Being a Mum in Toronto (real estate, apartments, to rent)

[cjpomeroy]

Hi,

My partner is thinking about accepting a job in Toronto and I was wondering what the support network is like for Mums. I have a 10 month old daughter and we are all currently living just outside of London in the UK. Do you think it would be easy to make new friends and find groups for us to get involved in? Also, which areas do you think would be a safe to live in?

Any advice would be really appreciated.
Thank you
Carla

[Pookster]

This site may help:

Canada : British Expat Discussion Forum

Toronto is very large when you take into account the suburbs. Whereabouts will your husband be working -- downtown?

[cjpomeroy]

Hi, thanks.

Yes, downtown.

[Pookster]

There are lots of great neighbourhoods (and lots of stuff to do/groups to get involved in) intermixed with not so good ones. I'm sure others may have thoughts about suburban areas close to the city, but within the city, I would suggest areas east of the Don Valley or west of Bathurst or north in the St. Clair/Eglinton areas. Housing is very expensive though in some of these areas, so you may want to consider suburban areas, commonly known as the Greater Toronto Area or GTA.

[Cornerguy1]

For real estate selection and prices, please see the Canadian multiple listing service web site: mls.ca - Welcome



.

[Canadian73]

I live in a Toronto neighbourhood called Birchcliff Village which is just north east of a great area called "The Beaches" or "The Beach" and right now, this is a real up-and-coming area for people priced out of the Beaches (which has become overpriced over the last few years) and where you can still find a 1940's era built single detached bungalow for about $325,000 or so...one of the few areas left in the city of Toronto proper with such decent prices...it's a mix bag of retirees and young families with one or two children and is very quiet and safe but again this being Toronto, one does not have to go too far in one direction or the other to find the "rougher" parts of town but there aren't really any bad areas at close proximity. The subway station is a 5 to 10 minute bus ride from here and once you're on the subway, you're about 20 mins to 30 mins from downtown depending on what part of downtown you're going...you can also get off the bus and connect onto the streetcar (tram) which also goes downtown...by car and without traffic you're looking at between 20 to 30 minutes to get downtown...if you're driving to the Beaches area which has great shops and all kinds of services and amenities, you're looking at between 5 to 10 minutes...Toronto is a city of so-called villages where one doesn't have to necessarily go downtown to find everything one needs i.e. many areas have their own cinemas, restaurants etc...I would compare it to Hamsptead Village in London but with a 4-kilometer long beach and boardwalk along Lake Ontario instead!...it's also a very dog-friendly area. There are many similar (but pricier) areas within the city of Toronto but few have the lakeside, more laid back feel that the Beaches area has.

I'm originally from Montreal and meeting new people in Toronto can be a bit hit or miss depending of your work environment and people you may or may not run into etc but there's lots of organizations, social groups to get involved with and once you get to know people, they tend to be very nice though not in-your-face friendly at first (The Beaches is a lot more friendly than the rest of Toronto and this is something I've personally noticed as well as heard from many people)...check out my neighborhood's free local newspaper and you'll get an idea of the area, the services and see some pictures:

Beach Metro Community News - Toronto

Pictures from the Toronto Beaches:

The Beach Tour - The Boardwalk (broken link)

[cjpomeroy]

Thanks very much for all your comments. The Beaches looks lovely! I'll have a good look at all of the links you've posted.

Many thanks
Carla

[prcTO]

The Yonge and Eglinton area in Toronto (sometimes known as Young and Eligible), is actually full of families and services for children now. It's become more expensive in recent years but the bonus is there are a lot of apartments, flats and houses to rent in the area as opposed to buying a house. Most areas north of Dupont on Yonge St. or Avenue Rd. are safe (though can be expensive). There is also Bloor West Village (Bloor St. near High Park). There are lots of safe neighbourhoods in Toronto, these are just the ones I most familiar with.
The easiest way to connect with other moms in Toronto is through play groups and the like. The Toronto Public Library runs free programs for toddlers and preschoolers through each of its local branches (they're everywhere). There are community centre programs in most neighbourhoods as well, which are great for meeting other moms, especially with a 10 month-old (it's much easier to meet other moms when the classes are parent and child). There are also Early Years Centres funded by the Ontario government which run both structured educational programs for little ones as well as hold regular drop-in hours for when you're going stir crazy.