Stephmaclune

Hi everyone,

I am French, married to a Franco-British man, leaving in the UK with our 5 year old son (+ one currently in WIP...). We are currently exploring the possibility to immigrate to Québec/Ontario. The priviledged area being Ottawa/Gatineau (so that we have the option to work/live in French, English or both...).
If anybody has an experience to share, please contact me. Thanks
Stephanie

scottish_maple

If your looking to work/live in both French and English then I feel your better option would be New Brunswick as it is a bilingual province.

Auld Yin

And what do you think Quebec is? It's much more bi-lingual than NB

Novocastrian

Do you think so? Ottineau and parts of Montreal for sure, but Quebec in general?

I don't really know, but that's not the impression I've formed.

DandNHill

To the OP. How good are you at Quebec French?

I naively thought it was the same as French French but it's very different. It's easier to communicate with the Acadians than the Quebecois...

...just saying

scottish_maple

I'm not quite sure that it is....

scottish_maple

+1

dbd33

are the obvious places to go but, unless the objective is to live completely in French, I wouldn't rule out Toronto. My children went to school in French, in Toronto, and were taught by several people who spoke no English. Many of their contemparies were immigrants from francophone countries who spoke no English. They participated in a number of French language extra-curricular activities including the Scounts and a dramatic society. They found summer jobs in French. There's a significant French language society in Toronto though not, of course, quite to the extent found in the places mentioned or, indeed, London.

Novocastrian

Well yes. But we're talking about bilingualism. Everything you've said about French in Toronto, is equally true of Farsi, Urdu, Greek, Italian, Mandarin and Portuguese, to name but a few.

lmartin999

isn't moving to France just a much better option in every way?

dbd33

AFAIK, there are no state funded schools in Toronto operating in any of the languages named except French. There are state funded schools, both Catholic ones and ones for the irreligious, operating in French in every district.

Everyone thinks of Toronto as a place where one can live in Mandarin, I'm just pointing out that people also live there in French.

Stephmaclune

Unfortunately going back to France is not an option....too much struggle job wise for my husband.... and let's put it this way, once you start leaving elsewhere, you are not the same person anymore. In an ideal world, my husband would work in his field (structural design/engineering) in France but as French people already struggle to find job, someone who grew up in the Uk has no chance on the French job market with foreign qualification (Europe is far from being integrated in that respect.... unless you have very rare skills...

I personnaly love living in the UK so the options are rather UK or Canada. Canada would allow us to have that little francophone touch which we miss in our daily lives.... Going back to France? Maybe for retiring.... but am not even sure about that....
As long as I am not too home sick (of course it happens sometimes... I miss certain things) there is no reason why we would go back to a country where the economic situation is far from improving and where my husband has no future...

Question for everyone: Does anyone know how is the job market out there (construction for instance). Where your UK qualifications easily recognised....?
And thanks for all the info about Toronto and NB (very intersting indeed...)
thanks
Stephanie

Stephmaclune

Thank you for this advise on Toronto. Very interesting indeed. What was the reason behind sending your children in a French speaking school...? Is that your first language...?

Stephmaclune

Thanks on this advise. Very useful.... Not being out there it is difficult to understand to what extend the different provinces can be bilingual in daily life matters etc....
Thank you again. Stephanie

dbd33

Their Mother's first language, she's from French Switzerland. There's a rule that, in order to attend a French language school you have to have at least one francophone parent. Note though that Ottawa's a lot more French than Toronto, it's not likely that anyone in a government office in Toronto will speak French, in Ottawa there's a fair chance.