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10 Myths About Canada

Queuing for Beavertails pastries in the snow, Ottawa
Queuing for Beavertails pastries in the snow, Ottawa

Welcome to the “How to immigrate to Canada” series, ten articles covering the basics—immigration categories, rights and duties as a permanent resident, first steps as a newcomer and more.

Update September 2020

It’s time to tackle ten myths and misconceptions about Canada!

It snows year-round in Canada

Mention Canada and next thing you know, you’ll hear “it’s cold up there, isn’t it?” or “so, snowball fights year-round, right?”

I’m not going to claim Canada is a tropical country. It does get really cold and winters are notoriously harsh. But most of the population (95%, actually) lives close to the US border—not because we’re super in love with our American neighbours, but because the Arctic is a challenging place to live.

It’s very cold in Nunavut, for instance, where even average summer temperatures hover around 10 °C (and the average winter temperature is -30 °C). But in most of Canada, snow melts in the spring (late April or May) and it gets very hot in summer. It doesn’t usually snow again until winter (November, December…).

Canadians have a strong accent

Eh? There are unique Canadian expressions and Canadianisms, but to most non-native speakers, Canadian and American accents sound alike and the difference, if any, is subtle.

According to Canadians, the “Newfie” (Newfoundland) accent is the outlier in Canada. And most francophones from around the world need a bit of time to get used to the flavour of French spoken in Quebec.

Everybody speaks English

There are two official languages in Canada—French and English.

In 2011, English was the mother tongue of nearly 58% of the population of Canada (or 19.1 million persons), and French was that of nearly 22% (or 7.2 million persons). English was the language most spoken at home by 66% of the population and for 21%, it was French.

In addition, many Canadians speak a non-official language at home, such as Chinese, Punjabi, Spanish or Italian.

The national sport is hockey

Although hockey is a national pastime, the national sport was originally Lacrosse.

It’s only in 1994 that hockey became the national winter sport and Lacrosse became the national summer sport—yes, we have a National Sport of Canada Act!

The Canadian healthcare system is “socialized” medicine

Americans claim that we have a “socialist” healthcare system while Europeans tend to assume we have to pay a $10,000 bill every time we go see a doctor, much like in the US.

I find the Canadian healthcare system is very similar to most European healthcare systems. Permanent residents and Canadian citizens are covered by their provincial or territorial health plan. Healthcare isn’t “free” because it is financed through taxes but as users, we don’t have out-of-pocket expenses for essential basic care.

It’s not a perfect system—there’s a doctor shortage and waiting lists can be long for non-urgent care. However, we’re all covered, regardless of pre-existing conditions and employment status. Bottom line is, if you go see a doctor in Canada, all you have to do is show your health card and you won’t pay a cent.

Canada is a monarchy

Not exactly—Canada is a constitutional monarchy.

In practice, the Queen is Canada’s “official” head of state and she is represented by the Governor General. However, we have our own constitution and Canada is in no way dependent on Britain for laws or governing the country.

The royal familial mostly plays a symbolic and cultural role.

There are only two cities in Canada—Vancouver and Toronto

Tell people you’re Canadian and the next question will be “where do you live? In Toronto or in Vancouver?”

Trust me, there are more than two cities in Canada—Ottawa (the federal capital, which is not Toronto), Montreal, Halifax, Winnipeg, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton, St John… just to name a few.

Canada is basically like the US, just colder

It’s true that Canada has more things in common with the US than with Russia, Yemen or Indonesia. Canada and the US share a very long common border, a language, a “new world” mindset, media, food, sports, franchises, etc.

But there’s also a long list of political, social, geographical and cultural differences—education, healthcare, political systems, social issues, etc.

Canada is super expensive

In a 2020 Comparison of worldwide cost of living, Canada made it to the 20th position on the list, just behind the United Kingdom. If you’re from Denmark, Norway, Singapore or Australia, you’ll probably find Canada cheaper. If you’re from Argentina, China or Mexico, you’ll find it expensive.

It’s worth noting that Toronto and Vancouver, Canada’s two most expensive big cities, never come top of rankings of the world’s most expensive cities.

Canadians live in the wilderness

I personally love this stereotype of Canadians canoeing to work and hunting bears when they feel like grabbing something to eat.

Sure, I’ve seen people skating on the Rideau Canal to go to work and even skiing to get around during big snow storms. But the rest of the time, we just drive. And let’s face it, most densely populated part of the country is the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor where you’re unlikely to come face to face with a polar bear. Sorry, eh!

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Zhu

French woman in English Canada.

Exploring the world with my camera since 1999, translating sentences for a living, writing stories that may or may not get attention.

Firm believer that nobody is normal... and it’s better this way.

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