Welcome to Canada 🍁

We’re a country built by immigrants and through immigration.

Hello, I'd really like to grow this email list. If you enjoy this newsletter, it would mean the world to Jola and I if you encouraged one friend/fellow immigrant/colleague to subscribe…Very likely, the the only thing you will get in return is warm fuzzy feelings, and if I can attribute it to you, I’d personally send you a thank you email.

Canada can be a welcoming place. We’re a country built by immigrants and through immigration. At the moment though, immigration is a bit of a divisive topic due to a large influx of immigrants to some parts of Canada paired with rising costs of living. The economic uncertainties related to trade tariffs being imposed by the new US government don't help matters.

Here are some tips to help you find the most welcoming Canadians and communities.

Most Canadians are proud of being Canadian and are proud of their unique communities. Asking people to tell you about their communities and showing genuine interest and curiosity is a great ice breaker when meeting people and also a great way to start to integrate into a new community.

Moving to a new country is a massive undertaking and can be confusing, scary, and complicated. One way to take control of the process of integrating into a new community is to do your own research about it and become familiar with its unique history, culture, and current vibe.

It may not seem as big a priority as other things involved with your move, but trust me, it will help you feel more at home faster if you know the history of your new home. It will accelerate your being able to understand the ins and outs of the community and start to feel like it's your home rather than you are a visitor. Embracing your new home and community’s history and culture is a positive step towards reducing some of the anxiety and stress involved with the immigration process.

Most Canadians are kind, warm, and caring, but the ones that don’t get the most attention and usually have the loudest voices and make the biggest impression unfortunately.

Sometimes Canadian politeness can be unhelpful as people might be curious to get to know you or want to get to know you but may be too afraid that they would say something ignorant or come across as ignorant so they just avoid you altogether. Unfortunately, sometimes, the people who could become friends, acquaintances and allies, just don’t know how to start a conversation and are too nervous to offend, so don’t start.

Find out where people who have similar interests as you hang out and then go there. If you need to start where there is a pocket of people with similar heritage or immigration patterns, do so, but branch out from that community to be part of the broader community and start to be known, and noticed.

Canadians live beside a big powerful country (the USA) and we know it. At times we are scared of losing things that are uniquely Canadian and we sometimes fear that people are coming here to take things away from us. Anything that you can do to break that faulty assumption is beneficial.

Showing that you want to be part of the community and add to its value can help to start building meaningful connections with people in your community. Find the champions of welcoming communities and plan to spend time with them. Don’t be shy to ask them to introduce you to other people too. Sometimes Canadians may not offer that because they don’t want to impose or come off as rude or pushy.

But building networks of welcoming people is key to getting connected to your new community and can benefit you in multiple ways such as improving your mental health, reducing anxiety, and opening the doors to new social, recreational, and even job opportunities.

Most Canadians love kind people. Sometimes we make decisions (big and small) based on our perception of a person’s kindness and often form an opinion of people based on perceived niceness. If you go out of your way to show people that you are kind, caring and empathetic, you will open a lot of doors and make friends and be accepted a lot faster.

Libraries can be an amazing resource for a number of reasons. They have librarians that you can talk to who are often very familiar with local programs, services, coming events, etc. They often provide internet access. They often host or put on educational events, often in partnerships with local service providers. Over the years the world has moved away from consulting books for information.

Libraries have had to adapt to stay relevant, and one way they’ve done so is by becoming a community hub of information about local services. Plan on getting familiar with your local library and what all it offers.

As mentioned earlier, Canadians love their history. While waiting and/or planning for your move to Canada, here are the best places you can go to online to research the communities you are interested in moving to:

• Wikipedia is a good place to start and follow any embedded links to branch out from there. For example, the community of High Park North has a Wikipedia page that is full of information and links about that specific part of Toronto.

• Municipal websites.

• Tourism websites. Adding the term “tourism” to your community search query will often provide you with links to local tourism websites. Tourism is a big and important part of the Canadian economy and these sites are often full of information about what to see and do in each community.

• Google the community’s name followed by the term “history.” This will often lead to deeper dives into history blogs and websites created by historical societies, museums, and other groups.

• Local museums and galleries often have artifacts, records, exhibitions, and resources about local history.