MY TAKE on CANADIAN WAY of LIFE (so far)
1. The Landing
I landed as (a dependent) PNP in Toronto on May 29, 2018. It was a smooth sailing, with welcoming faces of CBSA officials. At the immigration a queue was expected, and it took us close to an hour to get our CoPRs stamped. We headed to Service Canada, which is located adjacently, and applied for our Social Insurance Numbers (SIN), and upon receiving it in around 6 - 8 minutes, proceeded toward our baggage carousel/claim.
We had the Goods Declaration & Goods to Follow forms ready, but was never asked for. Momentarily, we were out into Canadian soil.
2. Finding Accommodation
My wife had, through her acquaintance, booked an apartment before landing, and we moved right into the empty house. Jet-lag does exist, as we were from the other side of the world. It took a while to furnish our house; and in a few weeks, we were all set. It will be difficult to find a good apartment as a newcomer, firstly because you're unaware of how rentals work here and especially because you don't yet realise that nobody gives a s**t about your desperate situation. It's all about your ability to pay, and proof that you do possess enough amount to cover at least a year's rentals. Nobody cares if you're a newcomer and will make no exceptions.
3. Life in general & people
Toronto, and especially the area that we chose to live right now, feels like a mix of all countries. You're mostly confined to your own apartment, doing your own thing; buying groceries or doing laundry. Nobody's got time for conversation or friendly chats. A smile is all that you'll receive in exchange for your friendly looking face. However, there's a plethora of activities that you'll immediately have access to; the biggest being the Toronto Public Library. This is a top-notch public facility, which overwhelmed me immediately. The library also has free passes for family access to the zoo, museums, etc. Kudos. Besides, you've got efun.toronto.com, where you'll be spoilt with choices of activities that you can enrol into. Convenient hours, even if you're working full day, and excellent atmosphere in the Community Centres. You can enrol yourself for sports, music, fitness, swimming, dance, fun activities, camps, etc. The options are endless. Or, you could just drop by to one of the many beaches along lake Ontario and play beach volleyball, get tipsy, or simply watch the pristine lake. These are besides watching baseball, soccer, tennis (like I watched Rogers Cup quarter finals here). The public transit system is great, although I found the fare implementation pretty funny. You can travel from Kipling to McCowan (end points of Toronto subway line 2) at $3, and you must pay the same $3 if you take a bus to travel between two stops 200 meters apart.
(The following may not be new for most people, so you may skip to #4 but for me it was, and it was beautiful)
The beauty lies in the fact that people don't give a damn. I mean, not just they don't give a damn about your miserable state, they equally disregard wealthy people. Everyone's equal. A construction worker, a janitor, an engineer and a CEO of a big business will end up sharing the same bus, or even enjoying coffee together. Everyone's treated like a human, outside the workplace. My boss often drives me to work, and that doesn't make him look like my chauffeur. The guys immigrating from workplaces with feudal system still in place, will feel out of place here.
4. Jobs and Living Expenses
When I first joined this forum, I read many articles from landed members complaining how there are no jobs here. Finding jobs, and difficulties in getting one soon, is actually a hot topic on this forum still. Let me put it in a very insulting manner here that:
"If you fail to find work in Toronto (GTA), you'd either have to be alcoholic, depressed and under intensive medical care, doing drugs, a person with a disability or vision impairment or simply a lazy slouch." The only thing that comes between you and your job, is your own ego. The amount of support that you receive to polish your skills, and to make sure that you get employed, is overwhelming again. YES Employment, YMCA, and endless other government funded agencies help every willing resident immensely. I've never encountered such support programs before. There are endless job openings in the construction sector, and skilled trades are in demand. These jobs are very high paying too. So, a welder or a plumber can potentially earn way more than a software developer. Finding a job is a matter of your own "choice" to work and your definition of a working individual, rather than the difficulty in finding any job itself. Many people never "sink" to the elevated level of equal treatment of human individuals in this civilized society, as they've been brought up in a feudal society where working as a janitor (for instance) is shameful. Well, for me, holding such an attitude is disgraceful and too backward thinking at best; scram back to your primitive jungle. You aren't welcome here. I believe that Canada is an amazing country, and I'm glad that I immigrated here. This is a land of true opportunities, and it does best at scaring worthless people off!!
(This post will be updated later, as I unravel more)
Good luck people, I missed you all and good luck for those awaiting the next draw.
PS: The Yukon spirit is still alive, if anyone remembers.
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