For some new Canadians like myself, there’s an additional reason to live in constant apology, fear and loathing:

Guilt by association.

And bracing for the recurring media hate-fests, taunts and torments after events we have no control over.

No matter how non-religious, apolitical, non-ethnic, liberal, secular, agnostic, sceptical, atheistic we are, we cannot disassociate ourselves from the associative burden/baggage of our roots.

By Brooke Wilkinson

Why did you want to leave your home country?

For a better life in a freer country.

Why did you decide to move to Toronto?

Because a family member lived here.

What family members or friends did you leave behind? How do you stay in touch?

My parents, siblings and my friends. I stay in touch via phone and email.

If there’s one thing here in Toronto, Ontario which makes toiling through its winters bearable, it’s the arrival of the summer, the season of summer and the return of summer. Let me say it again if you’re missing the subtle point here: Summers here are what makes the winters bearable. Period.

It is indeed hard to believe, when one looks at the cityscape in summers, that just a few weeks ago, everything was covered deep in snow, ice and all that the winter leaves behind. It is really an experience for someone not used to all this during the better part of his previous life.