Canada is one of the highest paying tax

countries in the world. Why am I paying

taxes for something that I can't access?

>> Meet Vana. She was born in Canada to

Serbian parents, but more than 5 years

ago, she decided to move to Serbia for

good. Now she lives in Belgrade with her

Serbian husband and works as a teacher

in a private school. She shared the main

reason she left Canada, her most

shocking experience [music] with

Canadian healthcare, and the key

difference between Serbian and Canadian

sports culture. IM,

>> what is your memories about you living

in Canada as a Serb?

>> They were generally positive. It was a

lovely place to grow up. School was fun.

Um, we had our Serbian community as well

over there. Lots of lots of Serbians. It

was in Hamilton, Ontario. It was lovely.

And then all of a sudden, you just

realize that you sort of outgrow a

place. And I think um, as you start to

grow older, you start to value different

things. And I really started to value

quality of life. You know, as a child,

as a teenager growing up, I spent my

summers here in Belgrade, Serbia, in

Ianita, where my family is from as well.

And I started to develop like a whole

friend group. And through every single

summer of going and coming here, I

started to realize people are happier.

They might not have a lot in life. They

might not have, you know, millions of

dollars or these big fancy houses or

fancy cars, but they're just happier.

And life just started to seem more

simple. As I started to grow older, like

the emotions also started to grow more

and more each summer. When I was leaving

Toronto Pearson every summer, it was

like, "Bye. I don't care. No emotion,

nothing." But when I was at Belgrade

Nicola Tesla, coming back every summer,

it was full of tears. And it it kept me

emotional. Even at this point, I didn't

want to go back. And there was something

that was in my stomach telling me like

this is not right. So then I started to

think about, okay, how could I make a

life work in Belgrade? Why not try? Why

not think out of the box? Sometimes we

get stuck in thinking that like a

western life is like that path that you

have to follow and that you go to

university and you get a job and then

you buy a house and you do this. And I

started to think like why do I need to

do that? Because people over there it

was like you work yourself so hard for

what? For trying to mimic a life, you

know, here to be over there and you go,

you know, you go to the local Serbian

stores in Canada. You go to the local

Serbian events in Canada, but it's just

it's not that like there was something

like deep in my soul that was just

empty. I was thinking about it and I

think that people go in western

countries and lean to towards western

values because western way of life gives

you some kind of stability.

>> We have to think even outside of the box

of stability like that life that you

know that we're talking about where you

get a mortgage, you buy a house was

accessible to the generation like my

parents at that time. You could work

really hard. You knew where your money

was going. you could buy a house. But

looking at my generation, we have a

generation of individuals who are highly

educated, who almost all have bachelor's

degrees in something that all have all

gone even on to pursue master's degrees

who are finishing university jobless.

You know, you're trying to follow these

these footsteps of your parents. I mean,

rightfully so. They're telling you that

that's what you should do, but then you

get to a point where it's like, I can't

afford a mortgage. the the prices of

everything have just skyrocketed

>> and education is insanely expensive. It

is. It is. You know what? I'm so

thankful. You know, my parents work so

so hard. I don't didn't finish

university with a single dime of student

debt. They put Yes. I am extremely lucky

to have, you know, the most amazing

parents. They worked. And I'll never

forget even my father. He worked at Ford

Motor Company and it was like 7 days a

week, 12-hour shifts. There came a point

um where we just saw each other in

passing in the house and it was like mom

would be like, "I made dinner for you. I

left it here. Well, thank you, Mom.

Well, when's dad coming home? And it was

we were just seeing each other in in

passing. I'm very very grateful and very

very thankful to finish, you know, a

master's degree and not have a single

amount of student debt. That's what they

tell you, you know, go to university

after high school, whereas maybe even in

this economy, it would be smarter to go

to do a trade because the amount of

plumbers, electricians, woodworking in

Canada, like you can't find anybody to

do those kind of jobs. Canadian moves.

>> Wow. It's like a souvenir. Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah. And Canadian plates.

>> Canadian license plate. Yes.

>> It's from your car or is it

>> was from my dad's car. So it this one

expired in 2005. So that was a long

time.

>> So it's like elements of nostalgia for

>> Yeah. It's a little bit of home in a new

home, I guess you could say.

>> Can you summarize in one sentence what

is the main problem of the Canada?

>> Forgetting about core values. I think

recently, I don't know if you've seen,

um, there's this chart and it was the

recent immigration rates in Canada and

it was like, okay, a normal amount of

immigration and then 2024, 2025, whoop,

like here. I don't have anything against

immigration. My parents are immigrants.

That's that's not, you know, that's not

the problem is that when you allow

amount amounts of immigration that the

country cannot handle, you know, they

forgot their core values. Like everybody

around the world, you know, knows, oh,

Canadian health care system, oh, it's

the best health care system in the

world. Well, when 2020 hit, it was only

then that the Canadian government

realized that their PPA, so their

personal protective equipment was all

expired from SARS in 2008.

>> So, they were not prepared for that.

Then you have Corona break outbreaks and

a healthcare system that's falling

apart. I think there was a statistic of

in the last year between 10 to 12,000

people died on weight waiting lists for

basic basic like MRI CT scans things

like that. So you're forgetting your

core values. You're you know focusing on

other things instead of fixing the

problems that you already have. You have

Alberta who wants to leave Canada at the

moment. you know, Quebec has always been

there that they've always wanted to

leave because they think that they think

of themselves as a different separate

province because they speak French. But

now you have Alberta who's wanting to

join the US. So instead of having this,

you know, this united, you know, Canada,

oh, happiness and like everybody's so

nice, you have a very big divide

now. And I think all of that just

started right after Corona.

>> But still, the Medicare system is free

there.

>> Free. This is the way that I like to put

it. Free. Yes, it's free. But is it

quality? I wouldn't say so. But see,

even even in Canada, you have no private

system. You have no private clinics.

>> There is no private clinics. So, you

have to go with public. Here's an

example. I had a deviated sinuses and I

needed a procedure done because it was

just getting to be too much. And I asked

a doctor there and I was like, "Well,

okay, put me on the list." And I was

like, "How long can I expect to wait?"

And he goes, "Well, 2 years." I said,

"Well, what am I supposed to do in the

next 2 years? Am I supposed to drink all

of these medicines so that I can

breathe? I I don't understand." And he

goes, "Well, I have a really good

doctor. If you want to go to Mexico,

>> so why am I paying taxes?" Like, Canada

is one of the highest paying tax

countries in the world. Why am I paying

taxes

>> for something that I can't access? You

know what I'm saying? Like that's what

that's what I'm going back to.

Forgetting the core values. like you

need to pride yourself in what you know

you've known to be. You've known to be

this country that's so nice and that's

so kind and that has this fantastic

medical system that you're forgetting

those things and then you're allowing

immigration to come in with the medical

system that can barely handle the

population that we had even before mass

immigration.

>> Let's uh don't be too negative. What is

the best thing for you in living in

Canada? the nature honestly the nature

and and um the cleanliness of everything

in the organization for example any

paperwork anything like that that you

need done you know where to go it's the

office it's done it's black and white

everything's you know on paper the

nature is fantastic we have fantastic

you know natural parks wherever it is

everything is so clean there's you know

and I'm going to get maybe some comments

for this but I I like that everything's

non-smoking that's a very big maybe

negative for Serbia is that there's a

lot of smoking areas and I sometimes in

the winter and I say it and in Serbia,

you know, this is when I miss Canada

because I can go to a cafe and come out

and not smell of smoke.

>> Is there a thing that you miss from

Canada? Here

>> there's this one drink. It's called iced

tea. Nesty iced tea. It's the little

silly things like that that sometimes

like uh I'll find in the European Union

that I'm like [gasps] like oh it brings

me back home and then like you have it

and then you sort of get over that

feeling after I have maple syrup in the

fridge so that's all stocked up. But

generally I think I've gotten over or

I've found alternatives to things that I

do miss. I think that if you were to put

it in perspective, I would miss more

things from here than I would from

Canada. Toronto uh is host to the

Masters 1000 series. And I loved tennis.

Here I have Murray Zeon. He's retired

now to be fair. Jookovic.

>> Wow.

>> Yes,

>> it's his autograph.

>> Yes. Ah, there's also this tennis

player, Daniel Nester. He's Serbian, but

he played under Canadian state of

citizenship. Sports was always something

that I loved.

>> What is your overall impressions about

Canadians?

>> They're warm and welcoming. They

genuinely they are. And um I think that

we're the country that says sorry so

many times in the same sentence. You

know, I grew up in a very multicultural

high school. Um I had lots of Canadian

friends, but yeah, warm, welcoming

people genuinely. Um cold, but more

weatherwise. It's more weatherwise.

Yeah.

>> How do you feel this coldness?

>> That was the hardest thing. That

seasonal depression once that winter

starts. I think winter lasts what is it?

October I would say until May. Snow is

not out of the question in the middle of

May. February - 40

>> - 40

>> - 40. And everything functions. You

still go to school and you still drive

your car. And

>> in Russia if it's more than minus 30, we

didn't go to school. I'll never forget

as a child you would watch local news

for the weather and you would be hoping

you know the snowstorm is coming in and

you're like watching you're watching for

the name of your school to appear at the

bottom of the screen and it was like yes

so snow day snow day. So that was that

was exciting. I remember [laughter]

that. But it there comes a time, you

know, when you're young and it's fun and

you can go sledding and you can do all

those things and then it just becomes it

starts to impact like your well-being

and your mental health and it was too

much. I like four seasons but that

winter was just it was too harsh. This

was my first op so Serbian folklore

shoes. I danced as well in Canada

because there was a sort of community of

Serbian in Canada. I think my grandma

sent it to me. I really loved it and

still at every Serbian wedding or

celebration, I'm the first one out of

their seat to go and dance.

Africa

Sunday school.

for

[laughter]

loading sign above my head. [laughter]

Let me

[laughter]

Where are you from?

[laughter]

general knowledge.

So it's verbal

standardized testing.

Standardized

testing for grades 3, six, and n.

system. Okay.

Okay.

lesson

system.

I have to do this in English now.

>> Okay.

>> They're more resilient. I think here I

want to specifically talk about sports.

For example, I noticed here children are

more resilient because they're taught

how to lose. You know, how to lose a

game. like you're not going to always be

this winner. Whereas in Canada, oh,

everybody gets a medal for participation

even if you didn't win. And that sets up

a mindset in children that when they go

to the real world and when there has to

be a winner, when there has to be the

best, that they're not ready for that.

That's what I see with Serbian kids,

it's like, okay, there's a winner of a

game, the basketball or this football,

there's a winner. Especially when

they're little in Canada, it's just

like, well, we're just playing for fun.

What's the What's the point in fun?

There has to be some sort of person that

comes out on top.

>> Ah, you played football.

>> Yeah. So, that's me and dad was the

coach. Um, surprisingly so. I was on the

bench most of the time.

>> Why?

>> I guess dad thought that I wasn't that

great, but it's okay.

>> He was [laughter] he was he was afraid

that you got trauma or something like

this.

>> No, no. I mean, they were better than

me. Like I said before,

>> uh there is always you have to learn how

to lose. cuz you have to learn how to

make the best version of yourself.

Little bit of a MVP here for tennis.

>> Wow.

>> Yes. The golden golden days during my

high school was very exciting. Um

>> why did you quit tennis?

>> I mean I didn't quit. We still you know

I play paddle now actually.

>> Do you like it?

>> I love it.

>> I tried once but it's

>> You didn't like it?

>> I feel kind of claustrophobic. Yeah.

>> Yeah. Cuz it's in the glass. It's in the

glass. And uh it's a lot of the paddle

courts are taking over the tennis courts

in Serbia now because it's more

profitable.

>> Yeah.

>> You know, I think an hour is like 3

4,000 davs plus the rackets 500 davs.

>> So expensive. And then also

multi. We have some football and

basketball. East Hamilton Soccer Club.

We had a Hamilton Serbian's uh

basketball club as well that still

functions. So big big Serbian community

of sports over there as well. I think

also the Hamilton Serbians uh football

club they recently put out an article of

I don't know how many Serbians from

Hamilton that have now gone to Europe to

play soccer as well. So big development.

>> Yeah

>> over there.

>> Do you have Serbian citizenship or?

>> Yes, I have dual. It's good to have

both. Like there's benefits to both. You

know, going to UK, I'm I'm a big

football fan, so going to the UK to

watch football with my Canadian passport

is easier than, you know, getting a visa

out.

>> For what club do you

>> Oh, Red Star.

>> Red Star. Red Star Belgrade. Yes.

>> Uh that's part of the story of of my

love for Serbia. I mean, I think that

when you're born in Serbia, you have to

make a choice.

>> Okay.

>> Red Star or Partisan, you have to make a

choice. And my dad grew up uh with Red

Star and you know when I was very little

first football kit was Red Star. He at

home has a collection of about 150 Red

Star jerseys and I have continued now

that collection uh for the past it'll be

10 years next year. I photographed for

Red Star and um you know we had many

Canadian Serbian players as well that

were playing for Red Star. Borian,

Milan, Borian, uh, Stefan Mitroich. Uh,

so it was really beautiful to see, you

know, to have that connection and be

like, "Hey, you know, I'm Canadian, this

and that. I have a lot of friends as

well, like with the photography that I

did." I also went, my dad and I, we're

crazy. You're going to think we're

crazy, but we went from Canada when Red

Star qualified for Champions League

after how many years. We went to

Liverpool and we watched Red Star

Liverpool. For my dad, I think it was

meant maybe more than it did for me, but

because he obviously had the blessing to

watch Red Star in their peak during the

'9s when they won, you know, Champions

League. But for me, this was like the

new history for me. This was amazing,

you know, never mind that they lost 04,

but it was just the experience of being

there. Then we came to Belgrade to watch

Red Star Arsenal. There's not a single

atmosphere in the world that you can

compare it to. I've been to stadiums in

Spain, in Italy, in Canada, but that

atmosphere at those games, those

feelings, those fans, those flares and

choreographies is there's no there's

there's nowhere else in the world that

has that.

>> Do you attend here?

>> Yes. Yes. Uh especially basketball

lately because Red Star has been doing

really good in Euro League this year.

And I mean, it's all of our false hope

of thinking that we'll make it to the

Final Four in Athens next year. I mean,

I really hope so. The basketball

atmosphere is you have to go. Have you

been to a game yet for

>> No,

>> you have to go. The decibb of how loud

it gets inside those stadiums. There's

not a single person that's sitting. You

don't sit when you go to those games.

You know, obviously in Canada when you

go to a football match or a hockey

match, you sit and everybody's watching

and eating their hot dogs and whatever.

Sport is business in Canada. Whereas in

Serbia, sport is passion. Sport is

family. Sport is electricity. It's

everything. It's it's life.

>> Isn't it dangerous?

>> It feel I'll be honest with you, yes.

[laughter]

But there's beauty in that danger. You

just have to be smart, you know?

Don't provoke.

Sit where you need to sit. You know, you

don't go in the middle of a partisan

game in a Red Star jersey and sit in

between the fans. You stay in your

section. [laughter] We were talking a

little bit about my collection. These

are the ones that I have here. So, this

is Stefan Mitravich. He was a Canadian

footballer that used to play for Red

Star. Uh, he gave me it. Then I have uh

Goalich. This is Eraovich. He's actually

he played in the Zenitu

>> in Russia. Zen it.

>> Uh, and then I have Katai. He's legend

right now. He's He's in Red Star now. He

actually played in the US in Chicago

Fire as well. Um, but he's big legend uh

for Red Star in recent history. Still

got the dirt on it. The rule is not to

wash them. [laughter]

>> Really,

>> just air them out because they have if

they have the dirt, it's still got that

authenticity to it. This one's still got

some dirt on it as well. What was the

most difficult aspect for you when you

came to Serbia and started living here?

>> You know what, the paperwork. Uh,

spot on. Anything to this day, I still

have like trauma of going to finish any

like official documents or anything at

the police station. [sighs and gasps]

we recently just bought this apartment

and going through the process of getting

papers and like oh the person at the

desk telling you well you're missing

this paper and it's like but you didn't

tell me that yesterday

and then as soon as I think that they

they hear me mix up my first pades in

Serbian they're like a foreigner

whenever I go I said to my husband like

you have to go with me he's like but you

get no you have to go with me like

because I just I I freeze

>> what do you answer to people who are

asking you here. Why did you come?

>> I just say it's complicated. A lot of

people here, they think that the grass

is greener on the other side, whereas

the case is the grass is greener where

you take care of it. I tell them that,

you know, if they want to go and try, go

see, go try, why not? Then you can put

your things on your moral scale and see

where you like things better. I never

tell them, "No, don't go or something

like that." No. If you go go and see for

yourself, there's a lot of people. The

problem is there's a lot of the diaspora

that we call them, the Serbs that, you

know, come back here that are living in

Canada. They come back here and they are

telling everybody here these stories of

all of this money and they're doing this

and it's amazing and almost as if the

story is like taking the money off of

the trees, you know, like as it's

growing in the backyard. But they don't

tell them the real story. And then of

course people develop this

understanding. Well then I might as well

go there. There's more money. There's

more this. Well yes there's more money

but you have taxes that are extremely

high you know and you have the quality

of life and the winters. There's this

very famous uh video that this Bosnian

man made and and it was like, "Oh, the

first month is so beautiful and like the

snow and it's glistening and there was a

deer." And then after about a few

months, he goes, "Oh no, I hear the snow

plow coming by." And he's like, "This

damn snow and I'm done with this." And

it's like,

>> "Do you miss snow? Sometimes I miss snow

here."

>> Yeah. You know what? Yes. And I'm the

biggest grown child, I guess you could

say. As a teacher, as soon as the snow

falls, the lessons are gone. We're going

outside to build a snowman. There's

those few times where it falls in

Belgrade and it's like, "Guys, drop

everything. We're going to build a

snowman." You know, I do miss it, but

then I realize that everything's good in

small bits.

>> You identify yourself as a sermon.

>> Yes. But there's also some of those

times where like I my Canadian backbone

will straighten as fast as it can. like

those situations like when we're trying

to finish paperwork and you just get so

frustrated and you're like, you know, if

if I was in Canada, this wouldn't have

happened. There's more moments where

it's like, I'm so proud to be Serbian.

Um I'm so proud to be part of a country

that has been through so much and that

is so resilient and that has come out of

so much darkness and so much negativity.

And I'm so happy to be around my people,

you know, even if sometimes things

frustrate me.

>> How do you overcome this frustration?

>> I think that if I just come home and I

let it out or I'll talk with my parents

on video call and I just like and

they'll always say to me, you know,

they're like, "Yeah, well, your bad day

is still an excellent day in our

perspective." So, it's those little

humble reminders of to be to remember

that where I am and to remember, you

know, that little girl that wanted to

move and to remember how how happy and

how proud I should be that of where I

am. You have to put thing you put things

on a scale, you know, when again when

people ask me like, "Oh, why did you why

did you leave, you know, or like what's

so great?" I'm not saying that every

everything is great here. I'm not saying

everything is great in Canada, but

everybody has a personal, I guess you

could say moral like scale and with

positives and negatives and you put them

on the scale and you see where your

positives weigh more. And I for me it

just pulled more here. You know, I don't

think there's any perfect country in the

world. It's just, you know, if you go

very back to basics, it's where you're

happy.