Category: Travel and Tourism
Hi!
I'm seriously thinking about leaving the United States. I've made a list of possible new homes, and I'll probably be asking for opinions on all the ones that I know to be inhabited by Zoners. So this will not be my only post of this sort, but this one's for you, Canadians.
I've done a bit of research on the history, and I already know a bit about the culture. My main concern is the human rights situation, especially the rights of people with disabilities. To be quite honest, what I know at this point is not encouraging. I just ran across an article from this year about disabled parents constantly living in fear of having their children removed by the CAS. That, while not an immediate concern for me personally, is something about which I feel very strongly and that will affect me one day. But I'd also like to know about employment discrimination and accommodations for students with disabilities.
If anyone has insight on these issues, or anything else I should be aware of, I'd be very grateful!
Becky
first of all. You can't just move from one country to another. Every country has immigration requirements. I'd really do your research on this before anything else.
For starters it's at the minimum three grand to apply for citisenship, and you can't get disability benefits for the first year if I recall correctly.
You would also have to get a temparary vesa to stay here beyond six months, but I'm not sure if that's still valid, because as we all know things change quickly.
Keri, she's -trying to do her research. That's precisely the point of this topic.
The United States and Canada are more permissive with one another than they are with most other countries, but you still may face some hardships. I didn't actually know it was three grand for citizenship, mind you.
Keri, I'm sure she's done, or is doing, the research on the actual immigration laws. This topic seems to be her attempt to learn more about daily life there, especially as a blind person, from the people who actually live there. That's something Google can't tell her.
I believe you can get benefits right after moving there because my friend just moved there during the summer, but his parents had a job there before he arrived in the country, so not sure if that had something to do with it.
For the visually impaired, the infrastructure in Canada could do with some massive
improvement... it's coming along slowly, but it still has a long way to go.
I think in the case of severely disabled children being removed from the home, it would
depend on the individual circumstance as to what happens. The government isn't just
going to remove a deaf or blind child from the home just because the child is deaf or
blind... these kids can be integrated into either mainstream and specialty schools (I know
of a school in the metro Vancouver area that was formed for the hearing impaired) and
they're no worse off than their sighted and hearing siblings and friends, and it's highly
unlikely that the provincial government would intervene... however, a more severely
disabled child who suffers from the effects of a debilitating illness like say cerebral palsy,
the situation will be completely different. That child needs more care than the deaf or
blind child and if a standard of care is not obtainable in the home setting, the province
reserves the right to step in and remove the child from the home. In Canada, health and
child welfare care issues are dealt with on a provincial level and standards vary from
province to province. The federal government has the authority to set general laws but it
leaves it up to the various provincial governments to draw up the laws for each specific
province.
I am hopeful that the newly elected government will make some positive changes for the
disabled community and not just give empty lip service and offer empty promises.... I am
really hopeful about the possibility of this change happening because the federal minister
of sport and people with disabilities, a woman named Carla Qualtrough, is legally blind
and a former Paralympian, so she has a good idea as to what it means to live with a
disability and hopefully she can help bring about change. As a bonus, before being
elected into office, Carla practiced human rights law at the federal and provincial levels
and chairs the BC Minister’s Council on Employment and Accessibility.
I don't know how much this will go towards assuaging your fears about possibly coming to
Canada... I know that researching about immigration is a daunting task (I've been there
myself) but Canada isn't a big scary backward place that doesn't have anything for the
disabled... it's just that what we have isn't as good as it could be.
May I direct you to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind's website? They can be
found at http://cnib.ca/en/Pages/default.aspx They're not the greatest thing out there
but perhaps the people there can offer you more insight into what life is like in Canada.
Good luck to you
Hi Westcoastcdngrl. Thanks for all the info! I'll have a look at that website. As for parenting, I actually meant that parents who have disabilities get their children taken away by the CAS because they're not perceived to be capable of caring for them. I read about a particularly nasty incident involving a couple who both had CP almost having their newborn taken from them. What I've learned leads me to believe that this type of discrimination is not uncommon.
Thanks everyone for the advice!
Becky
Becky, in that respect, I don't know that Canada would be much different from here. Disabled parents get their kids taken away here in the US, too.
Dawn I'm not saying she has or hasn't, but many say I want to do this but really don't research it. So I'm just giving a friendly really do your research because it's not as simple as I'm going to do this.
The best advice I can give is look up immigration requirements, and do it on a government website. While reading others could be helpful, be careful where you trust.
Also, prepare for the fact unless you move to an area where you have friends or family you will be alone at times, and that in itself can be stressful.
good luck immigration in any country is a pain. I'm going through it now with my husband.
So, where is Click Clash now?
Did you move to Canada? Stil thinking about it?
It's much like the United States in that there's a great deal of variance between different places, although you dont' quite get the feeling like you do sometimes in America that you've suddenlys stepped into a different country when you cross a state border. Well, ok, maybe a little. if you want to live in Quéebec, learn French, although you can get by in Montreal ok without it. If you want easily available resources and a reasonable degree of accessibility, move to a populated city. Montreal probably has the best metro system in Canada (although I've heard that Vancouver's is quite good as well), but all the major cities have bus routes that pretty much go everywhere.
You'll be able to get a job if you have skills, and this will help you move as well. I'm not saying it'll be easy mind you, but it never is; the employment racket is a bitter game these days for everyone. You don't need to be a citizen of Canada to stay in the country and indeed this is a long process that also costs quite a bit. Landed immigrant status is much easier and quicker to obtain. Still, there are certain benefits that will be restricted to you as a landed immigrant. I don't know about disability benefits; those are provinece-dependent and you'll have to do research on wherever it is you want to live, if you're going to be wanting those. The Ontario disability benefit system is quite strict and stingey and at times difficult to deal with.
And nobody's going to take your kids away just because. What on earth have you been reading? Of course, parents can be reported by neighbours, schools and so on, and I've heard of CHildrens' Aide getting involved and stuff, but they don't just show up in jackboots in the middle of the night to spirit your children away from their home. They usually send a social worker to evaluate the situation and they may make multiple visits depending on what happens.