Moving to Canada soon - need some help
 

I will be moving to Canada soon for job related reasons. My job will require me to travel a lot within Canda in the big cities. However I prefer to live in a community that has a large Italian population. I want easy access to Italian shops, movie theaters and restarants. I guess Canda is a pretty decent place but I prefer to hang with my fellow Italians only (even thought my english is good). What cities would have the best Italian community - Montreal, Toronto or Ontario? Also be specfic about areas within the city.

Ciao,
F

Hello, Franko,
I don't know of any Canadian city that has Italian movie theatres!
Before you begin isolating yourself from the non-Italian community in Canada, why don't you arrive, start to live here & see what happens? Integration, not segregation, may be a more satisfying way to begin your life in Canada.

That said, Toronto has a sizable Italian community. But, not the largest in relation to area population. Toronto is located in the Province of Ontario. Googling "Italian Communitites in Canada" will lead you to a Wikipedia chart that breaks down the population of Canadian people of Italian ancestry.(Italian Canadians). The chart is very interesting & may assist you in your search for a place to live.

Interestingly, the Niagara Region of Ontario has the highest percentage of people of Italian ancestry in relation to area population: 12.7% followed by:
Hamilton: 10.6%
Windsor: 10.5%
Greater Toronto Area (GTA): 9.2%
Montreal: 7.3%

Hope this helps.
Ciao!

Ocean ((H))

Hi Franko,

I really hope you enjoy living in Canada wherever you end up living. I agree with OceanBreeze about isolating/restricting yourself. I find the best way to build a good life in a new city is to have an open mind. I'm sure it's the same with country.

Also, I'm not sure how many people of Italian descent in Canada speak Italian. Often people who are 3rd generation or later Canadians do not learn the mother-tongue of their ancestors except for a few phrases and names of food. I'm an example of that case and I know quite a few others.

BTW, I couldn't resist fixing this sentence for you:

(even thought my english is good)

should be:

(even though my English is good)

Windsor Ontario has a fantastic Italian Community! Check out Erie Street! Love this area.. best food, coffee.. lots of fun!

Ontario is a provice, and is huge. Look it up on a map andcompare to Italy.

Toronto and Montreal are cities and the way municipal government works, they are immediately surrounded by other cities.

Toronto has,immediately to the north west of it, Vaughan, which has a high proportion of Italians, although the statistics are changing as more Indians and other south Asians move in.

In Toronto, Italian neighborhood houses are either (inbroad strokes) big, garish, really expensive, on large lots -- Woodbridge part of Vaughan -- or much smaller jammed together connected houses in central Toronto.

A million euros would buy a nice suburban house.

In central Toronto (Look at College Street west of Bathurst St. on Google maps) you can pay anywhere from $400,000 to a million Euros.

Toronto is full of Italian restuarants and fashion stores, and most people speak English.

In Montreal, most people speak French, even in Italian neighborhoods.

Google Maps street view will be very helpful to you.

You can also get an idea of house prices by looking at www.mls.ca

Also, www.realtor.ca

realtor.ca and mls.ca are the same site. mls.ca just redirects your to realtor.ca now

Didn't know that. I always just go to realtor.ca for downtown TO....code C01