Just a few weeks ago, it was all ice and snow in Canada’s national capital. The weather had been mild by Canadian standards but we were still shoveling snow and wearing winter boots. We attended the Winterlude festival and we were skating (or eating beaver tails…) on the Rideau Canal.
And suddenly, it got warm. It surprised us all.

On March 4th, I went to accomplish my duty as a new Canadian citizen: I voted for the first time in Canada at the provincial bylection in Ottawa West-Nepean.I drove to the polling station slightly honored I could now vote. I know, I’m weird.
By comparison, voting in France is more ceremonious. I received my carte d’électeur when I turned 18 and I couldn’t wait to use it.

Mehmet Kaya has been in Canada for just over a year, and is still getting used to life here. He met his wife Brenda, an ESL teacher, while she was living and working in Istanbul. One day she walked into Mehmet’s uncle’s shop, where he was working, and the rest is history!

In France, the saying goes that “le client est roi”. But in fact, the customer is anything but a king: at best he is an idiot, a minor annoyance in your day. As this funny article on “How to play the French service game … and win” explains: “The customer is king. But we all know what they did to their royal family. The guillotined head of Louis XVI bounced across the Place de la Concorde as a few thousand Parisians laughed at it”.

Everybody knows that Canadians are peaceful and polite people. Yet, I noticed my fellow citizens can be quite annoyed by a few things… that are Canadian in essence.

Disclaimer: this post is to be read with your morning/ afternoon coffee. It is not meant to be taken literally. I know some Canadians are going to disagree (but I’m sure they will apologize about disagreeing).

Unlike many immigrants to Canada, Yasmine and her family hadn’t thought of immigrating anywhere. They hadn’t really chosen Canada either: they came as refugees after leaving their war-torn country. Their story is truly moving, from a perfect life in former Yugoslavia to coming as refugees in Germany and then Canada, where they eventually settled.