General Chat

I'm glad you've settled in Canada and had a good life, Sylvia. Sounds wonderful. It's a huge decision to make. My mother was only 23 and dad not much older. We came here at the start of summer so it was very hot. My mother said it was almost her undoing but she settled quickly. My parents had 3 more children. One of my brothers worked in England for a while and came back with an English wife. She loves it here and wouldn't live anywhere else although they have been back to England a couple of times.

My dad came to a job in the steelworks. He worked there up until he retired. Most of the kids I went to school with had fathers who either worked in the steelworks or mines. We knew many people from many nationalities. Italian, Spanish, Maltese and German generally as they were encouraged to come to Australia because they were such hard-working people.

Sue xx

.................. and I was the immigrant into Canada in 1968


We left the UK in 1967, 3 days after marrying, and went to Austin Texas for a year (the remainder of OH's contract at a university).


We weren't ready to return to England, so looked for another job for him. A university here in Vancouver offered what seemed to be the perfect job for him ....... so we came, initially for 2 years. Within 6 months we had decided this was "home". And here we are still.


As the immigrant, I have never been sorry that we left England, I have never been homesick ....... and I think we have had a wonderful life here.

Like Sue, I enjoy the multicultural aspect of life here ..... the second-largest Chinatown outside China, the large SouthEast Asian population, Japanese, South African, many NZ and Ozzies.


it's interesting to talk to Chinese and Japanese whose families date back 5 or more generations in Canada ....... and who were treated with disgusting discrimination for many years from about 1850 to the 1960s ............ and are now receiving official apologies from the government.





sylvia

I understand that Kay - but you are speaking with concern and compassion.

Sue xx

Thanks Persey and Lynda - you understand what I'm trying to say and thanks also for reminding me why I love you Lynda:-))

I live in a university city which is home to a lot of different nationalities. Even on our recent cruise we were happy that we had the opportunity over 10 days to talk to our Indian cabin steward, a Vanuatan waiter and a bartender from the Phillipines. We also met people from Mexico, Columbia and Venezuela - all Australian citizens. Yes, immigrants just like me. We played Trivia with a Chinese couple and laughed at a comedian with a young family from Queensland - oh yeah I forgot that is in Australia:-)) As Lynda said - look at the person not the nationality and colour of their skin.

Sue xx

There is a slightly difference from the 1950-60 era when Brits were being asked and aided to leave Aus.NZ.CA.SA could cope with the influx of thousands because jobs awaited them,they would be an asset to those countires ecommony.....


,,,here as things are, we have havnt the resources to accommodate for a much better standard of living which all deserve,,,,,, for all that wish to be here,,,,, the many unskilled workers who seek a life here,often remain homeless,in over crowding,,,is that fair on these people and their children,,,,no.it saddens me they see UK as a refuge yet they do get failed.that is my main concern.

As Sue knows

My neighbours on one side of me are Japanese and on the other side we have a lovely family from Sri Lanka. Our street is a bit of a league of nations and where I live in Auckland we have three Halal butchers and people come from all over Auckland to our suburb to get their spices and meat from our local shops. Most other suburbs don't even have a butcher they go to the nearest supermarket. We have a wonderful community and because they don't have a 9am - 5pm work ethic the shops are open till quite late at night every night. Most suburbs I would not feel safe to walk around at night but I feel very safe here.

I for one am pleased with the fact that Auckland has such a multicultural population - am happy with my backyard thanks.

Persey

Well I guess I'm not trying to change anyone's thoughts about anything, Eldrick. That's not up to me. I just wanted to put across my thoughts. The reasons why my parents decided to leave our family and raise a family in another country totally foreign to what they knew are often the same reasons why people want to live in another country today. Don't get me wrong - I believe immigration should be strict and controlled. Just don't blame everything that goes wrong on the strange looking, non-English speaking person who lives down the street.

Sue xx

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. It's a throwback here to the colonial days, where we were free to plunder and pillage anywhere we wanted yet remained a nation of NIMBY's.

Eldrick - I wouldn't dream of making comments as such about the UK immigration situation. I do know that I hate sweeping generalisations. The same comments are made here in Australia regarding immigrants and refugees. Try looking at the bewildered faces of children that have spent weeks on board a decrepit old boat or the haunted eyes of Somalian refugees arriving at the airport to a country with a lifestyle totally beyond their knowledge and not feel compassion. OK - call me a bleeding heart. I don't really care because this is how I feel.

Sue xx

Everyone has their prejudices - I know I have. But this current round of immigration mania is pretty transparent. It's nice to be able to level blame for anything on someone else and it seems to be socially acceptable to use immigrants as the excuse yet again.

The hysteria whipped up by the popular press takes advantage of the fact that the average sun/mirror/star/mail reader won't bother to look further than the end of their nose and will gleefully swallow every distorted fact and lie that they print, distort it further then pass it round as gospel. Most of the vociferous joke tellers don't even know why they dont like immigrants. No, they really don't! Ask them and they can't tell you!

I was just commenting on the fact that generalisations shouldn't be made about immigrants.

Sue xx

One of my ancestors was one of His Majesty's Redcoats - married an Irish immigrant. All other ancestors were immigrants in the nineteenth century. All willing to work hard, but never became rich - however they did have a better life than they would have had if they had not emigrated.

Then in the fifties, Australia needed tradesmen and my OH came here for the mandatory two years - and stayed. Two of his siblings followed and raised families here. It's hard to leave family behind, but home is where you settle and what you make of it.

On the other hand there were a lot of young children that left Britain during the war years - came to NZ or Australia and ended up being fostered by various families and often with not pleasant results. One chap went back to see his mother in Britain when he was older and she just didn't want to know. Another pair of sisters and a brother who live in NZ met up with their youngest sister still in the UK and after all the maltreatment they had in NZ it was wonderful to meet up with some one in the family.

When I was in my first years at primary school we had several girls from the Grange (an orphanage) across the road from the school. The Grange closed down when I was about eight or nine and I often wonder what happened to those girls.

The Australian government has apologised to all those that came there during that period but the New Zealand Government has not.
These young children didn't want to be immigrants - and as one bloke said he had no one that loved him - he went to one family and was treated like the servant and that he should be grateful and then when they no longer wanted him he went to another family and he had to do all the farm work. It must've been awful for them to grow up with the thought that a) their own parents didn't want them and b) the people they ended up with could not care less about them either.

Persey

yet their/(yours now )country was inviting in national papers for new blood into the country.
our cousin went in 60s,for £10.....he became a citizen...he said he wouldnt survive here now as no way could he afford the life style he has there,

Sorry I was taking a phone call.

My parents missed their family dreadfully but I know they felt they were doing the right thing and having had a good childhood I'm sure they did. However we met with prejudice too - "whinging pom" being the usual thing.

Sue xx

Sue ,Australia, NZ,Canada and SA were crying out for skilled newsettlers during the 1950s and 60s. infact they were assisting them to go and they took thousands of our residents.......and yes I think nearly everyone made the right choice.as the standard post war ,,,,,,pretty much like now,we dont have much at all to offer really,(

If I can just lighten the mood a little A friend married a girl from New Zealand lets call her Jenny....

Jenny was telling me one evening all about her family, I asked how she met her OH, she told me that when she was 9mths old her parents who were from my home town even the same estate I grew up on, left for New Zealand she came over to visit her Grandmother when she was 18 met her OH also a local lad they married, I thought it was a lovely tale,as both her dad and her OH dad were mods together in the 60's. Jenny and her OH had 2 sons and they both decided to make abetter life in NewZealand and who can blamed them ,been there 5 years now, so we wait for their son to visit his Grandmother lolol

All things being equal, most people in the world really would rather be at home.

All things in this world just aren't equal.

Matilda is still waltzing, Kay ;-))

Sue xx

When I was 3 my parents packed our belongings and left England for a new life in Australia. My father had a job waiting for him when we arrived. We left behind my paternal grandfather and my maternal grandparents who never saw me again. My mother and father never saw their fathers again. Also left behind were aunties, uncles, siblings and cousins. My father believed he was taking us to a better life and we certainly did have a good life but it wasn't easy settling into new way of life.

Sue xx