|
|
WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT CANADA
Overview
Everyone has an opinion about Canada, whether they are residents or visitors, public personalities or everyday people. Canada is a country that inspires a great many emotions and feelings, and conjures certain ideals and images in the minds of people around the world.
We can give you informative statistics, maps and profiles, but often, the inspired, unpremeditated quotes of individuals do more to convey the essence and flavour of a country.
Canada through the words of "everyday people"...
The following is a unique survey of Canadians from all ethnic groups (including recent immigrants) and people from other countries about what the terms "Canada" and being "Canadian" mean to them. The words of ordinary individuals convey the passion and conviction with which they speak of Canada. Overwhelmingly, we read words of "freedom", "respect", "safety", and "pride"; there is no better indicator of a country's domestic social climate and international image than the proud words of its own people and the admiring impressions of people like you from around the world. These quotes are unaltered, except for brevity, and may contain original grammatical errors.
"...part of a society that is closest to the Utopian that many ...envisioned ... As a society, we are moving in the right direction ..."
Asim Khawaja |
"... I can spend more time with myself and my family, that I can have better medical treatment, that I can breathe fresher air..."
Kwak In-Chan |
"Being Canadian to me means being surrounded by a more peaceful environment, especially as it applies to the availability of guns. I can't say I don't envy and even respect Canadians for their ability to create a comparatively non-violent country...being Canadian means having a certain sophisticated innocence."
Dian Kiser |
"...model of tolerance and true democracy"
Sandra Pedraza |
" A vast land endowed with Natural Heritage, but with a gentle demeanor. A land with proud peoples living and sharing a happy life, glowing with inner warmth... Ice hockey...peaceful nation...the farmers of Canada help many other nations... "
Srivathsan Narasimhan |
"...minds his own business and does not interfere too much in other peoples affairs...not full of themselves though they love their country and like to talk about it...aware of other nations...proud of their country, but can appreciate other nations... foreigner-friendly..."
Anneli Virkki |
" Pride in being part of a society that is the envy of much of the world ... not a citizen of a nation with dreams of world domination, or of memories of world domination that has been lost ... Being different from everyone else. Just pride in my country and me. How can anyone define that? "
Milton R. Best |
"Being Canadian means being free and safe... safe to walk out at night without looking over your shoulder for fear of being held-up at gunpoint or something."
Argyle Camacho |
" Being Canadian means much more than being a citizen of the country of Canada. Being Canadian brings with it a certain responsibility, as well as pride, in understanding that sometimes the smooth running of things must be slightly forsaken in order to promote freedom. Canada is, in my opinion, the only true free society in which people can enjoy both freedom and security. I was born in Canada, as were my mother and father, and if I can help it, I will die in Canada. I revel in the fact that being Canadian allows me exposure to many, many different cultures and philosophies. Being Canadian means being thankful for these freedoms and opportunities, and not expecting any more distinction than that of your Canadian citizenship..."
Liana Kitchen |
"...a country that cares for you only...I really believe that I have connect or feeling that I belong in Canada"
Brendan M. McGuirk |
"... A society full of opportunities and hope!"
Weifu Fan |
Canada impresses even the most famous personalities!
From great nineteenth-century novelists to twentieth-century human rights activists, actors and politicians, the commentary about Canada stems from diverse people and sources. However, overwhelmingly, it is positive and optimistic.
"When I'm in Canada, I feel this is what the world should be like."
Actress Jane Fonda
"Canadian citizenship has its privileges indeed: despite the emotional push-and-pull over Quebec's status, the country is remarkably free of violent race, class or ethnic conflicts. It has one of the globe's best-educated and healthiest populations, and blankets its legal residents with social subsidies. From the lush high-rise apartments abutting Vancouver's Stanley Park to the sleek bank towers of Toronto's Bay Street financial district, Canadian cities exude a sense of newly minted opportunity; Its is no coincidence that Canada attracts more immigrants yearly --217,000 in 1994 - in relation to its population than all but a handful of countries."
Time magazine
"Time and again in striving to improve consumer rights in the United States, my colleagues and I would make reference to a superior situation in Canada such as the provincial ombudsmen, cheaper pharmaceutical prices, complete health-insurance coverage, and greater concern over acid rain. The credibility in the United States of a reference to Canada is higher than an analogy to any other country because of the belief that Canada is on the same democratic wavelength."
American consumer-rights advocate Ralph Nader in his book Canada Firsts, 1992
"In a world darkened by ethnic conflicts that tear nations apart, Canada stands as a model of how people of different cultures can live and work together in peace, prosperity and mutual respect."
U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1995
"The Canadian people strike visitors as among the world's friendliest, the most open and reasonable and least dogmatic, and now among the most economically aggressive and imaginative."
New York Times bureau chief Andrew H. Malcolm
"I am deeply moved by the warmth and courage of the Canadian people which I felt so strongly during my recent visit to your country. Your support of the struggle against apartheid restored me in my journey home and reassured me that many just people around the world are with us."
Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa
"Canada is one of the planet's most comfortable, and caring, societies; the United Nations Human Development Index cited the country as the most desirable place in the world to live. This year a World Bank study named Canada the globe's second wealthiest society after Australia."
Time magazine in 1995.
The Stories and Experiences of People Like You:
Immigrants and Prospective Immigrants to Canada
"Being Canadian means being a respected human being in the whole world. It means that I am guaranteed rights and freedoms most countries in the world are denied... I used to live in a place where I experienced discrimination...When I came to Canada I was treated like every one else, my intellectual abilities were respected and I was given every chance to succeed. Today, I have a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto and I am doing my Masters degree in Computer Science.... My greatest joy is that my son was born Canadian, I am confident that he will never go through what I went through, and that makes me happy and proud.."
Hadia Joukhaji
"...We have got a safe home. Canadian industry has got my technique and experience."
Jin Lu, Doctor of Engineering
{This scholar was invited to conduct research in Europe, Japan, US and Australia, but he decided to apply for immigration to Canada}
" To live in an extremely clean, quiet, peaceful and friendly environment. To develop my career in an advanced country, with democracy. To communicate with people from different countries, this must be an exciting thing. To make a wealthy life. You see, although I was {in her native country overseas} an executive employee of a global company, we could not afford an ordinary car and a small size flat..."
Carmen Gao
|
