Canada: Ottawa, Guelph, Halifax, Calgary, Vancouver

Well, I've lived in and have family in Ottawa. I currently live not far from Guelph, have family in Calgary and friends in Vancouver. Nothing on Halifax.

Each city has it's good and bad points, of course. It depends on what you want. Maybe if you told us what is important to you ...

To get an idea of availability of jobs, you could take a look at monster.com or workopedia.com. But you may find it more difficult than just wanting to work to emigrate. Like all countries, Canada has criteria.

Meeting the criteria today doesn't mean you'll meet the criteria tomorrow. For example, your points drop as you age.

Depending on your career area (at the time of arrival) you may not necessarily get a choice of location. For example, doctors with foreign credentials who want to be fast-tracked are given a list of communities they can choose from (none of them are cities - from the last list I saw - all were smaller, more northern towns).

Are you prepared for the weather in places like Calgary, Guelph and Ottawa? They have what is called a continental climate - cold, snowy, dampish in winter. By cold I mean minus 30 Celsius.

If you are better suited for a more moderated climate (and interesting scenery) I'd recommend Vancouver or Halifax.

Will you be bringing significant funds to cover your initial housing costs? If not, look at Halifax, Guelph or Ottawa.

Are you fluently bilingual in French? prepared to raise any children/potential children in French? that will increase your options quite a bit.

Firstly I meet the criteria which is good. I will be in my early 30s when I move so im looking for somewhere chilled out and relaxing but at the same time can be vibrant and have a resonably decent (doesn't have to be great) night life - I certainly don't want anywhere that has drunks on the street. I'm more into chilling out in cafe's or a nice bar, or going out for a meal. I love scenary and architectual buildings like Edinburgh and Vienna. Even if I could see a mountain or some hills or even go to the lake id be very happy. Finding a good job is very imporant for me, I have no idea if there are lots of youth work or homelessness jobs in those placs I listed.

djalliance wrote:

Firstly I meet the criteria which is good. I will be in my early 30s when I move so im looking for somewhere chilled out and relaxing but at the same time can be vibrant and have a resonably decent (doesn't have to be great) night life - I certainly don't want anywhere that has drunks on the street. I'm more into chilling out in cafe's or a nice bar, or going out for a meal. I love scenary and architectual buildings like Edinburgh and Vienna. Even if I could see a mountain or some hills or even go to the lake id be very happy. Finding a good job is very imporant for me, I have no idea if there are lots of youth work or homelessness jobs in those placs I listed.

Um ... although I've never been to either Edinburgh or Vienna, I've seen pictures, and you won't find architecture like that here. There is lots of "scenery", of course. But outside of Vancouver, it's not like it's going to be at your front door.

I'm a little concerned about the drunks comment. I'm afraid that you're likely to find drunks in all of these cities. What puzzles me is that you want to work with the homeless, but don't want to see people with alcohol problems. The two often go hand-in-hand, unfortunately.

Are you being disingenuous? If you're serious, you may want to add Kingston, Ontario to your list for research. It's a vibrant small city, located on the St.Lawrence River, with great restaurants, culture, markets, etc. The old part (150 - 200 years ago) was largely built by Scots stone masons, brought in to build the Rideau Canal. It is home to a prestigious university, a Royal Military College, a curious number of penitentiaries, and within easy reach of lake country.