What Was it Like Moving to Canada?

Posted by Melanie in Ask Me Anything | 3 comments

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Question:   What was it like moving to Canada?

Jennifer, Lethbridge Alberta

We had been together about a year when Mel started interviewing for tenure-track jobs.  He really was excited about McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario because it is well-known for its research in evolutionary psychology.  He knew several of the professors and thought it might be a great job for him.  There are 3 universities in North America that excel at evolutionary psychology:  UC Santa Barbara, McMaster University, and the University of New Mexico.  He did his PhD at UC Santa Barbara and NM wasn’t hiring that year, so McMaster really was a very exciting opportunity.

He was very excited about the job offer and it seemed right for him.  I didn’t think it would be wise to put him in the position of choosing between me and the job.

I agreed to check it out since I had never been to Canada before.  “We’ll need to live in Toronto,” I said.

We visited in April and I fell in love with all the amazing old houses in Hamilton–a city of about 500,000 people.  We were pretty sure we were coming–in fact we met with a realtor while we visited and put in an offer on a house.  It was a go.  We bought a house in a little town which eventually amalgamated into Hamilton.

Moving to Canada has been amazing, challenging, occasionally annoying, and it is becoming home.  We seem to have gone through stages.  In the first couple of years we were fairly anti-American and pro all things Canadian.  We were adventurers.  In the next few years we flip-flopped and were annoyed by some things Canadian and became more patriotic about the US than I ever expected to be.  We were homesick.  Now I feel like I have found a comfort level with my two countries and I love them both with all their up-sides and down-sides.

The Five Weirdest Differences to Get Used to Between Canada and the US

1. There are weird holidays in Canada we didn’t know what to do with–Civic Holiday for example.  There were fewer in the US so we always knew what to do there.
2. Thanksgiving comes before Halloween in Canada which somehow messes me up on the decorations… still!  Also, it is a 3 day weekend and you can eat your turkey dinner on any of the 3 days in Canada.  In the US, almost everyone has their turkey dinner on Thanksgiving day.
3. In Canada, the LGBT community is protected by the human rights charter which means you can’t get fired for being LGBT.  If the government discriminates, you can sue them and ask for court costs.  And win.  In the US, the federal government has a law making it illegal to recognize same-sex marriage.
4. In Canada, you hardly ever see men taking leave to raise their babies because they have “mat leave” in Canada which is maternity leave.  This means the men work while the women are on leave.  In the US, where leave is self funded, we saw more couples splitting the care of their infants equally–that is, more men took a turn taking care of the babies.
5. Canadians pride themselves on being culturally diverse and accepting, but somehow feel free to bash Americans.  It’s like the little brother syndrome.  I have had Canadian friends actually over for dinner, swimming in my pool, and viciously trashing Americans.  When I have pointed it out to them, they say, “Oh, I don’t mean you.”  Americans, on the other hand, never bash Canadians.  In fact, they hardly consider them at all unless they are watching the winter Olympics or Hockey.

Four Things I Love Most About Living in Canada

1. We live in a great agricultural area.  I love the fresh berries and all the farm fresh food here.
2. Indian food, tea shops, and fish and chips.   Because of the strong connection to England, they have great Indian food, tea shops, and fish and chips in Canada.  When people visit, we often take them out for Indian food.
3. The way both countries totally believe they won the War of 1812.  I hesitate to even write this because the Canadians don’t know the US thinks they won.
4. The Canadian government sends you checks just for having babies.

Three Things I Miss About Living in the USA

1. Really Big Mountains
2. Desert
3. Cheap Mexican food

Two Things the US Could Learn From Canada

1. Socialized Medicine doesn’t suck as much as I thought it would
2. Creating a conservative banking system will solve a lot of other problems.

One Thing Canada Could Learn From the USA

1. The separation of church and state–particularly in the school system.  In Canada, the Catholic School system is publicly funded.