For decades, Canada has built its international brand as the most immigrant-friendly country in the world. Unlike the American “melting pot,” where everyone must become American, Canada offered the concept of a “cultural mosaic,” where people can integrate while retaining their identity. However, today, at the end of 2025, the answer to the question “How do people feel about us?” is much more complex and troubling than it was five years ago.
To understand the real picture — without rose-colored glasses, but also without unnecessary drama — it is worth considering this question through five key dimensions: economic breakdown, social psychology, professional integration, regional characteristics, and the “hidden code” of Canadian politeness.
1. The breakdown of social consensus: from “we need everyone” to “we are overcrowded”
For a long time, Canada had a consensus that was unique in the Western world: both left-wing and right-wing political forces supported high levels of immigration. This was not just a manifestation of altruism — it was a pragmatic calculation: an aging population needed new taxpayers to sustain the pension system.
However, the last two to three years have been a turning point. According to the Environics Institute and Nanos Research (2024–2025), the proportion of Canadians who believe that there are “too many immigrants” in the country has reached 58–60% — a historic high in a quarter of a century.
It is important to understand the nature of this skepticism. This is not classic racial xenophobia. Canadian skepticism has a purely material, everyday basis:
- Housing shock: The main driver of the change in sentiment is the real estate crisis. When the population grows by a record 1+ million people per year and construction cannot keep up, the average Canadian begins to see every newcomer as a competitor for an apartment. Canadians who cannot buy a house or pay $2,500 to rent a studio apartment subconsciously transfer their irritation to immigration statistics.
- Infrastructure collapse: Overcrowded classrooms, healthcare crisis, and the inability to find a family doctor have created a feeling that “the boat is overloaded.”
- Inflation: The high cost of living forces people to look for simple explanations, and rapid population growth becomes the most obvious one.
So, the current attitude can be described as: “We have nothing against you personally, but we are against the system falling apart at the seams.”
2. Social interaction: the phenomenon of “polite indifference”
If we move away from politics and look at everyday life, the Canadian attitude remains one of the most tolerant in the world. You are unlikely to be offended on the street because of your accent or skin color. However, newcomers often encounter an invisible wall that can be called “polite indifference.”
The “peach” and ‘coconut’ metaphor
Cultural experts often compare Canadians (and Americans) to peaches:
- On the outside: Soft and sweet. They will smile at you, ask “How are you?”, and help you find your way.
- Inside: Hard pit. It is extremely difficult to break through to true friendship, where you will be invited to dinner or people will share their personal problems with you.
Slavic cultures often act like coconuts: hard and unfriendly on the outside (no one smiles at strangers), but once you get inside, you become part of the family. Immigrants often confuse Canadian politeness with friendship and then become disappointed when the “friend” who promised to “definitely meet for coffee sometime” never calls.
Social bubbles
Canadians tend to stay friends with their school or university friends for life. It is difficult for immigrants to enter these established circles. Therefore, Ukrainians often socialize with Ukrainians, Filipinos with Filipinos, and Indians with Indians. This is not because of hostility from the locals, but because of the inertia of their social connections.
3. Professional barrier: the “Canadian Experience” trap
The most painful manifestation of the Canadian system's attitude is the labor market. There is a harsh paradox here: the country invites you precisely because of your education and experience (the Express Entry system), but local employers often ignore this experience upon arrival.
The requirement to have “Canadian experience” is a form of systemic discrimination.
- Risk aversion: Canadian managers are very cautious (risk-averse). They are afraid to hire someone whose references they cannot verify and who may not understand the local corporate culture (soft skills).
- Consequences: This leads to the phenomenon of “survival jobs,” where an engineer works as an Uber driver and a doctor works as a lab technician. This does not cause open contempt from society, but it demonstrates a certain professional snobbery: “We respect you as a person, but we do not trust your qualifications until you become ‘one of us.’”
4. Regional nuances: where are you more welcome?
Canada is huge, and attitudes toward immigrants vary dramatically from province to province:
- Toronto and Vancouver: Here, immigrants are the city. More than 50% of Toronto's population was born abroad. No one here is surprised by an accent or an exotic name. But this is also where competition is highest and “people fatigue” is most prevalent. Your otherness is invisible here, but no one is interested in your presence either.
- Alberta (Calgary, Edmonton): This region is historically more conservative, but also more pragmatic. There is a strong work ethic here. If you work, pay taxes, and take care of your lawn, you will be respected, regardless of where you come from. However, it is in the prairies (Alberta, Saskatchewan) that the highest growth in dissatisfaction with the federal policy of mass immigration is currently being recorded.
- Quebec: A world apart. Attitudes here are dictated by the protection of the French language. If you don't speak French, you may experience real coldness and alienation, much stronger than in English-speaking Canada. Quebec nationalism sees mass English-speaking immigration as a threat to its culture, so the province strictly controls its quotas.
- Atlantic Canada (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick): The population here is aging the fastest, so the need for people is obvious. The attitude is often warmer and more personal (“we need neighbors”), but integrating into small communities where everyone has known each other for generations can be even more difficult than in an anonymous metropolis.
5. Hidden code: what annoys Canadians about immigrants?
Even tolerant Canadians can be annoyed by certain patterns of behavior that they consider “un-Canadian.” Understanding this code is critical to integration:
- Aggressiveness and assertiveness: Canadian communication culture is a culture of hints and understatement. Direct criticism, loud arguments about politics or religion, and demands to “do it now” are perceived as rude. Immigrants from more direct cultures (Eastern Europe, Israel) often seem aggressive to Canadians.
- Violation of personal space: Physical distance, lineups, and silence on public transportation are sacred. Attempts to “push in,” loud phone conversations on the bus, or overly close contact during conversation elicit immediate, albeit silent, disapproval.
- Ignoring small talk: For many immigrants, questions about the weather seem hypocritical. For Canadians, it is social lubricant, a way to show safety and friendliness. Refusal to play this game is perceived as hostility.
Conclusion: the end of the era of naivety
In summary: the era of romantic, unconditional acceptance of immigration in Canada is over. Canadians have not become racist, but they have become harsh realists.
Today's attitude is one of “conditional welcome”. You are welcome if you:
- Are financially independent and do not claim social benefits.
- Respect the local rules of the game (from sorting garbage to tolerance).
- Do not try to change Canada to suit yourself, but change yourself.
For Ukrainians, this means that the initial wave of empathy in 2022 (“poor people, we must help them”) has been replaced by expectations of full integration (“you've been here for three years, it's time to get on your feet”). Canadians remain one of the least prejudiced nations, but their friendliness now comes with a clearer price and limits.