Tips for someone who's about to move to Canada

• Housing affordability is BAD, but if you avoid the major cities (Vancouver/Montreal/Toronto) it is not as bad
• Many will point out our health care systems is all backed up especially after covid, but if you need urgent care it is there and will not bankrupt you like in the US.
• Most of Canada is COLD in the winter, doing some googling the ONLY place in Canada as MILD as your weather is the west coast near Vancouver (expensive cost of living).
• Canada is MASSIVE https://www.thetruesize.com/ All of Ukraine is about the size of one of our Provinces.
• Canada has a lot of diversity, each Province has a bit of a different personality and mix of cultures.
• Lots of open beautiful places to explore if you venture out.
• Flying domestically across canada is quite expensive, again it is huge.
• Population density is actually quite low over all, we have lots of open space.

Welcome!

This is my take: most people are decent. There are bad eggs, but generally, they got your back. If you're trying to get settled, the libraries are a good place for help. Free wifi, books, games, that sort of thing. Our local library helps with getting paperwork sorted and resumes written, so, yeah.

So glad you're coming here!

First, get to know as much as you can about Canada, its Provinces and Territories. Like you asked, you will get a pretty good overview of its culture, food, festivals, history, climate, geography, economy, demography, governments (federal/provincial/municipal).

Secondly, get know the many generations of Ukrainian Canadians that live here throughout Canada. You may find long lost relatives or even old friends 😁 and then Canada won't be much different from Ukraine, just more people of various culture, religion and walks of life, everyone chipping in trying to make a positive difference in each others lives (although Canada has it own assholes and criminals, they generally tend to not openly/bombastically flout the law).

Work wise, I would recommend to focus on anything related to sustainable development, climate change adaptation and the tech sector as those are where all the investment are being thrown into (renewable energy sector, electric transportation and manufacturing chain, mineral resources exploitation, forestry and sustainable agribusinesses, etc.)

Hopefully, my Canadian 2 cents helps. 😆

You'll be fine. Ukrainian immigrants have been doing great for more than a century here, plenty of this country was homesteaded by Ukrainians.

I just moved to Saskatoon and there’s a decent sized Ukrainian population here if you’re looking to connect with people. Super nice here, not a great deal to do but enough space and work to figure out your next chapter :)

It's tough, but I hope you can make it work, because we love having you here!

Big cities are where the good jobs are, but they're also where all the people are, and not nearly enough housing or land area for all of them, so it basically quickly turns into an unaffordable nightmare unless you have generational wealth/inherited property, which of course you won't. Unfortunately it seems this is largely where the default "Canadian immigrant experience" will put you, and it's really not working for anyone as far as I can tell.

I'd argue that you will do better to find yourself a small town to move to that's more remote. Not necessarily somewhere far north or completely outside civilization (although there are many such places in Canada, and in many cases Canadian government will actually give you extra money if you live in these areas as they can be both extremely remote, extreme weather, and extreme cost of basic necessities) But you can find many small less urbanized areas throughout the country, some are farming communities, some are industry towns (lumber, pulp and paper mills, mining, etc) some are better connected and serviced than others, but generally speaking the further away you get from the major cities and capitals, the cheaper housing will be. Other stuff gets more expensive though, but housing is such a dominant cost of living problem right now that it's still the main factor you'll benefit from trying to minimize. Anywhere outside the major cities, jobs will probably suck, but there will be some jobs. They won't be jobs that take advantage of any education you have, they will be simple jobs in hospitality, services, sales, business administration and other less skilled labor that don't necessarily pay very well. Cost of living is much lower in more rural areas of Canada -- depending on how you are willing to live. It can be a harder life, especially if you're used to city life. If you can get some support in the community and are willing to sacrifice some conveniences I think it is probably one of the better and more cost effective ways to live for many people right now. But it's not for everyone, and it may be especially tough for an immigrant as small communities can be insular and isolating. If you can find towns with a Ukrainian diaspora, that would be ideal, and there are already lots of them (and more every day!). Especially in the prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) which have long had a significant Ukrainian community well established.

For jobs I'm really not sure what the outlook is for a Ukrainian immigrant. I know there's a lot of bureaucracy and obstacles in getting education and skills recognized over here, which is really a shame. I seem to find a lot of Ukrainian people working in hotels and restaurants for example, because it requires no formal certifications or proof of anything to get such a job, however often these people have extensive education and skills. It's a shame for everyone involved, but a job's a job, and you need a job to pay the bills, so at least there's something. If you can find a way into something like the trades or industry, the money is crazy good and people are desperate to hire right now, but again, the process for getting people trained and certified is long and probably very frustrating.

I don't know what you expectation of standard of living is like. I know Ukraine used to be quite a poor country overall, but I think it was quickly improving before the war, and like Canada, I think there was quite a significant variation between the relatively wealthier cities and the remote rural towns. I think you will find it overall is similar here, although the prices and scales will probably be much different.

Wish you all the luck, and hope you have a great experience here.

Welcome!!

What kind of work will you be looking for?

As much as Alberta gets a bad rap, Calgary and Edmonton both have rich Ukranian and Asian communities. Depending on what you’re looking for, there are jobs to be had.

Try poutine as soon as possible. Sometimes the best poutine is in the strangest places too. My personal favourites are the poutine from a local bingo hall and the local university in my city for example. So if you end up liking poutine try some out of the way locations if you're interested in finding the perfect one.

I moved Mykolaiv+Odessa to US in the 90's, then married someone who grew up in Canada. Citizen of both.

Food wise, try a lot, Ukrainian flavors are incredibly bland, depending on where you live (I know Mississauga well) the Indian food is very good and authentic and kind of the polar opposite of traditional slavic cooking.

Canadians are more diverse, cultures vary depending on who you're talking to, cannot always tell just by appearance. Very very different from Ukraine in this regard as well.

Other things people here covered already.

Depends on where in canada you are going. It's a huge place. Each province ia very different from the others

Here is some general information that applies almost everywhere: Food: expensive. Almost all the grocery stores are owned by only 3 companies, so they dont really compete to have good prices Telecom: Almost all the internet/mobile providers are owned by only 3 companies, so they dont really compete to have good prices Health care: is really bad everywhere. Hospitals are all over capacity. People have problems finding a family doctor

Despite all the above problems, it's overall a good place to live

If you can be more specific about where you are moving to, it would help. I'm sure we can give you some good things to lool forward to instead of all the negative stuff above

Welcome!

If you move to central Alberta, there may be more Ukrainians than you are used to.

In all seriousness though, it is a big country so there are no definitive answers.

The Canada / US border is about the same latitude as Lviv ( south of Kiev ). Most Canadian’s live within 200 km of the southern border. That should give you an idea of the weather though it is milder out in Vancouver.

There is a lot of immigration to Canada. Food is dominated by which ethnic groups are common in the area and mostly British influenced outside that ( except in Quebec where you swap French for English ).

Bienvenue!

Housing is expensive and difficult to come by, especially in the big cities. It's not impossible but it's not great and it's getting worse.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/immigration-housing-crisis-calgary-1.6952184