european family move to Canada (rent, house, to buy)

[fonc]

Hi we are a British family (parents and 3 children) who have lived in France for the last 7 years. We are considering a move to french speaking Canada. Our children are completely fluent in French and are achieving well in the french education system. We are both graduates of the Uk university system who have had a number of successful small businesses, within the UK and (surprisingly) in France. We speak french too, but not as well as the children!

Can you give us any help, ie which areas to look in, (not too city based but enough people around to run a small business and have good schools) comments on the education system. Housing and pricing in areas and our eligibility to immigrate.

Many thanks for any help

[Acajack]

The province of Quebec is the heartland of French-speaking Canada, and French is the main everyday language throughout most of Quebec in the same way that it would be in France (although the variety spoken is somewhat different and takes some getting used to - a matter of days or weeks at the most I’d say). Think of moving from the UK to Texas and having to adjust to the differences in spoken English...

Quebec does have public English-language schools for its English-speaking minority (about 8% of the population) but it sounds to me that you intend to continue your children’s French schooling. In any event, English schools in Quebec are only for children of parents went to school in English in Canada. So all immigrant children in Quebec go to school in French.

Outside Quebec (and perhaps extreme northern New Brunswick on the east coast), English is the main language, although French schools are present in all of the larger cities and provincial capitals. Some smaller communities in the English majority provinces may also have French schools when numbers and local history warrant them.

Note than outside of Quebec and areas of Ontario and New Brunswick adjacent to Quebec (say within 200 km or so), many smaller Canadian cities with populations in the 10,000 to 75,000 range will usually only have public schools teaching in English.

The education system in Canada resembles the American system somewhat and is quite different from that of France. Quebec’s is also slightly different from the other provinces, however it too is more similar to the American model.

[mkal]

You could consider Laval (near Montreal) and Quebec city. Laval provides an easy access to Montreal.

[electronix]

i totally agree with mkal, but it depends where exactly you want to move and what kind of place you are looking for..

Montreal is really big, i know it my heart every little corner hehe this is the city where everybody works.

Laval is a great city, i lived there about 6-7 years. There's some places you have to be careful but not that much. If you want to buy a house or rent an appartment with 3 childrens maybe its better for you to stay out of montreal.

The great cities near montreal are :
north : laval. South : longueuil. brossard, boucherville.

What about quebec city! This a really nice city, but people dont really speak english there... you can look for sainte-foy and beauport, and l'ancienne lorette this is places near quebec city.

If you want to live where its french and english, you can consider gatineau-hull.

Do some researchs on the web, maybe to look what kind of job you want or what kind of life you wanna live.

I do especially LOVE magog and sherbrooke, i lived there a year and it was so quiet! People talk to everybody and both city are nice!

If you have any question about the province of quebec just tell me, and ill answer you.

[BDUB01]

Although it isnt in Quebec, I think Sudbury, Ontario fits your criteria. Sudbury is a city of roughly 160,000 and nearly 30% of the population speak French as their first language. Because it is situated in Northern Ontario, housing tends to be a little bit cheaper than other similar sized communities.
There is a great French language school board(CSCNO) based in Sudbury, and unlike Quebec there is also French Immersion schools.
The only other city I would recommend in Ontario would be Ottawa, however it is more expensive.
If you need anymore info just ask!

[electronix]

i have to say that sudbury is a great city, there's is boreal college, its a french college... this is not too big and thats pretty.