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Immigrating to Canada through Quebec: Still Worth It?

Zhu — Wed, 30 May 2012 12:00:56 +0000

Canadian Coat of Arms, Ottawa, May 2012

The question may sound strange but lately, reading immigration news, I started to wonder whether immigrating to Canada through the Quebec process was still worth it.

Indeed, prospective immigrants to Canada who are planning to settle in Quebec must go through “the Quebec process”, since the province selects immigrants to achieve certain objectives. Meanwhile, the federal government of Canada is still responsible for admitting immigrants.

So if you are planning to settle in Quebec, you must go through two distinct processes:

First, being selected by the provincial government of Quebec and obtain a Certificat de Sélection du Québec (CSQ). At this stage, your educational and work backgrounds are assessed, as well as your ability to integrate into Quebec.

Second, being accepted by the federal government of Canada. Permanent residence can be granted after a medical exam and a background check.

Those planning to settle in Quebec have long known that the additional step, obtaining a CSQ,incurred extra fees. For the principal applicant, it was CA$406 (before April 1, 2012) and for the spouse and each dependent child, it was CA$156. And each member of the family, including kids, needs a CSQ.

Yet prospective immigrants didn’t mind the extra cost and hassle for a lot of reasons:

Quebec has long favoured francophone immigrants and immigrating through the Quebec process was said to be easier than going through the federal process.
A lot of French speakers do want to settle in Quebec for linguistic or cultural reasons.
The province of Quebec heavily advertises immigrating to “la belle province” through a network of Bureaux d’Immigration du Québec (BIC) around the world that offers free information sessions.
The proof of funds required for Quebec-selected applicants is much lower than the proof of funds required for those immigrating to other provinces ($2,889 for one adult arriving in Quebec versus $11,115 for an adult settling anywhere else in Canada).
The immigration process through Quebec was said to be faster for qualified French speakers.

But lately, the Ministry of Immigration and Cultural Communities responsible for immigration matters in Quebec made a number of dramatic changes to the process.

First, on April 1, 2012, the fees levied by the Gouvernement du Québec for processing an immigration application were raised from $406 to $750—ouch! And don’t forget that the Quebec process is only half of the process, you still have the pay the permanent residence fees to the Government of Canada.

Second, to obtain the CSQ, even native French speakers (for instance, French citizens) must now take a French language test. The fees depend on where you take the test, but seem to be around €100 in France.

Third, Quebec is facing a heavy backlog of applications and obtaining a CSQ takes longer and longer. For instance, the Quebec visa office in Paris is currently processing applications it received in September 2011. For Northern Africa immigrants, processing times are much much longer: the Quebec visa office in Algeria is currently processing application received in… July 2008! You can see the processing times here for other visa offices around the world. And don’t forget that this is just one step of the process: the federal government then have to process your application!

So going through the Quebec process is now more expensive, with more hassle, and takes longer than ever—hence my initial question, “is it still worth it?”

I’m not arguing whether settling in Quebec is a good idea. I understand the province has a strong appeal for a lot of French speakers, and if you do plan to live in Quebec, you don’t have the choice, you must go through the Quebec immigration process.

But if you are hesitating between living in Quebec and living in other provinces, I’d urge you to see whether going through the federal process would be easier, faster and cheaper.

Being a Canadian Consumer

Zhu — Mon, 28 May 2012 12:00:40 +0000

The Bad Guys, Ottawa, May 2012

Being a consumer in France is different than being a consumer in Canada. Like Guillermo, an Argentinean immigrant and a new Canadian put it in a recent article:

Many of us come from countries where being a customer is a blessing. A blessing for you that have the opportunity to do business with that establishment. And if you don’t like it, just get the fuck out of here. We don’t need you.

In his article, Guillermo explained how Mr. Lube, an auto maintenance company, made a mistake when doing a simple oil and filter change—or rather, there was an error in the guide used by the employee, leading to said issue. Fortunately, the manager took the problem seriously. Guillermo was refunded and felt appreciated as a customer, a feeling he counts among the small blessings of life in Canada.

I completely understand where Guillermo comes from. Like I explained before, in France, the customer is anything but a king: at worse he is an idiot, at best he is a minor annoyance for businesses.

It took me a while to start behaving as a consumer in Canada. At first, I marveled at how accommodating businesses were: customers could exchange merchandise, ask for refunds, demand to speak to a manger, complain about a service etc. I wouldn’t have dare to do so in France, first because there was little chance the business would actually care, second because it’s cultural—French consumers suck it up.

But North Americans take their job as consumers seriously. Just go online and you will find consumer-oriented websites like The Consumerist or Red Flag Deal and its busy forum. People aren’t shy to complain here, and most businesses make it easy to do so through toll-free numbers or customer service desks in-store.

Yet for a long time, I behave as a French consumer—I sucked it up.

For instance, during my first couple of years in Canada, Feng worked late at night and I often walked to the nearest supermarket to grab some diner. Being still very French, I loved frozen quiches. But a few times, the quiche had clearly gone bad. Maybe it had been defrosted and frozen again—who knows. I know it wasn’t my fault and each time it happened, I only discovered it right before putting the quiche in the oven. I was caught between a rock and a hard place: I didn’t want to walk back to the supermarket (which was probably closed anyway) yet I had to throw my dinner away. I was mad but I didn’t dare to complain. “The supermarket will probably blame me,” I figured.

I would act very differently now and you can be sure I’d complain at the supermarket!

Eventually, a few years ago, I made my first complaint. I had bought a pair of Skechers shoes for work, and after only a few weeks, I noticed the sole was falling apart. I was really annoyed because those were office shoes that I only used indoors, and I had just bought them. Impulsively, I snapped a picture of the damaged soles and attached it to a complain letter, along with the receipt that showed my purchase was very recent.

I was shocked when a few weeks later, a new pair of shoes was shipped to me. I was an empowered customer. I loved it.

Of course, complaining doesn’t always work if the company isn’t receptive or honest. For instance, I just had a terrible experience with TeamBuy, a deal website. Last winter, I bought a voucher for two massages at Glebe Fitness. The first appointment I made in November was cancelled, and so was the second one in April. Both instance, I only learned about the cancellation at the last minute, upon arriving. Scheduling a third appointment is now impossible, as all the dates are booked until December 2012. Frankly, I doubt the business wants to honour the voucher.

I emailed TeamBuy and explained the situation. Three emails and several weeks later, I finally received a very curt email, in which TeamBuy offered me credit towards a future deal. Considering how slow their reply was, and how bad the attitude was, I declined and asked for a refund—I don’t want to use their service ever again. TeamBuy never emailed back.

I could fight the charge with my credit card company but honestly, I can’t be bothered. But as a consumer, I will tell all my friends to avoid TeamBuy and future deals ran by Glebe Fitness.

Because that’s also what Canadian consumers do. We have a lot of choices here, and people vote with their wallets. There are plenty of restaurants in Ottawa I would never go to again, and plenty of companies I refuse to do business with after a bad experience. And there are plenty I praise and recommend—because that’s also my job as a consumer.

How about you? What kind of customer are you? Have you ever complained to a business? Any businesses you avoid?

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Foodie Review: New Pho Bo Ga La

Zhu — Sat, 26 May 2012 12:00:49 +0000

Ottawa is addicted to Phở, the Vietnamese soup. A few years ago, one phở restaurant opened, then another one, and another one… and now phở places can be found from Chinatown to the far suburbs of Kanata.

Really, what’s not to like? Phở restaurants are typically cheap if not very fancy, and I guess the soup is quite comforting during our long winters.

Most phở restaurants operate on the same basis: a small menu, with mostly spring rolls as appetizers and different phở combinations (various cuts of meat). The items are numbered and you write your order on the piece of paper provided. Hot tea is almost always offered, as well as herbs and spices for your soup (i.e. mint, chili, lime wedges, etc.).

I’m not a huge fan of phở myself, I much prefer bún. It is typically a bowl of vermicelli served over a bed of bean sprouts and cucumber, topped with some meat (beef, chicken, pork or even shrimp) and chopped spring rolls, spring onions, roasted peanuts and a small bowl of nước chấm. Like with the phở, you can pick your ingredients (meat, spring rolls, etc.).

These two dishes are about $10 each and are very filling.

Not all phở places are created equal, and New Pho Bo Ga La is my favourite because of the efficient service and the fact the place is well-run and clean.

The Good

Super-fast service, can be in-and-out in 30 minutes.
Cheap and filling.
Free tea, lots of hot sauces available.

The Bad

Can get pretty packed.
Service is very impersonal, i.e. food is dumped on the table, period.
Doesn’t take debit.

At a glance

New Pho Bo Ga La (blue sign with a Buddha at the front)
763 Somerset St W (Chinatown)
Ottawa, ON K1R6R1
(613) 233‑2222

A Bowl of Pho

A Bowl of “Bun” (Vermicelli)

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Picture of the Week: Hungry Pigeon

Zhu — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:00:49 +0000

Don’t Feed The Wildlife, Ottawa, May 2012

Recently, a new sign was put up by the entrance of the Ottawa Public Library: “Do not feed the wildlife”.

The pigeon posing by the sign seemed particularly offended. “But I’m hungry!”

I wouldn’t worry too much for the pigeon, though. Considering the number of fast food joints and hot dog carts around Laurier, Bank and Elgin, I’m sure it can find something to grab.

Pigeons here are less of a nuisance than in Europe but they can quickly become one. When people start ground feeding them, they typically attract large concentrations of birds. Bird faeces can spread diseases and are a pain for everyone. So don’t feed the birds! They won’t go hungry in Canada, trust me.

Waddington, Massena and the Great Bug Attack

Zhu — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:05:23 +0000

We weren’t particularly inspired on Victoria Day, so we decided to simply take a drive to the U.S. And instead of heading to Alexandria Bay as usual, we went east towards Massena.

The weather was gorgeous, and so was the light. We crossed the international bridge easily, stopped at the usual supermarket in Ogdensburg to stock up on whatever is cheaper in the U.S. (some cosmetics, food, etc.) and took the NY-37E.

We immediately commented on how smooth the road was—our roads in Canada can be bumpy, especially after a cold winter.

And that’s when we witnessed the Great Bug Attack.

We felt a bug hitting the car, then two, three, four, five… within minutes, dead bugs were dotting the windshield. They were bigger than mosquitoes but smaller and thinner than flies—no idea what they were, and I had never seen that many.

Twenty miles later, we stopped in Waddington, or rather a small campground right before the town.

The bugs followed us. We could see the swarms clearly now that we were driving slowly. They were just about everywhere: hovering above the grass, the water, resting on cars… It felt like being in a bad horror movie—and you guessed it, Feng and I were probably cast as the two dummies on a short road trip who stumble upon a new deadly species of mutant bugs engineered by the NASA and the CIA.

“I want to take a picture!” I begged.

Yeah, well, like I said I was trying to act like the dumb actress who dies first in horror flicks.

We carefully stepped out of the car and stood on the shore, facing the St Lawrence and Canada.

“Look, it’s not so bad,” I said. “The bugs don’t actually bug us—okay, yes they do, shit they do!”

We ran back to the car and paused for a minute to make sure the bugs didn’t follow us.

We drove away.

Once in Waddington, we figured it was safe to park and we decided to inspect the car. The front, including the license plate, was covered with dead bugs. They were even inside the hood, close to the engine!

Unbelievable. I don’t know where all these bugs came from, but we had never seen that, including in the Tropics!

Waddington was lovely though—a small sleepy town with many churches and friendly people. We drove all the way to Massena, a much bigger place than Waddington but with a small town feel as well.

And you’ll be happy to know that we didn’t bring any mutant bugs back to Canada, except for the dead ones on the license plate.

You can see the complete set of pictures taken in the U.S.A on Flickr.

See the swarm of bugs?

Dirty Windshield

The Front of the Car

Bugs Everywhere…

American Flag

Town Clock in Massena

Waddington

Going to Massena

Massena

Spring on the Hill

Zhu — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:00:11 +0000

The weather is still lovely in Ottawa and most of us try to spend as much time outside as we can—it’s about time we get a tan!

Last weekend, Feng and I took a long walk on Parliament Hill and along the Ottawa River. The Parliament grounds were crowded—the nice weather and the Tulips Festival brought a lot of tourists, mostly from China, India, the U.S. and other Canadian cities.

Funny enough, when we reached the gates of the Parliament, Feng and I realized that we had never taken a “traditional” shot of us in front of the Centre Block. Pretty ironic considering how many times we’ve been there! So we asked one of the tourists to take us, a good ten years after settling in Ottawa.

From the Parliament, we took the stairs down to the Ottawa River and walked towards Victoria Island, close to Portage Bridge. The view on Gatineau and on all the interprovincial bridges was lovely and the path was mercifully quiet—not too many tourists realize there is a path all along the river.

You can see the complete Ottawa Spring set on Flickr.

Red Tulips in Front of the Parliament

The Parliament

Tulips and Peace Tower

The Centre Block

Feng and I realized we didn’t have any picture of us in front of the Parliament, for all the times we’ve been there!

The Centre Block

Red Tulips and the Peace Tower

Red Tulips and the Urban Jungle

Parliament Hill

Gatineau and the Ottawa River

The Library and the Centre Block

Bridges Between Quebec and Ontario

Alexandra Bridge

Gatineau, Quebec

Walk by the River

Reflection of the Parliament

In Bloom on the Hill

North American Desserts: The Carrot Cake

Zhu — Sat, 19 May 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Carrot Cake, Fresh Out of the Oven, Ottawa, May 2012

I grew up eating croissants and pains au chocolat and I really missed my buttery pastries when I first moved to Canada. Besides, at first, the most popular desserts here seemed strange to me, starting with the ubiquitous carrot cake.

When I first heard of something called a carrot cake, my first reaction was “why on earth would you spoil a cake with carrots?”

Turned out that carrot cakes don’t really taste of carrots, and I quickly got addicted.

I’m not your typical cordon bleu French cook, but I tend to stay away from supermarket bakeries because the lists of ingredients they use scare me. So once in a while, I bake. Nothing fancy, nothing complicated: I usually follow recipes loosely (seriously, who has all the ingredients on hand?) and hope for the best.

Today, I was craving carrot cake, so I made my own. Or rather, a “light” version of it—I’m not a huge fan of the sugary frosting, the most popular topping.

Ingredients:

2 cups grated carrots
2 cups flour
¼ cup melted butter
2/3 cup of sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons baking soda
A drip of honey (didn’t have any fancy spices on hand)
One cup diced dry apricots
Unsweetened shredded coconut
Little bit of low-fat milk

Combined all the wet ingredients, then add the dry ingredients. Mix well (if the mix if too thick, add some milk or water—I added milk). Bake for 40 minutes at 350°.

Et voilà! Turned out to be pretty good.

The only issue now is that the house smells like a bakery…

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Picture of the Week: War

Zhu — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:15:50 +0000

War, This Way, Ottawa, May 2012

Canada is a peaceful nation, which is probably why next to the “war – this way” sign, there is a “wong way” sign.

Or at least, that’s my twisted interpretation of this picture I snapped between Parliament Hill and Sparks Street.

This sign shows the way to the nearby Canada War Museum, a museum with which I have a love-and-hate relationship. Canada’s national museum of military history covers the country’s military past, from several hundred years ago to the most recent involvement in conflicts. And that’s the last part that bothers me: I find it strange to have wars that are currently being fought or were fought recently (for instance, in Kosovo or in Afghanistan) exhibited in a museum. I do not think we have the necessary insights yet for that.

I’m all for honouring and remembering veterans, but I wouldn’t want history to be mixed with political agendas.

Maybe it’s my European upbringing—in the old world, history is only “history” if it happened a few centuries ago!

Ottawa Tulips Festival – 2012 Edition

Zhu — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:00:44 +0000

Hard to believe that just a few weeks ago, we got a surprise snow fall. The weather recently got warmer and it always feels humid. With all the rain we had lately, the trees, grass and plants are chlorophyll green and I think this time I can say it’s spring. Finally. In May.

The opening weekend of the 2012 Tulips Festival was very warm, and most of the flowers had just bloomed. Dow’s Lake was packed and people were fighting to have their picture taken by the flower beds. Eh, this is Canada, we don’t get to see flowers other than at the grocery store for six months at the time!

Lovely sea of colours, isn’t it?

You can see the complete set of the Ottawa Tulips Festival on Flickr.

Ottawa Tulips Festival

Canadian Small Towns - Gananoque

Zhu — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:00:32 +0000

Even though I’m very much a city person and can’t imagine living in a place with a population of less than 500,000, I’m in love with Canadian small towns.

Over the year, we visit quite a lot of small towns, mostly in Ontario but also in the U.S. Some were just a stop on the road to or from somewhere, some were a getaway, but most of them were simply lovely.

It’s a cliché but the pace of life is different and people are friendlier than in the big cities. It’s also refreshing to see fewer franchises, more “mom and pop” stores, and fresher products. It also helps that Ontario is a lovely province, and that a lot of these towns are in a beautiful natural setting. Most small towns here really try hard to be welcoming, unique and original and they each have their own little quirks or attractions.

Last week, on our way back from Toronto, we decided to break the five-hour long drive in Gananoque instead of Kingston (home of the Tragically Hip!), our usual stop. We had been to Gananoque once before, in 2008, when exploring the Thousand Islands.

Our stop there was quick but very relaxing. As soon as we stepped out of the car, we noticed how quiet it was compared to Toronto and to the highway. We walked around Joel Stone Park and the marina, and enjoyed what probably is the calm before the storm for this touristic site.

You can see more small towns in the Ontario Travels set.

Gananoque and the St Lawrence

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