Re: reasons for going and reasons for returning
 

It's important to appreciate that everyone is different.
What someone else hates about Canada you may like.

My main reasons for moving back to the UK are....

1) Canada is very, very boring.

2) Job oportunities here are poor indeed, even for Canadians.

Canada is a wonderful place for kids and the 'pipe and slipper brigade',
not for 20 or 30 somethings looking for a career and a good time.

Re: reasons for going and reasons for returning
 

What if you are a 30something with kids and a career?

Canada is what you make it. Just like anywhere else.

Canada has given me opportunities and material stuff that I could only imagine sometime in my fifties in the UK.

Re: reasons for going and reasons for returning
 

That's not strictly true is it?
Unless you know of a way to wave a magic wand and create wonderful nightlife or culture of some description.

Re: reasons for going and reasons for returning
 

Most of the expats I know dont mind it, Canadians dont seem to mind it. Americans dont seem to mind it.

Its just a little differerent, not better or worse. See, if it wasnt different it would be just like the UK, and its not the UK, its Canada, a whole other huge diverse nation.

Its just your perception of it, and the fact that you wish you were in the UK and had never left it perhaps?

Re: reasons for going and reasons for returning
 

We were just sick of the whole yob culture in the UK, it was something we have been thinking of since the early 90s, work and other circumstances didn't permit that move ealier.

We are in a situation now where we are asking if we've made the right decision, judging by others experiences, but like others have said, Canada id what you make it. I think the fact that we have friends and others here that have made the move in the past, will help in settling us down.

The PR cards came thru, we managed to register with a doctor as well, we just need to wait for the health coverage now, but in the mean time, we have gone for private health insurance.

Re: reasons for going and reasons for returning
 

Compared to nightlife in London/Madrid/Berlin etc. the nightlife in Toronto is very, very poor indeed. The clubs in Toronto are overpriced to say the least. They play crap music, the decor is crap and the clientele are more interested in acting like gangsters, posing or showing off their plastic tits than having a good time.
We went to a supposedly great club in Toronto last week and left early because it was complete bollox.

Re: reasons for going and reasons for returning
 

I guess your not old enough or it just has not sunk in yet......but I PROMISE you one day you will wake up one morning and realize that what you just said in this post means NOTHING.......stuff is just stuff thats all.......just objects that don't live and breath

cars,boats,suv's,plasma tv's ect don't hug you or give you that look you get from someone close that says I am so glad that you are in my life

they don't come around for a cup of tea and ask how are things going is everything ok

they don't pick you up when your down

from my observations over the past few years the value of relationships has been devalued and many people have gone in search of STUFF........now I really don't see why as everyone knows there is ONE thing that a human wants more than ANYTHING and that is happyness.......so people go in search of money which in turn will buy them STUFF and they think that it will bring them happyness........it takes a long time to get all that suff and at the end of it you will realize that it really does not make you happy.......there is only one thing that will make you happy and that is people....the people around you like family and friends..........been there done that got the fuggin t shirt

Re: reasons for going and reasons for returning
 

Couldnt agree more, and I was not talking about that kind of material crap. Anyone who has read my posts here for the last couple of years would know that.

I was refering to a nice house with a big yard that one day I rather than the bank will own. Unfortunately realistically it would have taken a long time to get there in the UK doing the job I love. The main reason I want that anyway is for the benefit of my family, to have space to grow up in a healthy safe environment, although its nice on personal level to draw the curtains in the morning and find a bunch of wild turkeys looking in the window, and a Redtail Hawk sitting on the powerlines as there was this morning.

As for all the poseur stuff, you can keep it (until I can afford it!) Happyness in my view is simply being content with where you are and what you have in life, and how you got there. Simple as that.

Frankly the only thing I find hard living here is saying goodbye to family when they visit, in a perfect world we would have grandparents and uncles and aunts living nearby. But on balance its a trade off I can live with. We have been lucky that we live in a great community, and have friends that my daughter considers as adopted grandparents. So yes, you are right, things are just crap, its relationships that matter.

Re: reasons for going and reasons for returning
 

Hi,
I'm probably going to regret this post in the morning, but hey ho..here we go....
I have tried to make it in Canada. Having said that a few years of unemployment begins to grate your soul. I have lost count of the number of jobs I've applied for, that I have been more 'skilled' to perform...especially as when they advise no qualifications required. I've upgraded and downgraded my resume ad nauseant. I won't even go into the nonsense that prevailed at some of the interviews, because it's my experiences and as they were negative they will not be appreciated by those who have achieved status in Canada or those who are aspiring to.
I have recently returned from the U.K.(I was working) having been offered 3 employment opportunities, and also positive employment prospectives from other countrys. Regulated professions and Canadian experience to me simply put equates with discrimination.
Then again it's there country.. but this would never be allowed in the U.K.
I guess for me when I think of Canada the operative word is Arrogance.
This equates with their (supposed superior qualifiations), their (suposed superior) health care system (best to have a job with benefits, otherwise your paying big time costs for all those things that you take for granted with the N.H.S.). The Protectionism, in the guise of Canadian Experience, which equates with a diploma being worthless, but considered a degree status in Aus. BUT Canadian's are serious with their babysitting diplomas being worth more than nursing training of 3 or 4 years.
In conclusion for me my standard of living has gone down along with my self esteem, yet I own a beautiful house, in a beautiful country...although I am metaphorically dead and becoming clinically depressed!!!
I think IanK is correct in his assertion that a happy immigrant in Canada is one that is working!
Everything we currently own is attributed to money we brought from the U.K.
As a footnote the amount of poverty and homelessness of Canadians is shocking.
Seems to me I can make it in the U.K. Aus or N.Z.........Canada Nahhh!!!!!

Re: reasons for going and reasons for returning
 

Ian, isn't the house you mention 'material stuff' which you couldn't get in the UK for whatever reason ?

But I do agree with you that if you are lucky enough to get a decent paying job, then your perception of the country you are in changes 180 degrees, taking into account/discounting missing family.

This is a major factor to successful emigration in my opinion. Without this I believe you are doomed to fail.

If I could get one, I would certainly give it a try.

Re: reasons for going and reasons for returning
 

OK, maybe you can't get laid in Toronto, may it doesn't work for you, but this is a bizarre criticism. How much is a single malt at Ronnie Scott's ? How much is a line, a quarter, a tab ? How much is a stretched Hummer home from up west ?

A year ago three of us went through a thousand pounds on a night out in Brighton (!) and I stayed sober and drove, God knows what it would have cost in the west end. Toronto may be staid but it's cheap and, if you want the big time, NYC is an hour away.

Re: reasons for going and reasons for returning
 

Toronto is what you make it, and we have found it to be interesting since we moved here. there are a lot of things to do for adults, kids and families as a whole.

It all comes down to the reasons why one moved here in the first place.

Re: reasons for going and reasons for returning
 

That was kind of what I was hinting at in post #47, but it was misinterpreted to be about Boats, Skidoos, and big Flatties.

Based on the experiences of my family, friends and contemporaries in the UK, owning a family home and a couple of cars on a single income is a stretch, and on what I was paid before leaving it would have taken some sort of miracle to get on the "housing ladder". I dont think its unreasonable after 7 years as a Student that my profession should be valued enough to pay for my own roof over my head. By coming to Canada I was able to bypass completely the starter home, and it wasnt by bringing funds with me. At least here my employer values me enough to make my poverty stricken student years seem worthwhile:)

I wish there were some reliable stats for how many new immigrants from western countries really suffer in the job market, and how long it takes on average to get a job you are happy with. It seems to be the key thing, and I think it is very worthwhile for posters like Sunshine girl to share their experiences here. I dont know why she thinks they wont be appreciated. I realise I was very lucky to come here under the circumstances I did, my experience is perhaps not typical, but then neither is Seacreatures either I suspect.

Re: reasons for going and reasons for returning
 

Too true in both cases I suspect....the norm is probably somewhere in the middle with the pure struggle and ease at either end of the scale

Re: reasons for going and reasons for returning
 

Ive had my struggles too, but did not find landing another job in an unrelated (but equally well paid) field too hard. To be fair though maybe that was a result of having worked here for a bit before getting laid off. Note though that I was flexible, and chose to work in a new area in order to stay in Canada.