Things To Know Before You Go To Canada...really?

[dair2dv8103100]

I am Canadian and I have to say.... a lot of the comments about working here are true sadly enough.

I worked in a community resource centre and I cannot tell you how many skilled workers we saw in there looking for any work just to have a job because they could not get hired in their field even though Canada was screaming for them....

Companies here do not call back. They want skilled workers but expect them to take years of schooling. They will hire you with great promises and then get rid of you before the 3 or 6 months is up so they don't have to pay any benefits. They will also hire you as "part time" but you will work full time hours so they avoid higher taxes and benefit costs.

I have warned my husband of these things so he is prepared before arriving that work is not going to be easy to find necessarily. It is not going to be easy. The grass is not always greener on the other side as they say.

 

[Baloo]

I am Canadian and I have to say.... a lot of it is true sadly enough.

I agree with this comment.

I worked in a community resource centre and I cannot tell you how many skilled workers we saw in there looking for any work just to have a job because they could not get hired in their field even though Canada was screaming for them....

While volunteering I also saw this, it seems such a waste.


As for the women part....well, I don't know I am not hit on here so I have never been given the chance to "not answer the phone"..hahaha. Granted I don't go out to clubs and such anyway. But I can say I have been hit on online by many married immigrants who were willing to take a romp in the hay if I had given them the chance.....so I don't think that part is a very accurate statement about Canadian women because if I have that impression then I am sure others do to and who wants to be used like that??

I am a married guy, the biggest shock for me was that some women have no problem hitting on me even when I am with my wife.
Maybe people are overly friendly, maybe they have no moral compass due to the cold in the winter
Who really knows, either way, it is really strange.


Other than that I think it is true. Companies here do not call back.
That is common in many places now.

They want skilled workers but expect them to take years of schooling.
Canada is full of those sort of "chicken and egg" situations.

They will hire you with great promises and then get rid of you before the 3 or 6 months is up so they don't have to pay any benefits. They will also hire you as "part time" but you will work full time hours so they avoid higher taxes and benefit costs.

Very true.

I have warned my husband of these things so he is prepared before arriving. It is not going to be easy. The grass is not always greener on the other side as they say.

Of course I agree that the grass is not always greener, but overall, if you can put up with the oddities, Canada is worth it.

 

[dair2dv8103100]

Of course I agree that the grass is not always greener, but overall, if you can put up with the oddities, Canada is worth it.

Yes, I agree. Canada is worth it and I just remembered something my husband said to me a while back. He said "Everywhere is hard to live. Here or there, it does not matter. So I will come there and we will make sweet, hard life together." LOL ...

 

[rjessome]

Found this during my surfing escapades: http://www.hotwic.com/view_293__FAQ.html

Yet, I believe it cant be all bad and that Canada has a lot to offer!

I honestly can't believe people are commenting that this article is true! What a load of BS! The only part that had some vague notion of truth was about working in Canada. For some strange reason, employers give too much value to "Canadian experience" but there is a lot of evidence of change in that.

I have 59 cousins, 16 maternal aunts and uncles and 10 paternal aunts and uncles. We are all born and raised in Canada. No one of us is on welfare so I take great offence to the comment in the article that Canadians find it normal to not work because of the welfare system. If my father, brothers, or any of my male family members thought it was normal to fart or burp in public, their wives, mothers, sisters and daughters would smack them upside the head! And whoever wrote this article should take their homophobic selves out of the country, IMHO. Oh, and too bad that I don't like to be touched by strange men! I am NOT your toy or an object to be played with. And how many PRs on here have a Canadian credit card? My husband does. Got it a month after he arrived, as soon as he started working. Plenty of my clients who are foreign workers have them too. So where does this BS about only citizens getting them come from?

And to the Canadians who agreed with this, really? It's normal for you to "not keep your word?" Ummm, when did that become normal? Not in my world.

What a load of crap!

 

[dair2dv8103100]

I honestly can't believe people are commenting that this article is true! What a load of BS! The only part that had some vague notion of truth was about working in Canada. For some strange reason, employers give too much value to "Canadian experience" but there is a lot of evidence of change in that.

I have 59 cousins, 16 maternal aunts and uncles and 10 paternal aunts and uncles. We are all born and raised in Canada. No one of us is on welfare so I take great offence to the comment in the article that Canadians find it normal to not work because of the welfare system. If my father, brothers, or any of my male family members thought it was normal to fart or burp in public, their wives, mothers, sisters and daughters would smack them upside the head! And whoever wrote this article should take their homophobic selves out of the country, IMHO. Oh, and too bad that I don't like to be touched by strange men! I am NOT your toy or an object to be played with. And how many PRs on here have a Canadian credit card? My husband does. Got it a month after he arrived, as soon as he started working. Plenty of my clients who are foreign workers have them too. So where does this BS about only citizens getting them come from?

And to the Canadians who agreed with this, really? It's normal for you to "not keep your word?" Ummm, when did that become normal? Not in my world.

What a load of crap!

You make very valid points but my comments are more focused on the work aspect of what they are talking about and I do agree with those points.

Yes, I agree that there is a very angry person behind the posting. I agree that I would not want some stranger touching me and the point of most Canadians just getting welfare is obviously ludacris. But I have witnessed first hand many Canadians being overly friendly and kind to an immigrant to their face and turning around and dissing them a moment later. I am also a victim of visual discrimination on a regular basis here based on looks alone. I also don't intentionally lie to people....but there are times where information I have provided to someone is out of date and therefore they perceived it as me being dishonest. Perception is everything!!

There is a great mixture of truth and lies in most things posted on the net....you have to make your own discernment as to what is real or not.

 

[dakonej]

Whoever wrote that has a serious grudge against Canada and Canadians! LOL!

Whoever wrote that has a serious mental issue.

The "article" is full of innacuracies, inconsistencies and half-truths. One of my favorite passages: "Drugs are illegal in Canada". Well, duh! Are there any countries where drugs are legal? And please, don't say the Netherlands

The author of that piece obviously has little or no experience integrating with the Canadian community, which is made up of many disparate communities itself. Look at this gem: "Canadians say that they are friendly, but they are not. They say lots of things they don't mean. It is better to go to the big cities where you can find communities from your native countries. They will help you, but not the Canadians." This is stupid, simple. You will find bigots everywhere, in fact I have encountered, on average, more dishonest, double-faced people within my own community.

In summary, this "article" is a waste of time. First rule of thumb to determine the content is suspect: It is full of generalizations! How would you feel if I said, "most people from Africa have AIDS", or "Latin Americans are lazy and only worry about partying"? It sounds like bigotry, doesn't it?

Nothing is as simple as black and white. Canada is a great country to discover, with many challenges, but a really rewarding experience if you take the time to get to know it. Those that don't want to take the time to build relationships and tolerate others do not belong here.

 

[locolynn]

I honestly can't believe people are commenting that this article is true! What a load of BS! The only part that had some vague notion of truth was about working in Canada. For some strange reason, employers give too much value to "Canadian experience" but there is a lot of evidence of change in that.

I have 59 cousins, 16 maternal aunts and uncles and 10 paternal aunts and uncles. We are all born and raised in Canada. No one of us is on welfare so I take great offence to the comment in the article that Canadians find it normal to not work because of the welfare system. If my father, brothers, or any of my male family members thought it was normal to fart or burp in public, their wives, mothers, sisters and daughters would smack them upside the head! And whoever wrote this article should take their homophobic selves out of the country, IMHO. Oh, and too bad that I don't like to be touched by strange men! I am NOT your toy or an object to be played with. And how many PRs on here have a Canadian credit card? My husband does. Got it a month after he arrived, as soon as he started working. Plenty of my clients who are foreign workers have them too. So where does this BS about only citizens getting them come from?

And to the Canadians who agreed with this, really? It's normal for you to "not keep your word?" Ummm, when did that become normal? Not in my world.

What a load of crap!

Exactly. From the sounds of that piece of trash: someone showed up in Canada looking for the money tree (you know the one so many people seem to believe is native of Canada) and when he couldn't find it, got himself a little bitter.

Locolynn

 

[CharlieD10]

Disagree with nearly everything it says there about Canadian men, except for the part about treating women like equals. And not in the bad way the writer seems to be suggesting. My husband opens doors and offers women seats, in fact his "old-fashioned" manners are one of the things I love about him, but he very much treats me with the respect I deserve as my own person.

It seems to me this person also has racial issues. African orphans, or any kind of orphans, would naturally need housing etc etc that they seem so bitter about them being offered, wouldn't they? By virtue of the whole "orphan" thing, it means they need those things provided for them because they lack that human essential, parents! Geez. Bitter much?

"1.4 Marriage. It doesn't work any more even if you have a kid from a Canadian citizen." << That statement I just found hilarious, because obviously someone tried the MOC route and it didn't work. Last time I looked, marriage and children were not immigration doorways.

 

[dair2dv8103100]

"1.4 Marriage. It doesn't work any more even if you have a kid from a Canadian citizen." << That statement I just found hilarious, because obviously someone tried the MOC route and it didn't work. Last time I looked, marriage and children were not immigration doorways.

I missed that one... hehe... the more I read it the more it makes me laugh actually. It does not even anger me anymore because no matter what anyone says or thinks ... a person will come to their own opinion no matter what. So why bother.... don't argue with an idiot because it just makes you look like an idiot too.

 

[canuck0469]

I had to re-read the article as it makes you want to chuckle. I wouldn't phone the jerk back either

 

[confusednscared]

This is "the" stupidest thing I've read since I have been using the internet.

The writer definitely has a lot of issues about Canada, which is fine, but s/he shouldn't consider living in Canada.

I always tell people that bitch and whine about everything in Canada including the lovely winter, "if you don't like it, move back to where you came if you believe you can do better"

I am sorry to offend any other immigrant in this forum but I choose Canada over any country. It's a personal choice we all make and if you know you wouldn't like it before you move, then you shouldn't have moved and then complain about every single aspect of living in Canada.

P.S, I lived in Canada as a refugee and owned two credit cards. I still own one to this day and not even Canada or a PR just yet

 

[ferrer29]

I don't know if the person who wrote this article even lived in Canada. There's a lot of wrong assumptions and statements that I just find myself saying, "Really, eh?"

1.2 Credit cards are being issued to the citizens of Canada only with some exceptions. Without a Canadian credit card you're not be able to perform very many things e.g. switch plans for your cell phone.

I have been a permanent resident of Canada for almost 3 years now. I got my 1st credit card 3 months after landing, only because i did not think to get one earlier. I think, issuing credit cards depends more on having a stable income rather than on citizenship. I was in disbelief with this statement because I am living proof that it is not true! And that also includes my whole family!

1.1 They don't have VISA, MasterCard etc debit cards, but they have the so called "client cards", which can be used in ATMs, but cannot be used on the Internet.

I have a visa, mastercard and debit card. I use online banking all the time!



If you want to survive you will have to step over your ego and you will have to do the things you have never done before or have done with very ugly feelings. Normally immigrants work in factories, in construction fields, as the cab drivers, as the house cleaners or they do any other low salary jobs.


It is very understandable to start somewhere not in your desired field/ salary range at once. When you come to a new country, there are so many new things to you. A lot of the companies would like you to have Canadian working experience first so that you actually know what is going on! I am a registered nurse back home. When i came here, I could not work as one right away because I had to meet Canadian RN standards...which was totally understandable! I was even thankful because i had no idea how they worked here. I took the tests and passed, didn't even have to go to school again. And now I work at a Canadian LTC, and i work with a lot of RN immigrants. IN 1992, my aunt, who was almost made a VP (or something of an equally high position) of a local bank in our country, moved here with her family. In her first year, she had to work delivering flyers around the community and other small jobs. BUt with her perseverance, she now works for the CRA. SHe says that if she had just continued with her education as an accountant here, she might be working as one here. All i'm saying is, it is a choice to pursue one's career here. They give you the choice to study and get yourself integrated in the system with the right knowledge and skills. THey don't put you down just because you're an immigrant!

Please remember that it doesn't matter how many degrees you have or how huge your work experience is. All these things don't count here in Canada unless you are able to switch or transfer your diplomas and certificates into the Canadian style.

UH, i think, more than anything, it is because Canada is most likely different from other countries. And standards are different. And of course, for everyone to work happily and successfully, we have to know how it is "Canadian style."


Ha! I woke up this morning and was still very sleepy. I got to reading this article and am now very awake!

 

[Baloo]

The site has two uses:

1 - Read it enough times and you will cure insomnia.

2 - Print every page if you have run out of toilet paper.

 

[chinook65]

In all my visits to Canada, the experiences have been wonderful. Granted, there are rotten apples in every basket, but you can't let a few bad apples ruin the bunch.

Hopefully, when I'm living there, the job search won't be too difficult. But, working in a position that's not my specialty is not below me. We all need to start somewhere. Good luck all.

If it's so bad there, why hasn't it been voted as the second friendliest location to live in the world, aside from Australia? Naaah, I'm not buying this guy's jibberish. Maybe his app was refused....

 

[dair2dv8103100]

The site has two uses:

1 - Read it enough times and you will cure insomnia.

2 - Print every page if you have run out of toilet paper.

LOLz