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Living overseas

Whether you're considering emigrating or an expat abroad, you'll find likeminds on this forum.

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Original poster

Canada 2012

194 replies

westcoastnortherner · 11/02/2012 16:45

So I noticed that there is a thread for America 2012, and I thought it would be nice to have a Canadian one too. So we can chat or if anyone has any questions I'm sure someone will be able to help...

I moved to Victoria, BC three years ago I have two DC'S and I am a SAHM.

OP posts:

Ekka · 12/05/2012 06:19

Hi all, I've been lurking for a while and thought it was time to actually post on this thread... We currently live in the UK with 3 young dc, but dh's current job is coming to an end and as he is Canadian he is considering finding a job in Canada. His parents live near Victoria BC so he is focussing on Vancouver/Victoria for jobs, and is currently in Vancouver for a few weeks to try and find something. So far nothing has come up, but we are keeping our fingers crossed. I'm panicking a bit about logistics (dd, our oldest is I her last term of reception here but would start in Kindergarten in September if we relocated this summer) and trying to get our current house ready in case we need to sell it quickly...

So, can anyone tell me how the schools application process works? We looked at the three private schools in Victoria (ouch to the prices!!!) when we were here at Easter but couldn't look at the more likely public schools as we have absolutely no idea yet where we'd be likely to be living if we move.

You all sound as if you are having a good time out there, it does make me think this could be a positive move for us even though I will be leaving all my family over in the UK which will be tough. So now its just a case of keeping our fingers crossed that a job comes up for dh (if you know of anyone that needs an FD or similar - he's very good! )

Original poster

westcoastnortherner · 12/05/2012 16:19

HI Ekka!

If you have any questions feel free to PM me about schools or anything else in Victoria, there are lots of well priced schools I'm assuming you looked around GNS, SMUS and St Maragrets when you were here? They are very expensive, but there are lots of good cheaper ones and very good public ones too.

OP posts:

nooka · 17/05/2012 05:42

State school applications are very simple here, you pretty much just turn up at your local school and they fit you in. There are class size limits so it's possible that might be an issue, but in general its not half as stressful as in the UK. Our experience (in the Interior) has been that all the schools have been pretty good. I would suspect that Vancouver is much more variable depending on the characteristics of the local catchment area.

crazyforbaby · 17/05/2012 06:14

Hi Ekka and welcome!

Our children attend elementary school in Vancouver and they have loved it...there is a big emphasis on daily physical activity here. One of my children was the same age as your daughter when she came over here - most schools now offer a full-day kindergarten. I am sure you have looked up www.vsb.ca for the local schoolboard website. Some parents like the Fraser Institute ranking of schools' performances. A lot of public schools have areas of specialism, eg music, sport etc depending on your child's talents. The class sizes are generally smaller here too, but the price of renting or buying a house is high! Have you looked on the British Expats website - they ran a good piece on local education in BC on their forum recently. Good luck in your search!!!

MiauMau · 14/07/2012 22:23

Hello, I've noticed that this thread has died down since May. We'll be moving to Vancouver with our DS in a few months time, so some hand holding and information is required

nooka · 18/07/2012 06:25

I don't think that there are quite enough of us to sustain a thread over time MiauMau. Good luck with your move to Vancouver. It's a great city, but very expensive as I'm sure everyone has already told you!

MiauMau · 20/07/2012 22:11

Hi nooka. It can't be much worse than London. Just the thought of being able to live much closer to work warms my heart.

nooka · 21/07/2012 08:03

I know what you mean. We moved to Kamloops (great little interior town) and now it's a 20 minutes easy drive to work, when stopping too many times at the traffic lights is the biggest traffic problem most days. Much nicer than the hour or so on public transport I had in London!

runningforme · 04/09/2012 01:49

Hi, just thought I'd revive the thread and join in. We moved to Toronto a year ago with our 3 dc's. having an amazing, long hot summer - the kind you hope for every year back home in the UK but never get! I miss proper tea, fish and chips with mushy peas ( even though never used to have it very often), proper cheese that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, wotsits, cheese and onion walkers crisps and sausages ( that aren't either franks or Italian). Otherwise, we've settled in well. DS is starting an extended French program this term and DD1 iS trying out for a gymnastics team. Im ready to look for part time work, but the cost of daycare for DD2 may just rule that out.....

boredbuthappy · 21/09/2012 00:00

(Reposting from another thread)

I have recently just moved back to Toronto after having lived in thr UK for 8 years and am finding te whole transition quite difficult. This has been a bit of a shock for me because I had been really looking forward to coming back and being close to family again. The problem is that I had an extensive network of parents friends after having my son 18 months ago and am really missing it. I'm finding it difficult to find resourses and avenues by which to meet other parents, and also, surprisingly, nothing even similar to this website in Canada/Toronto. Either it doesn't exist or I am looking in all the wtong places. Would really like to be able to take part in playgroups and the like, but where I am at the moment (North York Centre), there seems to be nothing going on! And there are plenty of parents with small children walking around. The most disheartening thing so far thoug has to ge that I did actually find one group that meet up wit their toddlers, and emailed a member to ask if we could come along one day as we are new to the area and don't know anyone, and I never got a reply. Teir website did stae that they only accept new members on recommedation so maybe that's why, but made me feel a little sad nonetheless.
If there's anyone out there who could point me in the right direction, I'd be very grateful!

howcomes · 26/09/2012 04:48

Hi boredbuthappy I'm in Toronto too, in east york. I moved out here just over a year ago and have a ds aged 2.5. Our local library had lots of good info about nearby drop in centres (playgroups) and events.

madwomanintheattic · 26/09/2012 05:18

Oh hello, bored!

Will keep it bumped a bit if I remember. Did you have any luck on expats?

You could probably scroll through the thread and use the pm function to message torontonians (or whatever they are called...) as well x

How is everyone, anyway?

I'm job hunting and fed up. And have two weddings in the UK next year...

nooka · 26/09/2012 06:46

Hello again fellow Canadians and Canadian wannabees I hope everyone is well.

What sort of job are you looking for madwoman? Can't be that easy in your beautiful neck of the woods I'm imagining?

On another thread you said you were thinking about Canadian diamonds and I was intrigued especially because I think we share your reasoning (dh and I thinking about some sort of vow renewal thingy once we get PR).

What sort of gems are mined here? It woudl be really cool to have a Rockies rock :)

madwomanintheattic · 26/09/2012 21:45

It's freaking impossible. any job would do me right now, but I can't get even get an entry level front desk job in any of the gazillion hotels, despite having about 20 years of blardy customer facing experience.

I only know of Polar Bear and Maple Leaf Diamonds tbh, I think they are all NorthWest Territories? We haven't looked into it too deeply. It's very much theoretical, as unless I can actually find a job, we are going to struggle to pay the damn mortgage, let alone go jewellery shopping!

You guys aren't far from PR now, though, are you? You must be pretty settled? A friend was telling me about the Darfield Earthship (?) out your way - just out of town. Might be planning a road trip at some point... Next year though.

nooka · 27/09/2012 03:24

Sounds intriguing - a house built of rubbish!

We're in the final PR queue, but things seem to be moving at the rate of treacle. Medicals back in May and we haven't heard anything since.

Sorry your finances are tricky. We are hoping that our home in the UK sells and then we'll be more solvent. This emigrating lark is bloody expensive!

madwomanintheattic · 04/11/2012 02:24

A wee bumpetty bump to see what's new...

The snow has arrived.

madwomanintheattic · 04/11/2012 02:25

Nooka, yy, apparently at the moment they are building a wall out of baby food jars instead of a those glass bricks, for light? I'm going to have to have a wee looky.

nooka · 04/11/2012 03:47

We had snow last week but it went again (can't say we were that sad about it!)

madwomanintheattic · 04/11/2012 18:18

Two out of four ski resorts are open here already (two weeks!) and I slid on the ice in the car this morning coming out of the off leash area. Jeesh, it's that time again! Only a wee slide, just enough to remind me about winter driving...

Have you heard anything about your pr? It's usually at this time of year that they stall until their new quotas hit in January? Then there's a huge batch of envelopes arrive all at once!

madwomanintheattic · 04/11/2012 18:18

We can apply for citizenship in January... How scary is that?!

nooka · 05/11/2012 03:11

Our big resort opens on the 17th, but we don't often have a lot of snow before December. My PR application is in a black hole along with a whole bunch of other ones that were sent to Ottawa supposedly for speedier processing but were derailed when there were a whole bunch of cuts to the immigration service. It's been a year now and I've no idea when we'll hear anything. Grr

Cool about being here long enough for citizenship - are you going to swear loyalty to the Queen?

SomewhereInCanada · 05/11/2012 04:02

nooka Did you do the PR thing yourself or did you have assistance? We kicked our application off last September and it was granted in August. The medical seems like a licence to print money for someone! Activating was a bit of a pain as we couldn't get to the immigration office in Edmonton (they only offer one appointment with no choice on date or time and DH works shifts), so we ended up flying to San Francisco for 24 hours and applying on re-entry.

nooka · 05/11/2012 05:13

We're doing it on our own, but already have provincial sponsorship, so it's just a matter of getting the federal stamp. Had our medicals back in May. They were a bit strange, lovely doctor gave us all useful advice and only wrote the minimum on the forms - very box ticking.

MrsTerryPratchett · 05/11/2012 15:40

I can now apply for citizenship. I'm a bit about having to swear allegiance to the Queen. Never had to do that before. I must fill in the forms, just keep putting it off.

nooka · 05/11/2012 15:55

It seems an odd idea to me, can't they just take it on trust, after all we are English! I don't see that my slightly republican leanings should have any impact on whether I'd be a good Canadian citizen. ah well all in good time. I think by the time we get PR we will have enough years under our belt to apply for citizenship too.

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