Well, my husband, myself and our two kids (5 and 4) have now been here in London Ontario for 7 months. As some of you will know from our previous posting 4 months ago, we haven’t been bowled over by Canada although it has been growing on us.

Employment and Friends

We had heard about how difficult it is to get a job here, especially with regards to Canadian experience. However, we rather naively thought we would be ok as we are well qualified with good experience etc. and have both had previous international work experience. We had also heard that it was a case of who you know rather than what you know but couldn’t believe it would be that bad – very naïve I know!

After 6 months of not getting anywhere we were on the verge of going back to the UK. Tom’s previous boss was more than happy to have him back and we were seriously considering moving back despite all the upheaval it would have meant. One night we prayed for a miracle that the next day Tom would get a job. The next day a head-hunter phoned Tom, which lead to a job offer last Friday and Tom started work this Monday. It isn’t ideal but it is a good job for now which will give him the all-important Canadian experience.

We have made some great friends in the last few months. Three of our neighbours took Tom’s resumé to give to contacts they had. New friends that we have made in a couple of local churches and friends from the kid’s school have also taken copies of Tom’s resumé – everyone has been so helpful. We didn’t know anyone here when we arrived 7 months ago. It really does help to have contacts. In fact, the head-hunter who phoned Tom is a friend of a friend of our next door neighbour! He already had Tom’s resumé from 7 months ago, but only contacted us when his friend gave him Tom’s resume!

The kids

The kids love being in Canada – probably because they have spent so much time playing outside since we’ve been here. They have settled well into school. I think it helps that they are as young as they are. I don’t personally think that the school here has as high a standard academically as the school my son attended in the UK. I can only compare these two schools as I have seen the difference first hand although I am a qualified teacher with my experience mainly being in this age group. I have therefore been doing extra ‘homework’ with my kids in case we decide to go back so that they are not behind. In saying that though, the school here in Ontario has had more fun things like outings and parties’ etc than they would have had at this time of year in our school in the UK. Schooling generally seems to be more relaxed and less uptight over here than in the UK.

Things I miss about the UK

Family nearby (although I am lucky as my mum is here on a student visa right now); friends; the routine and familiarity of our lives in the UK - the feeling of belonging and of being of equal value to the next person; town centres – malls just don’t have the same atmosphere; availability of good jobs; having a family doctor – major issue for me; real chocolate – North American chocolate is minging; decent holiday allowance; Next and Marks and Sparks food; Neighbours and Home and Away - sad person that I am!

Things I like about Canada

Friendly people – sometimes takes a little while to get to know them but some of our new friends have gone out of their way to help us; less traffic and wider roads although the 401 seems as bad as the M4 but the smaller roads are much less busy; generally less rain and more sunshine though not as good as I thought it would be (unless your from Glasgow, then it is 100% better!); more affordable housing though gardens have been smaller than I thought given the space available; the fact that it gets hot enough to have a swimming pool in your garden and you don’t have to be a millionaire to afford one!

Plans

Emigrating has been harder than I thought it would be in that I’ve been much more homesick than I expected. I have travelled and moved to new places all my life so didn’t expect homesickness to be a problem! I think it is just that I miss feeling like I belong. I still feel a bit like a second class citizen. Hopefully this will change the longer we are here.

At the moment we have no idea whether we will be moving back to the UK next summer or continuing to stay in Canada but we are looking forward to experiencing a Canadian winter! We promised the kids they would get snow in Canada and we are looking forward to going out and playing in it. We’re going to give it another 6 months and see what we think. It is hard to make a decision that we will be here permanently even though that was our original intention. I think it is just going to be a case of taking it bit by bit and trying to enjoy the experience for what it is while it lasts.

I’ve just read over this post and I’m glad I’m not in sales!!

Chris

P.S. I went to a walk-in clinic today as I don’t have a family doctor. I was told that I would need to have an endoscopy and biopsy in hospital for a condition that I have. However, when I asked how to go about getting this done, I was told that I would need to have a family doctor. I said that I didn’t and was told that I should try to find one maybe through friends etc because that was how I would get seen to by a specialist. The receptionist couldn’t help with finding any doctors currently accepting patients – she doesn’t have a doctor herself as hers retired 5 years ago. I have heard similar things from quite a few people here. It’s really worrying – especially when I have two young kids to raise in this so called developed country.

The funny thing about us moving to Canada is that we moved so that our kids would have a better life here than in the UK. We thought that they would grow up being able to afford a nice house in a good area much more easily than they would in the UK. We also thought that they would have a better childhood here – having better weather for playing outside in the sun or the snow etc. However, I am now concerned that if they grow up here, they will find it really tough to find a decent job with good hours and holidays. I worry that they won’t be able to find a family doctor – many locals here don’t have one. I am concerned that they will grow up to be quite insular and never travel to find out about the rest of the world. I don’t know if I want my kids to grow up in a system where who you know is more important than what you know.

Well, that went a bit down hill but I’m just calling it the way I see it – I’m not trying to be deliberately negative.

Thanks for the update. I just wanted to say that last summer in Ontario was one of the coolest on record. You can expect it to normally be much hotter. How would that suit you? I should mention that the Autumn weather has been fairly nice.

I agree, the autumn weather has been absolutely fantastic - we had about 2 months with hardly any rain. Long, hot summers was one of our reasons for choosing London. It was a bit disappointing not to get great weather this summer but we realise this is unusual.

Having good weather is important, just not as important as decent (any) health care.

Regarding the healthcare issue. In the 80's and early to mid 90's Canada was running very large budget deficits and they had to cut back on social spending. Now Canada is running budget surpluses and they're trying to do something about the healthcare deficiencies. The problem is that it will take a decade to correct these issues. I think the governments should charge user fees, but the public won't hear of it.

London should be one of the better places to access healthcare services considering the facilities that exist in the city.

That's what we thought which was another reason for choosing here. Nearly everyone that I've spoken to about it have no family doctor here - or have had to use their contacts to get one.

I was speaking to a woman from Hamilton yesterday. She moved to London recently, but because of the lack of doctors here, she is considering moving back to Hamilton. She told me that even when she had a family doctor in Hamilton, it would take her about 5 weeks to get an appointment.

I was always seen the same day when I called my doctor for an appointment back in Reading - for the kids, it was normally within 2 hours of phoning.

Just curious ... you didn't include a section on "Things I don't like about Canada" ... don't think of it as negativity, think of it as realism

Believe it or not, I didn't want to make the post too long!!

I'm trying to focus on the positive so as not to depress people - the last time I wrote a pros and cons list for both countries, Canada didn't come off too well.

Hi Tom,

Glad to hear that things are working out better for you. I remember reading your earlier post after you had been here for 3 months.

The employment situation in Canada is very frustrating as you can now see.
There are lots of advertised skilled jobs, lots of skilled immigrant workers but even more barriers to matching those workers with those jobs.
Many professional jobs will say "must have a 4 year university degree".
As you know, many UK colleges now grant degrees but in Canada that is deemed not good enough. Here in the US all higher education is called a degree whether it be 3 year, 4 year or 5 year at a college or university.
Also here in the US the emphasis first and foremost is "can you do the job". Frankly, most employers in the US don't give a rats arse where you got your qualification so long as you can do the job.

So as I see it, as long as there is the inability in Canada to match an "equivalent" qualification with a specific requirement, this ridiculous situation will never go away.

I think you're right. We didn't really believe what it would be like until we experienced it first hand - although some manage to get good jobs straight away. It just doesn't seem to be the norm.

It's like flipping a coin ... depends on who you meet and if they like you or not.

Keep being honest about your experience ... it irks me when people ask for advice then complain about negativity

I really feel for you all. I know just how you feel - but you will make the best decision you can when the time comes. At least you can say you tried, and the "what if's" can be laid to rest.

Thanks for sharing you experience with us. It was very insightful.

Helen

Thanks for a wonderfull post. Great news about the job. Good luck with the medical system. I am pretty convinced you do not need a GP to get a referal to a specialist, if you dont get any joy, try a different urgent care clinic, or just call the specialist yourself and explain the situation.

Iain

Just thought I'd mention -- it seems to take around two years to get settled in a new country. When I moved to the Netherlands, the first year was absolute hell (and I was going there to a job).

You need time to get used to all the different things that you used to take for granted. Even trivial things like garbage collection and banking add up and make you feel harried and foolish. As an example, I didn't know how to bleed and pressurize a hot-water heating system when I got to Holland, and spent a couple of very cold nights before I found out what to do and where you can buy a "radiatorsluiteltje" (Blokker has them, if anyone's interested).

I wouldn't worry about your kids - they'll make up in university what they miss in school. As to their growing up backward and provincial: well, I'm just a backward hillbilly from Halifax and I've been all over the place. You can travel as much as you want to if you make it a priority in your life.

I don't really know where I'm going here, but what I'm trying to say is that if you go back too early, you're denying yourself the opportunity you worked so hard for in the beginning. It's lonely, it's depressing and frustrating in the beginning, but it sounds to me like you're turning the corner and it would be a shame to give up now.

Also: the winter might be a bit of a shock. Don't let that get you down too much!

-Paul

Thanks for the posting.....the longer the better as far as I'm concerned...insight is far better than anything else! Without it we would all see roses.....

You are now finding a few more positive things over the months and so they may develop even further over the winter, don't ponder on whether to return or not until after winter, enjoy the experience, you never know, without the fretting you may just decide to stay. Good luck in what ever you decide