People & Places
A new life in Quebec
Paul Beasley caught up with Marion Comben at her workplace to ask how well the family has settled in to their new life in Quebec
I was on my first visit to Quebec and was staying just outside the quaint town of Hudson on the banks of the Ottawa River. With its neat hedgerows, white wooden houses with brightly painted shutters and wholesome small community atmosphere, it was no surprise to find out that a glossy American magazine had called Hudson 'the Hamptons of Canada'. I meet Marion Comben at her workplace, the offices of Willis Brazolot & Co. The building, with its dark blue shutters, is happily in keeping with the rest of the town. Thirty-six-year-old Marion used to be a bank manager in Holland-on-Sea, Essex, where she, husband Brian (37), a mechanic, and children Sophie (10) and Chloe (8) lived before moving to Canada.
Having spent all of their lives in the UK, and most of it in Essex, Marion and Brian weren't planning to move away from Britain. But in 2003 after returning from a holiday abroad, Marion says that both she and Brian felt "there must be more to life than this". At this point a new life in Canada beckoned, but not at this point in French Canada. "By the middle of 2004 Brian had submitted his Skilled Worker application," Marion recalls. "At this point we'd already been to Toronto but we weren't that keen." In February 2005, Marion and Brian met Christopher Willis from Willis Brazolot & Co, who'd said that Montreal was a nice place and might be worth a look.
The heart of French-Canada, Quebec can prove daunting for some Brits as it's predominantly a French-speaking province, but Marion and Brian decided to give La Belle Province and its rolling hills, enchanting forests and rugged coastline a chance. And they are pleased that they did. "Last May we took a holiday to Quebec and really liked it," says Marion. "We decided to seriously consider moving to Quebec and I started taking French lessons – although European French rather than Quebecois French, which is a different dialect." So, the Combens having moved to Saddlebrook, a tree-shaded estate of large houses and curving avenues, in March this year, I ask if Marion's French-speaking skills have proved to be essential? "I think if you lived in downtown Montreal you'd almost certainly need to speak French, but not here. Even with Brian's job, truck mechanic, the fact that he doesn't speak French is no barrier to him doing his job. "Yes, not knowing French can be tricky at times, like calling a number with automated replies in French, or being spoken to in French by a caller. But all you have to do is say "Parlez vous Anglais?' and they switch to English."
And what about the neighbours: Are they predominantly Anglophone or Francophone?
"There are Brits all around us," answers Marion with a bright smile. "There's a lady from Manchester next door and the family across the road are Irish." Moving with young children can obviously be an issue for parents, and concerns surrounding starting at a new school won't generally be eased by the knowledge that they are to be educated in what is a foreign language to them. With this in mind I was curious to discover how Sophie and Chloe were adjusting to their new life, so I asked Marion if they'd struggled to adapt to a new language. Marion's face lights up as she replies "The kids love being here. They are now in the French education system at a school called St Thomas. Yes, it's a cultural change for them not to speak English in schools especially as they can't speak French fluently yet. But they are receiving extra tuition in school and are young enough not to be phased by the change."
So who speaks French the best: Sophie, Chloe or their Mum?
Marion shifts in her chair and props her hand on her head: "To be honest, the children are teaching us French because we don't know what they're saying, and, from a parent's point of view, that's not good!" While having children that are speaking their own secret language doesn't necessarily make parenting any less stressful, in other ways Marion's life has entered the slow lane. Marion admits that working as a bank manager was stressful, and indeed her financial experience did make her new employers ponder whether she was overqualified to assist with visa applications, but Marion explained that she "wanted a job with less pressure and fewer hours". Now she has both – and a Labrador, something denied her by her long hours at a bank in Essex.
So, instead of questions regarding overdrafts and business loans, Marion is now fielding questions about whether you can buy "Marmite, Baked Beans and Coleman's Mustard in Canada". I ask if there's any good 'olde Englishe fayre' Marion misses. She replies that the "Kids miss those little bags of Walkers crisps" and uses her hands to show me exactly what size she means. She shifts in her seat again and raises an eyebrow, then says, "But why move to another country if you're not going to try new things?"
Some things, though, are impossible to replace, and it's often how well emigrants deal with having left their friends and family behind that determines the emotional tenor of their first few months in Canada. How is Marion faring in this respect? "I haven't cried, or anything," she replies. "I watched those emigration programmes on TV in the UK and people are balling their eyes out. It's been nothing like that for us. In fact," she says, looking down at her stilettoed left foot as she points it and bounces it gently in the air, "Many of our friends are envious and think we're brave, but it's been made easier by the fact that we've made new friends… so we're happy as Larry".
And there's plenty to do to keep the family occupied – which is lucky because, as Marion explains, the Combens "have got more free time on their hands. "The kids go horseriding and cycling along the local trails, and they went tobogganing in winter," she adds. Indeed, the much-vaunted environment of Quebec is proving to be much more beneficial than simply offering new leisure pursuits. "In the UK Brian was getting a bit larger around the middle," Marion says, laughing and scratching her arm, "but now he's getting more of a physical and mental workout." And, even better, Chloe, who's asthmatic, "hasn't had to use her inhaler once here".
There has been one environmental challenge, though: "The mosquitoes are driving me mad," says Marion, scratching her arm. "Corr, I've really been mullered." We go on to talk about the flexibility of the English language. I ask if Marion will miss British culture as a whole. "I want to keep some heritage," she says. "You can't forget where you came from. Despite living in French-Canada, I'll always be British-Canadian." Time will tell, of course, but one thing's for sure: The Combens have made a great start to their new life in Quebec.
Read other articles about families that have emigrated to Canada:
It's a family affair
Alberta's home to the Woodies
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