What has happened to Canada?

Question

When I was younger I drove with my family from New York to Montreal many times and thought it was amazing. I really liked it a lot. A year ago, a friend of mine was murdered in Montreal and it made me think. People have told it that canada has changed a lot, but when I visited Vancouver a few weeks ago I saw it for myself and was stunned. There was crackheads wondering the streets aimlessly. Trash and used newspapers blowing in the wind. I saw condoms and needles laying on the ground several different times and I had to look where I walked. Graffiti all over the place, strip clubs and stores selling bongs were everywhere. I had been told that Vancouver was the gem of Canada. When did it become so infested with crackheads, strip clubs, needles, and aids clinics? I talked to someone that moved from Canada to the US about this and they just laughed and said if I thought Vancouver was bad, I should check out toronto. Everyone in Canada seemed so apathetic and not to care anymore. Why?

Answer 1

Under the canadian constitions, there is a bill of rights that give criminals more rights than victims.

The laws are there but enforcement is weak and consequences are negligible

Drugs are illegal but safe injection sites are provided under gov't license...go figure!!!

Gone are the days when if the consequences are more unpleasant than the reward for a bad action, the action is not done.

Answer 2

still better than living in the US

Answer 3

yea you were in the bad parts. every big city has them, just stay away from them (mainly the downtown eastside).

Did you not go to the rest of Vancouver?

Answer 4

Honestly, I have never, ever seen needles or used condoms anywhere where I live.  I agree that there is more trash on the streets than there used to be but here it isn't that bad.  

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan takes pride in how it looks as does the majority of it's residents.

Answer 5

sorry to say but your childhood visions are replaced with adult reality.  Canada at her worst is still better than some places in the States at their best.  The sour side of life has ALWAYS been here you just were never shown it.  I've been an immigrant to Canada for many years and have lived in most regions of the country and I can tell you it is still a great place to live BUT it never was the place of your childhood dreams.

Answer 6

Sorry to hear about your friend, but I would have to say that a murder is quite uncommon here in a Canadian city.

Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver are the three largest cities in Canada. As a result, they tend to experience more serious criminal activity than in other smaller areas. All three cities have been trying to fight gang activity and drug use which has been on the rise over the last few years.

In 2006, there were 196 homicides in Ontario(most of any province) for a population of 12.7 million, and there were a total of 605 homicides in all of Canada (32.6 million people). By comparison, New York had 921 homicides for 19.3 million people in 2006.

Now, I can't speak for Vancouver, as I have never been there myself, but it sounds to me like you may have been in a bad part of town, such as the suburb of Surrey.

As with any large city, there are bad parts of town where you will see this type of thing. Are there no parts of New York that you would see this type of thing too?

I have lived in Montreal all my life and although I agree that the city does look a bit more rundown now than it has in the past, there are improvements going on and it depends on the part of town if you think it is getting better or worse.

As for Toronto, I visit there quite often, and have never had a problem in the suburbs of Markham, Mississauga, Oshawa, and others. I don't spend the night bar hopping on the streets so may not see all the activities, but am quite happy with the cleanliness of the city, considering its size.

I hope you consider visiting Canada again, but choose another part of Vancouver, or perhaps another city. Calgary, Regina, Ottawa, Quebec City, Bathurst, Halifax, and Summerside are all places I would suggest across Canada.

Answer 7

There are bad parts of every city in the world.

"Maybe too much immigration all at once."

There is zero evidence that immigration is causing these kinds of problems in Canada. Most immigrants to Canada have job skill and money - you can't get in without them.

"Under the canadian constitions, there is a bill of rights that give criminals more rights than victims."

This is just not true. Everyone has the same rights in Canada. What you're seeing in the inner city has nothing to do with the constitution.

Canada is a huge country with many different geographies and peoples. To judge an entire country based on one or two neighbourhoods is kind of ridiculous. You wouldn't judge the entire US based on a slum in Newark or Detroit, you wouldn't judge all of France based on a housing project outside of Paris.

"and they just laughed and said if I thought Vancouver was bad, I should check out toronto."

There's a lot of prejudice against Toronto all over Canada. Most people who say things like that have never stepped foot in Toronto. Vancouver and Toronto are both beautiful, diverse cities with lots of great things going for them. They have slums, but find a city that doesn't.

Having lived in the US for more than 40 years and in Canada for the last 3 years, I don't find Canadians more apathetic than people anywhere else.

Answer 8

Sounds like you might have been in the lower east end of Vancity... where drug use and seedy activity is well known.  That area has been like that for decades though- I know this because one of my great uncles died in Vancouver's lower east end - of alcohol poisoning - about 40-50 years ago. He had been living on the streets for a couple of years by that point. Vancouver has traditionally been where a lot of transients go during the winter due to the warmer temperatures.  I agree that it's getting worse in general though (ie, across Canada).  I think a lot of it has to do with gang activity and lack of direction in the youth population.  I live in a lower income area in Edmonton now (which is being revitalized with the influx of artists, musicians and young families that can't get into the housing market in the rest of Edmonton due to the crazy house prices).  Even with this revitalization, I see a lot of youth left to their own devices - there is no direction or activities for them to keep busy.  MANY gangs have moved into the city, particularly in this area.  Unfortunately I think that a lot of their parents are a) busy working to make ends meet, or b) uninterested in their children which is a perfect recipe for them to join a group of people where they get to be recognized - a gang.  I am definitely not saying that this is all kids - not even close, but it only takes a small percentage to make a difference.  And, I know this isn't just happening in my area, but also in suburbia.  I remember going to high school in the 90s and knowing people in my upper middle class school that were involved with gangs.  Their parents would give them money to keep them occupied (most often because the parents were either working a lot or wanting to do their own things, without the kids).  Anyway, these guys (some girls) shot at 2 houses in the area, because they were part of the rival gang!  If their parents DID stuff with them, I wonder if they would have been swayed to join a gang where they were noticed.

So, getting to your question about apathy in Canada - I agree with you.  I think that many adults are too busy making money to keep up with the Jones' next door, or doing their own thing, that the kids are left to the way-side.  I think often kids are brought into this world because it's expected and it's a status symbol.  I think as time goes on, often parents have a lot of pressure to make lots of money - to give their children everything, plus have enough so they can have fun too.  In the process of working like a dog, the parents choose not to see that their kids are in crisis and all h**l is breaking loose.  I don't mean to generalize - and this certainly isn't a generalization because many kids have great parents who really are interested in them, but it only takes a few misguided young adults to cause a great deal of harm and violence.  It's sad and I wish more parents would notice their kids and guide their children.  It doesn't mean that one parent needs to stay  home - not at all, but that there are family days/nights where the kids are NOTICED by their parents and encouraged and directed by their parents!

This is only my theory on my own observations.  It certainly doesn't explain even a quarter of the crime occuring these days but I think it does impact society as a whole, in a negative way.

Cheers

Answer 9

I do hate to derail a question, but I want to respond to theTruth's handy little note about what makes Canada the shame of the continent:

Five myths about Canada you need to know about!

1. Free health care.

Canada's health care is not free. True. But I'd sooner pay higher taxes and know that my necessary hospital care and medical treatments won't run out if I lose my job or my health insurer suddenly decides my treatments are too expensive. Private healthcare is concerned first and foremost with the corporate bottom line, and I'd rather not leave my life in the hands of number-crunchers who want to maximise the return to shareholders with third-quarter profits. Monopolise away, Canada.

2. High standard of living



According to the UN Human Development Report, our national GDP per capita is 33,375$. True, we are below the US, at 41,890$. But we also handily beat most of the world in GDP, including the UK, Australia and Japan.

The Human Development Index on standard of living also puts us in 4th place, and the US in 12th.

And for the record, the US debt, as of April 30th, stands at 9.377 trillion dollars. That's over thirty thousand dollars owed by every man, woman, and child to balance America's books.

3. Peaceful

"never adjusted for per capita, ie. the actual population of the two countries"? Where'd you get that idea? Crime rates are generally measured out at a ratio of crimes per 100,000 population. I'm not sure if what you mean here is that Canada being 1/10th the population of the US, we should have 1/10th the crime or what, but that's why figures are adjusted PER CAPITA, so that you can draw comparisons between figures, versus absolute numbers. It's one thing to say that Toronto had 70 murders last year, but you can't then go on to compare it with, say, Newark New Jersey - with around 40 murders - and say that Newark is safer because thirty fewer people got killed. (Those murder counts aren't stats, just examples.)

For actual stats, courtesy of StatsCan and the US Dept. of Justice. Canada's murder rate in 2004 was 2.0 per 100,000 population. The US site only has a graph, but for the pre-2005 period, they're above the 5.0 per 100,000 mark.

Nice to say that the US crime rates are dropping compared to Canada's .... without mentioning that the US rates are twice what they are in Canada. The Canadian rate may increase from 2.0 to 2.5 (a 25 percent increase in the murder rate!), while the US rate may drop from, say, 5.0 to 4.0, (A 20% drop in murders!) Based on words alone, Canada sounds more dangerous than the US, though the figures would say otherwise.

4. Strong economy

Canada's economy is strong because we are a net exporter of energy and oil. Economic growth in Newfoundland and Saskatchewan is surging, and Alberta's economy is most enviable indeed. Not quite sure how we're "piggybacking on the US," particularly as the American economy is faltering. Wouldn't we, by definition of piggybacking, also be going down the pipes?  Also, I don't know where this notion of bitterness about selling our resources to the US comes from - that's what makes our economy function, and I don't see a whole bunch of people complaining about it.  

Research and technology, while we do lag behind the US, we certainly aren't so far behind that we're dependent. We have plenty of technological development here, both at the university level and in the private sector. Private development has actually increased as a result of tougher US visa regulations for foreign skilled workers, who migrate instead to Canadian centres. Microsoft realised it and opened a development centre in Vancouver.

5. Canadians are polite self effacing and humble

Erm, no argument on the western Canadian drivers. I shudder inwardly when I see the big chrome-plated Dodge Ram with Alberta plates weaving across lanes of traffic. British Columbians are alright, though ...

As for your comments about the rest of us, as they say, it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the bunch. I would be reasonably certain that - barring a total lack of civility and decorum on your part - the vast majority of Canadians you've encountered have been unremarkably different than anyone else you've met on either side of the border. You just tend to remember the bad experiences more often than not, kinda like how you always get the red light at a certain intersection - you never think of the times when it's green ...

Anyway, back to the question at hand!

It is probably part of the bloom-off-the-rose of your childhood memories, whereby things just don't look as good as you remember them being when you were young. But then again, how often did you walk through downtown Montreal as a kid, with the thought in your mind "man, I've heard Canada's a real dangerous place"? If you go into something with a particular mindset, you're going to see examples of it all over the place. If I thought to myself "hmm, I've heard there are a lot of licence plates with the numbers 4 and 6 together!", I'd be seeing it everywhere because I'd be looking for it. I'd subconsciously dismiss anything that didn't confirm my hypothesis, while remembering everything that did. (Actually, just like the guy complaining that Canadians are rude - if you run into two bad Canadians, you'll forget the twenty people before who held open the door for you or apologised for bumping into you.) As a kid, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have been counting the number of crackheads in the Lower Mainland - more likely, you wouldn't have ever ventured into the Downtown Eastside in your younger years. After all, when you travel with your parents, they do try to shield you from that sort of thing and don't make a point of getting their pictures taken with the condoms and needles on the corner of Hastings and Main.  

I don't think things have changed that much in Canada over the past 20 years - we're just more conscious of these negative things and less tolerant of them. Plus, the media certainly plays a role in it - you always hear about gang violence in Vancouver or Toronto, a group of kids beating up a woman in Halifax, a lunatic stabbing a couple in Mississauga. If you took the news at face value, h**l, you'd never leave the house. Isolated incidents with all kinds of gory details and terrifying attacks lead the six o'clock news - they certainly are gripping stories that get your attention. See that every night at suppertime, or every day on page one of the paper, and you begin to believe that you couldn't make it ten steps outside without being iced by a junkie for your wallet.

Things will never be as rosy as we remember them ...

Answer 10

I think we are just catching up with the States.  Maybe too

much immigration all at once.  Too many families leave their teenagers

alone while they work to keep up.  The teens are left too alone  have no direction.  In Montreal

the violence is mostly with gangs and their guns.  A lot are

here from the States trying to infiltrate our area with drug

sales.  Some illegals exist too.  Dumb culture with too much

violence in video games, movies, entitlement and vanity with

clothes.  Not enough value by youth in reading, libraries, art and

nature.

Answer 11

You were obviously in a very bad neighbourhood.  The US has PLENTY of those, too.

Answer 12

Murder is about the only crime that is less common in Canada than in the states.  

Eliminating the right to cary a weapon, capital punishment and decades of Liberal governments apointing Liberal judges who don't believe in putting people in jail is not the a effectrive way to reduce crime.  The American crime rate has been dropping a lot faster than the Canadian one for a while.

Answer 13

I know what you mean