New Delhi: Content creators from Punjab and Gujarat, living in Canada, are flooding social media with videos and vlogs showcasing their struggles in the country. Their message is clear: don’t blindly chase the ‘Canadian dream’.
This growing wave of caution stems from multiple challenges—lack of jobs, soaring living costs, rising hostility, and the lure of better opportunities elsewhere.
In an interview with Sarbjeet Singh Sidhu, host of YouTube channel B Social, guest Gurpreet Kaur details the collapse of Canada’s healthcare system, rising safety concerns, and the dire lack of job opportunities, which she claims is forcing some women into prostitution to survive.
Kaur, who returned to India in 2023 after living in Canada for 4 years, compared life in both countries. “We talk about how difficult life is in India, but don’t even compare it to how difficult life is in Canada,” she said in the interview. “Employers there know that we aren’t permanent residents and that’s when the exploitation begins,” Kaur added.
Adding to the uncertainty, the Canadian government introduced new visa regulations on 31 January 2025, granting border officials greater authority to modify or revoke the visa status of international students, workers, and migrants. This followed the late 2024 cancellation of the Student Direct Stream (SDS) visa programme, which previously fast-tracked study permits for eligible international students.
Critics have blamed Justin Trudeau’s government for unchecked immigration, leading to a collapse in governance and economic instability.
Speaking to ThePrint, Kanwar Sierah, a regulated Canadian immigration consultant, said, “Canadians no longer want immigrants to come here. The ones suffering the most are 18-19-year-old students who have just moved.”
On the YouTube channel TV Punjab, a woman speaking in Punjabi criticises Indian parents for sending their children abroad without understanding the challenges. “You’re sending the youth here, but you’re not checking if there’s a place to live… or food to eat,” she said.
On Punjabi Travel Couple, another YouTube channel, the hosts interviewed several female students about their experiences in Canada. The women shared that even after four months, they had been unable to find a job.
Across the platform, there are multiple shorts with emotional music playing in the background, highlighting the “struggles” of living in Canada. In one video titled “Why It Is Not a Good Time to Move to Canada in 2025”, the host warns, “You must think at least 8-10 times before moving to Canada”.
“I moved here 2 years ago… This video is based on my experiences and those of my friends,” he said. “The biggest problem here is inflation. In the past 5 years, rental costs, costs of groceries, cars etc. have skyrocketed,” he said, adding that in spite of the inflation, incomes have remained stagnant.
Published in July 2024, a survey by Angus Reid Institute, a non-profit public opinion research foundation, found that at least 28 percent of Canadians have considered leaving their province due to housing affordability issues. Among those who have lived in Canada for less than 10 years—including recent immigrants—the number rises to 39 percent. The findings are based on an online survey conducted from 14 to 20 June, 2024, with a representative randomised sample of 4,204 Canadian adults from the Angus Reid Forum.
“Many recent immigrants are departing the country because of the high cost of living, potentially harming Canada’s reputation as a welcoming country for newcomers,” the survey said.
In one video, YouTuber Jashan Ambarsariya, talked about how things have changed in the past few years in terms of employment. “Earlier, even if you didn’t find a job in the first month, you would get something by the second. It was never the case that you would go 6 to 10 months without work—but things have changed now,” he said.
Another vlog, Harry Gill Show, claimed that Canadians are no longer as friendly as they once were. “If your family can afford to lose Rs 30 lakh, only then come to Canada,” warned host Harry Gill.
Meanwhile, in another video on the channel ‘Abhi and Niyu’, the hosts discussed how Canada, once seen as the “perfect country”, has become increasingly dangerous for Indians and less welcoming to immigrants.
Also read: Indians will never forgive Trudeau. Or forget
Changing landscape
The changing landscape of Canada has a lot to do with the increased immigration in the last couple of years, leading up to a failure of their health system, policing, and other facilities—things that at one point made for the ‘Canadian dream’.
Canadian government’s data shows that while there were over 25 lakh non-permanent residents in Canada in the fourth quarter of 2023, the number swelled to over 30 lakh in Q4 last year. Moreover, while there were over 3,02,348 work and study permit holders in 2023 last quarter, the numbers reached 347,268 in the same quarter last year.
Non-profit National Foundation for American Policy, in a report last year stated that between 2013 and 2023, there has been a record 326 percent increase in the number of Indians immigrating to Canada. Moreover, student enrollments as a whole also increased by 544 percent in Canadian universities between 2000 to 2021.
Indian students in Canada had staged protests last year against the new cap on immigrant workers which aimed at reducing the number of study visas and permanent residencies by 25 percent. The Canadian government last year also backtracked on its 2022 decision on increasing the number of foreign workers in the country.
According to Kanwar Sierah, the Canadian dream has reached its end.
“Massive immigration took place after Covid because the Canadian economy needed more workers. In the last two years, 77 lakh temporary residency applications were approved by Canada. This doesn’t include permanent residency applications. India is also one of the largest contributors to visitor visa applications. The Canadian system and infrastructure however is not equipped to handle this sudden influx. From health care systems to policing, everything has sort of collapsed. The wait time in medical emergencies has increased to 8 hours. Crime rates have increased,” Sierah said.
“The Canadian system, including its society, as a whole has collapsed,” Sierah said, adding that there has been increased push back from the Canadians. “There is increased hate towards immigrants from the second and third generation Canadians…. They aren’t mentally ready to face this wrath. They have no support system. There are no jobs, the cost of living is high, there is no safety net,” he added.
Sierah also noted that Canada is undergoing an economic downtown and the country has enough students and workers to meet their permanent residency target for the next 4-5 years.
“A major reset is required for Canada. From travel agents to politicians to real estate brokers, everyone has caused this problem due to their own greed and immigrants are paying the price for this,” Sierah added. He also pointed out how even college courses in Canada were designed to suit immigrants—only weekend classes so that students could work on other days. “A 1,000 such courses across colleges are expected to close soon,” he added.
Canada-based political analyst Darshan Maharaja, echoed similar sentiments and added that surge in immigrant quotas in the country reached a tipping point due to competitive political gimmicks, agents and other stakeholders.
“Canada has had a very liberal immigration policy for decades, and it used to be beneficial on both sides—the immigrants and Canada. However, in recent years, the intake of immigrants was pushed up significantly and this has had a highly deleterious effect on Canada’s economy,” said Maharaja. “There are colleges with courses designed specifically for immigrant students that started operating from 1,000 square feet areas. Public colleges started offering such training programmes to students for which there is a negligible job opportunity in the current scenario. Indian students occupy the majority of the immigrant intake in all categories.”
He said that many female international students fall victim to human trafficking, largely due to financial struggles. He added that while Indians were considered a model minority a decade ago, rising social friction, along with housing and job crises, has changed the landscape.
“The situation has become so bad that now four people, each paying 500 dollars, have to stay in one room. In one instance it was reported that 25 students were staying in a basement. The Canadian dream of earning and living better than India has died down. This isn’t the Canada we came to,” he added.
(Edited by Sudha V)
Also read: Is New Zealand going the Canada way? Over 500% rise in asylum claims by Indians over past 2 years
Never mind the situation in Canada.
All Khalistanis and wannabe Khalistanis living in India should migrate to Canada. Trudeau is there to look after them and ensure their “rights” are protected.
We in India would love to have these scumbags move out of here.