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Communities Across Canada

Most newcomers to Canada tend to settle in the three biggest cities — Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver. But many newcomers and many Canadians choose to live in the medium-sized cities, which they feel have as much to offer as the larger cities with a better quality of life.

Among the medium-sized cities are Halifax, Québec City, Ottawa, London, Windsor, Sudbury, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton and Victoria.

All of the medium-sized cities have diverse, multi-ethnic populations ranging in size from approximately 100,000 to one million people, and all have the variety of public and private institutions and services found in the largest cities.

Some newcomers like the idea of living in smaller cities or towns like Moncton, Fredericton, Red Deer and Kelowna, or prefer to live in a rural area. Depending on your skills or professional qualifications, some regions may have better job opportunities than others.

Visit the Web sites of each province and territory to see what each has to offer. To find these Web sites, visit canada.gc.ca/othergov/prov_e.html.

Each Web site has a list of government departments and agencies. In the bigger provinces, some government departments may have their own Web sites, with more detailed information. You may also find a directory of on-line services, a link to educational institutions, and a link to major cities and towns. Most of the Web sites also have a tourism section, where you can discover the special attractions of each province and territory.

The Web site www.workdestinations.org has links to information on the labour market and the housing market of communities across Canada. It also has useful tips and information about moving within Canada.

You can also visit a Web site called Canadian Government Information on the Internet at cgii.gc.ca/muni-e.html. It is another useful link to federal, provincial and municipal government information.

The Francophone population
French is the mother tongue of 6.6 million Canadians. Most Francophones live in Quebec, but almost one million live in Canada’s other provinces and territories. Atlas de la francophonie has information on the Francophone communities of each of Canada’s provinces and territories. Or check out this interesting link to official language organizations.