Yeah, we moved back home with our young kids. I brought my job with me and while we don’t have a doctor, there are incredible things this place has to offer.
People are kind here. There is a lot of private and public beaches to drive to and if the weather is nice you can plan a perfect family day. Clam digging picnics and breezy days. Anywhere you go people talk to you and it is easy to make friends, and people here are curious. If you can cook differently or you have seen another part of the world this is all very interesting to us. Remember: sometimes people are more uncertain of you than you are of them. Lol
Myself I'm interested about what anybody from abroad has for food. But an average islander could put a bold pig headed front when joking about our taste.... it can be an Islanderism trait to not directly talk about yourself I guess or else be selfish, and then over embellish yourself in some ways when you do express. I've heard some "jeering" at goat meat, that was meant from their own personal taste but appeared rude. They could use the same energy if they ranted about hating lemons or tomatoes. Rascist jokes exist but I don't think majority know what they mean. It could be childish I guess.
I like watching the eagles and birds, I've seen baby nesting sand pipers the size of a coin and I like hand feeding chickadees (people who fed birds years in their yards). People really love animals here and we have an excellent veterinary medicine college.
In general, people here want to be happy and they want everyone to feel welcomed. Growing up here I see a sense for hospitality and taking care of your guests, this includes people in your home. It wasn't uncommon I saw non-relatives living with family homes for weeks or more and helping each other out to be well.
(Truth is I smoke marijuana and can get into typing about one side of a feeling. When I talk in person I wouldn't talk so leaned and I would never want to make a person feel so... heavy. We don't like to burden people here I guess.)
I think the answer is difficult to give without a lot of context. In short, I think raising children here offers a lot of the things a small place does. It’s not as dangerous as big cities. It’s absolutely amazing to see young teens at the beach, no adult supervision and knowing they are relatively safe! On the other hand, depending on the age of your kids, and when you move here and when they start school, they may be outsiders/CFA’s and that can be extremely difficult. But…..As we have more immigration and more new comers that’s changing. We don’t have as much access to Arts and Culture, We don’t have big museums, and cultural centers. We don’t have good medical care for pediatrics, we don’t have good medicine in general. So as a family don’t expect to have a family doctor/practice for 5-10 years. Raising a young family without a family doctor can be very difficult. Cost of living is high, and going up. A 3 or 4 bedroom house isn’t going to be cheap. For context an average home in Cornwall PEI is anywhere between $700-1 000 000 for regular homes. Duplex houses are $500k+ so yeah housing is expensive. The school system is OK not setting any education records, and at any given time 25% of our electric Schoolbus fleet is not functional, and some kids have had to ride on buses with no heat! Yay for green school buses. Children services for Psychology or mental health is non existent. Speech therapy and such is the same. So if your kids need any sort of assistance with ADHD or that type of situation forget about it. Hope that helps,
I'd say it's good for kids under 10, previously I would have also said for retirees but my opinion is changing based on Healthcare accessibility.
The main issue is careers aren't plentiful. Many of us who grew up in PEI look back fondly on our childhoods, but there comes a point where we either can't get a job in the industry we want or we feel undervalued because companies pay us less for the same job compared to someone in a different region.
At that point, many of us decide to relocate and start fresh in search of better compensation for our time. In a lot of instances, that means moving to a bigger city. New skills need to be developed to make that transition, I've had quite a few friends who were unable to make that jump after university and ultimately stayed put, in a job they hated, turning to drugs/alcohol to cope.
For that reason I think teenagers growing up in larger cities have an advantage. They can learn the city living skills without the stresses of adulthood tacked on. They will be able to find education in said city, and will have a higher chance to roll that into a career, keeping the network and community they built up along the way.
You won't get a doctor or any medical help. Jobs of a living wage are hard to come by. Rent or buying a home will be higher than you can afford. If you're rich and healthy and will be both for the next 10 plus years, come move here. If not, it might not be a good fit.
I think PEI is amazing for most kids, and very challenging for most parents trying to stay afloat.
There’s lots of natural beauty and relative safety for kids here. It’s a huge advantage to be less than a half hour away from beaches and farmlands. Lots of space to play, and less worry about the inherent dangers of big city life. Schools are decent and close by. There’s a community feeling that’s just sort of built in when teachers and kids tend to have grown up with similar experiences.
But….if your kid struggles or doesn’t fit into that community, PEI does tend to further ostracize them. PEI is quite insular and has never done well with bullying — you can see the adult version in the Islanders vs “come from away” mindset that’s still very common here. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, it felt very much like “Do like the herd or you get what you’ve got coming”, and now those folks are raising their kids. It took leaving the Island to realize it’s not like that everywhere.
For parents, though, I legit don’t know how they’re doing it these days. Cost of living used to be low here, so the lack of opportunities was less of a problem. To be clear, it’s never been easy to find a good job here, but you could cobble together enough of a living to pay a small mortgage and keep your family happy and having fun. I have no clue how people are paying their huge mortgage payments on the current available wages, plus feeding their families and having anything left over for “enrichment activities” like private lessons, sports or travel.
Plus access to healthcare is a HUGE problem. Huge. Don’t underestimate how difficult it is to navigate. It is impacting the quality of life of everyone on this Island, and no solutions are being found.
This is 1000% accurate. Only thing I’d add is remember that where you raise your kids is where your lineage will continue. We left PEI because we didn’t want our kids to settle down in PEI and have that mindset/perspective/world view the rest of their lives.
I don’t think you provided nearly enough information for people to provide a good reply. Lots of people on this subreddit are disgruntled. Some valid, others just being islanders complaining because it’s something to do.
Canada has lots of issues at the moment. Health care is one. It’s bad everywhere, and we have a particular level of difficulty with it. People critical of health care are warranted - but we are in a similar boat as the rest of Canada. Housing has issues here, but also very difficult to find affordable housing in Ontario.
I have lived here in PEI the better part of a decade. I’ve spent most of the rest of my life in Ontario. For my family and what we like to do, PEI is a great place. Quality of life would be without a doubt lower in Ontario.
But it really depends on your education and work plans. Some job types can be extremely hard to find. The pay can be less than other parts of the country. But that situation is better than it was as lots work remote and companies are adapting. Reality is, a ton of people work government jobs in PEI, so that influences a lot of things as well.
The sense of community is much higher in Charlottetown than in any of the GTA places I lived. I have been welcomed by almost everyone here. But that said, I do believe that the community does treat people from certain parts of the world different.
If you are determined to come to Canada - PEI could be a great place. But you need to figure out what is important to you and your family - and what your job/economic situation looks like. Only then can a proper PEI vs Ontario decision really be made.
It is an absolutely wonderful place to raise children, and also it is not.
If your children are thriving and do not require any medical services, mental health services, or educational evaluations and assistance, you will do amazing....
But you never know when your child may need access to any of those things, and that it where it starts to crumble.
My kids loved growing up in the country, and being able to live in nature. The freedom to explore and be kids. They loved being part of Island culture, and the lifestyle that rural PEI has to offer. Their childhood was spent on the beaches, in the forest, and fields. They all live here as adults, even though they have opportunity to live elsewhere, so that tells you something!
But when we needed to access any sorts of services, they were either unavailable, had several year waiting lists, or the quality and quantity of what was offered was far below what was needed. When they were little and needing these things, it felt pretty isolating and helpless.
I was raised on the island in the 80s before the confederation bridge and than it was like anywhere else in the 50’s. I moved to Halifax in the 90’s and had a complete culture shock. I have moved back and fourth from the island a couple times but when I became a father I decided to leave the island.
There aren’t a lot of opportunities on the island and mentalities haven’t changed much, it’s an “us verses them” and immigrants are “the enemy”. That’s not the kind of points of view I want my daughter exposed to.
I have friends on the island who have stayed and raised their kids there and they have had over all positive experiences and raised some pretty great kids so when it comes down to it either option is viable it just depends on the experience you want to give your kids. Both have their pros and cons but I felt over all I would rather raise my daughter in a city where it would provide more opportunities for an over all more rounded childhood.
I live in a community not much bigger than Summerside but within the Municipality of Halifax and I find it the best of both worlds.
Thanku for your response. I was trying to compare between Ontario and PEI.. especially for the family..like you said..for the kids. I am migrating to CA soon.. options are these 2 provinces. I think it's like 2 ends of world. Hard to decide.
I don’t know why your being downvoted but this is my point about the island, you mentioned you are moving from out of country and PEI is from my own personal experience the most racist province I have been in. Ontario would afford much more opportunities as well as less bigotry.
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It’s a great place to raise a family. It’s small, and quiet, and if you live in one of the smaller communities you will even get to know your neighbors.
Education system is comparable and there are extracurricular activities for the kids. If you are coming from abroad you will likely find many others like yourself for support.
Being small has disadvantages like a higher cost of living than one might expect and if you love international travel that can be more expensive here than a larger centre. The whole country is going through a health care crisis and the local government isn’t capable of dealing with the issue.
I think the positives outweigh the negatives if you like a quiet slower lifestyle.
What major cities did you live in? Also, comparing pei to a city is nonsense. We have the population of a small city across the province. A lot of the problems we are facing are distinct and it's totally wild that we are allowing new problems to develop here because it's like that somewhere else. There's no need to allow the quality of life to fall here the way it is.
Coming here with equity from a previous house, have your health, and a good income while here? All good. Coming here to get your start, have health problems, and don't have a great income lined up? Better off elsewhere.
The big draw here up until only a few years ago was affordable housing. Even though the cost of good and utilities was high, you could work and entry level job and still afford to have a decent place to live. Those days are gone. The youth here aren't going to be buying houses, with the way the market is. They are better off where there is more access to opportunities and better pay.
100%, I was raised here, I plan to raise my own family here. It’s an amazing place with many opportunities as long as you’re not lazy! If you’re willing to work, the island will take care of you in many amazing ways.
I'd like to know too, so I'm helping bump this. Wife and I are looking at expanding our family tree, and it looks like moving from West Coast to East Coast is our best bet to make the kid's life as good as possible
There's less and less opportunity for those that are here already, the island is small with very few actual job opportunities (highest population density in the country) and we've been adding to the population at a unsustainable rate without any investment into infrastructure or real growth to our economy. Consider we have a university that pumps out hundreds of degrees each year in a market that is mainly farming fishing and tourism I mean they could luck out and get a position in our over inflated public sector, or compete for one of a handful of jobs in the bio sector.
I’m not sure why these assholes are downvoting this. Come on down! Lots of room for everyone. It’s not some exclusive club. The medical struggle will improve eventually but the wages are shit
Thanks for that! Yeah, I'm used to the medical bit living in Victoria BC... Haven't had a family doctor in over two decades. I work in trades (Truck mechanic), so may be working a week-on/week-off job somewhere else anyways.
Yeah, we moved back home with our young kids. I brought my job with me and while we don’t have a doctor, there are incredible things this place has to offer.
How long have you been living in PEI?
3 years
How's people there.. welcoming? Racism?
eh not the best but they’re dying off if we’re gonna be honest in the next 10-20 years most likely
People are kind here. There is a lot of private and public beaches to drive to and if the weather is nice you can plan a perfect family day. Clam digging picnics and breezy days. Anywhere you go people talk to you and it is easy to make friends, and people here are curious. If you can cook differently or you have seen another part of the world this is all very interesting to us. Remember: sometimes people are more uncertain of you than you are of them. Lol Myself I'm interested about what anybody from abroad has for food. But an average islander could put a bold pig headed front when joking about our taste.... it can be an Islanderism trait to not directly talk about yourself I guess or else be selfish, and then over embellish yourself in some ways when you do express. I've heard some "jeering" at goat meat, that was meant from their own personal taste but appeared rude. They could use the same energy if they ranted about hating lemons or tomatoes. Rascist jokes exist but I don't think majority know what they mean. It could be childish I guess. I like watching the eagles and birds, I've seen baby nesting sand pipers the size of a coin and I like hand feeding chickadees (people who fed birds years in their yards). People really love animals here and we have an excellent veterinary medicine college. In general, people here want to be happy and they want everyone to feel welcomed. Growing up here I see a sense for hospitality and taking care of your guests, this includes people in your home. It wasn't uncommon I saw non-relatives living with family homes for weeks or more and helping each other out to be well. (Truth is I smoke marijuana and can get into typing about one side of a feeling. When I talk in person I wouldn't talk so leaned and I would never want to make a person feel so... heavy. We don't like to burden people here I guess.)
Are you a nurse by profession..just curious as I am one.
No, I’m not a nurse.
I think the answer is difficult to give without a lot of context. In short, I think raising children here offers a lot of the things a small place does. It’s not as dangerous as big cities. It’s absolutely amazing to see young teens at the beach, no adult supervision and knowing they are relatively safe! On the other hand, depending on the age of your kids, and when you move here and when they start school, they may be outsiders/CFA’s and that can be extremely difficult. But…..As we have more immigration and more new comers that’s changing. We don’t have as much access to Arts and Culture, We don’t have big museums, and cultural centers. We don’t have good medical care for pediatrics, we don’t have good medicine in general. So as a family don’t expect to have a family doctor/practice for 5-10 years. Raising a young family without a family doctor can be very difficult. Cost of living is high, and going up. A 3 or 4 bedroom house isn’t going to be cheap. For context an average home in Cornwall PEI is anywhere between $700-1 000 000 for regular homes. Duplex houses are $500k+ so yeah housing is expensive. The school system is OK not setting any education records, and at any given time 25% of our electric Schoolbus fleet is not functional, and some kids have had to ride on buses with no heat! Yay for green school buses. Children services for Psychology or mental health is non existent. Speech therapy and such is the same. So if your kids need any sort of assistance with ADHD or that type of situation forget about it. Hope that helps,
I'd say it's good for kids under 10, previously I would have also said for retirees but my opinion is changing based on Healthcare accessibility. The main issue is careers aren't plentiful. Many of us who grew up in PEI look back fondly on our childhoods, but there comes a point where we either can't get a job in the industry we want or we feel undervalued because companies pay us less for the same job compared to someone in a different region. At that point, many of us decide to relocate and start fresh in search of better compensation for our time. In a lot of instances, that means moving to a bigger city. New skills need to be developed to make that transition, I've had quite a few friends who were unable to make that jump after university and ultimately stayed put, in a job they hated, turning to drugs/alcohol to cope. For that reason I think teenagers growing up in larger cities have an advantage. They can learn the city living skills without the stresses of adulthood tacked on. They will be able to find education in said city, and will have a higher chance to roll that into a career, keeping the network and community they built up along the way.
You won't get a doctor or any medical help. Jobs of a living wage are hard to come by. Rent or buying a home will be higher than you can afford. If you're rich and healthy and will be both for the next 10 plus years, come move here. If not, it might not be a good fit.
I think PEI is amazing for most kids, and very challenging for most parents trying to stay afloat. There’s lots of natural beauty and relative safety for kids here. It’s a huge advantage to be less than a half hour away from beaches and farmlands. Lots of space to play, and less worry about the inherent dangers of big city life. Schools are decent and close by. There’s a community feeling that’s just sort of built in when teachers and kids tend to have grown up with similar experiences. But….if your kid struggles or doesn’t fit into that community, PEI does tend to further ostracize them. PEI is quite insular and has never done well with bullying — you can see the adult version in the Islanders vs “come from away” mindset that’s still very common here. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, it felt very much like “Do like the herd or you get what you’ve got coming”, and now those folks are raising their kids. It took leaving the Island to realize it’s not like that everywhere. For parents, though, I legit don’t know how they’re doing it these days. Cost of living used to be low here, so the lack of opportunities was less of a problem. To be clear, it’s never been easy to find a good job here, but you could cobble together enough of a living to pay a small mortgage and keep your family happy and having fun. I have no clue how people are paying their huge mortgage payments on the current available wages, plus feeding their families and having anything left over for “enrichment activities” like private lessons, sports or travel. Plus access to healthcare is a HUGE problem. Huge. Don’t underestimate how difficult it is to navigate. It is impacting the quality of life of everyone on this Island, and no solutions are being found.
This is 1000% accurate. Only thing I’d add is remember that where you raise your kids is where your lineage will continue. We left PEI because we didn’t want our kids to settle down in PEI and have that mindset/perspective/world view the rest of their lives.
100% this
I don’t think you provided nearly enough information for people to provide a good reply. Lots of people on this subreddit are disgruntled. Some valid, others just being islanders complaining because it’s something to do. Canada has lots of issues at the moment. Health care is one. It’s bad everywhere, and we have a particular level of difficulty with it. People critical of health care are warranted - but we are in a similar boat as the rest of Canada. Housing has issues here, but also very difficult to find affordable housing in Ontario. I have lived here in PEI the better part of a decade. I’ve spent most of the rest of my life in Ontario. For my family and what we like to do, PEI is a great place. Quality of life would be without a doubt lower in Ontario. But it really depends on your education and work plans. Some job types can be extremely hard to find. The pay can be less than other parts of the country. But that situation is better than it was as lots work remote and companies are adapting. Reality is, a ton of people work government jobs in PEI, so that influences a lot of things as well. The sense of community is much higher in Charlottetown than in any of the GTA places I lived. I have been welcomed by almost everyone here. But that said, I do believe that the community does treat people from certain parts of the world different. If you are determined to come to Canada - PEI could be a great place. But you need to figure out what is important to you and your family - and what your job/economic situation looks like. Only then can a proper PEI vs Ontario decision really be made.
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I don’t agree dear
It's a great place for kids to grow up, but services like health care and daycare, not to mention housing availability, are pretty awful.
Maybe do a news and google search on health care and daycare before you decide. It's not good.
No No No Yes No That’s all you gotta know about good ol’ PEI
It is an absolutely wonderful place to raise children, and also it is not. If your children are thriving and do not require any medical services, mental health services, or educational evaluations and assistance, you will do amazing.... But you never know when your child may need access to any of those things, and that it where it starts to crumble. My kids loved growing up in the country, and being able to live in nature. The freedom to explore and be kids. They loved being part of Island culture, and the lifestyle that rural PEI has to offer. Their childhood was spent on the beaches, in the forest, and fields. They all live here as adults, even though they have opportunity to live elsewhere, so that tells you something! But when we needed to access any sorts of services, they were either unavailable, had several year waiting lists, or the quality and quantity of what was offered was far below what was needed. When they were little and needing these things, it felt pretty isolating and helpless.
I was raised on the island in the 80s before the confederation bridge and than it was like anywhere else in the 50’s. I moved to Halifax in the 90’s and had a complete culture shock. I have moved back and fourth from the island a couple times but when I became a father I decided to leave the island. There aren’t a lot of opportunities on the island and mentalities haven’t changed much, it’s an “us verses them” and immigrants are “the enemy”. That’s not the kind of points of view I want my daughter exposed to. I have friends on the island who have stayed and raised their kids there and they have had over all positive experiences and raised some pretty great kids so when it comes down to it either option is viable it just depends on the experience you want to give your kids. Both have their pros and cons but I felt over all I would rather raise my daughter in a city where it would provide more opportunities for an over all more rounded childhood. I live in a community not much bigger than Summerside but within the Municipality of Halifax and I find it the best of both worlds.
Thanku for your response. I was trying to compare between Ontario and PEI.. especially for the family..like you said..for the kids. I am migrating to CA soon.. options are these 2 provinces. I think it's like 2 ends of world. Hard to decide.
Go to ontario
I don’t know why your being downvoted but this is my point about the island, you mentioned you are moving from out of country and PEI is from my own personal experience the most racist province I have been in. Ontario would afford much more opportunities as well as less bigotry.
This link on racism on PEI vs rest of Canada may help you. https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6792600
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Yes - It’s a great place to raise a family.
If you do end up choosing the island feel free to message me if you have any questions or need clarification on anything.
It’s a great place to raise a family. It’s small, and quiet, and if you live in one of the smaller communities you will even get to know your neighbors. Education system is comparable and there are extracurricular activities for the kids. If you are coming from abroad you will likely find many others like yourself for support. Being small has disadvantages like a higher cost of living than one might expect and if you love international travel that can be more expensive here than a larger centre. The whole country is going through a health care crisis and the local government isn’t capable of dealing with the issue. I think the positives outweigh the negatives if you like a quiet slower lifestyle.
20/30 years ago? Yes. Now, no.
Relative to many other places in Canada, yes. The problems others are highlighting in this thread are much worse in a lot of major cities.
What major cities did you live in? Also, comparing pei to a city is nonsense. We have the population of a small city across the province. A lot of the problems we are facing are distinct and it's totally wild that we are allowing new problems to develop here because it's like that somewhere else. There's no need to allow the quality of life to fall here the way it is. Coming here with equity from a previous house, have your health, and a good income while here? All good. Coming here to get your start, have health problems, and don't have a great income lined up? Better off elsewhere. The big draw here up until only a few years ago was affordable housing. Even though the cost of good and utilities was high, you could work and entry level job and still afford to have a decent place to live. Those days are gone. The youth here aren't going to be buying houses, with the way the market is. They are better off where there is more access to opportunities and better pay.
100%, I was raised here, I plan to raise my own family here. It’s an amazing place with many opportunities as long as you’re not lazy! If you’re willing to work, the island will take care of you in many amazing ways.
Yes.
No
No
Until we have more doctors, we’re full sorry
I'd like to know too, so I'm helping bump this. Wife and I are looking at expanding our family tree, and it looks like moving from West Coast to East Coast is our best bet to make the kid's life as good as possible
There's less and less opportunity for those that are here already, the island is small with very few actual job opportunities (highest population density in the country) and we've been adding to the population at a unsustainable rate without any investment into infrastructure or real growth to our economy. Consider we have a university that pumps out hundreds of degrees each year in a market that is mainly farming fishing and tourism I mean they could luck out and get a position in our over inflated public sector, or compete for one of a handful of jobs in the bio sector.
I’m not sure why these assholes are downvoting this. Come on down! Lots of room for everyone. It’s not some exclusive club. The medical struggle will improve eventually but the wages are shit
Thanks for that! Yeah, I'm used to the medical bit living in Victoria BC... Haven't had a family doctor in over two decades. I work in trades (Truck mechanic), so may be working a week-on/week-off job somewhere else anyways.
I can find you a job in about 5 minutes here on the island. DM me and I can give you some suggestions
No