westcountrywandering

Wednesday’s Weekly Update No.5

I can’t believe this is update number five. I can’t believe it is August. And I can’t believe we’ve without a home for 195 days! So here is the latest…

Getting to Canada! We’ve been back in touch with the IRCC London . You can remind yourself of our previous correspondence with them in this post, Part two: How Coronavirus derailed our plans for moving to Canada (skip to the part under June 2020). We’ve also been in touch with the IRCC Canada*. They have a whole system set up for Covid-19 related inquiries, in your email they ask you to state your reason for travel. Writing that section really made me reflect on how sad it is that a few months ago the world was so open for adventure and now you have to beg to be let into a country you have a work permit for and rent property in. It brings the madness of our situation into stark relief, so I thought I’d share it with you…

Reason for travel: I am moving to Canada to both live and work, and to reunify with my husband, who is a temporary foreign worker at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, BC. My husband and I left our UK jobs and housing rental agreement before the Canadian border closed in March. We do not have anywhere to live in the UK currently, but we do rent a property in Prince George, BC. To avoid an separation of unknown time, my husband returned from Canada to the UK, and has worked remotely since. However, he now needs to return to Prince George to fulfil the role of his employment. As is not financially viable for us to rent properties in both Canada and the UK, my husband will be required to resign from his job if I cannot get to Canada soon.
As far as I can gather, I would not be exempt from current travel restrictions as, while I hold a work permit approval letter, I don’t currently have a job offer in Canada. Since April, we have waited for the Canadian border to open so that I can enter Canada without ambiguity and not risk being turned away by CBSA staff on arrival but, for the reasons given (my husband’s employment, and that we rent a property in Prince George), we now need to get to Canada as soon as possible.
We have a sound quarantine plan (with people who can help with groceries and medicines, as required), believe that we would both be travelling for essential (non-discretionary) reasons, and intend to live and work in Canada until our work permits expire in around two years time.

2. The house. On the frustrating side we’re paying for a property we’re not living in. But our landlady – who we’ve never met – continues to live up to the Canadian stereotype of being kind and helpful. After emailing her with our concerns about continuing to rent the house, she wavered the one month notice period and suggested we wait until the 15th August to see how things are looking then. In her reply she also mentioned how she’d gone above her call of duty and decided to ring the CBSA (Canadian Boarder Services Agency) to state our case and get some more information for us. Not being able to call them ourselves, we were really grateful for this help.

3. Bally The Greyhound. As it becomes more and more obvious that Canada is going to be closed for some time and we may have to try our luck at getting in or give up going, we’re obviously worried about Bally. When we signed up to this adventure, there was no question that he was coming too. There still isn’t, but getting that lovely long boy there is now so much more complex and costly. Flying dogs to Vancouver is possible, but only with special permission and the cost will be double what we were originally quoted. Not ideal. There is also an option to fly him to Toronto and it’s only £300 more than we were originally quoted. But we’d have to drive 2642.0703 miles across Canada, travelling through five provinces and four time zones to get him back to Prince George. Once you account for gas, accommodation and snacks on a mission like that, we’d easily spend quadruple what we were originally quoted. So, not a great option.

What’s Bothering Babs?

Babs’ Question: You can go if you have a job, right? So, how is the job hunt going?

Remember how I told you about having to submit 18 different forms of evidence in order to become a certified teacher in BC. Good news is 14/18 of those have now been submitted! I’ve also applied to be a Supply Teacher and sent out some feelers about working with disabled children. And in other work related news I had a wonderful and emotional day saying goodbye at The Heathland School. I received some lovely gifts, which nearly compensated for the lack of hugs, including a set of Bear Bells each for Jacob and I. Speaking of Jacob, UNBC are still being good about him working remotely and his team are still not expecting to be able to do field work this summer.

Wednesday’s Weekly Update No.4

I skipped writing an update last week because there was nothing new to report since Wednesday’s Weekly Update No.3.

1. Canada’s Boarder Closure. As expected, Canada and the USA have extended their boarder closure until ‘at least the 21st August’. This is the fourth time the US/Canada boarder closure has been extended and each time the news that the Canadian boarder will remained closed to the rest of the world has been added on at the end of the month as a side note! There is currently nothing official regarding Canada extending its boarder closure with the rest of the world. But I’m not hopeful as it seems likely that the now familiar pattern will be repeated. And so once again we wait to see if Canada will make some exemptions to which foreign workers are allowed to enter the country.

2. Our wander around the U.K. continues After 3 months at my Mum’s house in Wiltshire, we’re now nearly back where we started in the South East! We’ll be here for the next two weeks, staying at a friend’s house while they are on holiday. It has been seven months since we moved out and during that entire time we’ve lived with friends and family or in their houses! Although the sight of a packing cube no longer fills me with the joy and excitement it once did, I am immensely grateful to have had so much help this year.

What’s Bothering Babs?

Babs’ question: Why don’t you try and go?

Partly Bally, our Greyhound. Much as I’m sure he’d like to be turned free to hunt squirrels, he’d be useless. Plus, we rather like him. But seriously, the main reason is that I could be refused entry and made to return to the UK. Meanwhile, Jacob would have to remain in/enter Canada. Since, there is no clear end to the boarder closer in sight we would be separated without knowing how long for. In short, the financial and emotional implications are great.

“You’re moving where?” Introducing Prince George, Canada.

We are, as you know, attempting to move to a city called Prince George. Where? Prince what? Isn’t that a royal kid?

I’m guessing that, like me until last October, you hadn’t heard of Prince George in British Columbia, Canada. If things had worked out as planned, we would be there by now and I would be writing a blog to introduce you to my new city.

For a perspective of someone who has been there – and had to returned thanks to coronavirus – check out First impressions of life in Northern BC, Canada, in 3 photos.

But from my perspective, for now, let me share what I have learnt about Prince George from my research. Where is it? What is there to do there? Why the ridiculous name? Read on to find out…

Location

Prince George is located in the centre of Canada’s westernmost province: British Columbia. In Canadian terms, it’s near Vancouver – just a casual eight hour drive away! So about as near as Brighton is to Edinburgh!

Population

Prince George’s most famous resident: Mr PG

Prince George is a mid-sized city, home to around 80,000 people. To put that in perspective for us Brits, that’s a similar population to Bath, which has about 89,000 inhabitants.

History of Prince George

Can you guess how Prince George got it’s name? Yep, that’s right, despite being located on the traditional territory of the Lheidli T’enneh Nation, Prince George is named after King George III. That’s the mad one, or, to quote Horrible Histories, the one who was as “batty as a bonkers kangaro-oooo”. In 1807 a fur trading post was established in the region, agriculture slowly developed and once the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway joined the party, a city was inevitable.

Perks of Prince George

Here’s a little taster of some of the things Prince George has to offer, which really excite me. In the city there are over one hundred parks, there is also ancient forests with hundreds of kilometres of trails to hike and cycle. The world famous Jasper and Banff national parks are near enough for a weekend trip, but I’m really excited about the mountains near Prince George, such as the wonderfully named Teapot Mountain.

Spending weekends ‘at the lake’ is a norm, people often spend their Saturdays Paddle Boarding or Kayaking before hiding their food in a bear barrel and hunkering down in the tent.

The big draw for many: the snow. Which means that learning to Ski is a must if I’m going to make peace with the Canadian winter. Each year they also flood fields, let them freeze and hey presto you’ve got an ice skating rink!

And a final perk to prove (to my cold-loathing self) that winter rewards people: the elusive Northern Lights pays a visit to dance above the night sky between mid-September and mid-March. Finally, just encase, all this outdoorsy stuff gets a bit tiring (as if!) Prince George has a winery and a craft beer distillery.

Check out this video for more on what PG has to offer…