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Bring your dreams to Canada, But not old feuds
Advice to immigrants.
Bring with you your skills,energy,hard work and brains.
Bring your dreams.
But leave behind old feuds and scars.
Canada is not a battle ground for your past. It is the hope for your future.
We are all new comers here.
Never forget why you came to Canada. For a better life.
Never forget why you left your old land. Because it didn't hold
the promise you sought for you and your family.
Love your old country.
But love Canada more.
It is all right to be nostalgic about old customs and old ways of
doing things.
But you cannot expect to make a new life and have new friends
if you do not change. You have to accommodate.
Learn the language. Learn the ways. Appreciate the wonderful
gift that is Canada. Do not treat Canada like a mere cash
register. Do not expect love if you give none.
Demand clean air from Canada, and safe streets. Demand
good schools. Demand equal opportunity. Demand respect.
Demand decency.
Do not demand a free ride or special treatment or instant
success. It takes time.
Travel.
See the mountains, the rivers the plains.
Visit the cities, the farmlands the small towns.
Feel the country.
When you know Canada, you'll realize it is even more
wonderful than you thought from the brochures.
We are blessed. Share the joy. Share the good fortune. Watch
the news at night and read the newspaper -- then say a prayer
of thanksgiving.
Get involved. Do not retreat into some ethnic island away from
the mainstream of Canadian life.
We are a little bit English,French,Hungarian,
German,American,Chinese,Greek,Italian,Portuguese,
Japanese,Caribbean,Indian,Vietnamese,Australian,
Ukrainian,Dutch,Scottish ...... -- and dozens and dozens more.
Aren"t we lucky?
We can enjoy it all without leaving home.
Bring the best from your homeland but leave behind what
didn't work. We need no passion for last causes and futile
grudges.
Read history. Understand why Canadians like the United
States but do not want to be part of it. Understand why
French-speaking Canadians have been in the land 400 years
and feel threatened. Understand what the English have
contributed to our way of life.
Understand why cold winters and drought, depression and
hard times, have made the West suspicious of bankers, Bay St.
and fast talking feds.
Understand the sadness of the native people. Under stand the
struggle of the Atlantic provinces to survive.
They are good people. They have their reasons. Do not judge
them too harshly or too quickly. They may be right. Their fear
of change can be understood. Some change may be wrong.
Finally, laugh.
This country sometimes gets too serious. We worry a lot.
So bring us your gifts of enterprise and intellect, your kids and
your courage.
We need that.
One final note : My grandfather, Franz Lautenschlager, came to
this country nearly 100 years ago. I think it was the smartest
thing he ever did. So did he. |
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