Intrested in Canada, need answers!

[Foz]

Hi!

I am a student in Sweden and alwayes lovd the country of Canada, so I have some questions that I would like someone of you canadians to answer.

What's life like in Canada? For instance do they all scream and cheer to the hockey matches meanwhile drinking beers and having a fight at the pub? Besides that, is hard to get a job and earn a good living in Canada? As a matter of fact, Canada did win the VM hockey finals against your neighbors United States of America (USA). How did your country and you celebrate the victory? In addition to drinking and watching hockey, is there a high procent of alcoholics and alcoholic problems?

What is everyday life like for the students and school children, similarly to United States of America where they have school uniforms.  Moreover how many hours do a student study in highschool? Furthermore, which age do the school give out grades to grade the student performance? For instance here in Sweden we start to get grades when we are thirteen years old, with that I mean the seventh grade. In addition, I am also interested in how many years do you student study until you can get out into the real world and get a job and work? In fact here in Sweden we have a mandatory to go and study at the young age of six until the age of fifteen. And at the age of sixteen we voluntary go to highschool and get a proper study till the age of eighteen.

How is the living in Canada? For instance is it expensive to live in the country? Furthermore is it hard to get a job due to the massive immigrants?
And to end it in brief, I always wondered how come the TV shows in United States of America generally always say silly jokes about the country and people of Canada? Furthermore, do you Canadians take it personally if the TV show makes fun out of your country?

 // Thanks!
 

 

[angelbrat]

No more than people in the rest of the world think all people from Sweden dress like Abba.

[arron]

First off, Canada is not very homogenous. There are 10 different provinces in Canada, (and three territories) and each has different provincial laws, different health care systems, different education systems, different economy job prospects, and minimum wage.

It's almost like someone asking 'What's life like in Europe?"

Yes we are all Canadian but we really are not all the same. Try asking these questions to a francophone from Quebec, then ask them to an Albertan, then ask someone from Newfoundland, you will get extremely different answers.

I can speak to the small area of southern Ontario I have lived in.

Lots and lots of people are hockey fans, and drink beers at the pub while watching the game. Not very many people fight over the games though, we let our hockey players do the fighting for the most part.
Is it hard to get a job and earn a good living? Yes. It's definitely not easy especially in the current economy. But it's probably easier here than in a lot of other places in the world. I wouldn't say there is a high percentage of alcoholics and alcoholic problems, but there is a percentage.

Most students in Canada go to public school, don't wear uniforms. High school is usually from 8am- 2:30 or 3 pm, sometimes they start at 9 and go an hour later. Students start getting xx/100 grades when they enter high school at 14, but this varies province to province. Most kids stay in school at least until they are 17-18 and have finished grade 12, at which point they have the choice to go on to higher education. Education higher than grade 12 is not free and can cost thousands of dollars.

Living in Canada can be hard, I certainly wouldn't call it easy. Most immigrants choose to settle in urban areas due to the larger economy, but it can be vastly cheaper to live outside of the large cities and towns. I wouldn't say it is hard to get a job due to mass immigration, but new immigrants to Canada may find it harder to have their qualifications recognized by Canadian employers and may face other barriers to employment such as racism and language barriers.  As far as american TV shows go, Canada has always been kind of the little brother who is made fun of a bit, but no one really gets upset over it, it's mostly good natured and just goes to show the little differences between the two countries.