I was hoping to settle in a small city/town in Canada, away from Toronto. Leaving Dhaka and don't want to land in another crazy big city. I really miss a simple laid back life. But relatives are discouraging saying my child would be discriminated in schools and everywhere. Is it the case? I am ready to face some diversity and intolerance but is it that bad?
You're right to some extent, Toronto will remind you of Dhaka, especially the traffic and chaotic driving.
You can divide the livable cities in Ontario in 3 tiers (based on population & size):
Tier 1: Toronto (2,731k), Ottawa (932k), Mississauga (721k), Brampton (593k), Hamilton (537k)
Tier 2: London (384k), Markham (329k), Vaughan (306k), Kitchener (233k), Windsor (217k), Richmond Hill (195k), Oakville (194k), Burlington (183k)
Tier 3: Sudbury (161k), Oshawa (159k), Barrie (141k), St. Catharines (133k), Guelph (132k), Cambridge (130k), Whitby (128k), Kingston (124k), Ajax (120k), Milton (110k), Waterloo (105k), Chatham (101k), Brantford (97k), Bowmanville (92k), Pickering (92k), Niagara Falls (88k), Newmarket (84k), Peterborough (81k), Sault Ste. Marie (75k), Sarnia (72k)
Geographically, London, Chatham, Sarnia & Windsor are far west from Toronto, Sudbury & Sault Ste. Marie are located at North, Peterborough, Kingston & Ottawa are on East, St. Catharines & Niagara Falls are at South from Toronto while the rest are just surrounding cities of Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
I wouldn't consider any cities from Tier 1 or 2 being laid-back. However, Milton, Oakville, Burlington, Richmond Hill and Tri-cities (Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge) are good places to live especially because they are very close to Toronto but not as chaotic as that and offer diversity.
Outside GTA and Ottawa, London, Kingston and Windsor have large number of Muslim population. Any other city would be lot less diverse.
I've been living in Ontario for last 13 years out of which 6+ years in Sarnia (present), 4 years in Windsor (University life), 1.5 years in Toronto (work), 1 year in Kingston (work), 6 months in Kitchener-Waterloo (work). And I visited almost all places mentioned in my list. Personally, since I'm married now, have an almost 3-year old and my mom lives with me; I would like to settle in somewhere close to GTA where my family can experience some Bangladeshi food-culture, practise religion socially, entertain from sub-continental festivity and at the same time avoid major city havoc. Sarnia, where I live now, doesn't offer any of these except laid-back environment.
Re: discrimination at school for your kid, mine still doesn't go to school. But I never heard of such racism. In few places, where you could be the only visible minority, children can naturally become curious. But they don't become racist unless that is practised at their home. So, you don't have to worry about it.
