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Jeff’s story - American living in Canada
I was born in the U.S. I have always felt more Canadian than American. Maybe it is the fact that I have been an Ice Hockey fan for almost 40 years and the fact that I respect a nation that looks after the welfare of all its citizens and respects their civil liberties.
In my opinion, this element is all the more important now that the U.S. has dropped democracy and has become a militaristic fascist state. America has no concern for the welfare of large numbers of its population including its elderly and poor. My mother was sick last year and died in November. I was paying over $4,000 U.S. a month to have her cared for in assisted living. I was looking at $7,000 to $8,000 a month if she would have lived to go to a nursing home. U.S. welfare only covers hospital and doctor visits not even medicines outside the hospital. There are over 44 million people without any health insurance in the U.S.
The U.S. Constitution is no longer followed by the U.S.; the present regime was allowed to take power by an illegal election that was settled by the U.S. Supreme Court, which is a direct violation of the constitutional separation of power between the judicial and executive branches. Under the guise of fighting terrorism, the U.S. has established a Gestapo agency, the Agency for Homeland Security, which is slowly taking away the civil liberties of its citizens. The U.S. Congress has also given the president the right to declare war and a state of emergency all by himself, a dangerous precedent to say the least. Unlike Canada, the U.S. has only two recognized political parties that are now basically the same, so in effect there is only one national party representing one view. That view is a reactionary isolationist one which seeks to control as much of the worlds resources as is possible.
Canada represents a beacon of democracy in the western hemisphere and its recent policy decisions have shown it to be country other nations should look to pattern their societies after. Sure there are problems in Canada, job creation is one. I work with six Canadians and the only reason they are here is the fact they could not find employment in Canada in their field of science. The Harp seal culling also remains an internationally embarrassing issue for Canada and has inflamed a lot of hatred from the U.S. despite the fact that the state of N.J. where I live shoots deer, will be shooting bear in December, and the ultimate insult, actually gases Canadian geese it perceives as pests.
The American attitude to Canadians ranges from ambivalence to outright despising. At the Stanley Cup playoffs which I attended in N.J. I met two Canadians who drove down from Ontario to see the game. They said they had hot cheese and beer dumped on them in Philadelphia when they went to see a game there because they wore leaf shirts. During the Ottawa/N.J. series I heard many comments of "Go back to Canada" and "Foreigner go home". The Canadian national anthem was booed and some fans even threw things at the CBC TV cameras.
I applaud your efforts in getting Canadians to be proud of their nation, for it is truly the top democracy currently on this planet. If I could find work in Canada I would relocate in a minute.
Your adopted Canadian friend.
Ruth’s
story - Canadian
I have always known Canada was a wonderful place to live, but it is only
when I saw how new Canadians feel about our country did I really understand
why Canada stands tall above the rest.
Canada has diversity to offer from coast to coast. We can be proud of sandy beaches and snowy mountains, different humour in the East from the West, friendly people everywhere you go, and unique local dialect. What is really special is that we are willing to integrate other cultures into our own.
Citizens of Canada are invited to speak their language, practice their own religion, and celebrate their culture, not only without reprise, but with other cultures celebrating alongside.
I have seen children from other countries play in their first snowfall, sleep in the first sound of peace and feel pride in everything from a clean dental check-up, to a University Diploma.
The smiles of these children are proof positive that Canada is affording a life to people that could not have existed anywhere else in the world.
Thank you for starting a Web site that should have began years ago.
Theresa’s
story - Canadian
I was born here 63 years ago. My ancestors came to Canada from France
in 1671 and England in 1824.
I love Canada because we are made up of many nationalities and I like learning about their customs and the countries they come from. Here in Victoria, I have attended Folkfest for the past 30 years and enjoy the entertainment and ethnic foods from the many countries that participate.
I think we are a tolerant country - very unique in our ideas, although there is still room for improvement. We are rather laid back when it comes to bragging about ourselves, yet when I am touring in other countries I display my Canada flag proudly on my jacket or knapsack. I want people to know that I am from Canada. It is nice to visit other countries, yet, I am always glad to get back home and wouldn't think of living anywhere else.
David’s
story – Canadian
Having spent all of my sixty-five plus years here I feel somewhat qualified
to give a valid, accurate opinion of the Canadian quality of life.
Like so many other native born Canadians, I have been raised in a fairly
solid, middle class family of four, two parents and an older sister. Largely
as a consequence of my somewhat pampered and protected upbringing, I feel
that being in the middle class is almost a right in this very amply blessed
country of ours. Since being wholly on my own from the late 1960's until
the present, I have had my “eyes opened” so to speak, to the
realities of how hard it truly is to become a member of the middle class
and to stay there.
With a great deal of practical frugality, and an ample amount of hard
work and persistence, I did always manage to keep myself in the middle
class. Since there is very heavy taxation of the members of the middle
class in our society, that combined with the ravages of inflation, makes
it very difficult to achieve and maintain middle class standards in this
wonderful country of ours. The fact that, I for one, have managed to achieve
this feat is a tribute mainly to the opportunities that present themselves
to each and every one of us in this wonderfully democratic and liberal
country that we call home. In part also, I am in the middle class to stay
for the rest of my days because of the fact that I made the most of what
money I earned during a working career of close to thirty-five years,
most of it with the Canadian federal public service. However, had I been
living in a less democratic society during my working years, probably
all of my efforts to obtain middle class standing would have fallen short.
There would simply have been far less individual incentive in such a restrictive
environment to advance myself economically the way I did here in Canada.
Not too long ago, and shortly after hearing about its unveiling on one of the early evening television news broadcasts, I visited the plaque commemorating the very brave and daring exploits of Igor Gouzenko. He was the clerk in the embassy of the then Soviet Union who defected to the Canadian police authorities after stealing some very valuable documents from his employer. This historical defection took place in September of 1945, only a short time after the conclusion of World War II. At that time, of course, the Soviet Union was considered still to be one of our staunchest allies, because of the great contributions both in people and supplies that they made to help win that war against the Axis powers.
Only upon the success of this courageous, very risky move by young Igor Gouzenko did the West as a whole, and Canada in particular, realize that the Soviet Union did indeed have extensive plans to spread their form of oppressive, totalitarian, authoritarian Communism to the rest of the world. Thus, Igor Gouzenko's successful defection to Canada really and truly marks the start in the West of the Cold War against the Soviet Union, a struggle that was to last for more than four decades.
In any event, when I walked away from that very significant, historical plaque (located in Dundonald Park, at the corner of Lyon and Somerset Streets in Ottawa) after viewing it for about fifteen minutes, I realized deep down in my heart how fortunate I have been all these years living in a liberal, democratic country. If I do not like someone, I can heckle him or her until the cows come home so to speak, and there is absolutely no danger of my being thrown into jail, or being forced into hard labour. Gouzenko literally put his life and the lives of his young son and his pregnant wife on the line because he wanted to savour and enjoy the freedoms that most of us, certainly those of us born in this wonderful country, tend to take for granted.
As I was returning to my home from Dundonald Park, I said to myself, "If my only objection to living in this country is that I pay too much money in taxes, then I really have nothing to complain about". In the oppressive, stifling regime of the Soviet Union at the time of Gouzenko's defection, you were literally living in fear, especially if you were not high up in the one and only party that was allowed to exist. And, of course, even being high up in that privileged group did not guarantee that you would not be rounded up by the secret police and either killed or forced into a slave labour camp, one of the notorious Gulags where all kinds of good people were sent simply because they complained about the excesses of their Communist leaders and bosses.
Yes, without doubt we have much about which to be thankful every day in this remarkable country of ours. Now, in my later years, without lifting a finger any more, I am being well kept by 'Big Brother' (the federal government) in the form of three pensions, my Public Service one, CPP, and OAS. Frankly, no senior in this country who is any kind of a reasonable money manager, should ever have trouble in his or her later years remaining solvent. Our social security programs are among the best in the world. These, along with our publicly funded medical care and essentially free education to the end of grade twelve, make living here so enticing and appealing to so many people from all over the world. Thus, as it has evolved since its birth in 1867, Canada has indeed become the home to so many diverse groups of people, all of whom have helped to make it a richer, more culturally advanced nation. It is true that we may have recently slipped down to eighth place in terms of being the most advantageous and most desirable country in which to live. Nevertheless, I for one would not want to live anywhere else, and I have traveled quite extensively out of Canada in my younger days.
May I close by saying that I wish both of you all the success in the world in this rather massive collecting and compiling job that you have undertaken while holding down regular jobs, and still discharging some family duties. Good luck in your very worthwhile endeavour, and may you be completely successful in the goals that you have set for yourselves in this major project.
Cynthia’s
story- Canadian
I have a great respect for those members of my family who left everything
that was familiar to them to move to Canada. I cannot imagine the courage
of my grandparents, great-grandparents and other ancestors who braved
the crossing of the Atlantic by ship in order to create a new life in
a new country.
A few years ago I went to Scotland and visited Aberdeen, where some of my family is from. I expected to feel like I was in my "home", but I was struck by how much I yearned for my motherland - Canada.
It is easy to take for granted the beauty of open spaces juxtaposed with bustling cities, the wonders of a multi-cultural, bi-lingual society and the power of our natural climate. But when I visit other countries and see crowded dirty cities, and people filled with hate and intolerance, I thank god my family came to Canada.