthcare professions, but I don't think racism is at the top of that list.

Moses2013

At the end of the day it's never the country but more the people who have created racism, as every human is a human. If it's not immigration, it will be history, religion or something else. You'll even find that people move abroad and hate people who come from the same country they came from.

DigitalGhost

I've personally encountered that in Canada. In fact the only prejudice I ever heard against new Indian immigrants in Canada was from other Indian immigrants who had already been there for a few years. I know the same often happens in the Indian, Pakistani and Polish communities in the UK though.

dbd33

I glanced at facebook this morning and there was a long thread about burning someone's Toronto shop down, releasing rats into it, demonstrating outside and chasing the owner out of the country and back to where she came from. Everyone's shouting "racism!". I expect everyone involved holds a Canadian passport but someone says something about an ethnic population in their home country and supporters of the other faction go off the deep end. Reading facebook is just like being at work, every day India's being bloodily partitioned, Shergar's being butchered along with the Armenians, the Turks are driving the Greeks out of the restaurant business and Idi Amin Dada is displacing the educated population. It'd take Jared Kushner himself to resolve all these conflicts at once.

Any multi-culture will have masses of imported racism. Canada, of course, also has institutionalized racism. The best one can hope is that all this stays at the level of grumbling which, in the workplace, it mostly does

Partially discharged

Some context would help rather than this sweeping generalization. Honestly, if you are talking about 'Canadians' I don't find them particularly rude and the level of racism and/or racist views I believe is on the downturn and the youth of today are much less 'racist' than those years ago.

Moses2013

It is a strange world. I have noticed that many Polish I knew in the UK didn't like other Polish, mainly because they thought it would be more competition trying to find a job.
In Ireland we have the problem with travellers and they complain about racism. As soon as you would tell them that from today we are all equal, they would be the first to complain.
Why, because they have benefits that other people don't have, so in this case the country is also to blame for making a difference.

Siouxie

Would you care to share why you believe this or what has made you post... that's a huge generalisation - do you mean ALL Canadians, including those who come from abroad and have gained Citizenship? I haven't found the majority of Canadians (born and bred Canadians) to be racist at all - the odd one, of course, but you will get that in every country.

When I lived in Hong Kong back in the 70's and 80's I got spat at many times when going to the local market and "Gweipor / Gweilo!" (white ghost / white devil) shouted out at me (I lived by a village where often I would be the only non Chinese person walking around the market). One day I was in the shopping centre where my doctor had his office, with a friend - who happened to speak fluent Cantonese, when a man grabbed his child as said (in Cantonese) "come over here, stay away from those white devils" - my friend replied in Cantonese... (I won't say what she told him). There isn't a country in the world where there isn't some racism..

Danny B

In my experience, unlike Brits who are rude to your face, Canucks tend to be nice to your face and then rude about you behind your back.

Regarding racism, the only racism I have ever encountered that was extremely uncomfortable to be part of, was hearing some colleagues talk about Natives in a derogatory way. Other than that, I have never experienced it.

CanadaJimmy

In regards to racism, there is an undercurrent of white supremacy. A portion of Canadians sadly see Canada and the major cities within it as white with the other ethnicities as guests, even First Nations who have been here since before they existed, and those of Asian background who if you actually look into the history have been here just as long as white people have (such as Chinese and Japanese in the Vancouver area). Sadly I think a good chunk of Canadians do sort of think this way, unconsciously or otherwise.

On the more extreme end you find people who violently hate the Liberals and Trudeau, because they continually push in the opposite direction for inclusiveness and ending this kind of white nationalism, where as the Conservative camp gets pandered to with phrases like "old stock Canadian" and leadership candidates like Eric O'Toole who dog whistle about "taking the country back". It seems like Alberta is the hornets nest when it comes to these types but they certainly exist in the more rural areas of BC too and other prarie provinces.

As far as rudeness, I think it's a mixed bag, just like any other country.

scrubbedexpat091

That us so true. Nice to your face, rude as soon as your turn your back.

American's tend to just tell you they don't like you to your face and be done with it.

BristolUK

How do you know? Are they just not good at it?
After or before they shoot you?

scrubbedexpat091

I've never been shot, nor do I know anyone who has.

Nah, its just after the person in question leaves the gossip starts and comments start, so its pretty evident even if you never know what is said about you personally, its a different culture compared to California, and one I think not fully compatible with me which in turn might be why I tend to not love Canada....

Aqua

Well, scratch the surface of this supposedly Utopian life and you will see that the Sorry, Thank you’s and Pardon’s are superficial and not meant sincerely.

I have experienced discrimination first hand when I first came to Canada, whilst on a TWP the company thought they could treat me as a third class resident and so did a lot of the colleagues in the company.

The worst thing is when they smile and greet you and as you walk away, you just know they are not being sincere. I bring this up as we moved to a new town and all seemed good, now after 2 years the racks are showing and their tru3 thoughts are showing.