Getting started in Canada
Not too many people are aware that Canada is the second largest country in the world. If you didn’t realise this before arriving, you will certainly realise after travelling across it. Famous for Mounties, bears and maple syrup, travellers flock to Canada to ‘live the dream’ and spend some time living and working in the mountains. Places such as Banff and Whistler, both with tiny permanent populations throng with young backpackers on working visas in the summer and winter, making them lively night time destinations.
Getting into Canada
Residents of many countries wishing to enter Canada as tourists can apply on the border on arrival for a visa (but please check the status of your own country before travelling), but if you want to work in Canada there is a more complicated procedure. Most working holiday makers enter Canada on the SWAP programme (called different names in each country, but known as SWAP in Canada). Students taking a gap year can apply for a one year working visa if they have a university place organised for when they return and can then have a second year after finishing university (as long as you are under a specific age). Travellers not at university can only apply for the age-limited visas and you can only hold one of these in your lifetime – so use it wisely! There are only a limited number of these visas a year (usually made available at the beginning of each calendar year) and they fill up quickly.
Finding work
At the time of writing (beginning of 2007), Canada is going through a massive boom in its job market, particularly in Alberta.
As you would at home, make a good resume, dress smartly for job interviews and try to sell yourself to employers. Good places to look for work are local newspapers, notice boards in hostels, handing out resumes in shops, singing up with job agencies and the SWAP offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal can help – that’s what they are there for so use them.
Money
In Canada the tax on products is added AFTER you get to the till, so what you see on the price tag isn’t what you are going to pay. And just to make things even more complicated the amount of tax added on varies from province to province. Alberta has the lowest at only 6% (at time of writing) right up to around 15% in some places. This will frustrate and annoy you no matter how long you spend in the country – and I’ve even heard Canadians complaining about it when they forgot to add on the tax.
Canadian money comes in $100, $50, $20, $10, $5 bills and $2 (twoonies), $1 (loonies), 25cent (quarters), 10cent (dimes), 5cent and 1cent coins. Many places will accept $US and travellers cheques, generally only in Canadian or US dollars.
Travelling around:
Because Canada is such a huge country, travelling from place to place can take a long time. There are five main ways of getting around the country.
Bus/coach
The main carrier is the Greyhound bus (www.greyhound.ca). This is generally the cheapest way to travel around, but it’s also the slowest! It takes around 13 hours to get from Vancouver to Calgary and nearly three days to get from Vancouver to Toronto. It does make many stops along the way, so if you need to get out to some of the more rural towns this could be your best bet.
Flying: Canada is served by many low cost airlines flying across the whole country and it’s possible to get some good deals on the internet – but of course the nature of the backpacker is that they don’t necessarily know where they are heading next or when. Try www.aircanada.ca or www.westjet.ca
Rail
A train journey across the country through the Rocky Mountains is an iconic journey, but it’s not a cheap one (www.viarail.ca or www.cpr.ca )
Driving: This is probably the best and easiest way to see this vast country – some people buy cars and others rent them for short periods of time to go on mini tours. People with cars are often looking for people to give a lift to as a way of splitting the fuel costs. Look on noticeboards in hostels and internet cafes.
Many driving licenses from around the world are valid to use in Canada and some need to be accompanied by an international driving permit which can be applied for before leaving your home country.
Hitch hiking is also a popular way for some travellers to get around. The best places to pick up lifts are on the highways out of town. You many have to walk for a bit before someone picks you up. Remember that this can be dangerous and is illegal in many places.
Tours
Tours are also a popular way of getting from place to place and seeing things in between. The most popular are the Moose bus tours which don’t include accommodation or food (www.moosenetwork.com)
Bank accounts
Canadian banks like to charge you for pretty much anything they can – withdrawing money, simply having an account or using another bank for transactions. Shop around to decide on which bank you choose… your choice could be governed by where you are going to be travelling/staying as some banks don’t have branches across the whole country.
A lot of shopping in Canada is done through debit cards – with chequing and savings accounts both being popular and normally linked to one account with a bank.
Mobile phones
Expect to pay for receiving calls on a Canadian cell phone as well as paying for making the calls. Phone numbers are also split into local and long distance regions – costing you more to call someone with a long distance number than a local number. If you are going to settle somewhere for a while it’s probably best to wait to set up your phone until you get to the place so that you end up with a local number, otherwise you could have to pay for phone number changes. Two of the most popular companies are Fido and Rogers.
