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Land of the Maple Leaf ~ Canadian Club

Cherrim

PSA: Blossom Shower theme is BACK ♥
33,267
Posts
21
Years
We had a warning for snow squalls here... haven't gone outside in hours so I don't know if they actually happened. Hailed a bit while I was walking home from the bus, too. I'm fine with the cold sticking around for a few more weeks but I wish it wouldn't get warm in-between. It wasn't quite cold enough to freeze the mud so I got the worst of spring coupled with cold. Damnit, Southern Ontario. :(
 

Yusshin

♪ Yggdrasil ♪
2,414
Posts
14
Years
Username: Yusshin
Relation to Canada: Born and raised! + Bilingual in French & English. 'Was born in a small town north of Barrie, ON. in '92 and went back and forth multiple times between there and Quebec from '08-'10. Now I live in Quebec and have since September '12.
Favourite Province: Quebec. Low rent. Decent wage. Low food cost. Low transportation cost. Easy to get anywhere in the Southern part of the province for cheap (trains in Montreal extend 1-2h average train travel time in most cardinal directions). Lots of festivals and activities in Montreal. Bilingualism. True patriotism (can't go anywhere without seeing Canada+Quebec flags flooping about). Lots of different cultures.
Reason for Joining (optional): CANUCKS UNITE! GO JEAN POUTINE! CANADIAN BACON! MEET MAH POLAR BEAR "SPARKY"!

On another note, Winnie the Pooh doesn't know squat about blistery, cold days. Was a chilly one in Montreal yesterday!

On the topic of French immersion, I was in it until Grade Four. Again, I lived in a small, crappy little city where French was really, truly not taken seriously; HOWEVER, we still learned passé composé in Grade Four (at least, the basics). I have no idea why some of you guys are learning it way into Seven, Eight and even Nine when it's part of the Grade Four curriculum. Shrugbeans.

After Grade Four, I was in Extended French so I was taught half my courses (well, was supposed to; didn't happen most of the time) in French i.e. History, Art, Geography, P.E. I guess it was rather advanced compared to immersion because when I came back from Québec in '09 and tried to partake in a Grade 11 French course (normal, not Extended), the level was so horrible in comparison - plus, the teacher sucked monkeybeans - that I actually homeschooled that year instead, dropping French altogether. I went back for the '11-12 school year (Extended, since they let me back into that school - they didn't take too kindly to me dropping out so suddenly to go live in Québec) and got 97% in the Extended French Class while tutouring Grade 9 Applied Core. The Academic Core was OK - they were learning Impératif and Imparfait + Conditionnel at that point - but the Applied Core's level was terribly low and filled with students who didn't care about it whatsoever (which didn't help). They were still learning the names of fruits - we were taught that in Grade Three Core/Immersion! - and could barely construct a sentence in French.

I do wish schools would take French more seriously, at least in Ontario where believe it or not, coming across someone who speaks French isn't that uncommon. Not a daily occurrence, but I saw francophones in my own crappy little 30k town in the middle of buttbeat nowhere, so... Not to mention, Hull, Ottawa, Timmins, Niagara Falls, North Bay, etc. have respectable francophone communities. South Manitoba has'em too, for those in Northern Ontario. Hum...

###

Also, if you come to Quebec and want tickets, you ought to know how to say it in French. If not, read a French Phrases for Dummies book or something. The same goes for Quebec->Ontario. If you want to buy a bus ticket in Toronto, say it in English, since that's the language of the area. Canada being "bilingual" is a false description of our nation because we all act on a provincial basis anyway. No one cares about traveling or the neighbouring province. All that matters is that you know a language that functions where you are; which is a bad attitude for later, because knowing both is a fantastic skill!

What irks me is that (note, I'm anglophone) there are a lot of anglophones who don't give a crap about French because they think they'll never need it or use it. In theory, they could say the same thing in Quebec, but there being anglophones over there who refuse to learn English makes it so that they're more pressured into adhering to the English people's demands, while English people content themselves with pretty much getting their way. I don't agree with that.

I'm happy with a new bill they passed recently, where English can no longer be a requirement for employment. The only language you can say is obligatory to a job is French and you can't not hire someone for not knowing English. Obviously, there are certain domains that are omitted from this, but basic service jobs (i.e. Cashier) are in accordance with the new bill. And I likey. Mucho. Again, I'm from Ontario and speak English first, French second, and I find that the bill is only fair. If you want to know how much your order costs, or what your bill is, come prepared: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/offer-listi...?ie=UTF8&qid=1364891267&sr=8-1&condition=used

It's really not that much to ask when most of the time, francophones are getting a lot less service in all the other provinces (minus, say, New Brunswick) than anglophones are getting in Quebec. Anglophones aren't really feeling the pressure either from curriculums and the likes to learn it either, as suggested already. Plus, some places you can opt out of French altogether if your parents complain enough. You can't do that in Quebec. You learn it up til Secondary 5 (HS 11 equivalent in Ontario, but still considered a high school diploma) and you can't opt out. It's a diploma requirement and they're hardbums about it.

Not too fair. imo bilingualism should become more enforced, otherwise drop it and make it a provincial thing. Then you can start considering Quebec (or, for someone in Quebec, Ontario/elsewhere) an "exotic" foreign location (yet, still national) like Rome or something where you definitely would try to "do as the Romans do" out of respect for another "province" or nation. I don't see why these rules don't apply when it's inter-provincial, but do when it's a new country. Silly is as silly does.
 
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Captain Gizmo

Monkey King
4,843
Posts
11
Years
Last week was the most awesome temperature that Montreal got for Spring yet. Didn't even drop below 0°C and max it would be was like 15°C, although it didn't go that high :P

We could go out with only a sweater! xD
 
5,983
Posts
15
Years
Username: BlahISuck

Relation to Canada: Immigrated to Montreal when I was 3. Then I moved to London, and have been in Toronto ever since. I love Canada, so much that you could call me a nationalist. I don't think I could've developed an immigrant/citizen identity anywhere else. I do have a multicultural identity that is probably only representative of Toronto, so my "Canadian" experience is quite limited in that respect. Other than that, I frequently compare Canada with the States to come to the conclusion that we are better. Let the bigotry flow freely!

Favourite Province: Ontario. Actually Toronto. I've lived, gone to school, hung out with friends, and conducted business in an area - and it's not even a neighbourhood, a pretty big area - where racial minorities are 90% of the population for 10 years. University came along and then I learned that white people live in Canada too. Oops.

Reason for Joining: I had no idea this club existed! I've been lurking in emulation for the past three years, so I guess this is relatively new. But I always want to embrace my Canadian identity, no matter where I am.

---

Why is it still so cooooold. I got all my snow to melt, but somehow it's still freezing. Wait actually I think this is supposed to happen. There is always a thaw at the end of March and a freeze the week after. I remember when it snowed pellets on April Fool's day in grade 4. Apparently the weather will be tolerable Thursday.
 

Yusshin

♪ Yggdrasil ♪
2,414
Posts
14
Years
Last week was the most awesome temperature that Montreal got for Spring yet. Didn't even drop below 0°C and max it would be was like 15°C, although it didn't go that high :P

We could go out with only a sweater! xD

There was a day that it was super warm and pretty :D and like, all the snow melted practically lol

But today and yesterday... BRRR D:
 

Cherrim

PSA: Blossom Shower theme is BACK ♥
33,267
Posts
21
Years
Am I the only one who isn't ready for winter to be over? I can't stand spring. Mud and I don't get along, so I'd much rather snow coat the ground or the ground stay frozen/frosted enough that I don't sink into it when I walk. I could stop taking my shortcut through the park on my way home and stick to sidewalks but that adds on a whole 3 minutes to my walk. I was kinda happy today that it snowed again, even if a fair amount of it melted by the end of the day. :P

...I'm genuinely curious whether we'll talk about the weather as much over the summer once it's not cold anymore. For being a winter country, we sure like whining about snow a lot. It's the topic on like every page here haha.
 
5,983
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15
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What I love about Canada is that nobody lives here. I walk on the road a lot, especially if it's not a major one. Cars can move into the left hand lane if they want to.

Edit: are you at Waterloo for university?
 
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8,571
Posts
14
Years
Lightning said:
Am I the only one who isn't ready for winter to be over? I can't stand spring. Mud and I don't get along, so I'd much rather snow coat the ground or the ground stay frozen/frosted enough that I don't sink into it when I walk. I could stop taking my shortcut through the park on my way home and stick to sidewalks but that adds on a whole 3 minutes to my walk. I was kinda happy today that it snowed again, even if a fair amount of it melted by the end of the day. :P

...I'm genuinely curious whether we'll talk about the weather as much over the summer once it's not cold anymore. For being a winter country, we sure like whining about snow a lot. It's the topic on like every page here haha.
Like I keep saying, it's almost as if Vancouver is isolated from the rest of Canada by the Rockies, since we never seem to get winter (although, it did randomly snow outside for about an hour last week, even though it was 7° out). As it is, it got as warm as 20° here on Easter, and had been hovering just below that until today. Again, if anyone's tired of their cold weather, just tell Old Man Winter to ship some out west next year, please and thank you.

And I'm sure that we'll keep talking about the weather well into summer, but maybe we'll just do it in French.

"Il était beau et chaud à l'extérieur aujourd'hui."
 
5,983
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15
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Are there really lots of Chinese people in Vancouver? I've never been in town, just at the airport stopping over. How does it compare to Toronto?
 
8,571
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14
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Are there really lots of Chinese people in Vancouver? I've never been in town, just at the airport stopping over. How does it compare to Toronto?
I've never been to Toronto, so I'm not quite sure how it compares, but yeah, Vancouver does have quite a large Asian population (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, East Indian, etc.). It's actually one of the things I find fascinating about being here- having such a broad range of ethnicities living in and around the city. My work is a good example; of the ~70 people working there, we've got people born in 11 different countries excluding Canada itself.

On that topic (and to maybe get away from all the weather talk), I'm curious as to how many people here were born outside of Canada? And if you were born here, where were some of the past generations of your family born? Seeing as how multicultural the country seems to be, I expect we might get a wide variety of answers.
 

Captain Gizmo

Monkey King
4,843
Posts
11
Years
I'm the first generation of my family that's been born in Canada, lol. My mom's side of the family were all born in Philippines except for two of my cousins who are like 6 years old and 3 months old. My dad's side of the family is like me, all their kids are born here and their age are like mines 13 to 20ish~
 

Cherrim

PSA: Blossom Shower theme is BACK ♥
33,267
Posts
21
Years
Edit: are you at Waterloo for university?
Yup. :3
Are there really lots of Chinese people in Vancouver? I've never been in town, just at the airport stopping over. How does it compare to Toronto?
There are because that's the closest spot for them back when a lot of families immigrated here. We invited a lot of Chinese to help work on the railroad before Canada got kind of antsy about Asians for a while. As far as our history goes, we weren't very nice to Asians and definitely didn't prefer them over white immigrants. :( That's obviously changed since the past but I think that's still the reason there's such a large population of Chinese/Japanese over there. I don't remember the city well enough to draw a comparison to Toronto, though. I don't think it's as "segregated" though... in that the Asian population is very spread out in the Vancouver area rather than Toronto where the bulk of it is focussed in Markham or... I guess the Chinatown area?
On that topic (and to maybe get away from all the weather talk), I'm curious as to how many people here were born outside of Canada? And if you were born here, where were some of the past generations of your family born? Seeing as how multicultural the country seems to be, I expect we might get a wide variety of answers.
The only one of my grandparents who wasn't born in Canada was born in England. Everyone else was born here. I think my background is mainly Scottish, though I know there's some aboriginal in there because my Grandmother (or someone along her line) was Métis.

I dunno, my family's been here so long that I don't consider my background to be anything but Canadian. I'm so fuzzy on the details and I only know where the one grandfather and the ancestor carrying my last name came from so I don't really relate with any other countries. :P
 
5,983
Posts
15
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On that topic (and to maybe get away from all the weather talk), I'm curious as to how many people here were born outside of Canada? And if you were born here, where were some of the past generations of your family born? Seeing as how multicultural the country seems to be, I expect we might get a wide variety of answers.

Chinese immigrant here! Moved over at the tender age of 3. I can still speak mandarin decently well, so my cultural heritage hasn't been obliterated from assimilation.

I don't remember the city well enough to draw a comparison to Toronto, though. I don't think it's as "segregated" though... in that the Asian population is very spread out in the Vancouver area rather than Toronto where the bulk of it is focussed in Markham or... I guess the Chinatown area?

It is decently segregated so much that for 10 years of my life I forgot white people existed :P. But seriously, I lived in Agincourt (Cantonese/South Asian), hung out in Markham (Chinese) and Malvern (South Asian/Black). And then I started commuting downtown for university. The effect is magnified because I don't think white people take public transit as much as they're represented in the population (1 in 10 in Agincourt, I got the numbers), probably because immigrants are poorer as a whole? But there is some mixing going on within our minority dominated neighbourhoods as well. My next-door neighbour is Japanese, the house across from me is Italian, there's both Tamils and Indians, and I played basketball with Black and an Egyptian dude. All on the same little residential street. I think that's a pretty good showing :P

U of T sucks for student life. We're all study robots lol but nobody really cares.
 

TRIFORCE89

Guide of Darkness
8,123
Posts
19
Years
There are because that's the closest spot for them back when a lot of families immigrated here. We invited a lot of Chinese to help work on the railroad before Canada got kind of antsy about Asians for a while. As far as our history goes, we weren't very nice to Asians and definitely didn't prefer them over white immigrants. :(
Yup. I think I did a report on that in history class during high school. Japanese internment and stuff.

I think a little bit of every culture has had it rough over here XD Not to the same extent as the above, but the Germans and Italians weren't well liked during WWI and II. Actually, I think they blocked Italian immigrants here at one point too

I dunno, my family's been here so long that I don't consider my background to be anything but Canadian. I'm so fuzzy on the details and I only know where the one grandfather and the ancestor carrying my last name came from so I don't really relate with any other countries. :P
I consider my Canadian first. But whenever someone asks and I'll say that, I immediately get a follow up "No, but really what are you?". So, now I just answer "Italian" instead not necessarily because I identify with them more, but whenever I say "Maltese" no one seems to know what I'm talking about XD Just saying Canadian would be much simpler and true, but no one likes that answer :(
 
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Wooah Maltese! That's pretty badass. Like Templars right? I think what Canadians come to appreciate is our multiculturalism, so saying "Canadian" is kind of a cop out when they want to learn more about your heritage. I don't remember learning about Japanese internment in history class :S which is odd. We spent soo much time on the First World War.
 
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Lightning said:
I don't remember the city well enough to draw a comparison to Toronto, though. I don't think it's as "segregated" though... in that the Asian population is very spread out in the Vancouver area rather than Toronto where the bulk of it is focussed in Markham or... I guess the Chinatown area?
That's completely true. We've got larger pockets of different ethnicities in certain areas (Chinese/Koreans in Richmond, South Asians in Surrey), but everyone's pretty spread out amongst each other within the city and it's suburbs.

As for my own question, I always try to avoid answering it, because I've got ancestry coming from all directions, so I don't have a clear answer. All I know is that I'm at least a 3rd generation Canadian for my entire family, and with my grandmother being half-Métis, I guess that pushes it back even further.

TRIFORCE89 said:
I consider my Canadian first. But whenever someone asks and I'll say that, I immediately get a follow up "No, but really what are you?". So, now I just answer "Italian" instead not necessarily because I identify with them more, but whenever I say "Maltese" no one seems to know what I'm talking about XD Just saying Canadian would be much simpler and true, but no one likes that answer :(
I've always just considered myself Canadian, too, since my family's been here so long. If I do get asked my ancestry, though, I always just say Norwegian, since my last name is Norwegian, and my great-grandfather was born there. That, and it sounds a little more interesting than English, French, Scottish, etc.
 
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My great-grandfather on my mother's side came from Spain to the Philippines sometime during the late 1800s (I think). Half my cousins were born here in Canada, but I, with the other half, was born in Manila.
 

TRIFORCE89

Guide of Darkness
8,123
Posts
19
Years
Malta's smack dab in the middle of the Mediterranean sea and has been invaded by everyone around there XD I'm sure I've got all kind of blood in my background. Even outside of the area... like England had a huge influence when they stopped by for a visit lol. And my grandfather grew up in Egypt.

I'm only second-generation Canadian-born, and a lot of other would probably identify themselves by the parents' heritage when asked, but there's such diversity of cultures on my Mom's side alone, that I'd very much prefer to identify myself as Canadian.
 
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Any South Asians? India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka? If there's one Chinese guy, there must be one South Asian for the purposes of representation.
 
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