There are a few cities in Canada that may seem far away from the big cities, but in reality they do provide greater access. Since you are immigrating to Canada, it is a must that you should know which place would be giving you greater access than others. Planning your accommodation is an absolute need whenever moving to a new place. Let’s start then!
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Where should you live in Canada?
Do you know about the Index of Remoteness (IOR)? It’s a study by Statistics Canada that shows how many people live in which place in Canada. This means habitable places in Canada are given remotable scores based on the number of people that live there.
Do you know what IOR does? It differentiated cities, towns, municipalities, villages, i.e., (Census Subdivisions or CSD) etc., of Canada and then calculated how much distance is between each CSD. The assessment of each CSD defined how traveling between them could be made easier. Along with this, IOR also found out how much distance is between each CSD and a big population center. This population center must have at least a population of 1000 people.
Moreover, IOR also gives CSDs scores between 0 and 1. If a city or a town or a village received a score of 0, this means that it is the closest to a big city. In case a CSD receives 1, then it is the farthest from the population center.
How to use IOR to your benefit?
Now, are you thinking of how to use this complicated thing to your own benefit? No worries. Well will explain that too. Also, it is not complicated at all, so don’t think.
In our eyes, IOR is a really good study in itself for immigrants or newcomers to Canada. While it may not really be detailed, it still provides a general idea of how much it may cost you, as an immigrant, to live in a certain place. It may also give you a general idea of what kinds of services are available there, what things are available there and at what distance.
If an immigrant even has a sense of these things beforehand, it could help them a lot. After you get a gist of such things, you may research further about the kind of culture that is prevalent there, what kind of community lives there, what are the specificities of that community, what are the general living expenses, stuff like that.
In case you are a PNP applicant, then this could help you even further! Since, you already know which province you would be residing in, it would be much easier for you to now search for the desired location.
Below, we will list some of the places that are much closer to big cities. We’ll also list their IOR scores.
- Toronto- 0.00
- Montréal- 0.03
- Vancouver- 0.06
- Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo- 0.07
- St. Catharines—Niagara- 0.09
- London- 0.10
- Calgary- 0.10
- Ottawa—Gatineau- 0.11
- Hamilton- 0.11
- Edmonton- 0.11
As you can see, Toronto has the best score out of the list. This means, Toronto is connected to a big city. Well, we already know that it, in itself, is a quite big and vibrant city. If we go down the list, we also saw London, Calgary, Edmonton etc. Now, these places are a bit far away from a major population center.
Do you now understand how to use this Index of Remoteness to your advantage? Isn’t it easy?
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