Howard Morris

OK,

Visas are in passport, cash is in bank and the Morris family are now less than two weeks from landing in Canada! Hurrah!

I already have a job (just doing a transfer with the Canadian division of my existing employer) set up - in Hamilton, but we're wanting to live in Kitchener.

Anybody give me any advise on a good neighborhood? Six year old kid so needing a good school too - pref Catholic school system.

Very grateful for any advice!

Howard

Hollis Family

Hi Howard

We live in Waterloo. The website for catholic schools in the region is: http://www.wcdsb.ca/ Do you realize your commute to Hamilton will be 75 mins each way? That can be a busy road at rush hour!

I don't know Kitchener too well but we have been impressed by the catholic schools in Waterloo!

Best of luck!

ExKiwilass

Any particular reason why you don't want to live in Hamilton? I only ask because I have friends who moved there and it's got quite a nice community (allegedly)

jambo101

If you are in normal working hours (9-5ish)that 75kms one way commute is going to get old real fast.

Howard Morris

Yoiks! I'd guessed it would be closer to 45mins!

Howard Morris

I'd just heard that Hamilton was a bit industrial/run down. But I'm certainly open to taking a good look.

Howard Morris

Thanks. I actually have another Brit friend who lives in Waterloo. She loves it there. I hadn't realised it was 75 mins to Hamilton from Kitchener. That's a bit of a trek.

Thanks for the school link!

Auld Yin

From centre of Kitchener to downtown Hamilton in optimum conditions should be about 55 minutes. However if you drive like a Brit in a small Japanese car your 45 minutes guess would be just about right.

dbd33

It is dominated by steel mills and associated businesses so it has that rust belt post-industrial feel. Watch The Deer Hunter for an idea. That said, industrial towns all have the bit where the factory bosses live, the mountain, Ancaster, some other parts are very affluent. Actually, not the Deer Hunter, the opening credits of The Sopranos; that could be Hamilton.

PeterF

I used to live in Waterloo and yes the area is very good, also Hamilton does have a Steel Town reputation.

I would have thought Burlington or Oakville would be closer areas and supposedly quite good too.

Hell of a treck, we used to pop down to Ikea a few times, long journey and not good during winter which you should take in to consideration.

ExKiwilass

Yes, there is a nice area to Hamilton or so I've been told. Just like not all of Vancouver is narcissistic lululemon-wearing lemmings or full of rabid junkies

dbd33

Hamilton's certainly a distinctive choice of place to live, "second most surviving Victorian buildings in North America" or something. Very mixed. Kitchener otoh, though? Unless you're a German speaking family or a Mennonite, I can't see any particular reason to choose Kitchener. Perhaps the OP could tell us what attracts about that town.

Howard Morris

I'm not sure what attracts me to that town as I have yet to visit it. For the time being I am arbitrarily putting pins in maps.

HarryHeck

Hehe it's true that the Kitchener (in fact, the whole KW area) contains a healthier-than-normal percentage of our Teutonic cousins...personally, I can't fault a town that is recognised for hosting a vaguely credible Oktoberfest clone I also quite liked the mennonite towns around the area...St.Jacobs was nice from memory, but that may be because it was sweltering hot both times we visited. We're not blind to the fact that the weather will royally suck in Canada for most of the year, but it was nice to be around to experience the hotter climes!

I've got a few friends who live on the suburbs of Kitchener and it's been our base of operations for the two recce trips we've done. Personally, we like the area - so much so that we're thinking of moving somewhere in the KW area if/when we get PR.

From our limited experience, the general populace are well-behaved(!), schooling is good (according to a couple we know who are about to send their daughter to school), there's enough shopping places around (our first recce introduced us to the fabled British Store...my wife and I spent a good 20 minutes laughing at the extortionate prices...before realising that we'd most likely be keeping the store owner in business by the end of our first month ) and one of said friends runs a bar there so we're sorted for a watering hole.

I know that the majority of our 'experiences' are essentially holiday or hearsay at the moment, but it made enough of an impression to make us consider leaving the UK. I'm sure there's loads of better places in a country so vast, but as far as I'm concerned it can't be a bad place to start...

Howard Morris

Thank you Harry. That's some good feedback.