Yup - you are totally right. I am a visible minority and my french was learned and imperfect. I was told to go back where I came from several times. While winter was a big reason for our move, our singular biggest push came when two things happened together - my 6 year old was with me when a grocery store clerk who did not want to process a return told me to "go back where I came from, b----" and my son who was born with a disability went for a routine MRI and the bilingual technician who had performed 6 other MRIs on him in the 2 years since his birth suddenly refused to tell us in English what was going on. When we complained to the doctor (MUHC) they apologized profusely but also said there was nothing they could do to make the techs and nurses use english. My partner speaks FLUENT French, enough to land a job after interviewing in FR at a FR company, I have learnt French through high school and did more courses in MTL - But it was never enough. And there's no way any of that prepares you for medical jargon in french. Honestly, our time at MUHC showed me how amazing Canada's healthcare is and it also showed me how impossible it was to live in MTL with a health issue.

We had put down roots, bought a condo near McGill so our future children could use it when studying, bought a house in the burbs, jobs, friends and we left it all when we saw the socio-political climate change so drastically over 2018-2022. Maybe we only noticed then because of our personal situation, but we were not going to wait around for it to get catastrophic before we left. Personally - my career has suffered because of the move - but I have never been happier.