Hey Surya,
First off - congrats on taking the first steps towards investing! It can certainly be a daunting task but we are here to help you so please don't be shy to ask any question. Have you joined Discord yet? IMO that is the best place for newcomers to come and ask questions, read and learn from other members. If not, no worries as you can always post your questions here.
Since we are believers that every investor is best served to have a good foundation, personally if I was starting to build a portfolio today - i'd start with the Foundational stocks. These are intended to be stable, long-term holds that you could 'almost' set and forget (no stock is truly like this and you should always be aware what is happening with your positions, but these are some of the most reliable in the country). Since you are just starting out, diversification isn't that huge of an issue. Others may disagree here, but when I started I paid less attention to diversification and more on buying good stocks at good prices and diversified as I had new money to invest.
With this in mind, you don't necessarily have to split that $500 into like 10 positions to be well-diversified. You can simply buy 1 or 2 and then another 1 or 2 when you've accumulated another $500. So, look at the Canadian Foundationals and start with one or two of those and invest. Those that look good today include RY and Telus. Another trick here, is since you are just starting out and want to build your portfolio, you can invest in the foundational which has the higher yield at the start so you can accumulate more dividends to re-invest at the get-go. There are several ways to go about starting off, but going for either the best valued or one that provides greater dividends are decent starting points.
Of note, pay attention to fees. I am not sure what broker you are with but if you are paying $10 per trade, then I'd only buy one stock with hat $500. If you have a no-fee broker like Wealthsimple, then you can split that $500 into however many positions you want. Just be mindful of that. When I was starting out, I never bought anything unless my fees were below 1%, which means I needed to save up $1000 before investing as my trades were 9.99 per trade.
Let me know if this helps. Feel free to drop any additional question and as mentioned, I highly encourage you to drop into Discord.
Mat