3 ms·

As a counterpoint (Canadian.. living in Toronto). There is a good chunk of people growing up (my age... university age) that just assumes every city with a sign

As a counterpoint (Canadian.. living in Toronto). There is a good chunk of people growing up (my age... university age) that just assumes every city with a significant non-white population will have some region where the poor of the non-white people end up shooting at each other. Toronto has/had these areas (Jane and Finch ring a bell?). Vancouver has these areas. Montreal does too. It's no where as bad as the crime rates you'll see in other North American cities (well, except Vancouver...), but that's the feel. Also... if you leave Toronto/Vancouver/Montreal (and few other big urban centers), there actually is a very strong tradition of Canadian being a white christian. You're painting everyone with overly broad stereotypical brushes. Nothing makes a Canadian look as lame as possible as going out trashing talking Americans armed with stereotypes and stuff they remembered from Rick Mercer's Talking to Americans.

neilk 16y ago
You're right, the situation in Canada is changing. And I am older than you so perhaps my attitudes are outdated. When I hear about such areas developing in Vancouver I think of it as some sort of un-Canadian cancer, perhaps caused by recent adoption of US-style policies. That said, I know what I'm talking about. I'm an insufferable do-gooder who has volunteered to teach in East Vancouver, and I've had friends and significant others who are artists using warehouse space in economically depressed areas, like Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (which, to be fair, is for many a race-blind vortex of despair). And in the Bay Area I've had similar experience making frequent trips to West Oakland, Emeryville, and San Leandro. I never lived there, but I am the sort of person who tries to walk whenever possible (even when people tell me it's ill-advised) so I've seen a lot more that one does from an automobile. Trust me: the ethnic divide in Canada is nothing compared to the USA. In Canada you have neighborhoods where people are struggling. In the USA you have neighborhoods that look like the apocalypse happened, thirty or forty years ago.

neilk 16y ago

You're right, the situation in Canada is changing. And I am older than you so perhaps my attitudes are outdated. When I hear about such areas developing in Vancouver I think of it as some sort of un-Canadian cancer, perhaps caused by recent adoption of US-style policies. That said, I know what I'm talking about. I'm an insufferable do-gooder who has volunteered to teach in East Vancouver, and I've had friends and significant others who are artists using warehouse space in economically depressed areas, like Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (which, to be fair, is for many a race-blind vortex of despair). And in the Bay Area I've had similar experience making frequent trips to West Oakland, Emeryville, and San Leandro. I never lived there, but I am the sort of person who tries to walk whenever possible (even when people tell me it's ill-advised) so I've seen a lot more that one does from an automobile. Trust me: the ethnic divide in Canada is nothing compared to the USA. In Canada you have neighborhoods where people are struggling. In the USA you have neighborhoods that look like the apocalypse happened, thirty or forty years ago.