Immigrants explain why they're leaving Canada
Immigrants explain why they're leaving Canada
Dozens of people who came to Canada as immigrants have reached out to CTVNews.ca to explain why they've abandoned their efforts to build a life here and are moving on to greener pastures.
Immigrants to Canada are increasingly leaving this country for opportunities elsewhere, according to a study(opens in a new tab) conducted by the Institute for Canadian Citizenship and the Conference Board of Canada.
In fact, the number of immigrants who left Canada rose by 31 per cent above the national average(opens in a new tab) in 2017 and 2019.
According to the study, factors that influence onward migration include economic integration, a sense of belonging, racism, homeownership, or a lack thereof, and economic opportunities in other countries, the report revealed.
Canada has become a car culture nation, I'm living abroad right now so that I can be a pedestrian without fearing for my life.
The state of public transport in Montreal makes me so angry. This city used to be an examplar of public transit.
We're the second largest nation in the world by landmass, but with a population that's only the size of California.
How do you not have a "car culture" in a nation like that? People need to get around, and transit can really only accommodate those in cities
The issue isn't that living in Edwin or Newton in Manitoba is based around driving a car, it's that life in Winnipeg, Manitoba is still based around driving a car. The problem is that car culture is still what cities are built around.
Do people have to drive all the way across the country every single day? The size of the country does not dictate its dependency on the automobile. North American cities were walkable before the car and they can be walkable again. Car dependency is a result of policy not the size of the country.
On average, how many times a year do you go from Thunder Bay to Whitehorse versus how many times a year do you get groceries around the block?
The overwhelming majority of the population lives in a narrow ~100km band over the southern border. How do you not have a decent transit system when its so concentrated?
Oh good, maybe this will help with the housing crisis. Lol
But in seriousness, I know a few people who've moved to the US for better pay. Not worth it for me but I can see why people move.
I'm planning to move. I was born in Canada. I worked overseas for several years. I came back to Canada and I'm leaving again. Hopefully permanently. Better pay is definitely one aspect (although it'd take 10x increase to get me to move to the USA), but it's not the only one. Quality of life is another MAJOR point that Canadians miss out on in a big way. Yeah you get a bigger home... and a fancy big truck... but to get that, you work yourself to death, you pay insane prices for things, and you have to live with stroads...
"What we found is a withering, uncertain and anti-working class government, happy to sell promises it never intended on keeping"
I think this and the "hard work does not correlate with rewards" seem to be apt.
Many are brought over with flowery words hiding the fact that they will be competing with an already struggling working class.
Everybody I know thinks trying to raise a kid right now is not only unfeasable, but unethical. The couple working class people I know who had kids regardless are in debt and struggling despite working as much as they can.
Then the newspapers post articles like "why are selfish lazy millennials choosing not to obtain things like homes and cars, or attempting to have children."
It's frustrating and disgusting. Especially when you see things like the complete failure of antitrust. Big surprise that Rogers just locked out hundreds of old Shaw union workers.
There's something terribly wrong with the power imbalance, and this is more evidence to throw on the depressingly obvious pile.
It's especially bad when those same newspapers also write articles about how most millennials are living paycheck to paycheck, and a single unexpected $1000 expense is enough to bankrupt them.
I can't count on how many people I've seen who's become borderline alcoholics as they can't handle life between work and bills without a steady supply. I live and work in relatively better off parts of Toronto, yet I see dozens of people who are homeless or dealing with serious psychiatrics problems. Seeing someone begging on the streets or trains has become almost a daily occurrence despite it having been quite rare a decade ago. Not to mention all those who sleep on the trains and buses rather than trying to get anywhere.
We as a country have been steered the wrong way for a good decade now, and every measurement I've seen regarding the human life index, happiness, international reputation, etc, have all pointed that out. Canada isn't the bastion of freedom and equality that it used to be. Virtually all our leaders on every level have failed the population, including the opposition.
"We are thus compelled to return to a society where taxes lead to tangible public services, healthcare is a given right, not a privilege and where schools are havens of learning, unmarred by the pervasive reach of politics."
Canada's gleaming palace of prosperity is actually a slum run by greedy politicians and hedge funds who just want to steal everyone's money for themselves.
Born and bred in Canada, but if I could afford it I'd head to Europe as well.
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Sounds like maplewashing still works. Immigrants are drawn to Canada, only to discover it ain't all that.
I would love to move back home, but, as others have mentioned, the prices and healthcare situation are bitter pills... Also, finding a decent job. I know someone who went from making 140k as an escalation manager for an international IT company, to beng laid off, to spending 7 months job hunting, to finally working as a fry cook just to pay rent.
The only reason why Canada seems like a good option is because US is so fucked that it makes Canada look better.
As an immigrant, I can concur. What I thought Canada would be and what it turned out to be are very different things. I'm not happy with the financial stress nor with how my international experience is not taken into consideration when applying to jobs. I am an undesirable candidate. I was lucky enough to find a job that is somewhat similar to what I used to do but my partner is restarting his career just to make money. At the end of the day, we barely make ends meet because rent is so expensive. Just to get an apartment we had to go through hell because we have no credit score and we couldnt afford to pay 6-12 months in advance. I generally felt unwelcomed.
This is what I fear about returning to Canada. It is my home, but all of my post-uni work experience is abroad. I have no credit score in Canada, just a student loan that I did pay back. I own nothing there, cannot vote either... I know now that there are systems that work better. My father is 72 and still works 16 hours a day, 6 days a week! He only takes off Christmas day. I get 5 weeks paid vacation, paternity leave, bonuses, paid training, 100% free and nearly immediate health care---I had a CT scan the other week THE SAME DAY I was told to get one---meal vouchers, free public transport, etc. I don't make a lot of money, but I also only work 33 hours per week for 36 weeks of the year and my wife works about 20. We make ends meet and have zero debt. I don't think I could have the same lifestyle in Canada as I do here... But I sure do miss the trees and snow and nature and "going out for a rip, eh"
Canada got its key industries stripped away by the US (Boeing to Bombardier) and China (Huawei to Nortel). Now? All the jobs are fleeing South of the border and people are fleeing with it.
At least Huawei still employs a fuck ton of Canadian tech workers and is rapidly expanding. Huawei is footing the bill for a ton of big tech conferences in Canada. They're sponsoring a bunch of projects for Canadian undergraduate engineering students. They're hiring a sizable chunk of the graduates from Canadian universities in their focus areas and are happy to foot the bill for technical training. Frankly, Huawei is doing a better job of creating and keeping Canadian talent within Canada than most Canadian companies. They relinquished any IP control over research done in conjunction with Canadian universities.
Meanwhile, Microsoft uses it's Canadian offices as visa waiting rooms before shipping them off to the US.
Meanwhile, Microsoft uses it’s Canadian offices as visa waiting rooms before shipping them off to the US.
Microsoft's game division includes Canadian studios like The Coalition and Compulsion Games. The latter literally relied on being acquired by Xbox in order to publish their 2nd (and 1st major) game, now they have grown from 40 to 80 since the game was published. Those studios are still located in where they were founded even after acquisition. In general, Microsoft has a hands-off approach with the studios, allowing them more freedom to develop games.
Sure, the game industry has its own problems and salary issues, which is something people in the industry are trying to improve, but at least the creative & technical talent stays here in Canada rather than being relocated, and many people can work in game studios for a few years before easily moving into other areas of software development.
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And leaked docs show the UCP is planning on pushing more of Alberta's healthcare to wealthcare. Good times, good times. My wife and I (born and raised in Canada) actively talk about the ongoing degradation of Canada and we are seriously considering moving to Europe in the next 5-10yrs.
It has always been like that, there's 50'000 French immigrants per year coming in Québec. 50% leave the first year, 40 other % leave in the first 10 years. So after 10 years there's only 10%, 5000 people, staying, half of them will leave to retreat in France.
These are astonishing numbers. Do you have a source for this?
I must have had a 10x factor, no way there is 50k French people every year, 5000 sounds more normal. But the 50% of French immigrants going back to France in the first year, I saw it with my eyes, same for most of the remaining ones going back in the first 10 years.
There was a lot of internet forums years ago about french immigration, they about all disappeared :-/
I wonder who is expected to fix the country if everyone hops from whatever place they are for the next one as long as their personal income gets a little more money. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for personal progress and it’s pursuit. But I also realize personal progress is anchored on collective stability. There is something off with someone who hops and ditches a place based on assumed better outcomes round the bend.
Or maybe many immigrants feel lied to about how Canada was advertised to them versus the reality of the cost of living and stagnant wages.
I have some sympathy for that point if view, but it's not that simple.
Nobody, not even the most libertarian, wants to find themselves holding the shitty end of the stick, yet our political and economic systems are operating in ways that leave only the shitty end to hang on to.
We vote for improvement and get either the status quo or degradation.
We're told to vote with our wallets, but that just means bigger wallets get more votes. And if it looks like maybe the collective size of wallets is getting too big, corporations, aided and abetted by the political class, just arrange for fewer choices and smaller wallets.
Unsurprisingly, those with the will are starting to vote with their feet. People are starting to walk away from bad situations in search of better ones. Whether those better situations exist may be an open question, but they are not being any more selfish than those who insist on skimming the cream off for themselves.
It's actually an easy fix, if only the political class realized it. Tax every dollar sent out of the country at 90%. Tax every stock buyback at 90%. Tax every corporate cash reserve at 80%. Limit total compensation of each executive to 10 times that of their lowest paid employee. For essential goods and services, tax away any rise in profits beyond, say, 1% above inflation. No person or company is allowed to own more than 1 rental property with multifamily units treated as one property.
Take all that tax money and pour it into public health care, starting with free tuition to any health related education. Foreign students accessing this free education must practice in Canada for 5 years after graduation or be returning to work in public health initiatives. And fix the definition of health care so that it means what it says (dental, vision, hearing, mental, vaccines, and prescriptions are all health care that is uncovered or poorly covered).
Any money left over from that can be spent on actual environmental protection and remediation, starting with the climate crisis.
If any of that needs to be adjusted based on actual negative outcomes, then it will be adjusted, but the political class has to start by showing the general public that they mean business.
And if that sounds like I've got brain damage, that's fine. What we're doing is obviously not working out, so continuing the path we're on is also a sign of brain damage. At least I'm pointing out a different path.