Canadian Totem

Since no Canadian got super mad at me for Things Canadians Don’t Like Part I, I thought I’d continue with part II. Indeed, there are most than 5 things which annoy Canadians.

Overall, we are in a pretty good mood right now. Canada took gold medal against the U.S.A in men’s hockey at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, Sidney Crosby is now God, the snow is slowly melting and Spring is coming soon. In short, the country is doing fine. But eh, we still have our pet peeves, especially with both the tax season and the construction season coming soon…

Disclaimer: this post is to be read with your morning/ afternoon coffee. It is not that serious. Note that some Canadians may actually love some stuffs from this list!

Arguing about the Arctic: It’s pretty much inhabited, it’s cold and it’s way up North. Yet we care. Under international law, no country currently owns the North Pole or the region of the Arctic Ocean surrounding it. But the legal status of the Northwest Passage is disputed: Canada considers it to be part of its internal waters while the U.S.A considers them to be an international strait. In 2005, the news that U.S. nuclear submarines had allegedly traveled unannounced through Canadian Arctic waters sparking outrage in Canada. The Canadian government takes defending Canadian sovereignty over the Arctic very seriously and our leaders can be regularly seen touring the North and eating raw seal.

The Canada Revenue Agency: It’s not so much about paying taxes since most Canadians value their health care system and social welfare. The main issue with the Canadian Revenue Agency is that people who came up with income declaration forms are either sadistic, either from another planet. I usually manage to write my name, my SIN number and my address down before I decide to give up and call for help. One year, I apparently made a mistake somewhere and the Canada Revenue Agency decided to rectify it years later (of course, by asking for money). Full of goodwill — it was I think my first time doing taxes in Canada — I wrote to the CRA to ask what the mistake was. The answer was something like: “according to schedule B654489, page 77654, you declared that you had 0 at BX8657″. Ahah… yeah, of course, obviously (*face palm*). To this day, I’m pretty sure the CRA made the mistake but I decided the $100 it was asking for were worth paying to avoid the headache.

Some aspects of the health system: Most Canadians value their health system. Indeed, here we don’t have to deal with private insurance companies, health care is delivered through a publicly-funded system which is basically free at the point of use. Yet, like all systems, this one is not perfect. Canadians’ biggest pet peeve? Waiting lists! Life-threatening conditions are taken cared of immediately but some non-urgent services (such are M.R.I) and surgeries (hip and knee replacement, for instance) have long waiting lists. Decreasing wait times is always a priority but this remains a problem. Additionally, a lot of Canadians don’t have a G.P (family doctor) so whenever they have a serious health problem, they go to the E.R… clogging the system even more.

The bumps on the roads: no, this is not a metaphor for life. I’m talking about the actual bumps and potholes that can be found on any Canadian roads. After Winter, driving conditions can be really bad since thaw and freeze can open holes in the roads. In the Spring, hordes of contractors are sent to patch up roads. This signals the beginning of construction season aka morning road rage for the poor drivers who have to deal with numerous closed streets and detours. Potholes operations can last until Fall… and then start again the following Spring. Some argue that potholes help people lower their speed. Others, who have to replace their car suspension year after year, bitterly vote for the worst road in Canada.

Proroguing the Parliament: Mr. Harper, the current Prime Minister, likes his free time.  Whenever he wants longer holidays, he just shuts down the Parliament — how convenient it is to be a PM! But Canadians got quite pissed off a few weeks ago and I witnessed the biggest rally I had ever seen on Parliament Hill. The signs were hilarious, but I think Canadians got the message across: please, stop shutting down Parliament!

Related Posts

1. Stuffs Canadians Like (Part 2)
2. Stuffs Canadians Don’t Like (Part 1)
3. 10 Great Canadians

You guys all know my story by now, and you have a pretty good idea of what my life in Canada looks like. I thought it was time to let other immigrants and new Canadians speak. I contacted ten of them, who each have their own story, their own reasons to come to Canada, their own point of view on how life is up North in the igloos. They all answered ten questions, bringing a new perspective on immigration.

A new post will be published every Saturday.

Mourad At Winterlude

Let me introduce you to Mourad, from Oujda, Morocco. Mourad applied for permanent residence through the Québec skilled worker program and was granted his visa in the summer of 2009. He is a patient guy… The immigration process took an astonishing four years and a half!

Nonetheless, Mourad is happy to be here. He lives in Gatineau, QC, minutes from Ottawa where he works as a French language instructor.

The story of how Mourad and I met is funny. Last year, when we were traveling in Brazil, he found my blog and sent me an email regarding info about Ottawa. I did my best to answer his questions and wished him luck. Last September, I showed up at the language school at was then working for. A “new guy” looked at me and asked: “are you Zhu, by any chance?” He knew I was living in Ottawa, and he recognized me from the few pictures I have of myself on this blog. The world is a small place…!

What brought you to Canada?

I guess I chose Canada because it’s a beautiful (and huge!) country. Besides, I like the fact a substantial part of the population speaks French. Canada is also a multicultural country (and it welcomes immigrants). Finally, I like the fact it is so close to the U.S.A.

Did you find the immigration process difficult?

To me, the immigration process was a grueling experience. It was long and expensive. It took me over 29 months to get my CSQ (Québec selection certificate) and it took another two years for my application to be approved by the federal government. If you decide to start the immigration process, it takes time and tenacity.

How long did it take you to find a job that you liked in Canada?

I landed on August 14th, 2009. I didn’t start to look for a job right away: instead, I toured the National Capital Region, around Ottawa, for three weeks. My ex-girlfriend’s friends invited me to stay at their place for the first couple of weeks. Then, I had to look for my own place to live. It only took me five days.

At the end of the third week, I started to look for a position as a French instructor in one of Ottawa’s many language schools. I listed all of them, along with their addresses and phone numbers. Meanwhile, I filled in a job application at my local supermarket, just in case I wouldn’t find a teacher position right away.

But barely two days after I sent out resumes and cover letters, I was asked for an interview in a language school. I was hired on the spot. I have been working there for five months now. I like it even though I may not stay.

Where did you learn French/ English? What was your second language level when you first came to Canada?

I learned French at school in Morocco. It then became my major and I studied French language and literature at university. I also taught French in high school for a long time.

English isn’t my strength (Note from Zhu: I translated this interview from French). I try to practice this language as much as I can, but I think I should take classes in order to truly progress. I do try to speak English with my friends but we almost always switch back to French!

What was your biggest culture shock?

I don’t think I experienced a big culture shock. I mean, Morocco is very different from Canada, on many levels. But I didn’t really feel the culture shock everybody talked about.

I did live in France for a while and to me both countries are fairly similar.

I think I’m still at the honeymoon stage. I don’t spend my time comparing Morocco and Canada because there are way too many cultural and practical differences. I try to understand these differences. I also try to adopt a new way of life – it’s a lot of fun.

What haven’t you gotten used to yet in Canada?

I’d love to know how skate like a true Canadian! Obviously, winter sports are very new to me and I’m still not used to all these hockey, ski, and snow rackets things.

Did immigrating to Canada match your expectations?

I think I mostly wanted to immigrate to see if I could be up to the challenge, but also to discover the world. It is a chance to get to know me a lot more… to see what I’m capable of. So far, so good. I’m discovering a lot of new things and I’m living in a new culture, I see new scenery, I meet a lot of new friends… like you, Zhu!

But it is also true that immigrating is also a way of running away… That said I have expectation for myself, no matter where I am in this world.

Do you find life expensive in Canada compared to your home country?

Yes, Canada is super expensive compared to Morocco. Food (especially meat and fish, which I love) are way more expensive.

Will you apply for Canadian citizenship?

Of course! Once I meet the requirements I will definitely apply for Canadian citizenship. I can’t wait. I think it’s going to be a milestone in my life.

What advice would you give to someone interested in immigrating to Canada?

My best advice? Think twice about your immigration project before you start the process. You need to be strong, confident and able to pull yourself together during uncertain times. You must also be strong-willed in order to succeed.

And last but not least… the immigration process takes a lot of time – use this time wisely and starts to learn to speak both French and English.

Related Posts

1. Guillermo Ziegler: From Argentina To Canada
2. Mehmet Kaya: From Turkey To Toronto
3. Ed Maruyama: From Brazil To Nunavut

We had weeks and weeks of snow and rain and frankly, it was turning a bit depressing (not to mention wet). This is what Ottawa looked like just two weeks ago:

Go Canada!

Rideau Street, Parliament Hill And Greyish Weather

And suddenly, it got warm. It surprised us all. Oh, nothing to get super excited about in most places around the world: it’s between -5ºC and 8ºC. But for us, this means spring weather. And it does smell like spring!

I was born on March 21st, so I’m a spring girl. But since I’m in Canada, I spend most of my birthdays dressed in winter clothes and shoveling snow. I just hope this warm weather is here to stay but I wouldn’t hold my breathe…

A Sunny Day On Parliament Hill

The Ice is Melting on The Canal	The Ottawa River
The U.S. Embassy	Notre-Dame Church
The Yatch Club in Gatineau	Alexandra Bridge
By The River	Bollard and Rope
Alexandra Bridge	Iron and Screws

Alexandra Bridge and Ottawa

Related Posts

1. The Peace Tower
2. A Walk In Ottawa
3. The Locks At Dusk

Government of Canada Sign

On March 4th, I went to accomplish my duty as a new Canadian citizen: I voted for the first time in Canada, in the provincial bylection in Ottawa West-Nepean.I drove to the polling station slightly honored I could now vote. I know, I’m weird.

I wasn’t on the voters list (probably because I became a citizen not long ago) but that was taken cared of in a matter of minutes. I only had to show a piece of I.D, a proof of my address and fill up a form. I was then given a ballot. It had the name of all the four candidates for this election, as well as their political affiliation. I went behind the voting screen and marked in one of the circles to make my choice. In the ballot box… and done!

By comparison, voting in France is more ceremonious. First, you can’t miss upcoming elections: campaigns are national events and they can last for months. Second, French are really into politics and there is a strong emphasis on the fact that voting is both a civic right and a duty.

I received my carte d’électeur when I turned 18 and I couldn’t wait to use it. I got my first chance during the infamous presidential elections of April 21st, 2002.

In France, elections are always held on a Sunday: nobody works so there is no excuse to skip the duty. Voting is quite a ceremonial: first, the voter picks up the bulletins de vote at the entrance of the voting office. Each party (and there are over ten of them!) is represented by a voting paper. You must pick at least two to keep your ballot secret. Then, you enter an isolation booth and you put the appropriate bulletin in the envelop. You may not write anything on it, otherwise it is void. Three people attend the ballot box: one check your ID and your voter registration card, another one open the ballot box and the third one have you sign the voter’s list and stamp your registration card. It is custom to say a loud “a voté” (“your ballot has been cast”) when you put your ballot in the box to show you have accomplished your civic duty.

There are a lot of parties but only two really have a chance to get elected to major positions: the Union pour un movement populaire (right-wing) and the Socialist Party (left-wing). Presidential elections have two rounds: a first round and a runoff. People traditionally vote for the party they like best during the first round and everybody expect the second ballot to be between the two biggest parties. So you can vote for the Revolutionary Communist League (!) or any other minor party for the first ballot and then for a mainstream party in the runoff.

By law, voting offices close at 8pm and no electoral publication and broadcasts can be made before that time. At 8pm on the dot, the results are broadcast live on all major channels. Like I said, it’s usually between the Socialist Party and the UMP, so no big deal.

Except this time, things didn’t go as planned.

Unexpectedly, the Socialist Party had been voted off. The runner-off was the infamous Jean-Marie Le Pen, a far-right wing candidate. Le Pen had been in politics for 40 years but he rarely got more than 10%. His views on immigration, abortion, same-sex marriage, Europe, not to mention his Holocaust denial and his alleged use of torture during the Algerian war made him a sick choice for president.

At 8:05pm, France was in shock. Not just left-wing voters, everyone. Spontaneous street protests began in the night from the 21st of April to the 22nd. I was there, along with over a millions of French citizens who felt something had gone horribly wrong.

Between voting for a fascist (Le Pen) and voting for a president nobody really wanted anymore (Jacques Chirac), the choice was easy. Yet, it was a painful one. Chirac was suspect in a corruption scandal, but Le Pen was accused of racism and antisemitism. And one of them was going to be President. Sick at heart, the Socialist Prime Minister at the time called all left-wing voters to vote  for Chirac to defeat the fascist: “Vote for the Crook, not the Fascist”, was the motto. Eventually, during the second round of the election, Chirac defeated Le Pen by a landslide.

So yeah, Canadian politics are much less dramatic. There are not big far-left or far-right parties and people seem quite content, no matter who wins, as long as it’s fair. Nonetheless, the 2002 French Presidential election taught me something. Voting matters. Because otherwise, one day, there is always a chance to end up with the bad guy. It happened before in Europe and it could happen here. So I’ll keep on taking my civic duty and right seriously.

Related Posts

1. I Belong Here… And There Too
2. 10 Canadian Political Facts
3. Everyday, The Paperboy Brings More…

You guys all know my story by now, and you have a pretty good idea of what my life in Canada looks like. I thought it was time to let other immigrants and new Canadians speak. I contacted ten of them, who each have their own story, their own reasons to come to Canada, their own point of view on how life is up North in the igloos. They all answered ten questions, bringing a new perspective on immigration.

A new post will be published every Saturday.

Mehmet and his wife, Brenda

Mehmet Kaya has been in Canada for just over a year, and is still getting used to life here. He met his wife Brenda, an ESL teacher, while she was living and working in Istanbul. One day she walked into Mehmet’s uncle’s shop, where he was working, and the rest is history!

They currently live in Toronto, where he is looking for work, and has recently started part-time college studies in computer technology. Brenda writes about their life on her blog, Life Like This.

What brought you to Canada?

I met a Canadian woman in Istanbul. Before that I didn’t think of going to Canada particularly, but as our relationship got more serious, I started thinking of going to Canada. We both felt that Canada was better for our future.

We got married in Istanbul, then moved to Malaysia where we lived for two years. She was working there, and we applied for my Permanent Residency during that time. A few months after we received my PR card, we moved to Canada. That was about a year ago.

Did you find the immigration process difficult?

The process was very difficult. It took us almost a year to gather all the documents we needed. This was so hard because we were in a third country (not my country or my wife’s country). The process was quite clear, so we didn’t use any consultants or lawyers, but the difficult part was to get all the documents they needed.

One of the most difficult parts was to prove our relationship was genuine. Luckily my wife writes daily in an online diary, and when she printed out all the entries about our relationship, there were hundreds of pages. We also had lots of pictures and cards. But we were still nervous that for some reason I would not get accepted by Immigration Canada. We got the acceptance letter about 9 months after we sent in our application, and that was a great day!

How long did it take you to find a job that you liked in Canada?

The toughest part for me in Canada has been not being able to find a job. I have been looking for any kind of job and can’t find anything. I’m planning to continue my education in Canada but while not working, it’s hard to cover the costs. I see that as a difficulty from my first year. I hope my second year will be better.

Where did you learn French/ English? What was your second language level when you first came to Canada?

I’ve been working with tourists in Turkey since I was a child. In that way I had some practice with them and learned words from them. I never studied English in school, I just learned it from travellers. I’m lucky because my wife is an English teacher, and she has been teaching me since I met her. We speak English all the time of course, and she corrects me and even gives me homework! I don’t have difficulty with speaking or listening, but I’m still working on my writing.

What was your biggest culture shock?

The social life here is quite different from Turkey. In Turkey people usually get together during the daytime and weekdays, but here it’s usually in the weekends or late at night. People seem to be more busy here with their work and their life.

What haven’t you gotten used to yet in Canada?

Well, I haven’t gotten used to the sports, such as hockey. I don’t know how to play, the rules, and I definitely don’t know how to skate! Also, here I don’t have a chance to watch a lot of soccer on TV. Also people here are not as into soccer, and it’s hard to find people to play with. In Turkey, soccer is such a big part of the culture, that if you just walk with your ball, people will come to you and ask you to play.

Did immigrating to Canada match your expectations?

Right now, if I say my expectations have been matched, it would be lying. If I find a job, and work through my difficulties, I will be able to answer that question. Canada is a beautiful country, with friendly people, and it’s quite clean compared to where I come from. I haven’t seen any conflicts in the street or violence. Canada seems a peaceful country to me, so in this way it meets my expectations.

You can read a pretty funny summary of Mehmet’s first year in Canada, complete with pictures, here: A year of new experiences for Mr. M.

Do you find life expensive in Canada compared to your home country?

Definitely. Rent is very expensive here, everything. Food, transportation, everything is more expensive than we pay in Turkey.

Will you apply for Canadian citizenship?

Yes, definitely. As soon as I am able to apply for citizenship, I will apply! I think it will be very good to be a Canadian citizen.

What advice would you give to someone interested in immigrating to Canada?

I would say make sure you have a good level of English, and if you don’t have some connections here before you come, make some as soon as possible. I would also recommend you bring some reference letters with you from your work places in the past, because it might be difficult to get them when you’re in Canada, especially if they don’t speak English.

Related Posts

1. Guillermo Ziegler: From Argentina To Canada
2. Ed Maruyama: From Brazil To Nunavut
3. Yasmine: From Former Yugoslavia To Québec

Stop Sign Crying

In France, the saying goes that “le client est roi”. But in fact, the customer is anything but a king: at worsse he is an idiot, at best he is a minor annoyance in your day. As this funny article on “How to play the French service game … and win” explains: “The customer is king. But we all know what they did to their royal family. The guillotined head of Louis XVI bounced across the Place de la Concorde as a few thousand Parisians laughed at it”.

I wish I could tell you foreigners have the wrong impression and that French customer service is actually top-notch – but I’d be lying. The only thing I can tell you to make you feel better as a foreigner in France is that not just tourists experience bad customer service. French don’t discriminate. Everyone is treated like shit.

To eat or just have a drink, you will have to play the passive-aggressive game. Never wait to be seated, even if a sign reads just that. And since you are at it, grab the menus yourself, you will save at least 30 minutes. Never ask for food or drink suggestions: look like you know what you are doing, even if you have no clue what these complicated dishes are. It’s not like the part-time underpaid waiter will know more than you anyway. Don’t expect waiters to be cheery, happy or just friendly. Their job is to bring you food and the bill – consider yourself lucky if you can get just that done. Oh and never go out to eat if you are in hurry (for instance, hoping to catch a movie afterwards). I can’t tell you how many movies I have missed just because I wanted to grab something to eat beforehand… And note that fast-food joints aren’t that fast — that would include “Quick”, don’t let yourself be fooled by the name.

Okay, maybe it’s not that bad. Maybe I’ve been brainwashed by North-American style customer service. I admit it: when I first came to Canada, I hated it. I found people sounded “fake”. In my mind, there was no way Starbucks employee could be that perky serving coffee to an endless queue of grumpy customers from 5 am to 12 pm. And why would McDonalds’ employees apologize for the occasional 10 minutes wait? Didn’t they all hate their employer, like in France? To me, service in restaurants was way too personal: I didn’t like the way the waiter or the waitress would show up unexpectedly at the table after bringing the food to ask if everything was alright. I found the bill came way too fast too: it was almost as if they wanted us to free a table as soon as possible (which they probably did).

But of course, now I’m used to it. Only when I go back to Europe I get super-annoyed at the inefficient and unfriendly customer service.

Another annoying side of the French customer service is that you must pay to complain or have a problem solved, because of premium-rate phone numbers. Let’s say your Internet connection suddenly stops working: you must pay about 0.15 €/minute to hopefully have it fixed. Even the unemployment office uses a premium-rate phone number! Reaching someone isn’t easy either: customers are often put on hold for a long time before being connected (and of course, you are paying for this wait time). It’s often hard to get through because post-sales support, general customer service and public administration have very restricted business hours, typically from 8 am to 5 pm. And of course, they may be closed on WE.

In North America, almost all businesses offer a 1-800 number, which is a toll-free phone number. Business hours are much longer to accommodate everyone (and several time-zones). And most surprising to me, employees seem to really want to solve whatever problem you may have and keep your business.

For instance, a few weeks ago, I sent Skechers, the shoes company, an email. I had bought a pair of pumps for work, barely wore them and yet the sole was already damaged. I was pretty annoyed because shoes are relatively expensive. Plus, between us, I hate shopping for shoes.

The company replied pretty fast and was willing to solve the problem. A couple of emails later, I was offered to choose a new pair of shoes on their website. They took care of everything and the shoes were delivered right to me door. Ah, American-style customer service!

Sometimes it is worth complaining politely to get something done — another thing I learned to do in North America.

Related Posts

1. My Personal Stalker
2. The Tipping Dilemma
3. What I Miss From France… And What I Don’t!

Canadian Cookies at the Byward Market

Everybody knows that Canadians are peaceful and polite people. Yet, I noticed my fellow citizens can be quite annoyed by a few things… that are Canadian in essence.

Disclaimer: this post is to be read with your morning/ afternoon coffee. It is not meant to be taken literally. I know some Canadians are going to disagree (but I’m sure they will apologize about disagreeing).

So, in the spirit of Stuffs Canadians Like and Stuffs Canadians Like (Part 2), here the list of Stuffs Canadians Don’t Like.

People who loiter: the first time I visited a Tim Hortons, I noticed this sign on the wall that read: “please, no loitering”. I stared at it for ten good minutes (basically waiting for my extra hot coffee to be drinkable). I had no clue what it meant. I had never seen the word “loitering” before and I think my mind made a funny connection with “littering”. But in fact, these no-so-friendly signs are meant to keep people from hanging out around a business if they aren’t there to do business. So gulp your junk food down and leave. Even better: don’t come in, just order from the window of your car and drive away. Gosh, these North Americans are so efficient!

Having too much snow/ too little snow: the world is apparently laughing at us because there wasn’t much snow in Vancouver during the Olympic Games. “Canada’s mild climate leaves Winter Olympics short of snow” said the Guardian, the British newspaper. “Still no snow!” said another newspaper. Or “Vancouver Forced to Import Snow to Winter Olympics” — and that’s when the rest of the world started laughing. Indeed, this winter has been very mild so far throughout the country. Now, just look at winter 2007-08: “Coldest winter in 15 years“, “A Never-Ending Winter“, “Record snow fall for winter 2007-2008“… you got it, that winter, we had way too much snow. It’s hard to keep Canadians happy: too little snow and the country may lose its informal title of “winterland”, too much snow and Canadians are all feeding to Florida. Few are content with the weather in this country.

Being mistaken for American (or being called a “Canadian” for some Québecers): the story goes that Canadians sew Canadian flags on their backpack to avoid being mistaken for Americans (arguably, Americans sometimes also put the Canadian flag on their backpack just to get people to think they’re not American). Most Canadians defend their culture fiercely and hate to be mistaken for American just because they happen to speak English, watch a hundred of US channels and live by the border. Incidentally, don’t call a Quebecer a Canadian: some may throw maple syrup at your face and “tabernac’” you. Sure, they carry a Canadian passport… just don’t remind them.

Their cell phone companies: cell phone plans in Canada are highway robbery. You sign up for three years (three years!) and you get to pay for pretty much everything: incoming calls, checking your voicemail, having a voicemail, call display… heck, there are even monthly fees to access the 911 service! I hated cell phone companies in Europe but I hate them even more in Canada. And trust me, I’m not the only one!

Criticism on the lack of security measures along Canada’s side of border with the USA: according to Washington, anytime a terrorism enter the USA, it’s through Canada. Don’t ask me how, don’t ask me why. Apparently, Canada border officers wave everybody through (not quite my experience but anyway…), saying “have a good trip, eh“. Now, when US border security gets tougher, Canadians usually have no choice but to follow suit. For instance, anyone crossing the border by land must now show a passport. And guess what happens? Americans complain! “Oh, but I used to get in with just my birth certificate/ my driver license / a letter from Uncle Sam!” “It’s only Canada and I’m only going there for a short visit, do I really need to apply for a passport?“. Go figure. Meanwhile, crossing the border these days can be a pain in the ass.

How about you? As Canadians, what annoys you? And what are the stuffs people don’t like in your country?

Related Posts

1. Stuffs Canadians Like (Part 1)
2. Stuffs Canadians Like (Part 2)
3. Stuffs Canadians Don’t Like (Part II)

You guys all know my story by now, and you have a pretty good idea of what my life in Canada looks like. I thought it was time to let other immigrants and new Canadians speak. I contacted ten of them, who each have their own story, their own reasons to come to Canada, their own point of view on how life is up North in the igloos. They all answered ten questions, bringing a new perspective on immigration.

A new post will be published every Saturday.

Portrait de Famille: Yasmine and Her Family

Unlike many immigrants to Canada, Yasmine and her family hadn’t thought of immigrating anywhere. They hadn’t really chosen Canada either: they came as refugees after leaving their war-torn country. Their story is truly moving, from a perfect life in former Yugoslavia to coming as refugees in Germany and then Canada, where they eventually settled.

From her blog, I had the idea that Yasmine would be an interesting person to interview. I found the little note in the sidebar very cute: “I learned my English from movies, so I’m sorry if there are any errors. Feel free to mail me corrections!“. Her English is great and I was amazed to see that her French was flawless as well — this is not an easy language to master.

After replying to my questions, Yasmine admitted it was harder than she would have thought because it still stirred up old memories. After learning the whole story, I have a lot of admiration for this strong women and what her and her family have overcome.

What brought you to Canada?

I never ever in my life thought of immigrating to Canada or anywhere else for that matter. In the early nineties, I was living peacefully with my husband and my two little children in a small town of the former Yugoslavia. The economical and political situations were shaky at this point but I was not overly worried. We lived in a beautiful, peaceful country with everything we needed. We both had a job we loved and the education and health systems were great (and almost free of charge). We were one young happy family.

Nothing prepared us for the war that started slowly in 1991 in the North and spread like a bushfire all over the country. Suddenly there were bombs destroying everything, fear and killings…unimaginable things started to invade our lives. I finally decided to flee the country early 1992 with my two children and go to join my sister who lived in Germany. My husband decided to stay. At that point, I thought I was going to stay in Germany for 3 or 4 weeks but we stayed for 14 years. It was the beginning of a life I would have never imagined, full of surprises, changes and challenges. I therefore often feel like Forrest Gump from the famous movie: “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get“. The six years we spent in Germany as refugees are an immigration story by themselves, it was a struggle to survive and rebuild a life up from zero while bringing up our children.

Long story short: after six years, we weren’t allowed to stay longer in Germany and we had to go back to our country, where we had lost literally everything, or we could immigrate to another country where they would accept us and start again. This was the most difficult decision to make, one of the darkest moments of our lives. We had to choose between the USA, Canada and Australia. After some research, we decided Canada was the best place for our children. The paperwork was done fast because we were accepted as refugees. Our destination in Canada was imposed by the Canadian embassy, we had no choice, we were heading for Quebec. We didn’t speak French at all, not one word.

Did you find the immigration process difficult?

The whole process was accelerated by the agreement between Germany and Canada and we had help from an humanitarian organization. It took us only 5 months from the beginning to landing in Montreal in September 1998. Nevertheless, we had to pay the fees like any immigrant.

How long did it take you to find a job that you liked in Canada?

We had to learn French language first in order to find a job. Our children attended language classes at school and my husband and I took a French language course for immigrants. Then followed some job searching and computer training. A year later, I found my first job, although not in my line of work. Actually the job found me: I was offered a position while participating in the computer training!

It was difficult in the beginning but I eventually grew to like this job as I worked with immigrants and were able to help them through the process of settling here. I have been working there for 9 years. Currently I’m looking for another job with better working conditions. My husband was able to find only seasonal jobs in the first 3 years but then he found a decent job in a good company (not in his field though) and is still working there.

Where did you learn French/ English? What was your second language level when you first came to Canada?

When we first came to Canada, no one in the family spoke French. And even if I was able to communicate in English at the intermediate level, that didn’t help us a lot – Quebec is a VERY francophone city. We then followed the language courses for immigrants and after a year we were all able to communicate in French well enough to find a job or to study. At the same time, my children were able to learn English trough the television by watching The Simpsons, imagine!

I continued to learn and to improve my “movie English” as I like to call it. I was even courageous enough to start my own blog in English called Love Live Survive Home.

What was your biggest culture shock?

My whole story is bittersweet and I would like to apologize if I come over as a negative person (I hope not!). The immigration experience was very painful for me and my family for many different reasons. Simplified, it would look like this: the first year, I cried every day; the second year, I cried once a week and the third once a month. After that, the things started to look better and I cried less often.

Now I don’t cry any more but I do feel nostalgic. When we arrived to Quebec, I was very surprised to see poor and homeless people. I guess my source of information embellished the situation and was actually aiming tourists. I didn’t have an internet connection in the nineties so my research was limited to books, magazines and video tapes. Values important to me were also very different, people and families are not so close to each other, generations are very independent. Money and material possessions have a greater value here than they had in the other places I lived. On the positive side, I was very pleasantly surprised with the place of women in society.

What haven’t you gotten used to yet in Canada?

Do you know the saying:”You can’t replant an old tree”? Well, I was almost 40 when I arrive in Canada and I guess the environment was too different to grow new roots. That’s why I have a list of things that I’m still working on, but I can accept the fact that this is the way things are.

I find it hard to accept the working conditions: I went from 6 weeks vacation annually to only 2 in Canada and than had to work for five years in order to have 3 weeks vacation. Other things on my list: food, climate and human relationships. People here are very friendly but in a superficial and distant way. It’s very difficult to find friends – I’m still searching. But then again, it could be my age, people of my generation have already well established friendships. There is a song called “Exile”  from the album “Identités” of an Algerian songwriter Idir that describes perfectly the state of my (immigrant) mind and soul.

Did immigrating to Canada match your expectations?

The circumstances of my immigration to Canada were special, I didn’t wake up one day with the desire to immigrate to this country. That being said, I’m very grateful for all the support and the opportunities we had to rebuild our life and even to get to a very comfortable level. I’m very happy for my children who are now young adults and have a chance to live in a free, politically and economically safe country with so many possibilities. I think we made the right decision.

Do you find life expensive in Canada compared to your home country?

My motto: you can’t have everything! In some countries food is cheap but the housing is expensive, sometimes the education is free, but the salaries aren’t so great, etc. In the beginning you have to be frugal, after that you have to watch how you spend what you earn because spending the “invisible” money is so easy.

Why did you apply for Canadian citizenship?

We applied for the Canadian citizenship after 3 years of living in Canada. We wanted to be able to participate in the life of our new country. We also wanted to be able to travel freely as Canadians – this was not possible with our old passports.

What advice would you give to someone interested in immigrating to Canada?

Research, research, research, before and after. Learn to speak one or both of the official languages very well, start in your own country if possible. Get to know all the local resources that can help you with everything in the beginning – priceless!

Take your time: the immigrants, myself included, would like to accomplish everything and to settle in the first 6 to 12 months. Some people are lucky, but most immigrants need from 3 to 5 years to achieve the “cruising speed”. This is the best advice somebody gave me in the beginning and it’s true. Even if you speak the language and have a job, trust me, you’ll need that time.

Another advice: don’t lose your time and energy comparing things with your country. I know some things can be shocking at first, but the sooner you ACCEPT the way things work around here the better and more successful your immigration will be. And I’m talking from my experience: if I could, I would go back and slap my silly old self for losing precious time by whining over my destiny. Don’t be around negative people and don’t listen to the (immigrant) horror stories – go out and make your own experience, everything is possible. Be open to new things – you might discover a new you that you never knew existed. Go out, get to know your new home country, there are so many places and events and most of them are even free. Try to develop or integrate a network of people, not only from your country. Be prepared to work hard so nothing can surprise you. Welcome and good luck!

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Only in Canada you can see toddlers skating perfectly, moms pushing strollers on ice and teens goofing around, secretly training and hoping to be the next Wayne Gretzky.

Skating on the Canal is actually pretty hard because the ice if far from being smooth — no zamboni to resurface it! It can get quite slushy (slush is a mix of ice/ snow and water) and there are holes here and there.

Walker With Skates

Looking Down At The Canal

The Rideau Canal

Slow Down, Skaters Ahead	Ice
Father and Son	No Pedestrians (Too Icy!)
Tying Up Skates	Baby Skating
Ooops.. Hole In The Ice	Little Girl Resting
Queuing For... Yeah, Beavertails	Yes, I Love Them!

The Rideau Canal

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Graffiti In Nantes, France

The more I attend classes at university, the more I feel like I belong in a museum. The big museum of failed and forgotten ideals. Move along, nothing to see here.

It started last summer when I attended a macro-economy class. The prof enjoyed hanging out at Wall Street on his spare time during the weekends. Unsurprisingly, he was the type of person to get super excited about the stock market (in which we should definitely all invest), RRSPs (a must for all Canadians), saving bonds (deemed too conservative) and other financial products. He had sparkles in his eyes as he talked about trading stocks. Never mind it was only a few months after the big economic crisis which rocked the world in 2008. Capitalism was alive and well, he claimed. The values to adopt were the American financial model and the pursuit of growth. No other system worked, right? So why question the “bestest” way for individuals to seek happiness?

Sure. I mean, what do you expect from a North American economy (and business) prof? He was bound to be in love with liberalism. Yet, it was certainly the first time of my life I heard someone praising the mechanism of aggregated supply and demand, as well as a form of neoliberalism that did left millions unemployed. But after all, maybe he was pushing his point.

I’m currently attending a class on globalization. First it is interesting to notice how current the courses are in Canada. In France, we barely touched the Algerian war of independence (which took place in the early 1960s) for instance because it was considered to be “contemporary history” and as such, we would lack the required distance to analyze it. In Canada, no such second thought. Profs don’t seem to have any problem analyzing the current war in Iraq or in Afghanistan, even though it seems to me that it’s hard to have an unbiased opinion without much hindsight.

And in these classes, a lot of ideas and paradigms are presented as universally accepted and almost commonsensical. For instance, the current liberal globalization just exists. It is mentioned as if everybody on earth at one point did agree on it. Communism and Socialism failed. Yes, they did. No further explanation, that’s just the way it is. It is as if both ideologies are exactly the same and as if the fall of the Berlin wall and the subsequent disintegration of the USSR sounded the death-knell of any alternative to liberalism.

Have you ever heard of ATTAC? ATTAC (Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens) is an activist organization for the establishment of a tax on foreign exchange transactions. Granted, it was founded in France (you know, far away in Socialist and useless Europe) but it now exists in over forty countries around the world. It’s by no means a left-wing fringe group — at least I thought so. But the way the prof talks about it, it sounds like they are a bunch of bearded old hippies with flowers in their hair who foment the revolution.

Shit. I was one of these hippies fomenting the revolution.

During the 18 years I spent in France, I protested, went on strike and demonstrated. I was run after by cops and tear-gassed (yet, never been arrested). I made signs, used a microphone and happily sang revolutionary songs. In every way, I was your typical French teenager.

Obviously, when I came to Canada, I mellowed a lot. First, I didn’t know the culture very much and you can’t fight against what you don’t know. Second, I was very much aware of the fact I was now living in North America, the birthplace of liberalism. Blindly rebelling against it didn’t seem to make any sense.

Canada is pretty peaceful. Unlike France, there are few protests and demonstrations (although our Prime Minister managed to anger Canadians enough to stir up a national protest last month). It lures you into a sense of tranquility. Yet, I can’t help thinking that there is more to life than owning a house with a white picket fence and having 2.5 kids. It’s not because my life is somewhat better here than in France that I forgot about all the socio-economic problems around.

The economic gap, both within the so-called developed countries and between the latter and the rest of the world is driving me crazy. And so does the lack of basic labour laws in North America (and don’t even get me started on the U.S health care system!). Neocolonialism and the power that all the “Bretton Woods” organizations, such as the IMF and the WTO still have in this world. The fact that the world is ruled by a lucky few and that we all stand by, watching, as decisions are made way above our heads.

I have nothing against “peace, order and good government” nor against “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” but I do see some issues in the world we live in. And I doubt that the current political model we use as well as this view of globalization will do much to solve them. So yes, I’m still fighting. It starts by peacefully questioning the current world order and realizing we shouldn’t take it for granted.

As they say, “another world is possible”. No, seriously. I believe in it, anyway.

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