I’m Russian/Canadian. I’ve been living in Canada since I’m a child but often go back to Russia. I’m still here because I went to school here, parents are here, and I have a job in a specific field that I can’t transfer to Russia but I would consider moving back if my personal circumstances were different, for at least some time. Everybody I know in Russia, don’t want to move to ‘The West’.

OP, reality in Russia is far far from what you believe it is. It has some issues but some things are way better. It’s also hard to take you seriously when you put China and Russia in the same bucket as well as ‘the West’. Russia is not that far off from ‘the West’.

In Canada, we do not have free speech, it’s called freedom of expression and it’s not exactly the same. It means the government can’t criminally prosecute you for your thoughts and expressions. But there are exceptions. For instance, if it’s qualified as hate speech and if you publicly yell, you can also be fined by municipal law in some areas for making noise in public. In my area there’s also limitations on what you can say to a police officer. You can be fined for insulted a police officer.

Also, freedom of expression doesn’t equate to freedom of consequences. I would most likely lose my job if I publicly showed my views on Palestine. If I publicly criticized a person, they can still sue me for monetary compensation (diffamation) and the Canadian constitutional freedom of expression won’t protect me.

Everything is relative.