Comments on: Norway vs. Canada: Life in the Northern Nations Compared

By: Marie

Marie — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 06:28:06 +0000

Interesting read, I’m also a dual citizen in Norway and Canada.
I have lived 18 years in Canada.
I think your article is very accurate.
While I find Canadians way more friendly and open than Norwegians, I do however find it harder to really get to know someone in Canada. If you get to know Norwegians they will be your friends for life.
Also Norwegians values simple pleasures more getting together and have it koselig with friends and families. Here is more big deal and more networking exercise at least that is how it is in Toronto. But they are good about hosting community events where everyone is welcome.
What I miss the most about living in Canada is the access to nature and is not the hardcore adventures but just walking trails everywhere and also being in a culture that values that. Again many Canadians are very hardcore outdoorsmen this is not what I’m talking about bud simple outdoors where you live even in the city. Dip in a lake, biking, just enjoying the sunshine on a wonderful day or a brisk walk on a cold winter day.Biking and walking to do errands, etch.

I agree that nature is more interesting in terms of animals in Canada but I kind of prefer camping in Norway where I don’t have to worry about bears.

By: Mahdi

Mahdi — Sun, 26 Mar 2023 00:07:37 +0000

Hey guys,
I’m Iranian and have a normal life in my country. But as I hear from my friends, Canada is a much more better place to live, so I am willing to immigrate to Canada with my wife and two sons and I should apply for Express Entry program that requires so much difficult terms and conditions. Therefor I started learning French to increase my score, even my IELTS bandscore is 6.5, but that’s not enough!
Now my query is: What about learning Norwegian and aiming at immigrating there, instead of focusing on Canada?
Is it a privilege to know Norwegian before I enter Norway in order to have a better situation for working there?
Actually, I’m going to invest at least 18 months of my life to learn a new language (French or Norwegian) for achieving a residence or at least a work-permit, and that’s not a little at all. Nothing is more precious than our time.
Note that I have a MSc in civil engineering.
I’ll appreciate your generous advices.

By: Paul Z.

Paul Z. — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 12:53:44 +0000

Interesting article. I moved from Canada to Norway a couple of months ago to work here, so I’m adapting to Norway now. I mostly lived in Ontario, but also in Nova Scotia, the Yukon and the NWT. For some reason I miss the NWT the most, despite having lived there for only a few months. The Yukon is somewhat similar to the NWT, I’ve lived there for several months, it has very eye-candy mountains, and Whitehorse seems to be a bit more “cosmopolitan and international” than Yellowknife. A very nice place to live also, but my preference for some not-so-easy-to-clearly-explain reason goes to Yellowknife. And definitely not to Ontario, albeit northern Ontario seems appealing to me, but I only drove through that part of the province (and lived in southern Ontario).

The climate in those parts of the Canadian North might seem quite harsh compared to Oslo’s, but Oslo’s climate is very humid, so it can feel somewhat uncomfortable even at -3, whereas NWT’s or Yukon’s -20 might not really feel “that bad”.

By: Mona

Mona — Fri, 06 Jan 2023 03:58:02 +0000

Thank you for this insightful article! I have always dreamt of visiting Norway. I am Canadian from Quebec, and I think you would find more similarities with Norwegians in our culture. Firstly, cross country skiing is very popular here, and we love the outdoors, especially wilderness camping, no matter the weather. Like Norway, we have many trails outside of the national and provincial parks. But hey, the majority of French Canadians originate from the Bretagne and the Normandy (“the land of the Norsemen”), so perhaps some things are genetic. I am first generation German, and often spend time there, but I suspect Norway will be closer to the culture with which I was surrounded. A note that the French Canadian culture is very family oriented, with multiple generations often enjoying outings and home parties, unlike much of the rest of Canada. Again, just based on my personal experiences in Ontario and BC.

By: MaryJane

MaryJane — Sat, 01 Oct 2022 23:20:34 +0000

Hello, bonjour Daniel,
Interesting article.
I am a canadien, born and raised in quebec and moved to Alberta, Canada. Ive live in different place of Alberta since I moved here with friends on a trip when I was 17. There are few important things that I think should be mentioned.
First Quebec should be distinguished from the rest of the country. Its very different as much the general mentality, beliefs, politics, weather and traditions. In quebec when I grew up, last names were important. It was used to know the backstory of people. Parents would ask their kids : “What’s your new little friend’s last name ?” to know if they were good or bad influence. Which had some benefits but lead to instant judgement in some circumstence too.
Quebec has very old french villages with museums, cheesery and “érablière” where people gather in march to eat maple sirup on snow. They also put cheese and maple syrop in many dish and some say in everything. I used to do so when I lived there.
The “poutine” with made in quebec cheese is also an addiction for what they call “true Québécois”. Quebec is liberal , Alberta is definitely conservative. Albertans dont have traditionale food its very multicultural.
After I traveled through Alberta I realized how much its boring compared then quebec but thats what I like these days haha. In quebec arts and music is everywhere. There is art on building walls, bridges, fences, house walls and music stores in every city. Its not that popular and present in other provinces.
Everywhere in Canada its diffucult to rent a place to live when you have pets and its sometimes required to fix them. If you adopt from a dog shelter they will automatically be fixed or spayed. I heard in Norway its illegal to fix you pets.
About the health care. Alberta is completely different than Qc. In quebec Ive spent many times over 20-24 hours sitting in a chair in a waiting room full of people sick at hospitals. You dont see that kind of things in Alberta. The worst Ive seen here is 3 hours in the flu season. I woukd like someone to mention also the difference in the quality of service. In quebec its normal to be mistreated, dississed even insulted by nurses and doctors. People there and especialy in the health/social care system are extremely rude.
The first time I live in Alberta and went back home in quebec, on our way we stopped at a gas store and I had such a shock on how the cashier responded to me that I cried and I said I dont want to go home. In Alberta when you work in public its part of the job to ask customers “how is your day” or “how are you”. Politeness is very important. In qc its the opposite everyome seems angry and you just have to keep your calm.
Mental health services are bad in both provinces but worst in QC. In alberta there are free Emergency mental health clinics for people on welfare. They assess you and if they categorize you as needing the service you can receive few appointments with the psycologist thorough the year with only couple weeks waiting.. In qc there is often 2 years waiting list for any mental health professionals or any health related appointment. When my aunt was diagnosed with cancer she was told she had to wait 8 months to see an oncologist and start treatment. She went private thankfuly she could afford it after selling everything.
My biggest deception for every articles Ive read about canada is that it always mentions the free health care but never the real cost of this.
Ive been chronically ill with no diagnosis my whole life so I have been to the dr a lot and they just dont care. They want to get you out of their office as fast as they can. Visits are 15-20 min max per patient and if they cant figure out by this time they just tell you oh well there is nothing we can do good luck !
Im in many support groups in us and canada and its recurrent that people in canada living with difficult or chronic disease are angry at the health care system for letting them down.
Young disable people are seen as lazy and disrespected in canada but more so in Qc. Invisible disability are tough anywhere but I have certainely be a lot more judged in qc even with a healthy weight.

What book would you recommend as a touristic guide or about culture of Norway ?

I hope one day I can visit this beautiful Country, I feel like I would be in my element.

Thank you !

By: Daniel Albert

Daniel Albert — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 20:44:11 +0000

In reply to Rene. Hey fellow New Brunswicker :) (Though to be fair I haven't lived there in a long time) I think it's fair to say that both the Canadian and Norwegian health systems are among the very best in the world. Canada's advantage is that it's completely free. In Norway, you pay a fee for a visit to the doctor. It's still largely symbolic compared to the actual cost, but it's not zero. A stay at the hospital is free in both countries. Norway wins when it comes to public insurance covering the cost of prescribed medicine (those systems vary widely in Canada with some provinces having little to nothing). That being said, over-the-counter medicine is generally much cheaper in Canada. I'm fortunate enough not to have been hospitalised anywhere so I can't say anything about that. But my experience of both systems has been largely positive.

By: Rene

Rene — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 14:02:53 +0000

Great article!

What’s your impressions on Health care in Norway?

My family lives in New Brunswick, born and raised here – but our health care is really in trouble (one of the worst in the country, if I remember right: 16+ months wait times for hip surgery). To add even more issue with that, our health care in Canada is ranked 10th out of 11 countries, meanwhile Norway is ranked 1st. To me, this sounds like Norway obviously takes the point for Health Care – just wanted to hear what you and others had to say.

By: Jackie

Jackie — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 15:19:47 +0000

Just to let you know that here in BC, we have amazing hiking trails. “Rails to Trails” where no motorized vehicles are allowed, are well groomed and run entire lengths of valleys and places in between. For the more adventurist there are mountain hiking trails and backcountry cross country trails. Mountain biking is also huge here. Winters are filled with skiing and snowboarding while summers, the great beaches are enjoyed, along with tubing (rafting) down our rivers.

By: Daniel Albert

Daniel Albert — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 17:02:12 +0000

In reply to David Nikel. ...as are hiking and climbing 😇

By: David Nikel

David Nikel — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 16:51:37 +0000

In reply to Azhar. Fjords and mountains are different things...