People & Places
Alberta’s home to the Woodies
A holiday in Canada can change the course of a whole lifetime, as the Wood family found out to their benefit. Richard takes up the story
We are the Wood family: Richard, 45, Vicky, 36, and Owen, 12, or as we are known to our fellow emigration families, 'The Woodies'.
Back in December 2002, my brother-in-law Nicholas returned from a snowboarding holiday in Whistler, BC, and waxed lyrical about the Canadians and the Canadian way of life. Soon after he left we started talking about Canada and Vicky expressed how it had always been a dream of hers to go to Canada some day, ever since as a young girl she had heard family stories of relatives in BC. Wondering what all the fuss was about, we booked a driving holiday in a motorhome – or RVs as they are called here – to Vancouver for the following April.
During our trip we toured many areas of the western part of BC, including Whistler, but could not find anywhere where we thought that we could happily settle. However, as part of our fact-finding trip we attended a business seminar set up by the BC government in downtown Vancouver. This gave us an additional six points for our application, as it showed our intention and commitment to starting a new business/life in Canada. We did have to pay for the seminar but it was not very expensive and very worthwhile.
We then decided to make this more than just a holiday, and began researching whether or not we would be able to emigrate as we were becoming disillusioned with good old Blighty. Upon our return from BC, we set to work filling out the Entrepreneur visa application paperwork. We had run our own business for 11 years and this appeared to be the most effective route for us. With this in mind we booked to attend the Emigrate show at Sandown Park in March 2003. The show was one of the most valuable things that we did as it provided us with numerous contacts. We had also booked ourselves into two seminars, the first being the general moving to Canada seminar and the second a more specific one on Entrepreneurs and Business visas. Here we met with all provinces, except BC as they weren't represented that year, and spent most of the last few hours on the Alberta stand. This province then began to tick all of our boxes for criteria that we had originally set ourselves. We did look into employing a consultant whilst at the March show, but decided that all the questions we would be asked were regarding us and no one knows us better than us! So our dining room table was transformed into Emigration Control Centre, with a non-stop stream of paperwork as we compiled our various checklists. At the end of six weeks we had everything that the Canadian High Commission (CHC) had requested. We delivered, in June 2003, our prize possession of three inches of paperwork to the CHC in London by hand just to ensure its safe arrival.
We waited just six days for our application acknowledgement slip. Then the real waiting began. We decided to do everything the CHC said on their application acknowledgement slip. We did not put our house on the market, but did do all the small outstanding jobs prior to marketing and we did not quit our jobs but instead looked around for possible buyers of our business. To make use of our time we spent most evenings looking on the Internet to view houses, schools, work opportunities, leisure facilities and cars. Through this investigation we became more certain that the province of Alberta was best suited to our needs. So, with this in mind, the majority of our research was centred on Calgary. Having made contacts at the Emigrate show in March 2003, we were able to attend a symposium on Alberta at the CHC in Grosvenor Square in March 2004. This opportunity was not wasted as we started networking the moment that we walked in the door. As a result of this we met another representative from the Alberta government, who offered to assess our application and then, if favourable, would write to the CHC and recommend our application. This was done in June 2004 and by early August we were contacted by the CHC requesting up-to-date police checks and current property value: this we submitted as soon as we could. This led to a request for medicals in late September, which we underwent on 8th October 2004. Once we knew we had passed, we then booked to spend Christmas in Calgary.
This trip confirmed all of our thoughts on Calgary and its surrounding communities. We pur-posely arranged to stay with a family in Lake Chaparral, near Calgary, to experience Canadian home life as much as possible. We had contacted the family in question via the Internet as they rent their basement for this purpose, to help families decide whether emigration to Canada is for them. The family in question had only been in Canada six months themselves having arrived from Hampshire in the UK. This experience made us contemplate offering this service ourselves, as we were made to feel very welcome and our questions and concerns were answered whenever asked.
During our stay we visited every corner of Calgary and decided that a new community in the southwest called Discovery Ridge would be right for us. This area appealed so much that we agreed on a plot (lot) and house design whilst there and arranged for our deposit to be sent when we returned to the UK. On our return to the UK our house was immediately put on the market, moving companies were put on standby and household goods were up for sale (at least those that we could not take to Canada). One week after returning home my mother passed away, which took the wind out of our sails. She had been ill for sometime and her death was not unexpected but it still knocks you sideways when it actually happens. This was not our only hurdle as we had to tell my wife's grandparents that we were taking their only great-grandchild halfway round the world. We were their only regular visitors who lived locally and we were unsure of their reaction. Fortunately for us it was very positive and they wished us well in our new venture.
The housing market had begun to slow in the new year of 2005 and as a result our plans for being out of the UK by May were looking doubtful. This meant that as our house in Canada was being built off-plan we had to choose the majority of the design and construction options via the telephone and Internet with our builders. This is not an easy process but kept us occupied whilst the house was not selling in the UK. Our builders were very understanding and could not have been more helpful with the choices we had to make. Admittedly, there are those that say you should not buy a new house before or during your emigration process as this is just another thing to worry about, but we have not found this to be the case and are looking forward to being in our new home a lot earlier than if we had landed and started looking for a plot. However, we do recommend you do some research on builders prior to deciding anything. We have been very fortunate and found our builder to be highly recommended and a regular homebuilding award winner.
Finally at the end of May 2005 we accepted an offer on our house with completion scheduled for mid July. We then arranged for a major removals firm to pack our belongings and ship them in a 20-foot container. This meant that the whole container was of our goods and would be sent direct as opposed to a part-load which could delay things. We have to say that our removal experience was not a pleasant one. We thought that we had chosen wisely with the reputation that went before them, but unfortunately this was not the case. Eventually our belongings left the UK and arrived on 1st October 2005. The nightmare that ensued from that point on with regard to the state of some items does not bear writing about. At present we are still awaiting final settlement of our claim.
We left the UK on 30th July 2005 and arrived in Calgary in the late afternoon. Having read Emigrate Canada for some two years prior to leaving we were a little concerned with the various stories we had seen regarding immigration control. We should not have been concerned as the whole process took about 20 minutes. We simply showed them our paperwork from the CHC and declared our goods that were following us from the UK and that was it. We had done it!
For the first three weeks we stayed with the same family in Lake Chaparral that we had stayed with at Christmas whilst looking for a rental property for a six-month term until our house would be ready to move into. During this time we registered Owen for school, applied for our SIN numbers (which came very quickly), got our Alberta driving licence without the need to take a test, opened bank accounts, applied for and were granted credit cards with much more ease than we were led to believe. This was due to the fact that we had made contact with a bank prior to leaving the UK and had shown a solicitor's letter confirming the funds that would be available to us. As a result of this we were offered 65 per cent of the value of our new house in Canada as a line of credit should we ever need future funds – and we had only been in the country for ten days. We also purchased a vehicle and the insurance company that we used accepted our no-claims history from the UK. As a result are now paying less than we did back home. Moreover, we were given six years Canadian clean driving history from the insurance company based on our previous UK history. We met with an accountant who we had contacted from the UK having come across her on the Superpages/Yellow Pages.ca. Everything seemed fine at first, but as time went on she became impossible to contact and seemed unconcerned about our new business venture and set-up enquiries. This has been a valuable lesson for us and having gone through the Alberta Association of Accountants we have found a suitable replacement, who has been helpful. We have since managed to find a rental apartment in the south-west close to our new house and Owen's school. Rental properties are quite hard to find but we now have several good contacts thanks to our initial detective work. We are currently paying £420 per month for a three-bedroom apartment close to North Glenmore Reservoir Park.
Owen has settled into the Canadian school system very well. He particularly enjoys the relaxed dress code and informal relationships with the teaching staff. The schools here seem to relate to children in a much more positive manner than the UK. He has just returned from three days camping in the Rocky Mountain foothills; his school does this on a regular basis and the kids really enjoy it. Owen currently plays for our local soccer (football) team and has turned out to be a real hit with his team-mates due to the English accent and knowledge of football. We are all learning to ski at Canada Olympic Park and are trying to keep up with Owen, who has taken to it like a duck to water.
We have also tried skating, snowboarding and, of course, tobogganing. These are all great fun even when it is -20oC, the sun still shines and it is a very dry cold, unlike the damp in Europe. Back in the UK we regularly ate organic food and not too much sugar. To begin with it was a struggle to find this diet over here, but again once researched, it improved dramatically. We have now tried such delicacies as elk, buffalo, bison and ostrich, all of which are fantastic. If you are not careful it is very easy to get taken in by the fast food culture that is North America. Everyone eats out on a regular basis as it is so cheap and I defy you to find a car in rush hour without a coffee mug on the dashboard!
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