:Hi dbd33 nice to meet you and thanks for your reply. Is there perhaps a website that I can go on to learn more about Quebec City? Also how is the jobs demands there and is their a trade for me and my husband's job description. The Curriculums is it very straight forward as our's are or should I do it differently (if differently over there)?

Hope hearing from you soon.

Many thanks,
steph_pat

Hi again, steph_pat,

I highly recommend that you read the Wiki article entitled Newcomers to the forum. That article has links to other articles that will help you to become familiar with Canada -- with the way in which job hunting works in Canada, with the immigration process, and with many other topics related to Canada.

When you said Curriculums, I assume you were referring to your Curriculum Vitae (a description of your work experience and qualifications that you provide to a prospective employer). In Canada it's called a resume, and the format is very different from the one in South Africa. I know, because I'm from Swaziland, and my husband is from South Africa.

There is a whole series of Wiki articles just on the topic of job hunting in Canada. One of the articles in that series explains how to write a Canadian-style resume.

But, for now, your resume is not the most important thing for you to learn about. First you need to learn about:

• Canadian culture as it relates to employment
  
• finding job opportunities
  
• networking

In another discussion thread, you said your husband was a wine maker. Canada does have a few grape growing regions. The ones that spring immediately to mind are located in the southern parts of the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, as well as the Okanagan Valley in the interior of British Columbia. Actually the scenery in the Okanagan Valley (around Vernon, Kelowna and Penticton) reminds me a bit of the wine producing region around Stellenbosch and Paarl.

But, with that having been said, Canada is situated just a bit too far from the equator to compete with the quality of the wines that the Western Cape produces.

If you want a climate that is similar to that in the Western Cape, you'd be much better off going to Australia, in my opinion.

By the way, Quebec may be problematic because you pretty much have to be able to speak French in order to work there, and I don't know whether or not you speak French.

When my husband and I left South Africa nearly 31 years ago, we had the opportunity of going to Canada or Australia. Because of circumstances that are too lengthy to explain here, we had to make a quick decision. Going on exploratory trips to both countries was out of the question, from the points of view of both time and money. The Internet didn't exist then. We researched the two countries with the resources that were available at the time. Based on what we knew at that moment, we chose Canada.

Twenty years after we'd immigrated to Canada, my husband's employer sent him to Melbourne on an expat assignment. We lived there for 2.5 years. In my opinion, Australia is a more comfortable fit for someone who comes from Southern Africa. The climate, vegetation, sports and many other elements of life were much more similar in Australia. We were closer to South Africa, and it was more feasible for our South African family members and us to visit each other. Our kids' long summer holidays were in synch with their South African cousins' long summer holidays.

In my opinion, Canada and Australia both are good countries. The factors that attract me to Australia more than to Canada are not Canada's "fault." It's not Canada's fault that it's as far from the equator as it is, and so on and so forth.

At the moment, I'm trying to arrange my life in such a way that I can move out to the coast of British Columbia and live there in the summers (it has much more lush vegetation than Calgary has). The other part of my dream is to spend two or three of Canada's winter months in Australia every year. But that is an ambitious plan, and it is not everyone who can pull it off.

Anyway, steph_pat, please do read the Wiki articles to which I referred you. It will require a considerable investment of time. But, if you do that, you'll be able to come back here and ask more focused questions.

I hope this has helped you.

Hi Judy in Calgary

Thanks for your reply.

If Australia is more like South Africa I will rather choose Australia - We South Africans are not use to very cold weather and I am so skinny dont think I will make it through one cold winter - ha-ha-ha!

I will search for information about Australia, jobs, lifestyle and so on and will revert back to the forum with more focused questions. Hope there is information about Australia in the Wiki Article.

Thx
Steph

Well good luck all the same. You should read Judy in Calgary's posts closely if you want a true picture of life in Canada, she always seems pretty objective to me.

Also the bear thing isn't necessarily true. In fact some kids were attacked by a bear in their own back yard at some point this year, as I recall.

You need fluent French in Quebec City so I think it's unlikely to meet your needs. It is however the only place I've seen in Canada that is architecturally different from the newer parts of Milton Keynes and so I was picking Howard up on what I thought to be a ludicrous claim.

Steph,
Come & join us in the Australian forum if that is where you are thinking of moving to! There are quite a few saffer's who post on there & some people who work in the wine industry too!
Ggod luck!

yes i will do, thanks. i've read her advice on finding work and it was very informative. we're making a point of reading all the negative stuff about canada too, so we're going in with our 'eyes open' and not expecting the grass to be greener in all respects - which i would advise anyone to do, regardless of their choice of destination!

wow didn't know that about the bears - we'd always read / heard that it was really rare to have them on your property...

It depends where you are. At our house on the Sunshine Coast we are visited by black bears every fall. They are stocking up with food for the winter hibernation. As the weather starts to cool the food sources become scarce in the mountains. We have lots of fruit trees on the property so for a bear it's an all-you-can-eat buffet.

It is not much of a problem. Black bears prefer to avoid people if possible and usually are only aggressive if they are protecting their offspring. Make some noise to let them know you are about (we keep a hand bell by the door) and they will clear off rather than face you.

Re the bears - no it's not rare, we have them frequently in our garden in the fall, as they come after the apples. We have to get them picked really quick, and pick up all the fallers. However, they are no problem except they tend to come through the fence rather than over it, so always having to fix it. We are seriously thinking of getting rid of the tree this year.

I grew up in the midst of wild animals in the African bush, and wildlife does not freak me out.

But, just to set the record straight, the recent attack on children was by coyotes in Canmore, Alberta.

Wow, this is amazing! Do either of you have any pics?

Iaink (referred to somewhere up the pages in this discussion - he's off in the Caribbean at the moment) posted a short video clip of a bear in his backyard a while ago. I'll try to find it & link to it...

[edit: it's here ]

The attack I referred to was that of a four year-old in West Kootenay, BC.

"The black bear swiped the girl with its paw as she tried to escape up the steps, slicing the back of her calf."

See CBC for details: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-col...ar-attack.html

Thanks for the clarification and link, Tableland.

Thankyou for that,it was great!
bears are not something I would ever have imagined you might get in your back garden, even in Canada!