How to Move to Canada and Find your Perfect Place to Live
Exploring the Charm and Opportunities of Canada’s Provinces
ONTARIO
Ontario is a study in contrasts. The varied landscape includes the vast, rocky and mineral-rich Canadian Shield, which separates the fertile farmland in the south and the grassy lowlands of the north.
Quebec
Quebec is a French speaking province in north eastern Canada. It’s the largest of the 10 Canadian provinces. Most of its population lives in the southern parts of the province.
Quebec has a strong economy based on:
- skilled workers
- natural resources
- its ability to adjust to economic change
Water is one of Quebec’s most important natural resources. The province has more than one million lakes and rivers. This includes the St. Lawrence River, one of the longest rivers in the world which flows for about 1200 kilometres through Quebec.
Quebec welcomes 50,000 immigrants each year. The provincial government is responsible for immigration to the province according to the Canada-Quebec Accord.
NOVA SCOTIA
Nova Scotia is Canada’s second-smallest province (following Prince Edward Island) and is located on the southeastern coast of the country. The province includes Cape Breton, a large island northeast of the mainland. The name Nova Scotia is Latin for “New Scotland,” reflecting the origins of some of the early settlers. Given its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, Nova Scotia’s economy is largely influenced by the sea, and its harbors have served as military bases during many wars.
NEW BRUNSWICK
New Brunswick is part of the Appalachian region, one of Canada’s seven physiographic regions. The province’s principal geographic divisions are the watershed of the Bay of Fundy, centering on the Saint John River valley, and the north and east shores. The residents of the north and east shores live in coastal fishing villages and interior lumbering settlements along rivers. They are separated physically from the valley communities by uplands and belts of forest. They are also separated culturally by their predominantly French language and Catholic religion.
MANITOBA
Manitoba is a Canadian province located at the center of the country, bounded by Saskatchewan to the west, Hudson Bay and Ontario to the east, Nunavut to the north, and North Dakota and Minnesota to the south. The province was founded on parts of the traditional territories of the Assiniboine, Dakota, Cree, Dene, Anishinaabeg and Oji-Cree peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation. The land is now governed Treaties 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10. As of the 2016 census, Manitoba had 1,278,365 residents, making it the fifth most populous province or territory in Canada. Manitoba joined Confederation in 1870, and its capital city, Winnipeg, was incorporated shortly thereafter, in 1873.
BRITISH COLUMBIA
British Columbia is Canada’s most westerly province, and is a mountainous area whose population is mainly clustered in its southwestern corner. BC is Canada’s third-largest province after Québec and Ontario, making up 10 per cent of Canada’s land surface. British Columbia is a land of diversity and contrast within small areas. Coastal landscapes, characterized by high, snow-covered mountains rising above narrow fjords and inlets, contrast with the broad forested upland of the central interior and the plains of the northeast. The intense “Britishness” of earlier times is referred to in the province’s name, which originated with Queen Victoria and was officially proclaimed in 1858.
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
Prince Edward Island is the smallest province in Canada. Located off the eastern coast, it’s one of Canada’s 4 Atlantic provinces.
Prince Edward Island has a vibrant and growing business community. Its economy features a mix of traditional resources like agriculture, fisheries and tourism. These industries have undergone significant modernization in recent years, even as new industries have started to emerge in the province, including:
- aerospace
- bioscience
- renewable energy
- information technology
- video game development
The people of Prince Edward Island are known to be friendly and welcoming. It’s a place where you and your family can enjoy living and working in a peaceful, natural setting. People go to Prince Edward Island for :
- the small town feel
- the light road traffic and short commutes to work
- low crime rates
- an excellent school system
- a lower cost of living than many other parts of Canada
SASKATCHEWAN
Saskatchewan is part of the Prairie region and is the only province with entirely artificial boundaries. It is bordered by the US to the south, the Northwest Territories to the north, and Manitoba and Alberta to the east and west respectively. It was created from the Northwest Territories in 1905, at the same time as Alberta, and shares with that province the distinction of having no coast on salt water. The name, which was first used officially for a district of the Northwest Territories in 1882, is derived from an anglicized version of a Cree word, kisiskâciwanisîpiy, meaning “swiftly flowing river.”
ALBERTA
Alberta, the western most of Canada’s three Prairie provinces, shares many physical features with its neighbours to the east, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Rocky Mountains form the southern portion of Alberta’s western boundary with British Columbia. Alberta was named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. The province is home to the country’s largest deposits of oil and natural gas.
NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
Newfoundland, the youngest of the Canadian provinces, joined Confederation in 1949. Some portion of its coast was undoubtedly one of the first parts of the continent seen by Europeans. Its total area is 405, 720 km2, of which Labrador makes up almost three-quarters (294,330 km2). The island of Newfoundland is the easternmost region of Canada, while Labrador is located on the mainland to the northwest. Since John Cabot’s arrival on the “new isle” the island has been referred to as Terra Nova, or in English, Newfoundland. Labrador probably received its name from the Portuguese designation, “Terra del Lavradors.”
YUKON
The name Yukon comes from the Gwich’in word Yu-kun-ah meaning “great river” and is a reference to the Yukon River. Lying in the northwestern corner of Canada and isolated by rugged mountains, the Yukon borders Alaska to the west, British Columbia to the south and the Northwest Territories to the east. Historically, it is indelibly associated with the great Klondike Gold Rush.
NUNAVUT
Nunavut, or “Our Land” in Inuktitut, encompasses over 2 million km2 and has a population of 35,944 residents (2016 census), approximately 85 per cent of whom are Inuit. Covering roughly the part of the Canadian mainland and Arctic Archipelago that lies to the north and northeast of the treeline, Nunavut is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada and the fifth largest administrative division in the world. Nunavummiut live in 25 communities spread across this vast territory, with the largest number, 7,740 (2016 census), in the capital, Iqaluit. The creation of Nunavut in 1999 (the region was previously part of the Northwest Territories) represented the first major change to the political map of Canada since the incorporation of Newfoundland into Confederation in 1949.
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
The Northwest Territories has a great future based on its natural resource industries.
Our small population of 43,000 people live in 33 communities throughout the Northwest Territories and enjoy:
- wide open spaces
- excellent government services
- good jobs and economic opportunities to work and do business
Newcomers may hear “welcome to the Northwest Territories” in many different languages. Our government recognizes 11 official languages, most of them spoken by Indigenous peoples in the Northwest Territories.
