this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2023
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[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (10 children)

As an immigrant myself, yes. It is very attractive just by the fact that Canada's government isn't 100% corrupt and it's honestly very family friendly. Sure, there are problems, but they pale in comparison to a lot of other countries'.

It took me 5 months to find a good job (that wasn't service) - so competition is tough and the initial steps are ridiculously expensive, but it's all good. Infrastructure and systems are suffering right now, but in the next 20 years, I'm confident it will catch up.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

let's hope so. diversity is the spice of life.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Indigenous person here from northern Ontario .... I think immigration is a good thing for this country ... the more diversity and mixing that happens, the better it is everyone in general. Canada was founded on the mixing of cultures, races, ideas and religions ... even though a small segment of society wanted to identify themselves as the dominant ones. In the face of one colonial culture that wanted to dominate everyone and everything ... diversity was always in the background driving the country's development (most often against the will of a minority few).

I can't change who I am nor my ideas nor my culture nor my race ... I live how I was taught and the same goes for everyone else and their backgrounds.

The change that happens is gradual and happens over generations. The ones to come after us will mix my culture with yours and anyone else and will create a new hybrid culture that may or may not be the same as mine or yours. They will always keep elements of our past but they will combine them with the best (or the worst) of who their descendants were.

The diversity I like to think about is not the diversity we have now or want to magically create today ... the diversity I like to imagine is the one we will leave behind once we are gone.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes? Land is cheap, space is available, and it borders the US.

Who it’s attractive to will change over time however.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Land ain't cheap where most of the immigrants end up going. Canada still offers a better quality of life but that will dimminish over time if housing issue is not addressed.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What we need is further investment in tech hub towns and cities, like Halifax did. In places that don’t burn/flood seasonally and have a reliable power supply. If that got spread out, housing wouldn’t be as much of an issue.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The number of places that don't burn or flood is only going to get smaller as climate change ramps up

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yep, if people don't pull their shit together we are gonna need to ban those camping or the fire will effectively erase camping grounds. (yes, I know natural cause fire exists.) We still have somewhat advantage in terms of fresh water precipitation so we don't need to import drinking water. But we still need some general civil engineering to deal with those flood/fire/heatwaves/arctic vortex cause they are going to be more common.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

(yes, I know natural cause fire exists.)

Everyone knows it, and they'll still overlook that like 98% of wildfires are caused by negligence vs nature.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Okay but the prairies are fucking hugeee

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But not invulnerable. Water is a growing problem in the Prairies, and as we're seeing from drought conditions in Southern Alberta, Canada is not immune from the problems we're seeing in the US.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

They're far from invulnerable, the nature of climate change is feedback loops, all it's going to take is an unusually hot, dry summer and some bad luck and you've got crop failure.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I fully agree with you and it's encouraging to see things like "Alberta Is calling" campaign. But, I wish the federal goverment would be more involved in spreading the immigrants around our vast land. It feels like all they do is set targets and "job done"...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You mean the radio spots that tell me I can own a house for 400k in Alberta? As much as I want to believe that that's not complete bullshit, I think it is bullshit and pity everyone who goes through just to come back to wherever they were before.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You can totally own like a nice 3-bedroom house in a nice area in Winnipeg right now for 400K. My house cost that much and even had a finished basement and is one, a much bigger plot than most houses.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But then you have to live in Winnipeg. There's a reason everything is cheap there

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

From Winnipeg, can confirm

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

the federal goverment [...] all they do is set targets and β€œjob done”

But, that's kinda their job. We have premiers to do the regional work, and usually trust them to do right (sit DOWN, Mr Ford).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

that will [diminish] over time if housing issue is not addressed.

Housing and Benefits funding are intertwined. It's easy to kick the temporaries out, but no country will want to kick out the tax-paying short-timers who will eventually return home LONG before they retire and start really needing our support. Cost/Benefit-wise, our declining population needs TFWs who (outside aggra) pay high taxes and need fewer services, to stay afloat, like any caring nation needs.

The nordics have really figured this out, and despite a nine year waiting list for rentals in some urban centers, they still have TFWs and can still afford to maintain infrastructure.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Canada is really attractive, but most immigrants think Canada is made up solely of Toronto and Vancouver.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It's because the jobs are concentrated in those areas. Yes, other provinces have some work but relative to Toronto and Vancouver it's pretty light. I got lucky and moved to Kitchener last year, but what i really wanna do is live on Vancouver Island. Some day!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Remote work showed that offices can be pretty much anywhere.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Most immigrants coming into the country won't be able to secure a fully remote job right off the bat. Most need Canadian work experience first before getting anything but an entry level customer service job

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Many companies are walking back their permissive remote work policies which adds a layer of uncertainty for immigrants when considering living outside of an urban centre.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Many companies are walking back their permissive remote work policies

I interviewed today. I told the guy that the Commute policy WILL drive the costs up, as I'll want that separate add-on to cover the policy, like a CoLA clause. The math is simple, and will work out to a bit of a bump per day if that day is mandated onsite.

But they're competing against a job I have that is paying X and the "100% remote" is in the contract in plain language, among other factors. I feel for them, as it'll be harder to get actual talent like the astounding people I work with, when all they can offer is some cruel dotcom wage-slave term set. (according to my spreadsheet, it's gonna be double just to make par).

Rule1: Always charge 'em until ya like 'em.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I wish companies would get their heads out of their butts and realize that people were just as productive working remotely as they were in the office for most jobs. We live in a world of distributed teams! Even at my company, my team is in Seattle, Mountainview, Sydney, and Boston! It logically makes no sense anymore to mandate in-office work, yet they're doing it because they always have

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sure, but it means that companies can start looking to expand into cheaper urban centers.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

it means that companies can start looking to expand into cheaper

Yeah, everyone gets that it's a benefit to the employer to run with WFH staff, but it's often a struggle for old-school manager who validate their existence through home-room attendance. My current employer had to re-up a contract during CoViD, and the only change was a pay bump to handle inflation and "100% WFH" (in legalese).

And the employer sold the desks - sometimes to staff - and released the space it was renting. So easy. One guy is onsite to receive Fedex, and there's a few 'hotel' desks that see regular use.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's not even just WFH staff: instead of having expensive office space and high COL, you can pay less and rent an office in Saskatoon.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

To add to that, most immigrants coming through the skilled worker's programs work in specialized professions that are heavily concentrated around major urban centers.

If you look at the cut-off points for the last two years, the trend has been really high, mostly focusing on people under 30, with high level of English/French, and master's or PhDs.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

what i really wanna do is live on Vancouver Island.

Moved away for work. The market is okay in ONE region.

Work with me to transform Ocean Falls into a Remote Work Mecca. Two mixed-use towers and we're done.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh you moved to the boonies boonies haha. Love that the Wikipedia page for Ocean Falls has a photo captioned "An uncharacteristically sunny day in ocean falls"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Noo, Ocean Falls was a ghost town once the sole employer moved out with the pound-foolish reduction of manufacturing in this region. I only learned of it from my wife's dad's stories of growing up in this remote community; and then learned it's a unicorn town with a surprisingly advanced infrastructure and travel potential that gives it massive potential for restoration as a quiet, remote community for select workers and some eco-tourism operations.

So it's a common schtick to champion it as a prime candidate for reopening and investment, since it has the infrastructure to support a small but dense population with modern mixed-use buildings and ship-based trade, even though the population has been essentially 3 people for decades and there's no road in.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

most immigrants think Canada is made up solely of Toronto and Vancouver.

To be brutally honest, I suspect most Torontonians and Vancouverites kinda feel the same. Sometimes Ottawa.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

From Vancouver, can confirm

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I want it to stay that way, every new immigrant makes Canada better.

However we really, really need to start creating more housing for immigrants and those already here. Its not fair to the immigrants to make them live in shelters or squeeze into tiny, overpriced accommodations.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

It will, but a lot of these immigrants are going to struggle to get housing and good jobs and some of them may even leave to greener pastures.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Just wait for the warm farmable longitudes to start turning into deserts.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's when we get eminent domain'd by the US.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

You may not be wrong. It depends on how things play out though. How quickly, what happens to our population numbers by then. Whether the US remains whole or the blue states separate. There may be more interesting permutations than a peaceful annexation.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

https://archive.ph/dYX4I - Trees -> Savannah, so it's a similar change already.

If only we protected our forests like we want Brazil to protect its own.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

πŸ˜” brutal.

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