Get up to 10,000$ for your youth project for one year

Are you young, have a project and you ( and young partners) will lead the project from A to Z?
Does your project involve youth from and/or based in one of the City's 13 neighbourhood improvement areas?
Or/ And Do you work with racialized youth, particularly African-Canadian youth?

If so, you can apply to IDENTIFY N IMPACT investment fund , which offers you up to 10,000 $ investment grant / project for one year.

Make sure you apply before 19 September.

Details in the link.

Ontario helps you paying drug bills

You have low income ? You have a long term drug to be consumed?
You can apply then to Trillium Drug Program.

This is Special Ontario Drug benefit, that is offered for low income people who have drugs that cost high compared to their income.

Details available in the link :http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/public/programs/drugs/programs/odb/opdp_trillium.aspx

10$ gift card from Ontario health

Spread the word:
become an OHS ( Ontario health study) champion,  by telling your family and friends about the Study. If you do so today, your friends and family will thank you for giving them the opportunity to receive a $10 gift card to use at selected retailers upon completion of the OHS online questionnaire.  This promotion is limited to one gift card per mailing address.

Ask your friends and family to complete the Study’s questionnaire by July 26^th to take advantage of this offer. You can email them this link: OntarioHealthStudy.ca.

Learn Baby sign language.. For Free

Make money while participating in research

There are many ways you can make money while participating in research studies:

attached is an example: University of Toronto keeps looking for respondants to its research.

If you want, you can register with online research companies, and you will get points against each questionnaire you fill, and later points can be redeemed for prizes:
www.mysurvey.ca
www.pcfoodforthought.ca

Piano practice.. for Free

Do you like to practice Piano?

Toronto public libraries offer you the opportunity to book a piano room for free, in some of its branches.

Enjoy practicing

Early childhood resources

An excellent diagram showing the toronto early childhood and family resources. :)

Free English classes for your kids

You have just arrived and you are wondering what to do for your kids in the summer?
Toronto public libraries are offering ESL classes, in fun way.

check it out

Note: Sorry for the quality of the pic. I had water poured on the paper :(

Finding a job in Toronto ( or ontario)

You heard about it : " But you don't have Canadian experience or education".

This is the first sentence you hear when you apply for a job. Yes, you may have years of experience abroad, and you may be the best physician or pharmacist, but " no canadian experience".
It is frustrating, depressing, humiliating... you name it.

But, there is always a bright side.
Ontario has " Career bridge" programs. These are paid internship in companies for international professionals ( Note: Even if you were the MD or head of a function outside Canada, it is better for you to do this to find a job).

All you need to do is to get your degrees attested ( it can be done at UoT), and then apply https://www.careeredge.ca/en/home

Good luck.

Free ESL classes for children this summer

As newcomer, you will find a lot of English classes for children and adults in town.
I have just get this ad about Free Summer ESL Program for Children- in Toronto public libraries

❙ A free four-week program running from July 3–31, 2012
❙ For newcomer children aged 7 to 10
❙ Taught by professional, qualified ESL teachers
❙ Get help with reading and writing
❙ Learn to use the library


for registration and locations, pls check :
http://www.tcdsb.org/Board/BoardAdministration/eBulletin/Documents/2011-2012/May%2021%2C%202012/Event%20Notices/English%20Can%20Be%20Fun_2012.pdf

Start your own company-- this summer

Canada encourages its citizens ( and new immigrants) to do any entrepreneurship jobs.

for young people (15-29 years old), you can turn any business idea into a real business with support up to 3000$ from the government.
You can find more information at Ontario Summer company 2012 program .

It's not always too bad to be laid off

Laid off.. don't be pessimistic. It is not too bad to be laid off in Ontario. The government may help you get training to improve your skills, or to have a second career.

You may qualify for up to $28 000, or more in some cases, to pay for tuition and expenses such as:

• Books
• Living expenses
• Help caring for dependents
• Travel & Transportation
• Disability supports
• Other living and training costs

Check this http://www.secondcareerontario.com/web/second_career/

So keep smiling. It is not too bad to be laid off :)

Free seminars for business and personal finance

Whether you want to establish your own business, or know more details about taxation, or retirement plans or others..., there are many places in Toronto that offer free seminars and workshops.
you can check:
- Toronto Public library http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/programs-and-classes/categories/business-legal-finance.jsp
- Enterprise Toronto: http://www.enterprisetoronto.com/

Sshhhhh... Found a little secret to save money

Warehouse sales, Clearance, closing outs, ... All categories, including top brands... You find it all at my newest discovered website: www.shoestringshopping.com Happy savings

Learn basic computer skills- For Free

You ( or know someone ) want to learn basic computer skills, such as mouse and keyboarding, emails, internet, Word... You can do so by booking an hour one-on-one session at Toronto Public libraries, for FREE.
Other topics covered include using the library catalogue, eBooks, eAudiobooks, and other eResources.

Thanks to a friend called Hanaa Gadelrab for sending this info.

School rankings

A question from a friend  triggered me to write about this important topic.
When you arrive to Canada, you start thinking where to live and how to choose the place and so on. Possibilities are endless. For me, I wanted to be next to the best school ( not only academic, but also environment and culture wise). You can check the school rankings via 2 methods:
- Fraser Institute, which offers ranking for most ( not all) schools . It also offers information about most schools socio-educational information ( annual average income of parents, % born in canada, % of non english speaking, parents' education...). These are good indicators about the area you are living in, and the school.
- EQAO , which is the official Ontario results. It has information about all Ontario schools. It compares each school results, to TDSB and Ontario results. It also offers some social info, like first language at home, years being in canada and so on.

Check both, compare results, visit the schools, and then choose your place within the boundaries of the school. That's what we did.

Do it yourself workshops

The first week I moved to my condo, I had an issue with the oven, which I was unable to fix. A technician arrived, and in less than 5 minutes, he repaired it. " I will take an introductory charge only.... 55 CAD"!!!!
Labor is very expensive here. I read about special offers to paint a room at 150!! ( thats a special offer).

The good news is that you can learn it and do it yourself.
Home Depot for example, offers free do it yourself workshops.
Go , spend some time, learn and save money. That's how you should live here.

Weather channel.. your most viewed one

I have lived in fairly stable weather areas, where spring means spring, and summer means summer and so on. We used to check the weather once at night
In Toronto, weather channel becomes your most viewed one. you need to keep checking it every time you decide to go out. Expect the unexpected: It can be sunny in the morning, and in less than an hour, it can be cloudy with thunderstorms and heavy rain and wind.

Weather keeps changing, and you need to keep monitoring.

Furniture- Go to warehouses

When new comers arrive to Toronto, most probably they will go and visit big furniture shops and get their essentials from there. I personally did so: I visited IKEA and got most of my stuff there, but was looking for a "better looking and better quality" bedroom. I visited most furniture shops. I really liked one on youge street that has a full set Queen size bed+mattress+side table, for 2100 CAD. I was a bit hesitant, so decided to ask further. Until one lady guided me to warehouse area, where you get all what you need at min price, because they are not in boutiques, nor do they pay marketing and decoration and so on expenses. and most of these warehouses are themselves the suppliers of big shops. I ended up getting the same bedroom set at 900CAD.

Next time you need to buy furniture, check the warehouses first.

Dentist For Free :)

When i asked my kids' pediatrician about dentists for kids, he said you have to pay for private clinics. But Word of Mouth is more effective. I discovered through a friend that Ontario offers free dentistry services for kids less than 17 years old, for the low income family ( less than 20,000 CAD). As  newcomers looking for job, we fall into this income bracket for this year :(

The program is called Healthy Smiles Ontario.
You fill a form, and present a copy of your child benefit and the tax, as well as the health cards of the kids, and your and your spouse ID. It takes almost 30 min to process . You will receive a green card, renewable every year.

You can have free dentistry services for the kids at any public or private clinics that accept this service.

Happy Smiles :)

Early Parenting Programs... For Free

Do you have an infant?
You can join many free programs offered by Toronto Health, which offers you advices about parenting, nutrition, baby development, engagement with baby...and you meet new parents :)

It is for Free, and they even provide childcare for your kids, while you are attending the program.

Finding a family Doctor- Mission impossible

It took me 7 months to finally find a family doctor, who is accepting new patients.  In Canada, each person should have a family doctor, whom he will visit first in case of any health issue. The family doctor tries to solve it, but if needed, he may refer you to a specialist.
The biggest challenge is to find a family doctor who is accepting new patients.

The ministry of health in Ontario has a program called "Health care connect", which tries to connect you with a doctor. I registered in this program 4 months ago and they haven't connect me to any. I had to cancel it since I finally found one, through word of mouth.

During this period,I was visiting walk in clinics, in which you have to wait for hours to see a doctor.

Tip: Keep asking everyone you meet . that's the solution to find a doctor.

Pregnant? Congratulations. Now you will start preparing the baby clothing and room.
But have you ever thought that you will have to apply for the childcare subsidy, and putting your unborn baby name on the waiting list of daycares? well, welcome to Toronto.
You still don't believe it? check the "Childcare fee subsidy application" online form.
The point is there is a lot of demand of the daycares subsidized by Toronto. Waiting list can be as long as 4 years.
If you want private daycares, then be ready to pay 1200-1500 dollars monthly, but again, the majority has waiting list.
So start planning as soon as you land in Canada.

Apply for financial aid for studying... before getting the acceptance

This was quite surprising to me. I am planning to pursue graduate studies, but I missed the deadline of the financial aid application (Ontario Student application program), offered by Ontario Ministry of Training , colleges and universities.

The deadline for 2012-2013 was in Oct 2011. The admission in most universities is in Jan 2012, and the acceptance is sometime between mid April to June 2012.

So plan it well ahead of time.
In many other countries, you get the acceptance, then you apply for financial aid.

In the different countries I lived in, there is a helper at the cashier of the supermarket to help you in the packing, and in delivering the groceries to your car, in return of a tip. In Toronto, there is no one to help you, except at Costco. They have someone to help putting the groceries in the trolley. In fact, they have lots of customers, so in this way, they make sure that the cashier is efficiently working.

Innocently, I wanted to tip the man. He totally refused " No No Mam". 
All the others customers looked at me in a weird way, i felt my face so red and wanted to runaway.


Next time you go to Costco, Do not leave any tip to anyone.


Just different cultural behavior.

Learn your language.... in Toronto

One of the most respectful services I admire in Toronto is the possibility to learn international languages, offered by TDSB ( Toronto District School Board). They actually encourage it.

And guess what? it is for only 20 Dollars per year. 

Kids attend a 2.5 hr class weekly, on either a weekend, or afternoon after school. It is quite important to keep the connection with your mother language, or even learn a new one. My daughter (5.5 yrs) attends 2 language classes: Arabic and Mandarin.

For more information, you can check The International Languages Program at TDSB

Free speech therapy in Toronto for toddlers

I have attended a workshop 2 days ago about "Language and Literacy development among toddlers", organized by Ontario early years centers . I learned quite a lot of the services they offer:

- Each newborn / toddler is entitled to free hearing test. Ask the family doctor, or go to any hospital and they will do it for you.
- Toronto Preschool and language services free speech assessment, and free speech therapy ( if needed) to preschoolers . But the waiting list ranges between 6-10 months.

Tip: call as soon as you have any concern with your toddler speech. Don't wait.

Why am I blogging?

I arrived to Toronto 7 months ago, and I have faced a lot of situations. I would have to say that the majority of these situations were positive. Lots of learnings, tricks, tips, and discoveries. This city offers you a lot of services ( some are not known to most newcomers), and also offers you some disappointments, like any place in the world.
I usually share my new discoveries with a closed group of newcomers in toronto on facebook, but now i decided to share it openly. Hoping that i will benefit many people looking for a better living, in a "far away land".