r/FoundCanadians

I'm eager to get some progress done on my plans to move while I wait for my C-3 application to be approved (32 days since processing started, urgent requested). The problem is that I have no idea if I can even begin applying for work before I have that approval and/or a Social Insurance Number. Is that something that anyone here has dealt with? And are employers in Canada more willing to offer work to people who have to relocate first?

Mr. Dressup was an institution in Canada like Mr. Rogers was in the U.S. In fact, they were sister shows: Fred Rogers and Ernie Coombs (Mr. Dressup) traveled from Pittsburgh where they had worked together on a show called “The Children’s Corner” to Toronto, where the CBC encouraged Fred to step out from behind the camera to host his own show, “Misterogers.” Afterwards, Fred moved back to Pittsburgh to create a show based on that, “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Fred suggested that Ernie host his own show in Canada, which eventually became “Mr. Dressup.”

Both were gentle, educational shows starring a genial host with puppets that encouraged children to use their imaginations. They both ran for over 30 years in their respective countries, navigating budget cuts to public television and a changing landscape in children’s television. Coombs gained his Canadian citizenship in 1994.

There’s an excellent documentary on “Mr. Dressup” on Amazon Prime: https://youtu.be/PnXXEh-S\_lQ

When digging around my ancestral home in Cacouna, Québec, on Google Earth, I stumbled upon a road with my family surname! It’s clearly related to my family name, as many generations lived there (and still may?) long ago, though the road’s current name was officially recognized in 1980. I suspect it’s always been called that name for many, many decades if not centuries. My surname is two French words that when combined into my family name, lose the “e” on a word that would otherwise be there for the proper adjective use of the word with the feminine noun that it modifies. And, they would typically be two separate words in language use. My surname combines the two words and gets rid of the “e”.

So, on the Québec website that gave some basic information on the road, the “Origins” of the name were listed as basically, “unknown”. But there was as link to provide information to the governmental department in charge of such matters to share with them if it was relevant to the origin of the name.

I wrote them (translated from English to French-Canadian via AI) and gave them the list of my paternal ancestors who lived in that town, as recorded on so many of the documents I gathered for my citizenship certificate.

I received a reply from a historian from the agency. They gave me a link to that road website and indicated that they had changed the “origins” for the road name. And now it lists its name is based on a local family name. Pretty cool. I’m going to take a picture of me standing beneath the road sign when I get there and share it with all my family.

For 35 years, going on a 36th! Idiomatically translated and presented by Québécois voice actors. Their Marge died last year.

Available in Canada on Disney+ - US subscribers, is The Québécois French audio available here?

I'm shepherding 10 family applications through the C-3 process at IRCC. Eventually, some beautiful day, we will get approved. On that glorious day, I'd like to give each of my newly recognized Canadian family members a little gift from Canada. I've been poking around and haven't found the right thing yet. Any ideas? Did you do something similar?

Ages range from 4 seniors, 3 middle age folks, and 3 kids.