ellemel

Hi-My husband and i are considering emigrating to Canada with our three children,But are stuck trying to decide on an area we are torn between British Colombia or Ontario-We are hoping to go on a research trip late next year and would like opinions on the best places to go!
Hope you can help

Tangram

Elle....how long is a piece of string ?!?! Best advise is list what you are looking for ( small town, city centre, country.....) , where you plan to work ( important for the dollars ) and do some searcxhes on the web and take a look at city and town websites ( surprising how many do have them ). Also take a look at school board websites which would also steer you towards , or away, from different areas.

Paul

iaink

Iqua.....

Oh, never mind

Tangram

LOL I know the feeling !

Woodstock62

ROTFL!!!!!!

yonk

I read the 1st line of the 1st post and thought Iqualuit!

See IainK, you trained me up a year ago!

iaink

When hordes of brits start to relocate to the North, I will know my work here is done

ellemel

Thanks for your advice it seems to be the only sensible one here,What was the point in everyone else replying if you were just going to be rude about it thanx a nice welcome to a new member!

mushroom

Forgive me for pinching an old post which I found on here recently. It was part of a discussion on a slightly different topic but I found it useful in settling on criteria for the place to go to, and I also found it helpful in sorting out my own thoughts on why I've (seemingly on a whim) decided it would be good for my family and myself to move to canada.

[QUOTE FROM P&K
Just my opinion, but I really can't see how walking straight into your chosen job/profession once in Canada can be a defining reason as to whether to take the plunge and emmigrate or not.

Surely non-monatary lifestyle decisions must be far more important? The quality of life for us or our child (if we eventually get the nod) cannot be primarily evaluated upon where we work or how much we are bringing in.

Far more important than job quality (IMO) will be the quality of parks, the quality of the recreational facilities, the quality of the neighbourhood, the quality of the schools, the quality of the people we and our child meet, the quality of the nearest lake/ski resort etc etc...

From the origional post it appears that both parties are professional people. I'd assume therefore that they may have some equity to put down a decent deposit on a house in Canada (maybe have no mortgage to pay at all, like some on here). From then on in the short/medium term covering the mortgage by any means possible would be my only concern. If that means working in Starbucks/Macdonalds etc then so be it - (again this is only my opinion) that is an insignificant price to pay IF the lifestyle factors live up to expectations.

As a newcomer and essentially a guest to Canada I'm not expecting a damn thing from them. The big buzz for us is the prospect of being enchanted by the place we chose to live in, the surrounding area, the freedom & joy it may provide our little boy....

We may be there 6 weeks we may be there 40 years..who knows. May love it, may hate it. One things for sure we'll have a great time finding out. If we find Canada as dull as dishwater, or I suddenley realise that pouring one more Latte will drive me insane..then we'll buy a nice bottle of wine have a laugh about it and come back to Blighty.
Yes, if it doesn't work out our son will have had his schooling disrupted. But will he not gain more than he'll lose by having the experience of interacting with a myriad of different people from different cultures?
It seems to me that for every negative I can come up with, I find myself thinking of several positives to blow the doubts out of the water - a bit like Agassi returning a Henman serve..

Of course we are all different and we all look at things in different ways, some may see my attidute as somewhat irresponsible. BUT one thing I know for sure that is pretty much consistant for everyone having gone this far - the 'What If' factor eats away at us all.

It saddens me to see people like Mr/Mrs Liftman (having come so far & having patently invested so much emotionally) eventually decide that they cant/wont go through with it. Ultimately it's your life, your decision and it must be respected. Trouble is IF the employment factor is the main barrier, then having read many of your posts I can't help thinking that you have a good chance of finding the professional niche that you require eventually. The only question is how long, and could you hold out?

Sorry to read of your decision, you never know, you may wake up one morning and think "'sod it' lets go for it, you only live once" - either way good luck.

END OF QUOTE]



And to add a final thought of my own - I think the destination I'm looking for is one inside myself, a quality and rhythm of life rather than a physical place.

iaink

Sorry, welcome. No offence intended.

Once youve been here a while and have seen how often this impossible to answer question comes up you might understand. Its become the "joke" stock answer.

Try searching for "Iqualuit" using the search feature at the top of the page in the beige bar and you will get the idea In fact you can use that to search for all sorts of usefull info on here. Im sure by now every possible question must have been asked and answered at leat once, and often over and over and over before.

ellemel

Thank-You, I wasnt looking for one exact location just some ideas on where to start looking,I was hoping for some ideas on what different places were like in regards to jobs & housing (the questions only people living in canada can answer!) Anyway Thanks very much ive had a couple of good suggestions on searches to do

Judy in Calgary

"Jobs" is a huge category. It would help to know the fields in which you currently work or want to work.

The Multiple Listing Service is a good place to look.

I know it makes it a lot easier to research your destination when you've narrowed the field down to a specific city or at least a specific corridor within a specific province.

However, I don't know how much thought you've already given to this question, and how many other options you've considered and rejected. If you have not yet researched the rest of Canada, I think there would be merit in keeping an open mind at this stage and reading about all of Canada's regions. If your research trip will be at the end of next year, you still have time to investigate a variety of regions before deciding which one you'll visit.

After all that, you may end up choosing Ontario or British Columbia anyway. But I think you would do yourselves a favour if you gave other regions fair consideration.

All the best with your research.