Single mother moving to canada

Hello amaniziad,

Welcome to Expat.com!

Wish you all the best.

Rouma

thanks Rouma, hope to find answers for all my ???

amany

CANada is a haven place to live. I can suggest you live either in Ontario or in BC. To look for a job, toronto city has a lot to offer, you can decide to look for a house or an apartment to rent outside the city and commute everyday by train. Oakville is outside toronto city and i is so quite and safe place to live. Just an opinion..live first in a city for a couple of months and see how things are going , remeber you have to deal with so much things..adjustment with the environment, weather, people, find a job and etc..goodluck

Hello Amaniziad, Marhaba.

So you are planning to settle this summer 2012. Good, you have then around 6 month to prepare yourself, which is good.
You are wondering which place could be suitable for you, perfect ! let's start by looking about places to live in Canada : try to have a look at the post ‘,Best places to live in Canada'' Where you can find many information about cities and some important criteria (such as, rent, salary, employment rate, weather, crime rate, number of doctors per habitant etc…..).

Here is the link :
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=73373

Then try to make an assessment or a kind of review about your way of life or perspective in life. Ask yourself about the kind of job you are willing to do, the weathers you could support to live in, the expenses you could support etc…..

After that try to focus on 2 or 3 cities where you could see what each ones could offer to you according to your need.

Hadh said !

Abdel

thanks abdel for ur advices,
actually i am waiting for summer to finish this scholer year for my son .
i went through this site and also since 2 months i am reading a lot to get an immage about every place in canada..  each place has its good and its bad things . Vancouver is nice but expensive and crime rate and drugs is high, toronto is very crowded and competetion for work is killing, manitoba less job chances and extreme cold....etc. North York and Brampton are good as i read, but i am nt sure about chances for jobs. about Otawa, i do not have a lot of information but some freinds said that it is very expensive and there are crimes but i am nor sure about these infos.

i have a long expereience in hotel business and tourism , but since  6 years i am working in banking administration field.

pls give me an idea about living in Ottawa since u are living there...  cost of living, safety, jobs, weather...etc

regards

amani

thanks honeyclotte,
as u said, it is a good idea to land in abig city to adjustto the new conditions then i move to another place after getting used to my new life.


thanks abdel for ur advices,
actually i am waiting for summer to finish this scholer year for my son .
i went through this site and also since 2 months i am reading a lot to get an immage about every place in canada..  each place has its good and its bad things . Vancouver is nice but expensive and crime rate and drugs is high, toronto is very crowded and competetion for work is killing, manitoba less job chances and extreme cold....etc. North York and Brampton are good as i read, but i am nt sure about chances for jobs. about Otawa, i do not have a lot of information but some freinds said that it is very expensive and there are crimes but i am nor sure about these infos.

i have a long expereience in hotel business and tourism , but since  6 years i am working in banking administration field.

pls give me an idea about living in Ottawa since u are living there...  cost of living, safety, jobs, weather...etc

regards

amani

You can also start applying online for your job. Toronto is not really expensive. As per experience. Brampton is okey too.

Hello Amani, salam alaikum.

It's all our pleasure to help you.

You mentioned about not being sure about chances for jobs. Well, nobody even. if he is working, would be sure that he will keep his job forever. The last financial crises (December 2008) is surely an example.

It's true to have at least information about the market and some security before to establish in an area is important, however the particularity of a new immigrant should not make people frightened about that, because there are so many organizations that help immigrants and offer many services, that even Canadian themselves or also old immigrant becoming Canadian (by citizenship), are not allowed to have same useful helps.

However let's say that as new immigrant you have a duty toward yourself:

-    Bring as much money as you can, let's say something that could cover your and your sons expanses for the first 3 months. It sounds a reasonable ‘'time frame'' so as to be able to find a job.

-    Ask for a professional help: I had experience with the Immigrant Serving Agencies and Other Non-Profit Organizations (some of them are not helpful at all). As you may read in many websites ‘'Many non-profit and community organizations are actively involved in facilitating the integration of immigrants into the Canadian labour force''… that's sound very nice, however (and I will say it again) Ask for a professional help ! push people not just to help you to prepare your ‘'résumé'' and professional motivation letter (yes it's helpful but not sufficient) but moreover, push them to put you in contact with responsible of companies, RH managers, director, etc…… that's what I mean by professional help.

amaniziad wrote:

pls give me an idea about living in Ottawa since u are living there...  cost of living, safety, jobs, weather...etc

As I always say according to me, Ottawa is the best place to live in Canada ... I will repeat again ''According to me''.
There are many reasons and as mentioned in the last 5 yearly survey of moneysense magazine it doesn't mean it's the best on one criteria specifically, but if we look at the all criteria at once (median salary, employment rate, rent, weather, number of doctors per habitant, crime rate, ....) it is the best.

We have to add on over the criteria our own way of life, and our particularity (being married or single, having child or not, are we still young and able to change many places or we couldn't afford many move to others cities, the field of our work does it fit in a specific area or doesn't matter, etc...) .

Cost of living depend on how much we get as salary and how is our way of life, generally it's fine in Ottawa to have a decent life, I compared with Montreal where I used to live during 3 years and half and I am better in Ottawa.

The rent is the big expanses, so I choose to live in Hull (just in front of Ottawa cross the bridge in the Quebec side) where the rent is really affordable, and just 20 mn walking to downtown Ottawa.

There are many supermarket for all stuffs, and few places to buy fresh vegetable ( I like most of all By Ward Market in down-town: farmers lives just in the suburbs and they bring every morning they products).

Ottawa is safer place comparing to many cities in Canada. We can check statistics and we can also ask people who are living in: it's a really safe place.

Jobs: most of them are with government (unfortunately he hire mostly people with Canadian citizenship, but it could happen for a permanent resident), then in universities (we have 4 big universities), then in Tourism sector, but it's a specific Tourism : as it's the capital, too many political delegation, head office employee, etc... are visiting the area so there are many conferences, exhibitions (we have 32 museums), seminars etc.....

There are also private sector, but few comparing other cities.

Weather: as most of Canadian cities, hot in summer cold and snowy in winter but to be honest it's livable ! (you can check the picture of the post here in the forum ',Goint out in Ottawa'' https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=61178

Again and again this is my own perception, doesn't necessary means it will fit with all taste of life of others, but I liked to share it, to help.

Marhaba.

Abdel

honeyclotte wrote:

You can also start applying online for your job. Toronto is not really expensive. As per experience. Brampton is okey too.

hi honeyclotte,
just would like to know, how can i apply for a job and i am still not in canada , will they accept my resume .. they will tell me that they need to interview me.
also i heared that i have to go for volenteer job or survival job to get canadian experienc . and after that i ll be able to apply for a convinient job...  is that true ?

Abdel wrote:

Hello Amani, salam alaikum.

It's all our pleasure to help you.

You mentioned about not being sure about chances for jobs. Well, nobody even. if he is working, would be sure that he will keep his job forever. The last financial crises (December 2008) is surely an example.

It's true to have at least information about the market and some security before to establish in an area is important, however the particularity of a new immigrant should not make people frightened about that, because there are so many organizations that help immigrants and offer many services, that even Canadian themselves or also old immigrant becoming Canadian (by citizenship), are not allowed to have same useful helps.

However let's say that as new immigrant you have a duty toward yourself:

-    Bring as much money as you can, let's say something that could cover your and your sons expanses for the first 3 months. It sounds a reasonable ‘'time frame'' so as to be able to find a job.

-    Ask for a professional help: I had experience with the Immigrant Serving Agencies and Other Non-Profit Organizations (some of them are not helpful at all). As you may read in many websites ‘'Many non-profit and community organizations are actively involved in facilitating the integration of immigrants into the Canadian labour force''… that's sound very nice, however (and I will say it again) Ask for a professional help ! push people not just to help you to prepare your ‘'résumé'' and professional motivation letter (yes it's helpful but not sufficient) but moreover, push them to put you in contact with responsible of companies, RH managers, director, etc…… that's what I mean by professional help.

amaniziad wrote:

pls give me an idea about living in Ottawa since u are living there...  cost of living, safety, jobs, weather...etc

As I always say according to me, Ottawa is the best place to live in Canada ... I will repeat again ''According to me''.
There are many reasons and as mentioned in the last 5 yearly survey of moneysense magazine it doesn't mean it's the best on one criteria specifically, but if we look at the all criteria at once (median salary, employment rate, rent, weather, number of doctors per habitant, crime rate, ....) it is the best.

We have to add on over the criteria our own way of life, and our particularity (being married or single, having child or not, are we still young and able to change many places or we couldn't afford many move to others cities, the field of our work does it fit in a specific area or doesn't matter, etc...) .

Cost of living depend on how much we get as salary and how is our way of life, generally it's fine in Ottawa to have a decent life, I compared with Montreal where I used to live during 3 years and half and I am better in Ottawa.

The rent is the big expanses, so I choose to live in Hull (just in front of Ottawa cross the bridge in the Quebec side) where the rent is really affordable, and just 20 mn walking to downtown Ottawa.

There are many supermarket for all stuffs, and few places to buy fresh vegetable ( I like most of all By Ward Market in down-town: farmers lives just in the suburbs and they bring every morning they products).

Ottawa is safer place comparing to many cities in Canada. We can check statistics and we can also ask people who are living in: it's a really safe place.

Jobs: most of them are with government (unfortunately he hire mostly people with Canadian citizenship, but it could happen for a permanent resident), then in universities (we have 4 big universities), then in Tourism sector, but it's a specific Tourism : as it's the capital, too many political delegation, head office employee, etc... are visiting the area so there are many conferences, exhibitions (we have 32 museums), seminars etc.....

There are also private sector, but few comparing other cities.

Weather: as most of Canadian cities, hot in summer cold and snowy in winter but to be honest it's livable ! (you can check the picture of the post here in the forum ',Goint out in Ottawa'' https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=61178

Again and again this is my own perception, doesn't necessary means it will fit with all taste of life of others, but I liked to share it, to help.

Marhaba.

Abdel

thanks so much abdel , really u are very helpfull,
i read about ottawa, and had it into my mind, but i met one customer in the bank i am working , she is an arab living in vancouver, she was saying that ottawa is very expensive and no jobs are available ....  so, she made me little scared and took ottawa out of the plan ..

but i know that ottawa has a lot of museams, art galleries and historical places .. also a lot of universities as many people from the gulf are going to study there...  also it is very cold comparing to Toronto ... isnt it ?

would like to clarify , even jobs in museams and tourism are govermental jobs that needs citizinship ? so as newcomer , if i land in ottawa , it will not be easy to find a job ?  actually i am graduaded from a language university , i can speak arabic, english, french (need practice only)  and basic italian and a long experience in hotel business ....  pls advise me ....

at the meantime i have 6 years banking experience ..  but i know that they prefer to emply staff with canadian experience in banking sector in canada !!!! 

excuse me if i am asking a lot , for me i have the courage to go and to face any difficulties, but the thing that i do not want my son to suffer ....

thanks again for the valuable information.

Hello Again Amaniziad,

I would like to answer you about this.

Well according to some experiences of immigrants (before they establish in Canada) they did not have chances to be accepted as employers prefer the ones who are IN Canada, and suitable for working the day after.

Possibly that the interview could be by phone, but…. The work should be done in ‘'real life'' which means the person should live in the area of the company where he will work for.

And yes  ‘'volunteer'' activities or survival job (Jobine) are helpful and useful for the first stamps to get Canadian experience : Employer seeing that you did that give him the idea that you deal with people, customer, and also with your ‘'manager'' .. so it seems the person doing that could be ‘'workable'' .

Try to focus on what we call ‘' transferable qualifications''  those things that you had in your past experiences that you could fit in the future jobs, such as organizing schedule, answering requests of people, filing folders, entering information in database and prioritizing tasks that seems urgent etc…..

amaniziad wrote:

i read about ottawa, and had it into my mind, but i met one customer in the bank i am working , she is an arab living in vancouver, she was saying that ottawa is very expensive and no jobs are available ....  so, she made me little scared and took ottawa out of the plan ..

You know Amaniziad, you will hear too many stories, some will be positive others negative, some people are more objective and experienced, other talk mostly by feeling (good or bad).  So just remember all the stories are the view through ‘'the glasses'' of people who express it… took the point of view of many people , add to them what statistics said, add also your own criteria… finally you will get the best image.

amaniziad wrote:

also it is very cold comparing to Toronto ... isnt it ?

Well they say that The Great Lakes, and specifically Lake Ontario, help to keep Toronto warmer than Ottawa during the winter months. Ottawa has a lower average temperature which allows for greater snowfall as more of the total precipitation falls as snow rather than rain. Ottawa also experiences more total precipitation during the winter because of its closer proximity to large north-easter storm systems which develop along the eastern seaboard of North America.

However, let me tell you this: when we talk about cold and snow, we have to think ‘'Canadian'' because as long as we compare with our own countries and as long as we see in TV or magazine the view of cold we imagine many things that couldn't be real….
Again according to me: I looove snow and it doesn't bother me (it's my 8 years here).

amaniziad wrote:

would like to clarify , even jobs in museams and tourism are govermental jobs that needs citizinship ?

I know people working in museum and they were permanent resident before they became ‘'citizens'' later…  so it's possible, and Tourism doesn't mean necessary Federal  jobs.

amaniziad wrote:

so as newcomer , if i land in ottawa , it will not be easy to find a job ?  actually i am graduaded from a language university , i can speak arabic, english, french (need practice only)  and basic italian and a long experience in hotel business ....  pls advise me ....

I would like to point out something that I assume need to switch on light in it: We have to make differences between a ‘'Job-Survival'' and a ‘'Working-Class''

Let's say if we are talking about a ‘'Job-Survival'' yes there are so many, sometimes people try to have Two of those jobs so as to meet their basic needs (rent, foods, etc…).

If we are talking about ‘'Working-class'', this one need more investment (in time, in networking, in studies etc…); because if we put ourselves in the mind of employers -and of course as you may surely know we are in north America (capitalism, money, efficiency etc…)- and all of them would prefer someone who will ‘'make them getting more money, a lot of efficient feed-back at work, and being so performing''… the idea of hiring a new immigrant make them double thinking because first impression is ‘' he/she is new , he/she is coming from another place, another area, another ‘way' of working…. So will he/she really fit in the position?''.

But on other hand and in positive note as we are in north-America market : as long as you could show that you are the best in the position, as long as you show that you have ability to fit into the position, as long as you are able to show that you can stand out from other employees ….. as long as you will have more chance to be hired in this kind of ‘'working-class''. On other hand ‘' SELL YOURSELF ! BE PROACTIVE ! ''

amaniziad wrote:

at the meantime i have 6 years banking experience ..  but i know that they prefer to emply staff with canadian experience in banking sector in canada !!!!

Great!

So you mentioned something important : you had experience in bank field. All you have to do is to contact people and let them know that you have experience in bank working. And here is another tips that will really help you: NETWORKING !

The more you know people, the more chance you will get a work. I get my first experience by this way. And here again the volunteer activity would be helpful, and also to attend social-cultural activities, etc….

Again in the mentality of North-America, people value a Network, it could help not only for work but for many other situation (maybe you will get to know a family and they are satisfied about a school then would help your son to get in the same school and will give you valuable information).

By the way if you think about banking sector: Toronto is a good choice (all head quarters are there), maybe also Montreal (comme tu as mentionné que tu peux parler Français cela pourra t'être d'une grande utilité).

amaniziad wrote:

excuse me if i am asking a lot , for me i have the courage to go and to face any difficulties, but the thing that i do not want my son to suffer ....

No worries at all, Marhaba. We did live same situation before to immigrate so , no worries at all.
I do understand your concern Mme Amani, and that's normal you are a mother and it's the duty of parent to assure the future of their child. Some friends even told me ‘' we only immigrate for a better future to our child''. I love child too, God didn't offer to me the opportunity to have one but I know what does it mean to take care of them.
Alhamdulillah.

Good luck!

Marhaba biki.

really i am very thankfull, i did not immagine that somebody would clarify the immage like u ... u are very kind ...  insha allah my medical will come and i will send the passport for stamping ... i am just waiting .. i did the medicals 15/09  almost 2 months and a half ....  is it delayed or it is ok ?

i ll read more about every place and about more experiences untill i reach canada.

for Montreal " pas de problemes pour moi , mais pour mon fils, ca sera tres difficile , il ne parle pas le francais , et aussi il me manque beaucoup de pratique, ne n'ai jamais parle le francais a Dubai"

lets see ...  still i have time ....  thanks a lot for ur help.

You are welcome Amaniziad, That's my pleasure.

We feel what future immigrant feel... a thousands of question, and the fair of an expected future, and quitting our country, our relatives etc.....

But Human nature is like this, so it's normal to ask, and it's our duty to answer, as we pass through same road

''i did the medicals 15/09  almost 2 months and a half ....  is it delayed or it is ok ?''

Well there is no specific time . Every files of every immigrants is different, so every case will be treated separately and that give different ''frame-time'' for receiving an answer.
Just relax and wait , you will receive yours soon in cha Allah.


for Montreal " pas de problemes pour moi , mais pour mon fils, ca sera tres difficile , il ne parle pas le francais , et aussi il me manque beaucoup de pratique, ne n'ai jamais parle le francais a Dubai"

Tu sais Amani, les enfants apprennent facilement et dès que vous deux seraient dans '' le bain'' de la vie en Français vous allez facilement apprendre bi idni Allah.



'' lets see ...  still i have time ....  ''


Yes that's good point, try to catch much information, save more money, practice maybe your French (there are many websites for conversations-exchange), etc...

Don't hesitate to ask if you need help.

Salam .

thanks abdel ... God bless u

take care .. keep in touch ...

i think it is too cold now in ottawa...   decorations are everywhere no ?

Hello amaniziad;
I moved to Canada, thinking of a better future for the children,I also moved to a nice area, people very nice.
You said: raise my son in a good environment without crime or drugs ...

I have a 15 year old girl; and she tells me that the amount of drugs that are everywhere is scary! everyone takes drugs or is depress and wants to kill themselves, please note I am talking about secondary school kids here, talking to other parents from many other schools i can confirm that this is the case,and schools nor teachers don't care.

The amount of drugs available to children is far, far higher here than in Europe, needless to say that we are moving back!

Good luck!

Hi Amaniziad salam alaikum,

Well Ottawa is okay, not really cold this year, I will took some pictures of the winterlude, it's start today and there are a lot of festivities in the capital …

For Anaaa:

I heard a lot of different stories regarding life of child for immigrants and honestly there are more positive ones than negatives.
Of course there are parents who struggled a lot and couldn't offer a good life for their childs, not even for themselves, some of them they even lost their child as those were easy to influence and denied the parent's culture, etc…..

And there are the ones that feel their child couldn't find better than Canada, a very good system of safety,. Health, education etc….
They feel that even if they immigrated at a late age (some of them immigrate at the age of 40) they sacrified their first years of life in Canada for their child and as their child grown they offer a good life to their parents.

Drugs problem are higher in Europe and south America, and it's not so scaring in Canada at all !

Raising a child is not easy but not hard either… and who could pretend that it's easy to raise a child even in our mother country itself ??? anyone could prove to me that?

Anyway, all the stories are good to know bad or good, at the end it's a question of choice, and remember that  : the value of choice depends on our ability to perceive the difference between options that we have for making this choice.

Good luck!

Hi Abdel;
Thank you for your comments, I gather that you don't have children at school. Yes you are right there is not much news of what really goes on...; the only thing you see is the adverts on T.V on how 1 in 5 Canadians has a mental problem....ON T.V; would like to know the real numbers...

Drugs problem are higher in Europe and south America,  You can't put Europe and South America in the same; Yes in south america ,no way in Europe; drugs everywhere, the difference is that at least in Europe the schools will try to do something about it, here they put a blind eye; by the way what is the teenager suicidal rate in Canada?..

Good luck to you!My kids the ones begging me to take them back;we have being here 2 years, plenty to get a real look of what goes on; they want to be surround by people that are healthy and happy  naturally not taking drugs and depress! Good luck to you!!

Hi Anna,

we don't have to be smoker in order to know the danger of smoking;
we don't have to be druger so as to know how bad is it;
we don't need to have child in order to know how hard to offer to them a nice future...

I let you to check by yourself the real numbers not the on in adverts on Tv, statistics and suicide rates in all the world... (by the way I do not follow those Adverts on TV )

And we wish you good luyk in your life with your child.

If your child beg you to go back home, many immigrants are proud to see their child florishing in Canada .... it's a question of destiny, nothing mnore nothing less.

God be with you !

Sunday, January 29, 2012
Canada has joined Colombia as a leading exporter of synthetic or designer drugs, flooding the global market on an almost unprecedented scale Posted On Sunday, January 29, 2012 by El NACHO

Canada pledges $5-million to fight drug crime in the Americas :
''At the annual general meeting of the Organization of American States in El Salvador, nations have once again focused official talks on combating organized crime that is destabilizing governments in Central America and leaving large regions of Mexico hostage to a bloody drug war.''
Wednesday's Globe and Mail , Published Tuesday, Jun. 07, 2011 9:48PM EDT

World's 10 Best places to live:
''Vancouver  CANADA : 4th. FORBES MAGAZINE 2010''.

World's most livable cities:
''The Economist Intelligence Unit's livability also uses data from the Mercer consulting group and shows cities in Canada, Australia, Austria, Finland and New Zealand as the ideal destination... ''.

Hi there! How are you doing? How is Canada treating you? My name is Narisha and im having the same delima as you did when you wanted to move. Could you advise me further? I have a 10 year old daughter and an elderly mother. I would like to bring her along with me.

Hello Narisha,

This is a very old topic thread and the original poster @Anaaa has not even been active here in the past three years.

I would strongly suggest that you post a new topic thread on this subject to the Canada Forum.

Cheers,
James    Expat-blog Experts Team