snifferdog

Hi,
I am flying over next week for an interview with a company based in Markham, Toronto. My OH is coming too and we will have two days to take a look at potential areas to move to (along with our 4 young children).
The obvious areas to live would be Markham/Richmond Hill but I'm a bit put off by the high number of Chinese there.
So are there any areas within ~30 minutes commute of Markham that have a sizeable British expat community suitable for a family? It doesn't necessarily have to be full of British expats but have a community where a British family would easily integrate.
Thanks everyone.

Souvy

Try Basildon.

Ben W Bell

Why do you want a sizable British expat community? Come over and integrate into Canada, not try to recreate what you had. Integration is why Toronto works. Sure it does have it's ethnic areas, but by and large people mix and mingle.

dbd33

I don't think I'm much of an isolationist but I wouldn't consider living in Markham, just the driving would be too much for me, though if you have to work there, you can't quite escape that. I commuted out to Markham from the Beach, an Anglo-Irish ethnic enclave, Leaside would be a similar option (both are older suburbs, Ealing rather than Basildon). Someone with no soul could also look north, Aurora and Newmarket are within 90 minutes even in rush hour. Someone who really wanted Basildon recreated could look at Barrie.

mandymoochops

Didn't realise Chinese people were different to any other sort of people.

I understand however what you mean (or youu think you mean) about having other brits around to make the transition easier - however thats what BE is for

snifferdog

I obviously phrased my initial question badly - I didn't mean to come across as an isolationist or wanting to be surrounding by Brits. I'd like to find an area which is multi-cultural with no predominance of any one culture. Looking through this forum certain Toronto neighbourhoods appear to be associated with a high proportion of one cultural group and I didn't want to spend the only full day in Toronto going to areas which were not suitable.
(Also when we lived in the South of France it was very much the case that certain areas were associated with particular nationalities).

dbd33

They have a different language. I know someone who was VP of a large insurance company who commuted from there to Guelph (a bitch of a trip) for years because his wife didn't want to leave Markham; if she did leave she would have had to learn English. Eventually he packed in his good job and found one in Markham. Nothing wrong with that but not speaking the language in Markham is a bother for shopping, finding one's way around, day-to-day life in general. I think an immigrant from the UK would be well advised to pick up some routine Mandarin or Cantonese. They also have a different cuisine, again nothing wrong with that, but not being familiar with the use of chopsticks would be inconvenient in Markham.

I don't think people should have to assimilate completely to Canada but not being able to deal with basics such as shopping and eating in the manner of the neighbours would, I think, be awkward.

Atlantic Xpat

I've only visited Markham on business a few times but it's not a place I'd choose to live. It felt a bit like Shenzen - new development & the high % of chinese population. It's not unreasonable, isolationist or racist not to want to live in a particular cultural/ethnic enclave in a city that, as I understand it, has many such enclaves.

Mind you as someone who worked in Basildon for 14 years, the GTA as a whole reminds me too much of Bas' so I wouldn't want to live anywhere there!

wheatsheaf

If you have 4 young children, or at least if they're of school age, you would do well to live in Markham/Richmond Hill. although it may seem a predominantly Chinese area, there are large numbers of other communities from Europe and the UK too, who will widen the outlook and broaden their horizons.

dbd33

Isn't that true of all of the GTA? Why is it an argument for living in Markham?

wheatsheaf

Not the sole reason 'for'. Living close to your work can be a big boon to one's overall quality of life nowadays, including the younger family members.

Wookie Wayne

Yonge & Lawrance, thats my area! There are of Brits, me included, lol

Yonge & Eglington, British pubs including Man U supporters club. I'd go there but my parents were married!

Commute north at 7am for Markham, no problem. Leave it for 30 minutes and you're screwed!

Scallywags at Yonge & St Clair - rugby / football pub - or stay at home and watch Setanta.

Toronto takes all sorts by the way!

snifferdog

Thanks everyone for the input.

Due to the young family commuting distance is very important (<30mins) to me. I've decided to take a look around Richmond Hill and then drive down Yonge Street to take a lot at N. Toronto.