MillieF

Forgive me for asking what may be a completely stupid question, but.... how hard is it to find work in Canada? I am British, and I worked as a secretary, for many years in oil installations all over the Middle East and North Africa. I've always been employed before and am willing, and flexible enough, to turn my hand to anything.

I am married, to a Canadian, and our son has Canadian nationality status. I presently live in France, where our son was born nine years ago. I haven't worked here, because I have been a full time mother and given lots of time to his school. Our son is bi-lingual, and I was thinking of coming to Canada in eighteen months when he finishes primary school.

I love France, but it doesn't love us, and whilst we have many great friends, the government can be somewhat xenophobic to say the least, and that's not how I want my son to grow up. My husband has zero rights as a Canadian in France, except by virtue of being married to a European.

I am frankly terrified of moving to Canada. I've never lived there before. I've visited a number of times to see my husband's family and it's been good, but those were holidays. At the same time, I think I also relish the challenge of a new start. This however, really would be the last move for us, we've been nomads for the last 25 years. My husband doesn't like France, and won't live in the UK, and want's to return to Canada - he will find work easily there, he thinks, as he's an airline pilot, and is planning to go in January 2011 prior to us moving in summer 2012.

He wants us to move to Victoria, where he was born, or BC - I don't know these places, but I know Calgary and Alberta a bit. However, if I can't find work as 'something' I won't fit into the society. I like people, and I was very social, but France has not always been the most positive of places to live and I've somewhat lost my confidence. My speeds for typing and shorthand are good, and I'm more than willing to retrain for any PC package I'm not familiar with. I'm not looking to earn a fortune, just a living wage. I'd happily work in a shop, but have zero experience. This is something of a crise du coeur, I just need to ask if anyone on here could possibly believe that I may be able to find work and fit in.

Our son will be happy if he sees his family happy, and I will be happy if I can just fit in somewhere, I've had ten years in France, being permanently seen as a 'foreigner' despite this never being the case in the Middle East, bizarre or what? I'm looking for a sense of belonging, for my son and I - my husband does belong - Can I find it in Canada? Will I be able to find work?

daisychain

I guess the answer is how long is a piece of string? We are heading out there next year and are under no illusions as far as jobs are concerned. We will have enough money to live on for a good few months but the job situation is still concerning. I guess if you are not to worried about what you do and are prepared to work like we are you will always find a job but if you are selective you may have trouble. Try jobbank.ca.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do, we are going to give it a go and see what happens, if you don't try it you will never know.

DC

dboy

Victoria is a lovely place, a bit small town and sleepy, but nice all the same,similar climate to southern UK and very UnCanadian without the extremes. it's definately not Alberta and Vancouver Island is a very beautiful slice of the world

It's largely a government town, being the provincial capital, and some find it hard to find decent work there outside of government work. However, as you said you are very open, I'm sure you would find something.

Many on here find it hard to make new friends here, can't say I agree, but that seems to be a common opinion of some on here. Being married to a Canadian would probably help though.

pdarwin

We were similar to you in that we were 'nomads' but decided to up sticks and move to Canada without any job or security at all. Sometimes you just need to take a chance in life.

BTW - for a secretary you sure don't like paragraphs !

ExKiwilass

I think if you keep your expectations low/reasonable you'll be fine.

JonboyE

It's not impossible - lots of us do! Look in the wiki section http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Catego...Hunting-Canada. Plenty of great articles written by people who have done it. As Kiwilass says above, be reasonable in your expectations. It can take time to find an ideal job.

We were in a similar (though not identical) situation and the answer is definitely yes - you can. Whether you will, or not, is up to you.

edwinslad

Make sure your descendants don't fall into this situation! it might become difficult for your grandchildren.

Canadian citizenship by descent

Every person born outside Canada after 15 February 1977, who has a Canadian parent at the time of birth, is automatically a Canadian citizen by descent. Every such person whose Canadian parent or parents were also not born in Canada and obtained their citizenship at birth by descent (i.e. second generation born abroad) must have successfully applied to maintain their Canadian citizenship before their 28th birthday, that is, if their 28th birthday took place before 17 April 2009. People falling into that category who did not take steps to maintain their citizenship lost their citizenship on that birthday. With Bill C-37[4] coming into effect on 17 April 2009, there is no longer a requirement nor any allowance to apply to maintain citizenship.
Bill C-37[4] came into effect on 17 April 2009, which changed the rules for Canadian citizenship. Individuals can now become Canadian citizens by descent only if one of their parents was either a native-born citizen of Canada or a foreign-born but naturalized citizen of Canada. The new law limits citizenship by descent to one generation born outside Canada.
All individuals born outside Canada but within one generation of the native-born or naturalized citizen parent are automatically recognized as Canadian citizens (retroactive to date of birth or date citizenship was lost).[4] The second generation born abroad, however, are not citizens of Canada at birth. Such an individual might even be stateless if he or she has no claim to any other citizenship. The second generation born abroad can only gain Canadian citizenship by immigrating to Canada; this can be done by their Canadian citizen parents sponsoring them as dependent children, a category with fewer requirements, which would also take less time than most other immigration application categories.
Under new rules introduced in 2009, foreign nationals being adopted by Canadian citizens can now acquire Canadian citizenship immediately upon completion of the adoption, without first entering Canada as a permanent resident under the previous rules.
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MillieF

Thank you all so much for these positive postings! They really are appreciated.

Daisychain - I looked at jobbank.ca, and found it really helpful - I'm not picky, and like you mentioned Kiwilass, I will keep my aspirations on the low to reasonable level.

I'm not really so worried about the idea of picking up and starting afresh in a new country - I've done it with alarming regularity, but never with a child before. However, I think our son really wants to go to Canada, and if I can just keep everything positive, and try to head off the negatives before they arrive, all will, hopefully be well.

I am outgoing and friendly, I really do think I could fit into most societies, except in France; where I am, I believe, liked, but will never be accepted. It would be a joy to be able to make friends who all speak the same language for a change too!

edwinslad - I found this info really interesting, and I would imagine that there must be many who will be potentially hit by this, thank you so much for mentioning it. My husband is long term Canadian certainly more than 100 years ago his family had Canadian passports, arriving from the UK at the turn of the century, I believe.

Thank you once again for these inspiring comments. I feel much more able to tackle this now.

Calgary Realtor

Personally I think Calgary is a better overall place to relocate. Victoria does not have the job opportunity that Calgary will have. Victoria is still a small city with alot of retirement population, so something to consider when looking at relocation. The BC province as a whole is still going through the recession and that might make job hunting harder right now. Calgary is still going through its own economic issues but no where near what some other places in Canada have gone through or still may go through.

I hope that helps, let me know if you have further questions.

Aviator

Where do you get that from, BC has fared better than many other provinces and would certainly be no harder to find work than AB.

Victoria and Calgary are quite different, aside from climate, Victoria's economy is more akin to Edmonton.