Moving on from U.K. considering Canada

[User6784097]

Hi we are considering moving from the U.K. in the near or distant future. We were thinking if the middle east but the extreme heat puts me off. I have been thinking of Canada and I had a look at the points system and seems like we would be able to qualify.

what is it like? Which areas have less extreme of the weather? We are an outdoorsy family and the kids love sports and activities.

what are the schools like? Which areas are more sought after.

are doctors accessible?

i m at at the beginning of my research and thoughts so would appreciate any info as till date Canada was not on our radar.

I was living in Montreal for the last 2 years (just left). We loved Montreal, we liked it being French.
For Canada in general it’s a very big country with very different climates so you really can’t give proper advice without having an idea where you want to go/live.
Generally speaking it’s expensive in/near the cities, Vancouver is really expensive, Toronto is also really expensive, lots of people seem to have moved to Nova Scotia so prices have gone up there too. Out in the sticks prices are better.
Food is expensive (due to high transportation costs) so is things like mobile phones, WiFi car insurance, this is mainly due to Canada being so big it’s hard to get service everywhere.
We found our household bills to be low, we were in a condo with all electric and they have hydro in Quebec so compared to what’s going on here in the UK it was cheap.
I believe petrol prices have gone up (we didn’t have a car) but still cheaper than here.
It was impossible to get a doctor, but you could get appointments in medical centres or be seen at hospital but you need a medical card, there is a similar system to NHS but doesn’t cover everything so you usually have top up insurance (which we had through our work).
I don’t know about schools.
weather in Montreal was sunny hot/humid in summer, long cold winters, but it’s a dry cold with lots of very bright sunny days, winter is long, snow can start in October/Nov and go on till March, spring/autumn are short only about a month long. Summer was much hotter than we expected and humid.
Canadians were generally friendly and helpful, we were only there because of work, so never considered it as a permanent move, so didn’t overthink many things.
Do you know what you want to do? There are lots of FB groups about moving to Canada.

Didn’t think of Facebook. Thank you will look on there for groups to get an idea.
we are still contemplating. No real ties to the U.K. so weighing our options.

When we went on holiday our air bnb hosts were asking about holiday allowance in the uk because theirs was only 2/3 weeks so near that in mind when looking at jobs!

i am from belfast and live in Ontario Canada. Winters can be brutal. Health care is covered for the basics but prescriptions etc are not. Right now..today has been as high as 2 dollars a litre. I live in a small city just outside London Ontario and honestly love it. I hate snow lol. I hate scraping my car and fight my husband for the garage all winter hahaha. yes i win.

oops. lost part of my post...right now TODAY I paid 1.57 per litre to fill my car

what is it like? Which areas have less extreme of the weather? We are an outdoorsy family and the kids love sports and activities.

Great. West coat has the least extreme weather. Most extreme would be the territories but no one lives there! Consider if you like snow though. It's great for all kinds of cold weather outdoors as well if you're hardy. There is a great deal of shovelling if you live pretty much anywhere but Vancouver/Island.

what are the schools like? Which areas are more sought after.

In the whole of Canada? You'd need t be a little more focused!

are doctors accessible?

There's a healthcare crisis in Canada (and the rest of the world). Family doctors (GPs) aren't accessible in many places but there are walk-in clinics.

Canada is mostly harmless as Douglas Adams would have said. Nice people, stable government, few issues (but there are some, see the opioid crisis). Fewer social programs but less need of them. Cohesive society, but can be a bit homogenous in places. And a massive, horrible, unhealed wound regarding First Nations people. Don't consider it without reading some history.

Each province ‘does’ education and healthcare slightly differently, so be aware that info on Quebec won’t necessarily apply to BC

There are many unhealed wounds- issues that have been swept under the carpet- treatment of First Nations, division between French and English speakers, treatment of Japanese and Chinese during all of Canada’s formative years.

@MrsTerryPratchett people DO live in the territories!

Look up housing prices, there is currently a rental crisis for the west coast, you may very well struggle to get a rental property.

the west coast is great, but expensive. I suggest you look up grocery store prices too. Child care can have long waiting lists too.

I moved to Northern Alberta from the U.K. 11 years ago. Winters are long and really cold (-30 to -40 and below) but it’s a dry cold. You get used to wrapping up well and layers are key.

We have doctors here but wait times in the office can be long and wait times for referrals to specialists even longer.

What’s your field of work? Some careers are easily transferable. Others are not.

Quebec has the highest rate of residents without a family doctor and Montreal is the worst for it. (This has to do with a provincial policy that allocates new family doctor slots by area.) Also, Bill 101 requires that immigrants send their children to French schools, and there's an additional immigration procedure for Quebec. There is even a proposal now to extend the language law to CEGEP (sixth form, roughly)

the Maritimes are known for health care struggles, and Halifax has become very popular so housing is tight.

Vancouver is expensive but beautiful and great for the outdoors. Calgary and Edmonton would give good access to the Rockies though winters are cold. Alberta is known for being more conservative culturally.

people DO live in the territories!

I know, I've been there, I was being facetious. However it's 0.32% of Canada's population. So the OP is REALLY unlikely to move there. In fact, she's unlikely to go there. Many Canadians haven't been to any of them.

I’ve been too. A school friend lives there, some of her fb posts are pretty cool!

We moved from London to Montreal earlier this year. We knew we would leave the Uk after Brexit and as DH is French Canadian it was an easy process - DH is a doctor and I’m working in Corporate Finance and transferred with my employer. Wasn’t an easy decision as DT’s are 23 and living in Brussels and Amsterdam.

Do you all speak French ?

@Parker231 sorry to resurrect this older thread from August, but we are thinking of moving to Canada and Googling it brought up some useful threads on here.

I was born there and am a Canadian citizen and my parents met there and spent years there before coming to the UK.

However none of us speak French and the comment upthread about immigrants having to go to French schools is a concern - would that be our situation? Our DS is 18 but DD is 15 so would be at A Level stage by the time we went.

@ArmyofMunn - where in Canada are you planning to move to?

@Parker231 we would like to live in either Montreal or Vancouver. My parents lived in Montreal and I was born there.

We've lived in Brighton for years and both my parents and an old work colleague said the two cities were remarkably similar.

I'm thinking now though that Montreal may not work because of the French obligation.

@ArmyofMunn There are areas of Montreal which have higher numbers of English speakers and some English schools (not sure of the entry criteria) but it is a French speaking city so fluent French is needed to fully integrate.

In order to have entitlement to English schooling in Quebec, one parent must have been educated in English in Canada for a certain number of years, I forget how many. If you've both been educated abroad then Canadian citizenship or not you do not have Bill 101 rights. This law applies to both public and subsidized private schools. There's a small handful of schools that do not take public funding and are not subject to the law.

(There's also exemptions for diplomats and temporary residents, but if you're coming to settle I don't think there's a way around it.)

I believe the law does apply to CEGEP now (attended after Grade 11). Also, workplaces are required to function in French, they have limited public services in English--it's harder to get by without French than it used to be.

We left the UK for Canada a while ago. I’m a Canadian citizen but I moved about a lot when I was younger. I posted about moving my teenager under an old username (which I can’t remember now) and got a very mixed response.

It has definitely been the right call for us. DD settled in seamlessly (though she was behind in some subjects and ahead in others to start with), jobs are good (less holidays but we get a day every two weeks off - so work 9 out of every 10 days) and our financial margins are much better (though we are not in one of the more expensive areas). We are also closer to my family.

We don’t mind the cold but did know where we were moving to and had spent time there before so knew what to expect. Lots if ice skating and cross country skiing which is good.

There are definitely some things we miss but overall a good move for us as a family.

HTH

I would 100% move to Canada. It's such an incredible place. I'd move to Toronto

As I said earlier.. love canada...hate winter . That being said, the state of our health care has become dismal. My husband has had a chronic cough for a couple of years. Was not able to see doctor, just phone contact due to covid restrictions. they tried several different inhalers and medicines and no joy. He finally got a face to face about a month ago, and his doctor (that had been prescribing meds and diagnosing over phone) said he really needs to see a specialist as a test she sent him for shows reduced lung capacity. OK. so. the specialist office called and made the appointment. IN 2025!!!! so yes we have bumped up our retirement and are leaving canada for a warm climate may 1. Our food prices are out of control. I bought a pound of store brand real butter yesterday, $7.49 ...a head of lettuce $4.99 . yup we are Out of here

Oh wow @momager1 sorry to hear about your husband situation. It sounds worse than the UK. At least we still can see the doctor and specialist within half a year or few months (where we are). Always thought Canada is very good at social care system?

Canada is fab. Ontario is lovely. It's south, they have proper summers and proper winters etc. lovely people and a lot of lovely towns.

I moved to Edmonton AB in 2007 as a single 28yo, and have since married and have an 8yo. Lovely place to live but winter is long, summer can be hot, with periods of intense smoke. As someone else mentioned food is very expensive, I was blown away by how “cheap” Waitrose seemed on my last trip to the UK. Education is variable country wide, but I have been very impressed by Edmonton, high standards, massive choice of programs (Language immersion, sports/arts/science focus etc.) but much more relaxed in many ways than the UK, no problem to take an elementary student out of school for a family holiday, the school just says “thanks for letting us know, have a great time”. Housing is significantly cheaper than most of the UK (in Edmonton, not Toronto or Vancouver which have London prices or worse. Society is generally a bit more relaxed and friendly.