Reply #5: That's not entirely true... [View All]

Canada's huge, glaring problem historically is that they have too few people in too much space. They have always relied on immigration to help populate the country. There are several ways of getting into Canada, and if you have any professional or vocational experience to speak of in lines of work that they want, and are an honest, responsible, good person, you can probably get in if you try. There's a whole lot of professions and vocations on their "desirable" list. Their main concern is that they don't want people who are likely to wind up on public assistance. Understandably, they want people who are likely to contribute to the economy and to the public discourse in terms of civic engagement, intellectual and artistic output, etc.
You can take a mock test on the Immigration Canada website. You get points for being fluent in English or French (it's extra good if you know both), for various levels of educational attainment, and so on. Under most of their plans, they do want you to have some seed money to get started, i.e. get a place to live and wait out the job-finding period, just so you don't go on the dole immediately. All of which is fair and reasonable.

That said, there is some anti-Americanism, and there always has been. They live in the shadow of THE 900-pound gorilla, and they're often not excited about it, for good reason. You might expect to encounter some hostility occasionally from anyone who learns that you're originally American. On the other hand, most Canadians are pretty decent, down-to-earth people and the majority of them will welcome anyone who arrives with a will to work and make a new home there.