ISU

I was not able to speak to my grandparents who immigrated here from the Netherlands because they were away in Florida the whole Christmas break and they can't hear very well so a “30 minute” phone call would just turn into a lot of “hello?... are you still there?” and “oh Ron I think you unplugged the phone” yes they still don't understand that cell phones are now wireless. So I decided to research why most Dutch immigrants moved here to Canada around the 1940s since that would be the time they would have come here. I found that during and after the war about 2000 war brides came to Canada after the soldiers proposed to them and brought them home to their families and some of the women had culture shock. Later in 1947, approximately 15,000 Dutch farm workers moved to Canada under a three-year bilateral agreement between Canada and the Netherlands called the Netherlands Farm-Families Movement, Canadian farmers sponsored Dutch immigrants to work on their farms to save up money so they could buy their own land. Most of the immigrants were either war brides or farmers but by the 1950s many skilled and professional workers moved here as well. Ontario became a particularly important destination, followed by Alberta, British Columbia, and the Maritimes. By the late 1960s around 150,000 Dutch immigrants were Immigrated in all provinces, except Newfoundland. Most of the Dutch immigrants were of lower-class or lower-middle-class and working-class origin with strong bourgeois values, meaning they were adapted to the city life.I then began to research how my life would be like if I lived in the Netherlands today, I found an article saying “Dutch teens are the happiest in Europe and also happier than American teens. They like to go to school, have lots of friends and are less involved in fights and bullying. They have a good relationship with their parents and feel healthy. Also, there are not anywhere else in Europe so many kids having breakfast as in the Netherlands. Dutch teenagers drink less, smoke less cannabis and tobacco and engage less often in unsafe sex than most of their peers in the 39 countries covered by the HBSC report. Just five years ago, they were still among the top ten.” (Dutch Daily News) which makes me very happy since I don't like hearing about teenagers my age or younger getting mixed up in drugs and or alcohol, and the fact that Dutch teenagers are the happiest in Europe is a good sign that they have a good life. Next, I looked at the health care in the Netherlands and I found that healthcare is mandatory and that every single person in a family needs to be registered under their or Thierry parents’ employers. The Netherlands spends around 11.2 percent of GDP on health, plus almost all Dutch doctors speak excellent English, making health care in the Netherlands very accessible to foreigners. But some form of health insurance is mandatory to stay in the Netherlands, even temporarily, which I think is a good thing in case anything were to happen to someone who was just visiting but the mandatory health insurance could end up saving their life. And finally, I researched what job opportunities and what the government does for students looking for jobs in the Netherlands. I found that their government invested €50 million in 2013 and 2014 to get more young people into work. The government wants to join employers in improving job market opportunities for young people by bringing in the following measures: “Creating an extra 10,094 jobs combining work and study. The youth unemployment ambassador agreed to this on the government’s behalf with employers and employees in October 2013. Employers can qualify for financial support by making agreements in their sector about (more) training placements including those combining work and study. The government helps by relaxing the regulations and/or contributing financially. And finally, the government contributes 50% of the funding for agreements that help to create more jobs for young people. These include joint schemes by employers’ organizations and trade unions. €600 million is available for a two-year period.” (https://www.government.nl/topics/youth-policy/contents/youth-and-employment). I think living in the Netherlands would not be so different from in Canada because I have a good relationship with my parents and family, my friends and I are not into drugs and drinking and I am very happy, also I know many part-time jobs are available for full-time students.  

Works Cited

“Dutch teens are the happiest in Europe.” Dutch Daily News, 3 May 2012, www.dutchdailynews.com/dutch-teens-are-the-happiest-in-europe/.

Filice, Michelle, editor. “Creating a New Life: Dutch Immigration to Canada after the Second World War.” Historica Canada Blog, 2014, www.historicacanada.ca/blog/creating-new-life-dutch-immigration-canada-second-world-war/. Accessed 22 Jan. 2017.

Ganzevoort, Herman. “Dutch Canadians.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 4 Mar. 2009, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/dutch/. Accessed 22 Jan. 2017.

“Youth and employment.” Government of Netherlands, www.government.nl/topics/youth-policy/contents/youth-and-employment. Accessed 22 Jan. 2017.