dbd33

In which way is it a problem?

scilly

The loss of language, of course

Metaleopard

Thank you for your reply. I am well abreast of this information as I have been studying the original languages and people of the Americas for nearly decade.
My question was really about areas to live in Canada, why people like/dislike them. Best wishes

neilcumming

I was wondering what good things you have heard about Winnipeg? I lived there for 5yrs and one of things people boasted about Winnipeg was that it had the most fast food restaurants in all of North America, not really a attraction for vegans I would think.
Calgary is a nice city and close to Rockies skiing.

scilly

I presume then that you have been in contact with like-minded people here, and asked about opportunities for employment?

Or are you an independent, don't like to work with others?


The question you ask is an impossible to answer, because we all have our preferences and our prejudices.


I've lived in Vancouver for almost 50 years, love it and always have loved it. But it is an impossible place for someone to find housing these days unless they have a very large salary or are millionaires.

I don't like Toronto, will do anything to avoid having to go through the airport there, stay only at the Royal York ........... and yes, I have spent longer periods there in the past. Other people love it.

I love Montreal, but wouldn't live there ......... language and weather.

I've stayed briefly in Winnipeg on a couple of occasions ........ weather again a problem.

You should take every opinion given to you on this thread with a large pinch of salt.

Much better to come for a 4 week holiday, and travel from place to place to see a) if you like it, and b) in view of your specialty, whether you can stand the relationships with the First Nations in that province. Most provinces do not have good relationships with the native peoples.

Aviator

It is an unanswerable question, only you can figure it out. The only way is to visit, ideally several times. I made a number of trips to Canada before settling. Mt OH made 3 trips before she moved over.

Some people like a town, others don't. Personally, I could not be paid enough to live in Vancouver, or the suburbs, rural suits me fine. I can get everywhere I want to go, do all the things I want to do. However I would not move from BC, even with an NDP government (that view may change over time).

Metaleopard

Haha ok thanks for the info - I’m not a vegan but junk food is as the names implies. What I had heard about Winnipeg and Manitoba was the countryside being lovely I think? But it’s not that relevant now as my partner has selected the universities he would prefer to study for his phd at and they are all in Quebec and Ontario. He has yet to look into the university of British Columbia but I imagine that is an option too.

Metaleopard

Thank you for your message. As I said in all my other posts I fully intend to do several trips to different areas in Canada and was merely asking people’s opinions on what they thought of the areas they lived in, what they loved, what they didn’t, and why. I thought it might guide me a little on planning my recon trips. It sort of has but I have also done much research in the interim and it will all ultimately be guided by my partners choice of where he will do his doctorate.

Siouxie

Another poster on here has made great use of trustedhousesitters to do a recce of different areas, much cheaper than hotels and gives you the opportunity to explore as if you lived here. There's other companies that offer a similar service, such as housecarers and others that can be found on a Google search - it might be something to consider doing.

Has your partner considered the Guelph area? My nephew is a professor at the University there and really likes the area, plenty of opportunities to get out into the countryside as well. First Nation communities in Ontario: http://firstnation.ca/

bathexpats

Yes that was me I think. It's a great way to see Canada but there is still a degree of responsibility as you have someones beloved fur-babies to care for.

Like others have said it's an impossible questions to answer. We have been so blessed with the amount of people we have met through TrustedHouseSitters, and at present we are sitting for a lady who lives in a kind of co-living housing development. We have been really getting involved with their recreational activities, coffee mornings, soup lunches and daily walks and they all have varying opinions on place.

The one thing they all have in common, is that they have ALL migrated west onto Vancouver Island. Most of them long before they retired and some still work.

So far on this trip we have ruled out:

Vancouver and further stretching sprawls due to cost of housing, and not loving city life, Toronto for the same reason.

Calgary because something about it just didn't feel like home to us, people are very different there and didn't feel a great sense of community that we are looking for.

Winnipeg? Well not sure where you have heard it's nice countryside, it's prairie land, so flat and not a lot around. Weather is punishing even to the hardiest of Canadians.

The Maritimes (Nova Scotia/New Brunswick) - The work isn't there, the weather again is slightly harsher than a lot of places. A beautiful place to visit for a vacation, but for us a place to hard to live.

Edmonton - Too far north and too cold, and we felt quite remote up there.

We have lots more to see in Ontario, with trips to Owen Sound/Collingwood region, Ottawa (but again a bigger city with rapidly increasing house prices so not holding out much).

Vancouver Island - This is my front runner and I wasn't expecting to like it at all. It's beautifully picturesque, the people are truly truly wonderful. But many people find it remote, and like they are stranded. Lot's of places to find work and they are crying out for teachers in BC at the moment. There are towns like Nanaimo, Duncan, Sidney, Saanich, Victoria (the biggest but not I wasn't keen on it here), Langford and where we are now a good 45 minute drive from Victoria in a small place of about 15000 people in Sooke.

Kelowna is also very pretty to some, but I wasn't that bowled over by it there or the Kamloops and felt like it was far away from everything.

I will say this on Canada, it wasn't easy getting in for us, we waited 2 years and now we are here, it doesn't seem like an adventure as much as it feels like it's going to be hard work adjusting. We want it though, badly, it isn't something we feel like "oh lets give it a go", it's very much a feeling of "we want to make this work at all costs and are incredibly lucky to have the opportunity". But being away from your family is tough, everything you have ever known is tough. We are 33 and 32 with no children. Would we cope doing just this recce trip alone (let alone permanent move) with a child under 10, absolutely not no way, but that's us.

Metaleopard

No one had said Winnipeg was nice just that someone who lived there for 2 years for a job spoke well of the surrounding countryside, it was just a passing comment... The fact is that my partner has travelled all over Canada and has family there so we have a head start - I do not have family in England, wherever I go my family is with me, my sister lives in Australia, I am not leaving anything behind. I am multilingual with French as a second language and the universities that my partner is interested in are all within a 0-5 hour radius of Ottawa so the liklihood is that our main area of focus will surround Montreal. On our first visit I believe we will spend a few weeks checking out Montreal, Quebec City then Toronto, Ottawa withs view to settling in or near Montreal - which, depending on which university he is accepted for doctorate, could mean a commute for my partner but Phd study is hardly going in for daily study and he is used to even a 5 hour commute (when we lived in Cornwall).
We are a transient people, we travel a lot and by road, and we have moved 6 times since being together (4 with our baby) so I’m not sure moving, or moving around is going to phase us. When you have children you think to yourself, right I’m going to move to the place where I wanna to raise them, I’m going to decide under the age for 5 So that they grow up settled in one environment. Moving after the age of 10? Likely to cause them great upheaval - I know as it happened to me. We have at least 3-4 years to complete our research and applications should we decide to move there.
Canada wasn’t just a shot in the dark for us, my partner is an early modern historian with a particular focus on European immigration to the Americas and I am a linguist who has been studying language trails and connections particularly in North America and it’s indegenous populations - so it’s not like ‘oh I like trailer park boys, maple syrup and snow so let’s have at it’ The fact is, asking people what they like and dislike about areas they have travelled to and around is not ‘an impossible question to answer’, if someone asked me that about England, Scotland, France and Switzerland the places in which I have lived and studied; I could and would tell them - so thanks to anyone who has taken the time to do that.

Metaleopard

Oh and for the record, I f***in love trailer park boys, maple syrup and snow. OAO

BristolUK

Quite a few mention needing ferries...similar to paying to leave PEI on the bridge.
I'm not sure there's much left that you might feel different about and not a big city but I admire your determination.

Oakville?

Hurlabrick

You could live in Cornwall again and commute to Montreal😂😂 (town on the St Lawrence).

In Ottawa, in general, the west and southern suburbs and towns are predominantly Enlish speaking, but suburbs and towns to the east are more francophone. Maybe have a look at Hawkesbury or villages around there? Still in ON but 1 hour to both Ottawa and Montreal.

Metaleopard

I know! It’s alway such a delight to see so many Cornish names the world over! Thank you for your tips we will check them out on our travels!