I bought a Canon last year and I absolutely love it. I joke that maybe I got a QA sampler or something it's just too fucking nice for the $ I paid, compared to the alternative offerings from competing manufacturers. The images looks so amazing, and the live view remote use phone app (with access to all photo settings!) and wireless photo transfer are fantastic.
If you're looking for a starter camera to get away from the cheap "point and shoot cameras", and cellphones, but you aren't really ready for normal full body mirrorless camera price... check out the Canon EOS M200. I paid I think $640 for a starter kit with some tripods, extra lenses etc. The stock lens is great, although I've usually got an additional 22mm on it which I also purchased separately. I am serious when I say I wouldn't sell this for more than its worth, on the off chance that mine is special somehow.
Only gripes: 1) The flash is not great at all. The kit I bought came with an auxiliary flash but I've not tried to set it up yet. 2) there's no dedicated remote trigger input
But I mostly take photos of mountains or naked people so YMMV.
Upvote! I've personally found Canon to still have the best low to mid-range APS-C mirrorless cameras in terms of the overall ease of use and viewfinder/rear display quality. But Sony wins out when it comes to affordable but feature-packed full-frame mirrorless bodies with a wide range of affordable lenses (the Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 is great value for a fast telephoto).
Honestly, things like DxO PhotoLab 6 with its incredible noise processing also reduce the need for faster lenses and larger sensors.
I personally owned a Canon EOS M50 along with some secondhand lenses for a good bit before selling the whole kit for near cost (thanks to the deals I got on the lenses) when upgrading to the Sony a7 III. Loved both setups.