If you’re after wealth and status, don’t migrate to Canada. A Leger-Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC) poll showed that many new Canadians (former permanent residents) now hesitate to recommend the country to prospective migrants. For one, highly-educated immigrants face significant barriers to entry in their desired professions. The skyrocketing living costs will also make survival even more difficult for low-skilled migrants, of which there are far too many. On top of it all, the Trudeau government lacks a solid plan for solving Canada’s economic woes.
Still, is there any reason for Filipinos to move to Canada? You bet there is! If you excel in blue-collar work and are not picky about jobs, Canada might be for you.
It’s not because you’ll earn a lot from these trades given the country’s high taxes. Rather, Canada will give you something better: timeless life lessons.
One of which is the importance of independence!
Finding Your Path
Even though I returned to the Philippines from Canada after less than a year, I got to observe Caucasian Canadians frequently enough to understand why their country is still prosperous despite the government’s incompetence. Other nationalities perceive Caucasian Canadians as polite and peace-loving. What is often not talked about is how independent they are from their families.
Whether they may be persons with disabilities, millennials, GenZers or the elderly, Caucasian Canadians generally strive to earn a living and take care of themselves. Most of them don’t expect their relatives to bail them out of difficult situations. Neither do they demand each other to conform to one another’s idea of what a “good life” should be.
Knowing that they will have to fend for themselves pushes Caucasian Canadians to gain as many practical skills as possible even while they’re kids. Such a mindset tends to translate into economic productivity. Even my 1-year-old Filipino-Canadian nephew eats snacks by himself! More importantly, being independent allows individual Caucasian Canadians to live according to their personal values. Whether or not those values are correct is another matter.
Codependent Enablers
On the other hand, most Filipinos depend too much on their families for financial support. There are many instances in the Philippines wherein a family member becomes burdened to provide even for ABLE-BODIED ADULT RELATIVES just because he earns more than the others. That unfortunate Filipino will not risk job instability by putting up a business or applying to graduate school, thus limiting his career prospects. And the little money that he saves will go to his family.
To send money to their relatives in the Philippines, many highly-educated Filipinos give up vocations that are in line with their talents just to compete for the same low-skill jobs in Canada that several other applicants can fill. In extreme cases, they even end up working as illegal migrants. Why? Because the other family members are lazy or they bore children that they can’t afford to have…or both! And these Filipino relatives can’t grasp how hard life in Canada is for foreign workers.
Putting the Hand to the Plow
One of the advantages of being an adult third culture kid is that you get to view your own country through a different lens by seeing how other races live. Going to Canada deepened my appreciation for what Jesus meant when He said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:25-27).
The Bible commands us to honor our elders (Ephesians 6:2-3). We should definitely provide for our families (1 Timothy 5:8). But we shouldn’t enable their foolish behaviors! Helping them doesn’t mean that we should compromise our values to give in to their whims. And it certainly doesn’t justify milking Canada of state benefits when we ourselves don’t bring much to the table.
Hello Annie!
What an insightful content. You really have developed your own style of writing and are unapologetic and unafraid to speak the truth!
The article points out the unpalatable reality that there are indeed family members in Pilipino society who are free loaders. What is astounding is they feel entitled to the help and expect nothing less.