People & Places
We emigrated to Saskatchewan
Jackie Pitman moved to Saskatchewan in 2005 with husband Steve and daughter Sophie. Here, she tells Emigrate Canada about her new house and the four Fs
When we first moved to Canada in March 2005 we had to rent for ten months before we bought the house we live in now. We'd gone for two houses unsuccessfully as our house sale in Britain kept falling through but these houses didn't fully match our criteria of a house with a large yard and a view anyway. When we finally bought here in March 2006, the house was cheaper, bigger and in a better neighbourhood than the previous two and also had a large yard and a view. The house is built into the hill and has two bedrooms and two large bathrooms on the ground floor, as well as an office and kitchen diner and a large lounge. The basement has a large recreation room, two bedrooms and another full bathroom. Our yard is also set in an acre and is on the edge of walking trails leading down to a river: we really have a great view.
In Britain we lived in a close of ten houses, all detached but built close together. We had an average four bedroom-house with a small extension (making five beds) a single garage and a tiny back garden. There were 300 houses on the estate and it wasn't a particularly rough area but there was some petty crime. We didn't know all our neighbours but some stopped speaking to us three years before we left because we dared to park over too close to their drive. Here, we were lucky enough to buy in the most exclusive area of the Battlefords: West Park, known locally as 'Mortgage Heights' or 'Snob Hill'. West Park is about the same size as our old estate in Britain but there's only 65 houses. All the neighbours say hello or wave when they're driving, even if you don't know them by name, and the kids, including teenagers, are very polite and wave or say hello. Our double garage is 1,000 square feet, the size of the floor-space in Steve's parent's three-bedroom house, and we can get ten cars on our drive. When we bought our house Steve's workmates said we were mad to buy a house for CDN$200,000 and that no house was worth that much! We paid CDN$215,000 and no one buys in the winter so we got a good price.
Since we moved, house prices have soared. For 10 to 20 years there was little growth but now people are moving here from Alberta, BC and Britain and can afford to pay more. This, coupled with the fact that there is nowhere to rent, has pushed up the prices. Now, the estimated value of our house is CDN$325,000.
Making friends
Our community is small and people are very friendly to newcomers. In Britain we were mainly friends with people our age but our friends here are of all ages. One of our best friends, Dave, is 25 and we call him Steve's son. His hospitality is tremendous and he and his girlfriend took Sophie to see the Saskatoon Symphony as they knew she played clarinet.
As I've had quite a few jobs and have joined several boards and committees, including Battleford Library Board and an Immigration Committee, I've made friends through these. I've also become great friends with a lady who lives five doors away. You just get talking to people and they invite you to social events. What is brilliant here is that people are so spontaneous, they say "come for drinks after work", I say I need more notice, a very British thing, and they say "isn't two hours enough notice?"
In terms of the ratio of Canadian and British emigrants in our friendship group, it's about 50/50. We're very good friends with a couple called Rachel and Joe. Rachel moved here from Britain 20 years ago and married Joe who has lived here all his life. And we're also very good friends with a couple called Diane and Dave who moved from the Midlands 14 years ago. Two families moved here after us and the guys worked with Steve and we know two other British families who moved here around the same time as us. But we prefer to socialise with the Canadians as when the Brits get together instead of focusing on what is good here it's a typical Brit trait to be negative and moan about what we don't like. Generally, we find that the Canadians living here in Saskatchewan are very laid back, friendly and helpful. A great example of this was one night in January when it was minus 20 and our heating packed up. We called the guy and he came at 9.30 and stayed until it was fixed at midnight. A few days later it broke down again and he was here for another five hours fixing it and he had to come again and do some tweaks. We thought it would be a huge bill but on top of the replacement part, which was CDN$500, he only charged two hours labour! We all know British Gas can't equal that! Also, we lived rent free with our realtor for seven weeks when we first arrived as there was nowhere suitable to rent. Imagine living with an estate agent in Britain if there was nowhere to rent! And our friend Joe, in the middle of building his own house, sacrificed a weekend to build our deck!
Our finances
Since living in Saskatchewan I've had four part-time jobs, three in banking and finance and one at an art gallery. All of them were awful with poor pay, terrible bosses and bad organisation. Here in North Battleford there's a really small town atmosphere and its not what you know but who you know. For example, most vacancies are filled then advertised afterwards. I was offered a job as a newspaper reporter on the back of some articles I wrote on my immigration but I chose not to take the job as the hours were too long and I would've had to work weekends, although 20 years ago that would have been my chosen career.
I now work for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce as a personal banker selling investments, loans, mortgages and pensions and have been there four months. It's the biggest job challenge I've ever had because whilst I've worked in finance for 20 years there is so much to learn, including home study for the Canadian Mutual Funds licence. I like my job, though, as the infrastructure is similar to working for a large company in Britain, which I did for 16 years. Although my pay is 50 per cent what I earned in Britain, I do get standard benefits.
Steve works at the job he came here to do. The firm is very badly organised, the pay is poor and there are no benefits but we knew that from the start and he enjoys the work on the basis one of the reasons we came here was to quit the rat race. He has no stress. If we moved to a larger centre he could get a job easily but we don't want to do that yet. Work here isn't like in Britain. Labour rules are different but we put up with this because our standard of living is just as high as it was before and although our wages are lower we don't have a mortgage and we own a 4X4 and lease a new truck.
Family matters
Our daughter Sophie is now 12 and goes to school in Battleford, a town of 3,500 people. It's strange for us because you don't start High School here until grade eight (Catholic school) or grade nine (public school). Sophie is in grade seven in a Catholic school and she can stay there for the next two years as they have grade eight – this isn't the norm. She's done really well at school and generally enjoys it. The school she's in is small so for the three years she has been there it's been the same 12 girls in her class and her grade. She does have a friend at school but it's not a great friendship. She's closer friends with a couple of girls who go to elementary schools in North Battleford; her best friend in Britain misses her badly. They're still in touch – we're hoping she will come to visit next year.
Among the activities Sophie now enjoys are winter sports such as skiing and sledging. Saskatchewan is very flat but the Battlefords are very hilly and we have a ski hill 20 minutes away and where we live there are walking trails and lots of sledging opportunities. The school day out skiing costs CDN$30 including equipment hire. As a family we also enjoy horse-riding. It's not elitist here and lots of people have horses and let you ride for free. And, we're also members of a sailing club which cost CDN$120 for the year – Steve is having lessons. In the winter we don't travel so much but we still walk a lot as we have a little dog now and there are great trails next to our house. Steve used to cycle race in England and this year competed in five races. Other than these activities we spent most weekends this summer at various festivals in Saskatoon. It's a fabulous city and there's always lots going on. And all year round we socialise with friends more than we did in Britain as people here are more relaxed and leisure comes before work.
Our move to Canada has definitely improved our family life. I used to work full time in Britain and when we first lived here I got to spend more time with Sophie. Even now I work full time Sophie spent the ten week summer holiday with our friend Rachel's family and they spent the summer outdoors, not stuck in with the games console, so she had the best summer ever. We also have more time to do things in the evenings here and getting a dog has been great for us. The move has also improved our quality of life in general. We regularly see wildlife close to our house. Deer come right up to the living-room window in the winter and we've seen beavers, porcupines, pelicans, humming birds, coyotes, moose – even bears in the Rocky Mountains.
The future
Our plans for the future definitely centre on Saskatchewan in the short term because we have a brilliant house and good friends. However, they talk about a potential housing crash in Alberta and that would be a good time to pick a bargain house close to the Rockies. We love the Rockies and have been there four times in three years. We're also interested in moving to the Maritimes for the coast and better air travel links. It costs almost as much to fly from Saskatoon to Toronto as it does from Saskatoon to London Heathrow. We will apply for citizenship as soon as we can next March.
The only things we miss about Britain are the history, the seaside (Steve's family have a caravan in Paignton) and a decent local cinema. I also personally miss M&S and Boots and being able to buy cheaper fresh flowers, but that's all really. We're definitely still glad that we made the move.
Register for your FREE emigration starter pack
Subscribe to Emigrate Canada. Read more ...
Search EmiLinks for dozens of Saskatchewan web sites