Why do I Believe in Canada - Essay Example

? Why do I Believe in Canada? Why I believe in Canada Why do people want to leave their homeland and move to another country? Leaving their homeland means leaving their loved ones and familiar surroundings where they grew up. For some, it is also leaving their values, their culture, their national food and even their language. What compels them to do this? Archie (2010) believes that the most common reason for people to migrate is to improve their lives. She further says that war, devastation, disease, famine, natural disasters are also reasons. For some others, mostly for men, lack of job opportunities in their own country is an important reason why they immigrate. I was born in Rwanda. My family and I had to leave our homeland mainly because of the 1990 genocide. “Between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days. Even for a country with such a turbulent history as Rwanda, the scale and speed of the slaughter left its people reeling” (BBC News Africa, 2011). Lemkin (1946) described genocide as a “deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group” (p. 227). This brutal act of genocide forced my family to leave our home and all our belongings and migrate to Canada. Why Canada? To begin with, “Canada is among the world's foremost refugee resettlement countries and is signatory to international agreements that affirm its commitment to the protection of refugee rights” (Murray, 2010, p. 89). Secondly, Canada offers many benefits to its permanent residents. Commenting on the Canadian immigration policy, Kaur (2010) says that Canadian government is interested in the country’s growth and development and its point system helps to bring in highly skilled foreign workers. According to the United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs (2010), Canada is the fifth most popular country for people to migrate, the first one being the United States of America. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (refer to Figure 1), physiological and safety needs are the basic ones. For many, happiness comes when these needs are satisfied. In view of this, Canada offers the basic needs to make its residents feel safe and secure. The most important safety need for a human being is personal health. Without health, all other needs are of little consequence. Canada offers all its citizens universal health care, regardless of their income. Unlike the American health care system, in Canada one cannot be denied treatment because he or she does not have medical insurance. Figure 1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Besides medical support, Canadian immigration rules foster family unity and support. People immigrating to Canada can bring their families with them including their children. 40% of the annual immigration to Canada comes under the family reunion and refugee programs .The country’s economic benefits include social support for people who are unemployed or otherwise struggling. Furthermore, those with children are guaranteed child benefits. What’s more, once an immigrant acquires resident status, he or she can help bring over his or her family by sponsoring parents and siblings. Another important advantage is that within three years of being an immigrant in Canada, the person is granted permanent resident status. Permanent residents are entitled to most of the rights and privileges of Canadian citizens. These include equal treatment and equal protection, equal legal rights, freedom of movement from province to province, etc. While most of these rules also apply to temporary Canadian residents, there are some that are exclusive to citizens and permanent residents. These are Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB), retirement benefits like old age security, guaranteed income supplement and Canada pension (Berez, 2007). Besides the abovementioned privileges that I received in Canada, my positive opinion of Canada has also been shaped by school, family, teachers, and the media, through socialization. Socialization helps people operate successfully and with ease in their social lives. This process takes place via interaction with family members, teachers, schools, and media. When I moved to Canada, my family gave me all-encompassing support. They were my first friends in Canada, which made everything look okay. Before making friends, I would stay back at home and watch the television. This assisted me a lot in seeing how the Canadians lead their lives and in understanding of their culture and norms. The media made it much easier for me as it gave me a rough idea of what I should expect from the Canadians. The internet, newspapers and radio also helped me improve my social norms. The significance of school in socialization cannot be overlooked due to the fact that students spend there about seven hours a day. There, besides studying, the students perform many activities and play games, and this plays a significant role in their socialization. Therefore, you can see that Canada is a land of opportunities not only for the skilled workers and youth but also for retired people who cannot work anymore. The country takes care of people who are persecuted in their own countries or cannot survive there because of poor living conditions. These could be either man-made or God-made. In other words, while some emigrants are looking for a better life, others are looking just for “a life”, and for them Canada is a particularly good choice. References Archie, L. (2010, April 8). Emigrating to another country - Why people may choose to do it. Ezine Articles. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?Emigrating-to-Another-Country----Why-People-May-Choose-to-Do-It&id=4055626 BBC News Africa. (2011, May 17). Rwanda: How the genocide happened. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13431486 Berez, A. (2007, April 3). Benefits of being a Canadian permanent resident. Retrieved from http://www.canadaupdates.com/node/7801 Kaur, H. (2010, November 15). Canada defies trend, attracts more immigrants. Retrieved from http://www.canadaupdates.com/content/canada-defies-trend-attracts-more-immigrants-15871.html. Lemkin, R. (1946). Genocide. American Scholar, 15(2), 227-230. Murray, S. (2010). Environmental migrants and Canada’s refugee policy. Refuge, 27(1), 89-102. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2007). Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved from http://www.migrationinformation.org/datahub/charts/6.1.shtml Read More