5 BEST CANADIAN CITIES TO IMMIGRATE TO
Canada Abroad can assist you to immigrate to Canada from South Africa
Immigration is becoming more and more popular among people all over the world. Canada Abroad has helped thousands of immigrants with applications to successfully immigrate to Canada. Whether it is a personal or professional choice, immigrating to another country is a decision that affects the rest of your life, so you need to be sure that you make the right choice. If you are thinking about immigrating but haven’t chosen a country yet, Canada is your best bet; according to the United Nations, Canada the world’s best country to live in. Being the second biggest country in the world, the population is about 34 million and approximately 6 million of that are immigrants alone. Chinese, Philippines and Indians make up the largest number of immigrants in Canada, but with a remarkable cultural diversity, all religions and races are welcomed. The healthcare systems are advanced and the educational system is exceptional.
The climate is also alluring, with all four seasons found across the country, from ice glaciers to deserts and with average temperatures ranging from 30˚C to -30 ˚C. A magnificent tourist attraction is the ice hotels that are built in the winter and melts in summer time. Canada has the world’s largest coastline and the tap water is often of higher quality than bottled water. There is hardly any air, water or light pollution and you can even see the Northern Lights in some parts of Canada. Most Canadians are outdoor people, taking advantage of their beautiful country and taking part in countless outdoor activities. Living in Canada is affordable, among other things, and about 70% of Canadians are home owners. If you’re currently residing in South Africa and hoping to relocate to Canada, visit the Canada Abroad website for more information. To help you decide where you would like to live next, here are the 5 Best Canadian cities to immigrate to:
1. St. Albert in Alberta
Demographics & General Info:
Ranking at number 6 on the list of largest cities in Alberta and with a population of over 63 500 people, St. Albert is a beautiful city situated on the Sturgeon River. MoneySense Magazine rated it the “Best Place to Live in Canada” in 2014 and the city’s Community Satisfaction Surveys established that only 1% of the residents gave negative ratings about their quality of life. St. Albert has housing that is affordable, efficient Public Works services ranging from asset management to weed control, and a wide variety of cultural landmarks and recreational facilities for all kinds of people.
The business sector is impressive, with more than 2400 businesses that are active and the regional trading center includes more than a million people. Getting around in St. Albert is made easy with the St. Albert Transit system or StAT for short, which consists out of 55 buses that run daily. The routes, schedules and maps are available on the city’s website, along with other helpful information about this wonderful city.
Youth activities & Education:
For children in St. Albert there is more than just an excellent educational system available. This city has a Children’s Theatre group that does two large musicals every year and they can participate in plenty of summer camps. There is also The Northern Alberta International Children’s Festival in St. Albert, attracting over 40,000 participants over 5 days, at the end of May which is one of the longest-running children’s festivals in North America; it teaches them of various cultures and offers performances of music, puppetry, dance, clowning, acrobatics, and, of course, theatre.
St. Albert has more than 25 elementary, Junior High and High Schools, as well as 5 universities and colleges. Athabasca University has a Centre for Innovative Management in St. Albert and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology has an applied research center, as well as a business incubation space in St. Albert, among other great educational facilities, rating this city high on the list of quality education availability as well.
Weather & Nature:
This is a city that experiences all seasons with summer temperatures ranging between 25˚C and 12˚C and winter temperatures can be anything from -5˚C to -17˚C. They have summer rainfall with up to 65 mm of rain in July alone. The Sturgeon River gives life to a beautiful natural habitat, along with a few small ponds that attracts avid birdwatchers and two ravines with hiking trails for the nature lovers.
Arts & Culture:
St. Albert Place is a main attraction for many residents in this city, apart from it being situated in the heart of downtown, so many community activities and events from civic government affairs to cultural happenings take place there. The Public Library, Visual Arts Studio, Musée Héritage Museum and Arden Theatre are currently housed by this original building. It was designed by the world-renowned Canadian architect, Douglas Cardinal, who created a building with features that flows like the meandering Sturgeon River next to it. There are also plenty of festivals and events like the Kinsmen Rainmaker Rodeo to look forward to. Another big attraction for approximately 12 500 people is the largest Outdoor Farmers’ Market in Western Canada, running every Saturday from June to October. There is also an annual Harvest Festival at St. Grain Elevator Park and two more annual events, namely the St. Albert Rotary Music Festival and the Mambos & Mocktails – three hours of jazz at Bellerose High in December. The Rock’n August week-long festival in St. Albert is celebrated by about 6 000 Rock and Roll fans. Then there is also the Cheremoch Ukrainian Dance Festival at the Arden Theatre in the second week of May.
Sports:
All sports are supported in St. Albert schools, namely basketball, bowling, wrestling, track golf, tennis, and volleyball, baseball, softball, and football, soccer, cross country, dance squads, gymnastics, cheer-leading, and swimming. Canada Abroad can organize any forms of visas or permits if you should choose to visit or immigrate to St. Albert.
2. Calgary, Alberta
Demographics & General Info:
Nestled in the nook where the Bow and Elbow River meets, Calgary is another beautiful city that has been dubbed as a cultural capital of Canada. With more than 1.2 million people, Calgary is the largest city in Alberta. Calgary’s economy includes energy activities, television and films, financial services, technology, transportation and logistics, manufacturing, health and wellness, aerospace, tourism sectors and retail. The CMA in Calgary has the second most corporate head offices among Canada’s 800 biggest corporations.
Youth activities & Education:
The library in Calgary is the second largest one in Canada and with over 175 schools and more than 120 Universities and Colleges, Calgary is more than equipped to cater for families with children. Canada Abroad handles all the paperwork for Family Class Applications and will help you and your family to relocate to Calgary if you choose to move there.
Weather & Nature:
The dry and humid climate and average temperatures during the day that range between 24˚C in summer and -3˚C in winter gives Calgary the warmest winter among all the prairie cities. This is also due to the city’s location; it is close to the Rocky Mountains and higher that the surrounding cities. Its close proximity to the Bow River causes ice fog when the temperatures drop below -17˚C and hoar frost is common on vegetation when temperatures reach -20˚C. The dry and warm Chinook winds are welcomed every once in a while in winter times and can heat the city up by 20˚C to even 30˚C higher in mere hours and keep it that way for days. A sharp contrast to winter temperatures are the hot summer days, sometimes exceeding 29˚C, but the evenings cools down again due to its dryness and elevation. It rains mainly around June and the most snow falls in March.
Arts & Culture:
Another great characteristic of Calgary; the Nat Christine Centre is home to the Alberta Ballet dance company – the third largest dance company in Canada. The well-known Arts Commons, previously known as the EPCOR CENTRE for the performing arts, is right next to the City Hall and the Olympic Plaza and houses many performances throughout the year.
Sports:
Calgary was the very first Canadian city that hosted the Olympic Winter Games in 1988. With plenty of prairies, foothills and 19 indoor ice rinks for hockey, broomball, figure skating and ringette, there’s so much to entertain and appreciate about Calgary. The famous Calgary Flames is the professional ice hockey team and calls this city home. There is also an annual Calgary Stampede that is now a world famous rodeo – one of the greatest existing outdoor shows.
3. Strathcona County, Alberta
Demographics & General Info:
An independent and specialized municipality in Alberta with rural and urban territories, Strathcona County contains one city, Fort Saskatchewan, and 9 hamlets. Sherwood Park, technically classed as a hamlet, houses more than half of the population and is recognized as a city by the Sherwood Park Urban Service Area. The County has more than 93 000 residents and over 65 500 of the population lives in Sherwood Park alone. If you are more of a small town person, there are 8 other smaller hamlets that you can choose from; let Canada Abroad assist you with obtaining a visa to explore Strathcona County before you choose a city or town to immigrate to. Most of the Albertan municipal district councils appoint a reeve, whereas Strathcona County elects a mayor, Roxanne Carr won the 2013 elections.
Youth activities & Education:
More than 500 Elementary and High Schools can be found in Strathcona County, as well as over 100 universities and colleges. Sherwood Park has two Elk Island school boards; one for public schools and one for Catholic schools. There is also a charter school in Ardrossan, the very first in Canada, providing education for gifted students from kindergarten to grade 9.
Weather & Nature:
This particular county also enjoys warm summers and cold winters, with summer temperatures averaging between 13˚C and 25˚C and the winter times can be as cold as -3˚C during the day and -14˚C at night. Rainfall is also more common in summer time.
Arts & Culture:
The Strathcona County Art Gallery @501 is situated in Sherwood Park, as well as the A.J Ottewell Community Centre, Smeltzer House Centre for Visual Arts and Festival Place which are all facilities for performing and visual arts.
Sports:
There are various recreational facilities in Strathcona County, namely the Broadmoor Arena, Kinsmen Leisure Centre, Glen Allan Recreation Complex, Millennium Place, Strathcona Athletic Park and Sherwood Park Arena and Sports Centre. Apart from the aforementioned facilities, there is a BMX bike park, skateboard park and pump track, as well as 37 more parks and sports fields for the young and active. The local hockey squad is the Sherwood Park Crusaders who participate in the Alberta Junior Hockey League. Football and Baseball are also becoming more and more popular and Strathcona County has hosted the 2007 Western Canada Summer Games; most of the games took place in Sherwood Park.
4. Ottawa, Ontario
Demographics & General Info:
Another big city and the capital of Canada, Ottawa is positioned at the union of the Ottawa and Gatineau River and the mouths of the Rideau River and Rideau Canal are contained within the city. The Ottawa part of the canal freezes over during the coldest part of winter and creates the world’s biggest skating rink of about 7.8 km. The Ottawa-Gatineau census of this metropolitan area established that Ottawa’s population is over 950 000 people and Gatineau had over 1.3 million residents, making it the fourth largest city in the country. This city is also situated on a major fault line that is dormant for the most part, but there can be earthquakes with a magnitude of up to 5.2 that occurs every six or so years. Don’t let this scare you off though.
In 2012, MoneySense voted Ottawa the best community in Canada to live in for the third consecutive year and it was also rated the third cleanest city in the world. The actual name “Ottawa” is a derivative of the Algonquin word, Odawa, which means “to trade”. High standards of living and low unemployment, combined with the high-tech industry and Public Service of Canada as the primary employers make Ottawa a highly productive country. The health sector is also a major employer for more than 18 000 people. There are four active general hospitals, a number of specialized hospital facilities, the National Research Council of Canada and Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Finance, business, sales and administration, as well as service occupations are highly rated as well. Citizenship and Immigration Canada does routine draws of potential candidates specialized in certain areas to grant Express Entry into Canada without job offers; find out more online at Canada Abroad.
Youth activities & Education:
Ottawa currently holds the title of Canada’s most educated city as more than half of the population has graduated from college and/or university. The per capita concentration of residents with PhDs, scientists and engineers is the highest out of all the cities in Canada. The University of Ottawa and Carleton University are the dominant universities in the city, and Algonquin College along with La Cité Collégiale are the two main public colleges. Dominican University College and Saint Paul University are the two Catholic universities in Ottawa. The school boards are English, English-Catholic, French and French-Catholic and combined, there are over 310 schools in Ottawa and the public library has more than 2.3 million items alone.
Weather & Nature:
The climate in Ottawa is also classified as a humid continental climate with average temperatures ranging from 26.5°C to -14.8°C. Summers are hot and humid, but winters are cold and snowy. Fall and spring temperatures can reach unpredictable extremes and experience different weather conditions, although the temperature spikes are brief and unusual. There can be about 940 millimeters of precipitation yearly and about 46% of sunshine.
Arts & Culture:
Culturally, the focal points in Ottawa include the ByWard Market, the Golden Triangle and Parliament Hill. The biggest festival in Canada, Winterlude, is hosted by Ottawa, along with other major festivals like the Bluesfest, Canada Day celebrations, Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival, Canadian Tulip Festival, Ottawa International Jazz Festival, The Folk Music Festival, and the Fringe Festival. The city also boasts with twelve different museums and 2 galleries, one of them being the Canadian Museum of History, which is the country’s most visited museum. The longest-running community theatre company is the Ottawa Little Theatre and the National Arts Centre is also found in this remarkable city, housing the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra as well as the Opera Lyra Ottawa. Local plays in Canada are mainly produced by the Great Canadian Theatre Company.
Sports:
The city brags with their own professional ice hockey team, the Ottawa Senators, who plays in the National Hockey League and also in home games that take place at the Canadian Tire Centre. Then there is also the Ottawa Redblacks, the professional Canadian Football team, Ottawa Fury FC professional soccer club, the Ottawa Champions professional baseball team and last but not least, the Ottawa Skyhawks professional basketball team.
5. Burlington, Ontario
Demographics & General Info:
Nestled next to the the northern shore of Lake Ontario in the Halton Region, Burlington is a busy city with a population of approximately 180 000 people, but it is strategically situated near an area called the Golden Horseshoe which is a heavily industrialized district populated by more than 8 million people. This close proximity to the Golden Horseshoe allows for great economic opportunities in Burlington and it contributes to its sustained growth as a whole. The population is dominated by English speaking residents, but French, Spanish, Polish, Italian and German speaking citizens have also immigrated to Burlington over the years.
This city has high standards of living and has recently been voted as the second best city in Canada to live in, so if you want to immigrate to a booming city like Burlington, simply contact the immigration consultant at Canada Abroad to start the process for you. Getting around in Burlington is made easy with their public transport provider, Burlington Transit and the three GO Train stations. The economy boasts with the largest public sector employers, namely the City of Burlington, the Halton Catholic District School Board, the Halton District School Board and the Joseph Brant Hospital.
Youth activities and Education:
There are 29 public elementary schools, 14 Roman Catholic elementary schools, 8 public high schools and 3 Catholic high schools in Burlington with 10 high school sports teams. There are also 13 private schools, 2 universities and the Canadian College of Dental Health. There are 4 indoor and 2 outdoor pools, 9 ice pads and golf courses and amazing hiking trails can be found in and around Burlington. The city also houses the Burlington and Appleby Malls, the Mapleview Centre and countless upscale stores such as Guess, Victoria Secret and Banana Republic. Burlington has a Teen Tour marching band called The Redcoats who represents the city all over the world. The Junior Redcoats performs at local events like the Sound of Music Parade. There is also the Burlington Concert Band composed of only local volunteer musicians. Burlington also has 17 active scout groups in the area.
Weather and Nature:
With a humid continental climate, you will be experiencing warm and humid summers with temperatures between 28°C and 16°C, but the winters are very cold at -6°C to -4°C with an average of 109 centimeters of snow. There is also about 878 millimeters of rain throughout the year. The Niagara Escarpment runs through some western parts of the city and has a thriving area of Carolinian forest and a white cedar forest that grows up the escarpment, both of which is home to a wide variety of thousand year old trees, as well as other plant and animal species, like the southern flying squirrel.
You might also like to visit the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington with the biggest lilac collection in the world and together with the National Historic Site of Canada, there is more than 2,700 acres of nature sanctuaries, four outdoor display gardens, a Mediterranean Garden under glass, a gift shop and three restaurants. There are also festivals that take place in the gardens each year. With about 580 ha of parkland and 115 parks in the city, Burlington is without a doubt one of the most beautiful cities for nature lovers to immigrate to.
Arts and culture:
Other attractions in this beautiful city includes the Art Gallery of Burlington, the Joseph Brant Museum and Ireland House, a Performing Arts Centre, the Largest Ribfest, the Lakeside Festival of Lights as well as the Sound of Music festival among others. The world renowned Jim Carrey attended schools in Burlington and Walk Off the Earth is an alternative rock band that originated there.
Sports:
The Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League Team called the Burlington Cougars is one of the city’s most popular teams. Other sports teams in Burlington include the Lions Optimist Minor Hockey association, the Barracudas Girls Hockey Teams, the Skyway Roller Derby and many more teams for the likes of football, basketball, baseball, soccer and even Volleyball. The Burlington Youth Soccer Club boasts with the title of being the second biggest soccer club in all of North America. Then the Burlington Skating Club also has a Canadian Senior champion winning synchronized skating team, NEXXICE.
There are countless other cities in Canada to choose from, but wherever you choose to immigrate to in this beautiful country, be sure to contact the Canadian Regulated Immigration Consultant on the Canada Abroad website to assist you with your Canadian Immigration Application.
