Balance!

Once you make the move, the first thing that you will want to do is live in an area among your own people. These maybe relatives, friends, country men or people from your own community. Toronto and its surrounding areas often called the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) is one of the most diverse communities I have ever seen. While I’m sure that other parts of Canada have similar diversity, I cannot speak for them. The fact that the province of Ontario and the GTA is the most populous in terms of new immigrants explains my earlier statement.

Therefore the move becomes a lot more familiar, you see more people like you, you find shops with products that you used back home, you catch up with people you probably never met in your own country or find links to people from the city or village that you came from and this makes you feel home away from home. The GTA is the home of the World and there are little communities of almost every country in the world here. So you definitely feel safe and comforted.

Now, with this sense of belonging and the comfort blanket that the community gives you there is a great risk of becoming insular. So as much as it is necessary to be a part of your people and do the things they do, it is very important to integrate with the overall Canadian community. At the end of the day, we are in a different country and being Canadian first will help give our future generations a true identity.

The balance between where you came from and where you are is very important. By all means teach your children to speak their mother tongue because it is important that they know the language their parents speak, educate them about the customs of your country and raise them like you were raised, however, make sure that you also learn to speak better English so that you can communicate with other communities and do not alienate yourselves or your children from the rest. This will make your stay a truly pleasurable, invigorating and enriched experience!