# Amazed at how people select Canada!!!



## mikejb (Mar 12, 2012)

Being new myself to this website I have spent q good while browsing any number of threads where the one thing which utterly surprises me are the number of people who appear to have made up their minds on moving to Canada without so much as setting a foot down within a thousand miles of its shores.

Now please do not misunderstand me. This is not a thread to knock Canada. Far from it. The country and its people's have a huge variety to offer but I do have to wonder how much, if anything, these would be immigrants understand about the diversity of cultures, people's, places, provinces.... the list just goes on and on.

I do appreciate sites like these can be of help, especially when answering the more pointed questions like, education, taxes, housing costs etc etc but to my mind the maxim, 'try before you buy" would surely make far more sense when thinking about upping roots and travelling goodness knows how many thousands of miles to take up residence in an altogether, unfamiliar place.

The choice of course is theirs, after all, relatively speaking, we live in a free world. I merely shudder at the thought of these individuals a few months into their journey realising they have made an almighty mistake.

I do not have course have the answer but i would at the very least advocate you visit the province/provinces you have set your heart on, to meet its people, to see for yourself the work possibilities, to experience (in some sense) it's climate, its landscape, to see for yourself how different these small townships (villages) can be from those you have experienced up to now.

I used to live in the UK, in a small typical, quiet, UK village Even so, a drive of some five niles would bring you into a town where pretty much everything you might require was at your fingertips. Fresh food, a whole variety of shops, pharmacy's a doctors surgery, a police station, you name it it was pretty all much to hand. Here, where I am in BC we have one store where it's almost certain you will not find what it is you are looking for. Our nearest main town is a one and a half hours drive where even there the choice is limited. There is just the one bank, one foodstore with not necessarily the freshest of produce. Every six weeks we make the trip further South to our closest city which is a two and a half hours drive each way, 

We do not complain. We made our choice based on our own personal knowledge of the area we eventually chose and for all the above mentioned drawbacks, we wouldn't want to leave. Canada and in particular BC has so much more to offer than ease of living. Are the winters harsh..YES but we knew that. It was yet another of those features which required a tick or a cross in our list of pros and cons.

Maybe I have got this all wrong. maybe these is nothing wrong in the feet first approach. I guess if I were to think about it, maybe that's what the early settlers had to do, though in fairness most of them had little choice.

In any case it might be interesting to know how many of you out there took a measured choice as opposed to the feet first one......

Whatever the case, good luck to all who choose canada as their destination and I sincerely hope you are all blessed with finding all it is you hoped for

MJB


----------



## Brockthebadger (May 11, 2012)

Hi
We visited Western Canada for a month, and then tried Eastern Canada just to see if it was Canada or BC we had fallen for. We hated the East. Maybe it was an age thing as we were both in our late 40's but we couldn't tolerate the city life and the busy, busy traffic. We came back to visit BC while I took my nurses exam and tried Nelson in March as we had loved it in July.

Although we still love it we settled 40 minutes from Kamloops, BC at a higher elevation so that we didn't have to suffer the high temeratures of Kamloops. We're Canadian citizens now and have few regrets about our decision.


----------



## JGK (Dec 12, 2009)

I got a chance to come and work in Canada. The company hiring me brought me over for a week to show me the facility and area (Montreal, West Island). The also arranged for a local real estate agent to take me out for the day to just drive around and show me the possibilities.

I made the decision based on that. I've moved on from Montreal but have never regretted anything. Some things have gone well, some haven't (but the same could have been said if I'd stayed in the UK).


----------



## mikejb (Mar 12, 2012)

Both Brockthebadger and JGK

Exactly my point. One way or another the both of you made measured decisions in coming to Canada. Sure, there is never truly going to be enough time to take everything onboard and as you allude to in your replies, not everything is ever going to work out exactly as you would like but in your cases at least, and certainly mine, you went forward with your eyes as open as feasibly possible before taking that leap of faith. The fact it has turned out well for you both is great and I am sure like me you have come to accept those minor misgivings in favour of the greater plus side to living in a country so vast and plentiful.

It still goes without saying, I hope others too who have maybe taken that leap feet first have had the same success as you


----------



## jawnbc (Apr 28, 2012)

I still don't quite get the point of what is nonetheless a well-written contribution.


----------



## mikejb (Mar 12, 2012)

jawnbc said:


> I still don't quite get the point of what is nonetheless a well-written contribution.


I guess it doesn't matter you do not get the point of my contribution. Maybe we should just put it down to my having an oddball five minutes. I suppose I was merely asking how a family can uproot all to immigrate to a place, be it Canada or anywhere else for that matter, without first doing whatever is in range of their budget to assess whether or not they will be suited to said choice.

In the end my thoughts on the topic do not matter for those individuals who I will continue to wish the best for


----------



## SharonJ (Aug 9, 2011)

Hubby and I have never set foot onto Canadian soil but see this as an opportunity to show our children another life. We live in western Australia and the climatic conditions couldn't get much diverse. 

We had planned to travel Australia in a caravan for 12 months but the children do a lot of sports and decided not to forgo them for that length of time. 

We see it as an adventure and an education that text books can't buy. And if we only spend 2 years over there even though we are applying for PR then do be it


----------

