Do Canadians more readily see a foreign-born citizen as "still one of us" than many other countries?

[Skeezix]

It appears you weren't born here. Otherwise, you wouldn't have forgotten Raylene Rankin who sang like an angel.

 

[cruzin4u]

Yeah, that's what it was.

We can't even deal with the 2.5 million people in this city. It's more important that we take care of the people now before we start bringing in more.
​

As if he had any say in who gets in or where they get to live.

I think it had to do more with the fact that there is a struggle to find work for those that are currently living in the city. There are so many people homeless, there is a desperate need for housing for low income families. The list goes on.

And look what's happening. The government is spending all this money (millions upon millions) to bring all these refugee's in. Give them everything - medical, housing, a SIN card - why not! Let them drain the system clean. Bring all your children, the Government will pay you. The more, the merrier! The entire system is flawed and, despite what you may believe, the majority do not want all these refugee's.

Then again, a good amount of you cannot go one day without bashing Mr. Ford. Whatever makes you feel better about yourself.

 

[King of Kensington]

I have no interest in "defending" the Fords. But I don't think if Doug Ford runs for the CPC leadership, he's going to make banning immigration a central theme.

 

[the lemur]

I think it had to do more with the fact that there is a struggle to find work for those that are currently living in the city. There are so many people homeless, there is a desperate need for housing for low income families. The list goes on.

And look what's happening. The government is spending all this money (millions upon millions) to bring all these refugee's in. Give them everything - medical, housing, a SIN card - why not! Let them drain the system clean. Bring all your children, the Government will pay you. The more, the merrier! The entire system is flawed and, despite what you may believe, the majority do not want all these refugee's.

Then again, a good amount of you cannot go one day without bashing Mr. Ford. Whatever makes you feel better about yourself.

Ford didn't so much as lift a rhetorical finger to help the homeless or low-income families in search of housing. He was specifically placing the blame for crime at the feet of immigrants, or at the very least out-of-towners.

I'm not sure you realize that the 'millions and millions' spent to bring refugees in is a form of investment in Canada's future and that there is ultimately also a cost to leaving refugees at the mercy of ISIS and/or the Assad regime.

I have no interest in "defending" the Fords. But I don't think if Doug Ford runs for the CPC leadership, he's going to make banning immigration a central theme.

You can no more ban immigration than you can deport people for misusing apostrophes (more's the pity).

 

[the lemur]

It appears you weren't born here. Otherwise, you wouldn't have forgotten Raylene Rankin who sang like an angel.

Look, I've been a Torontonian now for longer than I've been anything else. That means I get to not give a crap about some Maritime diddly-diddly music.

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

Prove it. Who was the last goalie in the NHL to play without a mask? Are you drinking a double double at this very moment? Where were you when you first heard Bobcaygeon? Three retired players have scored 50 or more career short-handed goals. One was Wayne Gretzky. Name the other two. How many timbits can you fit in your mouth at one time? Sing the lyrics to Nautical Disaster. Explain in 300 words or less why Rita MacNeil or Anne Murray is Nova Scotia greatest songstress. How many times were you at Tim Hortons today?

True story: One of the questions on my wife's citizenship exam was 'what's the national sport of Canada?' Multiple choice answers included both lacrosse and hockey (as well as football and something else, IIRC) and she's pretty certain she got that one wrong. As a lifetime sports-hater with not a competitive bone in her body, she was outraged that such a question could be asked. Totally unfair!

One of the other questions was 'Which three oceans border Canada' and she knew she nailed that one because 3/4 of the answers had 'Indian Ocean' in it, so she picked the other one...

 

[Skeezix]

I think it had to do more with the fact that there is a struggle to find work for those that are currently living in the city. There are so many people homeless, there is a desperate need for housing for low income families. The list goes on.

And look what's happening. The government is spending all this money (millions upon millions) to bring all these refugee's in. Give them everything - medical, housing, a SIN card - why not! Let them drain the system clean. Bring all your children, the Government will pay you. The more, the merrier! The entire system is flawed and, despite what you may believe, the majority do not want all these refugee's.

Then again, a good amount of you cannot go one day without bashing Mr. Ford. Whatever makes you feel better about yourself.

None of that is true.

Ford didn't give a crap about the homeless, and blocking new residents of the 416 won't help the homeless. Refugees have consistently been a net boon to Canada economically, and past waves of refugees are now net contributors to our society and helping pay for our social programs. Nobody is draining anything, except perhaps your (ab)use of the apostrophe. And any sentence that contains the words "despite what you may believe" almost inevitably contains some delusion of the writer.

Nobody is bashing Ford. Ford bashed himself. His words speak for themselves.

 

[Skeezix]

Look, I've been a Torontonian now for longer than I've been anything else. That means I get to not give a crap about some Maritime diddly-diddly music.

The Mounties are now looking into you.

 

[the lemur]

True story: One of the questions on my wife's citizenship exam was 'what's the national sport of Canada?' Multiple choice answers included both lacrosse and hockey (as well as football and something else, IIRC) and she's pretty certain she got that one wrong.

Lacrosse in summer, hockey in winter, right?

 

[the lemur]

One of the other questions was 'Which three oceans border Canada' and she knew she nailed that one because 3/4 of the answers had 'Indian Ocean' in it, so she picked the other one...

All we need is to find some kind of Turks & Caicos-type scenario in the Indian Ocean and that'll be a correct answer too ...

 

[wild goose chase]

This is neither here nor there, but noticed this article in the NYT in the past week, which shows that NZ has the largest share of its population born outside its borders (28.2%), followed by Australia (27.6%) and Canada at 20%. The number for the U.S. is 13.1%. Corresponding numbers for Europe (share of the population born outside the EU) are much lower (Sweden seems like it is tops at 10.6%).

I knew that Australia (didn't know about NZ) had a high percentage of immigrants but I feel like the image given in the media is that Australia is not quite as friendly as Canada in openness towards outsiders such as immigrants, refugees etc. But maybe that isn't fair to judge since this is only something I have heard, and have no firsthand experience either way.

But I feel like something like this would not be as likely in our biggest city. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Cronulla_riots

 

[wild goose chase]

I used to work with a bunch of recent immigrants and one day at lunch the topic turned to "at what point did you turn Canadian". Even though the times ranged from 9 months to 2 1/2 years, they all shared a similar experience when something 'clicked' and they considered themselves 'Canadian'. Since then, I've come to know many foreign-born people from all over the world who just feel like they 'fit' here.

This is anecdotal evidence, but I too agree that from my experience, many immigrants feel and call themselves Canadian after a few years here. For example, I feel like international university students from years back that were once my classmates that later stayed and became citizens all seem to show great Canadian pride, at least on Facebook.

In contrast, I feel like immigrants take longer to call themselves American -- I have the feeling that someone who has been a new American for 10 years is less likely to call themselves "American" than a Canadian of 10 years to call themselves "Canadian".

I think one thing that adds to that is that an "all-American" image is still stronger than Canadian identity. I think jokes about not being Canadian if you don't like hockey, Tim Hortons, winter etc. are still more light-hearted than the American equivalent where I feel a new immigrant who doesn't fit liking baseball (or perhaps football) and apple pie, or I suppose other things associated with American culture does carry a bit more of a "you haven't assimilated yet and are not quite as American yet" vibe.

 

[wild goose chase]

Didn't realize Ford got elected on a platform of restricting immigration and Islamophobia.

I don't recall Ford specifically talking about Muslims specifically or religion in general much. Most of the odd antics and inappropriate comments were about other things like racism, sexism etc.

 

[wild goose chase]

or religion in general much.

Oh, wait, I remember now there were offensive remarks said about Jewish people, but that was Doug Ford, not Rob Ford, wasn't it, if I recall correctly?

 

[AndreaPalladio]

It appears you weren't born here. Otherwise, you wouldn't have forgotten Raylene Rankin who sang like an angel.

Catherine McKinnon FTW!