- Grace Hern, 36, moved to Canada in 2023 to pursue graduate school and escape US politics.
- She hopes to pave the way for her friends and family to give Canada a try, too.
- Canada’s rising displays of nationalism make her a conscious of being an American who lives there.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Grace Hern, a 36-year-old office assistant who moved from Milwaukee to the greater Toronto area with her husband in September of 2023. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
When people asked me, “Why did you move?” I had to answer, “I’m kind of afraid of what my country might do.”
Wisconsin is really progressive now, but it’s a purple state. So what I felt was, “What if somebody takes over and just starts breaking laws? What if somebody ousts the person that I want in power and then the laws all change?”
The last straw was when Roe v. Wade got overturned. We thought: Let’s move to a country where I can get healthcare for my entire body, not just most of it.
When I started telling my friends I was moving to Canada, they were like, “Maybe we should think about that, too.” It surprised me a little bit. I thought it was an extreme decision, that it was kind of crazy, but everybody I talked to was like, “Huh, I wonder if that’s feasible for me.”
I keep encouraging people to get their passports in order and visit — I’ll show you around and tell you what it’s like to immigrate. I’d like to be that stepping stone if they need it.
I thought a student visa would be my best bet to get into Canada
My husband and I were very lucky that we saved up enough money that we could make the move. We were very lucky that our jobs didn’t tie us to Milwaukee. We were very lucky that we had never bought a home in Milwaukee, so we weren’t really tied to it financially or legally in the ways that some of my friends and family are.
Now I’m in the greater Toronto area, between Toronto and Stratford. With traffic, it would be about two and a half to three hours outside Toronto.
Everybody says I moved “up north,” but, actually, I moved east, across the lakes. When we talk to our parents, they tell us it’s snowing, and then we get snow two days later.
I went for a graduate program that was only a year long. I figured if it made our visas that much faster, that would make it a little easier. I wanted to also make some income as a teaching assistant. Then my husband got a work visa. Immediately after I graduated, I had to apply for a postgrad work visa.
My partner and I got married to make our visas easier. I’ve been with my partner for close to 13 years and we just had never signed a paper. When we wanted to move countries, we were like, “We better make this legally official so that we can cross a border more easily.”
Housing is expensive everywhere and hard to find
Jobs and housing are scarce.
There are a lot of housing scams. We went with one of two apartments that we actually saw with our eyes and met the landlord. We were like, “I guess we got to go with one these two that we actually saw because we know that this one isn’t a scam.”
The only reason our housing is secure now is because I made friends who were like, “My aunt owns a home. You can live in the basement and I’ll live on the first floor.” I got lucky. It doesn’t have air conditioning, but it’s OK because it’s in a basement. It’s a little smaller and more expensive than my place in Milwaukee.
Our last apartment in Milwaukee was $1,200 a month for an actually spacious two-bedroom with a living room, a dining area, a full kitchen, a small backyard, and a parking space.
Now I’m spending $1,800 Canadian dollars (or about $1,258).
Our first very small apartment in Canada was $2,040 Canadian dollars (or about $1,422) a month. It was listed as a two-bedroom but it wasn’t really — and we had to pay for a storage unit when we got here.
I’m not exactly sure where I stand with Canadians right now
The Canadians I know right now will look at their phones, reading the news about tariffs, and be like, “Oh my gosh, have you heard how crazy this is?” I’ll ask, “Oh no, what happened now?” And they’re like, “I can’t buy orange juice.”
Because of the tariffs, we’re going to put little red maple leaves on everything if it’s made in Canada.
Everybody is getting pretty nationalististic, at least in their economic choices. People are putting flags on their front lawns and on their cars, and they’re all buying Canadian.
Unfurling flags already makes me anxious because in 2016, when all the American flags came out, it tended to be a very white nationalist thing.
My big question is: When you unfurl your Canadian flag, does it include all of the international students? Does it include the Indian grocery store down the street? Does it include all of your immigrants? There’s a sense that the flag owners would say, “Yeah, of course it does.”
I know that the Canadian flag is not the American flag, and the American flag on your truck is a different thing than the Canadian flag on your truck. But there are similarities.
I just would love to know for certain that somebody flying their Canadian flag really does actually want to include everybody living in their country because that’s not what flag-flying meant at home, so it makes me a little nervous.
There’s also a social element, where Canadians are more polite and Americans are more friendly. Especially now, it’s really weird to figure out where you stand with Canadians. They’re always going to tell you the polite thing.
I haven’t really felt a shift in how people treat me personally. Although I still have Wisconsin license plates on my car, so people have been asking me, “Are you worried about being vandalized?” I’m like, “No, should I be?”
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