Newly arrived from the UK

I had been contemplating a move to Canada for many years, a thought that took root when I was in university and came to meet many wonderful Canadians on my travels. I spent a year studying in Florida, which set me on the path of wanting to live and work abroad, but there was something about Canada that sparked my interest and stayed with me.

In fact, several years later, by then happily married and a recent ‘dad’, I was so convinced that Canada was the right place for our family to be, that I started to apply for permanent residence before I had even visited the country!

Working in the media industry, my immediate focus was on Vancouver, the place I thought I could best further my career. Visiting it with my wife in 2005, it was just as we anticipated - an exciting and vibrant city, a fantastic location with lots going on. I was even given a job offer, but something wasn’t quite right.

We didn’t feel it really catered for families - at that stage, our first daughter was only three – and it was more expensive than I had expected. To achieve the reasonable standard of living we wanted, we would have had to live some way outside the city, meaning a long commute and limited time with my family, precisely the things we were trying to change from our situation in the UK. So we returned home to think again, not knowing that the solution was close at hand.

A chance meeting at our local school introduced us to a mum who came originally from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. She had come to England, got married and had a family, and was planning to head back. To be honest, Nova Scotia was a place I had never heard of, but encouraged to visit and needing to enter Canada to initiate our visas, my family - now comprising two daughters - spent two weeks in October in and around Halifax and the South Shore.

From the moment we arrived, we were hooked. The fall weather was beautiful, the leaves on the trees seeming to change colour as we watched. We saw whales drifting along the coastline. The welcome was unbeatable, and above all, genuine. You get the impression that people really do care and they really are interested in what you have to say – an attitude very rare in my experience.

And it wasn’t just the people and the environment. Halifax surprised me greatly with the breadth and maturity of its business community, particularly in the media industry. This is a place of opportunity, not just for a young family, but for the entrepreneur.

I met some great people, had some very positive meetings, and 18 months later, here we are – freshly arrived residents and eager to experience everything that this incredible region has to offer. In fact, I even have a direct connection with the Nova Scotia Come to life campaign as I’ve joined Journeyman Film Company who produced the Pride of Place vignettes you can watch on this website.

We’re only a few months in, dealing with all the challenges and discoveries of starting up in a new country, but it was definitely the right thing to do.

Our future’s bright, our future’s Atlantic Canada.