CONFUSED about the SOCIAL RULES in Canada? Can't find them explained (Clearly & Honestly) ANYWHERE? Newcomers and their families need to know these "secrets" so they can succeed socially, as well as in schools, the workplace, and business. I've been explaining "Canadian" culture to my newcomer ESL students for more than 30 years. They have told me that this information really helped them to integrate into Canada, and asked me to write this book. Remember, though - these are MY OPINIONS about things newcomers should know.

This is a COMPANION to my book, "100 Secrets of Canadian Culture". I offer photocopiable worksheets for teachers to use with almost every secret - ACTIVITIES such as conversation questions, brainstorming, surveys, reading comprehension, writing emails, and role-playing. I provide ANSWERS when needed.

Looking for a holiday rom-com with a TWIST? “What if Santa’s wife traveled down to a Caribbean island alone and had a romantic adventure?” When Nick is too busy with supply-chain issues to join his wife Sandra Claus on the Island where they usually vacation, she decides to go alone – disguised as a human, of course. But when she gets there, the handsome resort owner, Marcus, begs for her help because the resort has had a series of mechanical malfunctions and he’s worried they may cause the resort to fail. Sandra is the engineer of Toyland, reverse engineering each year’s most popular toys, so she is a natural to try to solve the problem. But it’s not that easy, when it turns out that the problems are caused by an evil Imp. Sandra discovers that the very attractive Marcus has some Powers of his own, and finds herself going off to his private beach to come up with a plan to save the resort. What happens there? Read to find out!

Annotation Examining culture as social identity, this collection explores issues such as gender, technology, cultural ethnicity, and regionalism in four general areas: the media, individual and national identity, languages, and cultural dissent.

The Canadian edition of The Little Black Book of Scams is a compact and easy to use reference guide filled with information Canadians can use to protect themselves against a variety of common scams. It debunks common myths about scams, provides contact information for reporting a scam to the correct authority, and offers a step-by-step guide for scam victims to reduce their losses and avoid becoming repeat victims. Consumers and businesses can consult The Little Black Book of Scams to avoid falling victim to social media and mobile phone scams, fake charities and lotteries, dating and romance scams, and many other schemes used to defraud Canadians of their money and personal information.

You're Hired...Now What?, the third book in the Canadian Newcomer Series, will give people from different countries and backgrounds an understanding of Canadian workplace culture and norms. The material is presented as a general guide to adapting to a professional environment and explains common best-practice procedures at work. Examples are given to help explain and illustrate the positive results of working within these general guidelines. The book (and accompanying workbook) can be used in the classroom as a way of preparing for a job or by individuals wanting to prepare by themselves or to further their careers.

With comic brilliance and a delight in the macabre, Michel Basilières holds a fun-house mirror up to a defining moment in Canadian history and reveals, among other things, a family having a very bad year. Holed up in a shambling house at the base of Mount Royal is the family Desouche: three generations of English- and French-Canadians caught in the gears of a national emergency. Their world is dark and hard, but alive with hope and expectation. When one of the eldest, an Anglo Montrealer, dies at the hand of one of the youngest, a militant separatist, so begins a year of turmoil and change that culminates in the October Crisis. Grave-robbing Grandfather consorts with prostitutes and mad scientists, loses an eye and gains a new vision. His disenchanted wife bonds with his canny pet crow. Mother sleeps her grief away through the seasons, while Father ineffectively schemes to get rich quick. Meanwhile, their twin children, Marie and Jean-Baptiste, find their personal ambitions clashing with their public actions as they derail each other at every turn. In this wholly original novel alive with misfortune and magic, Michel Basilières uncovers a Montreal not seen in any other English-Canadian novel: a forgotten blue-collar neighbourhood in between the two solitudes. Gothic, outrageous, yet tender and wise, Black Bird is as liberating as the dreams of its wayward characters, and as gripping as the insurgencies that split its heart.