Is Vancouver a Friendly City?
Almost two years ago, I wrote what I thought was an innocuous article on whether or not Vancouver was a friendly city. Since then, it has become one of the most popular posts on my blog, and stirred up a lot of frustration with readers.
Six months after I wrote the article, the Vancouver Foundation launched a report, Connections and Engagement, to determine whether or not citizens feel isolated in Vancouver. A third of the respondents said they found it difficult to make friends here and one in four people said they were alone more than desired.
The report's findings are supported by the amount of comments I have received on this post from people in Vancouver who feel fed-up and angry that they are unable to form close connections with people in the city. Here is a sampling of comments:
I have been living in Vancouver for three years now and still have not made a single close friend outside of the friends I already had in the city before I moved here. The interesting thing that I notice is that people who have always lived here tend to believe that Vancouver is a very friendly city , but most people I speak to from anywhere else tend to echo the statement in the article about superficial friendliness, which I tend to agree with.
People are completely self-involved here and any attempts to make friends is almost impossible. It almost seems as if people are either being fake friendly. It's pathetic and after three years and numerous attempts to get into one of the 'clicks' I give up. My intention is to move on in the next year or two. As for dating - forget it! If I had big, fake boobs and spent five hours in front of the mirror every morning, perhaps…but this city has a very superficial vibe to it (men and women…).
Vancouver people are the rudest, most arrogant, and soulless people I have met in the entire world (with the exception of many people I met here who were NOT FROM Vancouver).
Vancouverites are generally pretentious towards those from other cities, as they think they live in the best city on earth.
Vancouver is a beautiful city but the people are far from friendly, everyone is very afraid to leave there comfort zone and meet someone outside of their little scene.
I confess that having lived in Vancouver my whole life, I have a close set of friends and have added to this group of friends over the years through my work, my neighbours, my volunteer activities, my husband (i.e. becoming friends with his friends), and my friends (i.e becoming friends with their friends). This has all happened organically. I haven't had to go up to strangers and try to make friends.
Sadly, many Vancouverites still find it difficult to form meaningful relationships in this city.
Is it the city? The people? A bit of both?
I would be interested to know how people in Vancouver and other cities around the world meet people and make friends. Please leave a comment on this post.
I have my own opinions on how to connect with people in your city. You can read about it here
