The Maple Leaf 2015

[westcoastnortherneragain]

A thread that is all things canadian, so to all the existing and new canadian based mumsnetters hello!

Also if anyone has any questions about coming to live here please ask.

Ah, excellent stuff! Thanks nooka and mrsTP. Tis dd1 looking at UVic and she's a sciencey type - genetic engineering currently, but who knows what by next year... Will definitely let you all know when we're visiting.

Does anyone have any links to some sort of idiot's guide for Canadian uni applications? I am gathering that they apply separately to everywhere they want to go, possibly, and that it is largely based on grades when they apply? Not g12? Not offers and the misery of clearing? (Shows age) and that it is the Done Thing to apply for as many scholarships as seem remotely plausible, just because?

I can't believe your baby is 2.5, crazy. That's ridiculous! mind you, I can't believe mine is apparently looking at universities, so not sure why a toddler is so unfeasible! Time passes so quickly!

Any tips on the citizenship test, mrs TP?

I'm planning on sending the kids back for July to see the grandparents etc etc... But I have no idea how I'm going to afford it... It's rather more tempting to keep them here and put at least one of them out to work in this here tourist-trap town. I was back last August running a trip for a bunch of local teens, which was awesome, but now I figure that I've let my own kids down by not schlepping them round London and Paris. Hmm.

I have a friend who's a prof at uvic and one of the mums at school is in admissions there too. Let me know what you'd like me to ask! :)

Hi Everyone!

I'm a born and bred Canadian, but happy there's a thread here for us! I'm in Guelph Ontario. We just moved here from Niagara and love it! Tons of Brits in Guelph too, I always ask if they MN No one has copped to it yet!

Welcome FatSwan !

Thanks!

For the expats-what brought you here? Do you like it?

Ooo! You lot are brilliant, and this might be much easier than I thought!

At the moment we're at the very basic stage, (as we have no idea what we're doing) but when we get to the nitty gritty, I'll know exactly where to come! at the mo our plan is to check out the website and arrange a visit to one of their 'student for a day' sessions/ tours, visit Victoria for a few days, and hope that gives us some sort of starting point, and a vibe for dd - she wasn't even 2 when we were last there... It is all the more bizarre as I am a straightforward arts chick, and have no idea what to look for in science programs. Dd1 is a fab student, but is definitely a small town girl. She was finding the idea of a huge city backdrop terrifying, but UVic appeals to her - good reputation, but not as big as some. I'm assuming this makes it harder to actually get in though? If you happen to be idly passing the time of day with your admissions mum, west, could you ask roughly how many applications they have per place? (And definitely science bias).

This thread came up on my fb feed, and it just occurred to me that I might know a few ladies in the vicinity!

Anyhoo, sorry to derail on a mad university tangent.

On another tangent - I finally got round to taking a training at work about money and whatnot, and it finally clicked into place how utterly disadvantaged we are in terms of RRSPs etc by dint of emigrating in the - ahem - mid-life. I am embarrassed for not quite grasping it before. I do have a pension through work, but dh doesn't, now (although he has a UK pension which we are still being double-taxed on - don't even go there). And I'm sitting looking at my mortgage and doing the 'hmmmmm' thing. I really should have made some sort of effort to have looked at this...

Hi, we are just outside Ottawa. We've been here around 3 years now. My OH is about to apply for citizenship for himself and the children. I arrived later than him so have to wait until the end of the year - though by then the new rules will have been brought in, meaning I have to wait until the end of next year :-(. We are out in the country yet only a short drive from the city.

I have a son applying to uni soon as well! He is in G11 and they apply here early in G12. At his school, the application is done online at school and as far as I remember, they apply to several places at once and the scholarship applications are done automatically with no separate application. However, he may well be heading back to the UK for uni which is obviously quite different. Can't say we're looking forward to paying international student fees for him, lol.

Hey Nooka, sorry for delay - putting little uns to bed. I have read via links on the British Expats website, that I have to sit the test as my Uni transcripts do not say specifically that I took my degree through English or French. My husband left school early, so does not have any such transcripts.

My eldest is in Grade 10 and I was interested to read here that Citizenship is required before applying for scholarships - thank you MNers...again!

Houseofnerds, does your high school have a designated counsellor or someone who deals in Careers advice? It seems to be a separate subject for my Grade 10 student. She has already constructed her first resume in that subject, in anticipation of applying for a PT summer job to pay for driving lessons in July! The local PAC seemed to be a good source of contacts and information too; they often invite representatives from different areas of Universities to speak at their meetings.

FatSwan - hello! :) Reasons for coming here seven years ago? Hmmm, well DH wanted to live abroad. We couldn't afford the Health Insurance premiums for our big family in the US; we all have very fair skin and we would have fried as soon as we landed in Australia. We knew a few Canadians living in the UK and they were such a great bunch of people, that we did very little research about actually living there. Once I had been offered a job and a visa, we just hopped on a plane, dragging our kids with us...no word of a lie.

Friend is in Geography, will ask admissions lady about applicants!

How did I miss this?
I've been in Fort McMurray, AB for four years. We've just had confirmation that our Citizenship papers have been received. I'm hoping our paperwork is ok and we don't have to sit the language test.
Not unsurprisingly, DH works with oil. I'm a SAHM to DS, who is 3

Hello again Moose!

Hi I texted the lady in admissions and she sent this, I hope it's helpful!

We usually have 2500 applications to undergraduate Science.The faculty is not competitive entry, so as long as the applicant meets the minimum gpa cutoff they will receive an offer.More info on current cutoffs for ugrad science can be found at registrar.uvic.ca/undergrad/admissions/apps/self-reporting/.Let me know if you have any other questions.

Late to join, but hello from Halifax! I am a born and bred Canuck. I mostly grew up in Ontario, spent a few years in Alberta and BC, and now live in Nova Scotia.

Hi BeachyKeen, how are things in Halifax? I'm making my first visit to the Maritimes (St Johns New Brunswick) in June

it is finally melting out here, most of the snow is gone, and I saw my first crocus flowers this week!
The East Coast is lovely, and if you are in the Fundy area, there is so much to see and do.
We are heading to Briar Island for some whale watching, sea glass collecting, and hiking this summer.

New Brunswick has the Ganong Chocolate factory, worth the trip just for that! they do tours and tastings, and you can get chicken bones (pink cinnamon candies with a chocolate centre) freshly made! I have a jar of them on my counter right now

Hi, I'm Canadian but have been in London for 15 years. Married to a Brit with a 2 year old and baby on the way. We are buying a flat with my Mom in New West (just outside Vancouver) and planning to move in Sept 2016. Feels like the right thing to do for our family but really apprehensive about the move. We just want less stress, better schools and family support which we don't have now as DH's family don't live close. I have good friends I've kept in touch with so I'm sure keeping busy will help. How did you all cope with the change? I feel very British in a lot of ways and I'm worried about how DH and I will cope with the culture shock?

Thanks Beachy, we were given a Ganong chocolate and some seaweed as a introductory treat at the last conference. The chocolate was lovely!

The weather here is in the mid/high 20s, so quite different!

Boardbond I didn't/don't feel huge culture shock on the whole. BC is quite British influenced after all However we came via the States and had a lot more culture shock there, so BC felt a bit like coming home :)

houseofnerds how did your UVIC open day go?

Just marking my spot as DH has been very tentatively offered the possibility of a job in Toronto (we're in Michigan at the moment). What is a reasonable salary and average house price? His office would be in Missauga. Had a quick look on realtor.ca and the house prices look insane compared with where we live currently.

Is it just you and DH or kids too? Will you work or stay home? House prices have gone crazy here in the past few years. Detached home would be $500,000+ in Brampton but more expensive in Oakville more like $750,000+. Salary should be $100-150,000 plus range I would say. Cost of living is high, healthcare is free but hydro, property tax etc high. Renting is expensive too.

It would be my son too - he starts kindergarten next year. Sounds similar to the UK with the crazy house prices. I hope I can work too but haven't looked into work permits yet.

hi northerner - am back to the original (sort-of) username after account shenanigans. We are planning our trip to Victoria for spring break next year, now. The kids went back to Blighty for a month in the summer and dd1 got back from Boston yesterday from a huge science geek jamboree
Fortunately, even though they toured both MIT and Harvard she hasn't yet floated the idea of studying in the U.S., so I think UVic is still the favourite. They run recruitment stuff during the spring break, including student for a day things, so we'll be booking her in for that. Now that the science competition is over we can sit down and plan this uni lark. I'm still boggled by the non-competitive entry thing, if I'm honest! It seems so different from the applications and interviews scene in the UK!

We have had to renew our PR cards this summer, and have had a total rigmarole with the girls. Ds is a dual citizen as he was born here the first time around but dd1and 2 (older and younger than him lol) needed their PR renewing. They renewed mine and dh's no problem, but we ran into huge issues with the girls because AB doesn't have provincial ID cards. They provided a list of suitable secondary ID for the kids which included stuff like driving license, two years worth of tax assessments, provincial ID card, photo health card, none of which were applicable. It eventually turned out that AB does have a voluntary ID card scheme once you hit 12, so we applied for dd1, that card came through so we used that for her PR card renewal. Dd2 wasn't 12, so there was no way we could get PR card renewal for her. Utter insanity. She turned 12 this week, so now we can apply for her provincial ID and then her PR card renewal. Absolutely bollocks, the whole thing. The CIC helpline was worse than useless. I spent the whole of the summer in a panic in case my unaccompanied minor 11yo wasn't going to be allowed back into Canada after visiting her grandparents.

So as dd2 currently has no valid PR card, we can't apply for citizenship until that comes through, which will be at least another four months and could be longer.

Dh has been offered a job in Ottawa and is considering commuting a couple of times a month. Sigh. At the moment the numbers don't add up but they have offered him two flights a month for three months. He has asked for essentially the same plus accom expenses for 12 mos. I have no idea what he is going to do if they agree, because he is going to look like an ass if he turns it down after months of rigmarole. Hey ho.

commuting.. from Victoria to Ottawa? I'm sorry, even if they offer him a jetpack, that's insane!

I'm Canadian, living in Ottawa. Dual citizenship, questions welcomed from anyone.