Big Brother is exaggerated?

[Hermes]

How do I know this? From trying to reconstruct 47 years of my life in order to prove residency in Canada. If BB really was so intrusive and has every detail of our lives (unless agencies of the State has special access, which might very well be the case) then in a matter of hours I should get a dossier on my whole life. Doesn't happen. It could take six months or more. I can focus on this only so many hours per week because it drives me crazy.

Ever agency, monopoly corporation and gov't department operates within its own rules. Accomplishing this task of proving my existence in Canada I have to break it down into mini-pieces. It is slow, bureaucratic, complicated and sometimes I get contradictory info. I can't count the delays, disconnections, hours of elevator music, faxes, phone calls, letters, formal FOI requests, etc. Sometimes I almost scream. I am not used to dealing with government procedure and don't like it at all.

Requests can be ignored or misfiled. There can be human error, misunderstandings or 'let's make this as difficult as possible so he gives up' (or so it appears). But mostly it is just annoyingly complicated.

Can it be done? Maybe. Is it easy and fast? No. I would rather I just be able to pay someone $250 and do it all for me.

I'll bet police, spies and government agencies have to go through the same maze. So, it's not as if our personal lives are on display for anyone who wants to know with a gun/badge.

It is difficult to get the enforcement and reality from forums. I am learning what law and policy are, but it is not easy to find out what actually happens in the real world regarding proving residency and how much is policy versus individual discretion of a gov't worker. But I can't afford a lawyer or accountant to be forearmed. You'd think there would be dozens of forums for Canadians who have lived and worked overseas, lived off the grid for decades in Canada and now are getting back in the system. Nope. No books on the subject, no websites and almost no advocates for semi-geezers.

[Bsuds]

Maybe it's just not that common an occurrence.

I would assume if someone has chosen to live off the grid then they do not want to be "found".
So if you are having trouble re-assimilating then you achieved your goal.

good Luck.

[What_the]

Having read your post, the thing that comes to mind is that you've basically defined Big brother. Do you not have one? Or BB also means Big Bureaucracy? Moving at the speed of government.

Our local law enforcement doesn't have a dossier per se, but your internet provider does, as well as bank, credit bureau, phone, advertisement, MSP, CRA, CSIS...
you have a SIN, ISP, phone, an address, a job, location enabled, Gmail account... list is endless. You have a dossier for anyone that wants to look at it.

[What_the]

Having read your post, the thing that comes to mind is that you've basically defined Big brother. Do you not have one? Or BB also means Big Bureaucracy? Moving at the speed of government.

Our local law enforcement doesn't have a dossier per se, but your internet provider does, as well as bank, credit bureau, phone, advertisement, MSP, CRA, CSIS...
you have a SIN, ISP, phone, an address, a job, location enabled, Gmail account... list is endless. You have a dossier for anyone that wants to look at it.