mcadam said:
Please where can I find the most reliable information on settling in Canada? I am so lost on the way forward after PPR.
As a matter of fact, I have little clue on most things Canadian!
Well, there is the settlement section of this forum, though I think it's more suitable to get answers to the smaller, particular and immidiate questions you might have.
I believe every province has a website for newcomers with all kinds of settlement information, from how to get your first documents to statistics on employment market. This is a good place to start looking for the tactical information you might need.
As for the general strategy for your new life in Canada, I personally think that first you need to decide what you want it to be like regardless of the country you live in, whether you want to keep your current career, etc, and also get a feel of the country first, to understand how you can achieve those goals in Canada and where in particular it will be easier to do so. The latter is very hard to do when you're not there yet, obviously, so I would leave strategy for later and focus on the immidiate tactical goals like building basic infrastructure and social network for yourself and getting a source of income.
Though be prepared for all the information to be overwhelming if you haven't been studying Canada all this time, there is *a ton* of information, from official websites to blogs of other immigrants etc. First task would be to find some kind of compendium of the most important information to avoid drowning in all the subjective opinions and contradicting advice.
A good place to start is our favourite website: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/residents/new_immigrants.asp
They have general information on the country and even checklists for what to do/expect during your first few weeks as a newcomer, and also I believe there was a checklist for things to do before you arrive. And they would be the most reliable source of information, of course.
Also try looking for a Canadian Orientation Abroad seminar in your area, it'll be very informative, especially if you haven't done a lot of research yet.
These two will provide you with the crucial information you'll need during your first few months.
Most importantly, check out the employment prospects in the sector you're planning to get your first job in - that goes without saying, and maybe some employment and industry statistics for the provinces, too, to better understand where to look for the kind of job you want.
There are also a couple things you could do to better understand and to fit into the society.
The first one is to start checking Canadian news regularly, national and regional for the province you're intending to go to - it's a way to start connecting your life to the life of your new country, and also that way you'll know what your future neighbours will be talking about. It could also give you information that will be crucial to your immidiate landing plans. I use the CBC News app and it's very good, allows you to save articles for later, too.
And another idea to get a crash-course on all things Canadian is to study the materials for the citizenship exam. You won't need it for a few more years, but that is the information that Canadians and the government thought is the most important for the new citizens to know, so it's a good place to start getting to know the country.
The IRCC website also has a "Discover Canada" ebook, specifically created for new immigrants, which explains how different aspects of life and government services work in the country, and has rather general, but still useful advice.
This is not an exhaustive list of options, of course, especially in the getting to know the society and adapting part, but just a few "points of entry", to give you a place to start.
