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We will be relocating to Montreal from Toronto shortly. I would appreciate some advice from experts and residents of Montreal on
- good family oriented neighborhoods in the suburbs
- good English private schools
A few things about us
- both spouses will have job , one in financial district and the other in saint Laurent near 40
- we are not fluent in french but do have some intermediate level skills
- our preference is to send our child to English elementary school
- we ve been to the city and simply loved the city...people are friendly, city is Very charming. We would like to be close to the city but not in the city
Based on other threads here, it seems that west island ( Kirkland, beaconsfield) and brossard might be our best options... Do you guys recommend any other areas that we should consider?
Brossard is on the south shore and you and 100,000+ people will all be trying to cross the bridge every morning and evening.
Communities such as Kirkland, Beaconsfield,Pointe Claire, Roxboro, Dollard are all classic suburbs with newish bungalows on their maze like streets that extend for miles and you will be in for the rush hour traffic crunch every day.
If you are going to be doing the rush hour thing every day you may want to look into or consider communities that are served by the Metro/Subway,Lasalle, NDG and St Laurent come to mind.
Google a subway map to see which communities it serves.
If you've done the majority of your schooling in English Canada you should have no problem qualifying to send your kid/s to English school.
West Island is not bad, and pretty affordable housing relatively speaking, however not as well served by transit. No metro west of Decarie, except for the green line which goes to Lasalle, but that is SW, not West Island. Although the suburban rail is big in West Island all the way to off island.
My favourite suburb is Cartierville, now part of the Cartierville-Ahuntsic borough. West of Marcel-Laurin Blvd. ( which becomes the 117 Trans Canada), east of Toupin, between Gouin and Keller. Gouin runs the length of the island. Even Ville St-Laurent in that area is nice, and the neighbourhoods west of Toupin. Homes get very big and pricey in Beau Bois, just south of Gouin, west of Toupin, almost a gated community, no through traffic. Close to the 13 highway, which is good.
Cartierville itself is close to Lachapelle Bridge which takes you over the river to Chomedey, Laval, and not too far from the 15 via Salaberry. It's a bit of a drive down Marcel-Laurin to get to the 40 (aka Metropolitan).
The Cartierville immediately east of Marcel-Laurin is bad. Projects apartment buildings, ghetto. It gets better the closer you get to the 15, then on the other side of the 15 is Nouveau-Bordeaux which is nice, probably part of the same borough. Then east of Acadie, still north of Henri-Bourassa is the original Ahuntsic, which is nice, more urban, older, but lots of character well-built homes and multiplexes. Also close to Henri-Bourassa metro, on the orange line which goes to Laval now. Cote-Vertu metro station (the other end of the orange line) is a 15-minute bus ride from Cartierville.
The Bois-Franc and Nouveau St-Laurent series of developments west of Marcel Laurin, east of the 40, South of Henri-Bourassa, within the St-Laurent borough is pretty new. All built within the last 10-12 years. Low-rise condos (by condos I mean 6-8 units with separate entrances, no common area besides parking, and no elevators, all units accessible from ground floor), town homes, and huge single units, the latter especially in NSL.
Very successful neighbourhoods. All brick or stone, quality constructions. Underground electrical and telephone cables. Strict association rules, ie. no window-shaker AC units or tarp-like 'tempo' winter parking structures and other unsightly things. Lots of young couples. Pricey but good investments, pretty centrally located. Only downside: some streets are very close to the landing path to Trudeau airport, hence noise. There was an adjacent golf course which I believe they recently closed and are also developing. This is all land that once belonged to Cartierville airport, a small regional/business jet/military airport part-owned by Bombardier, whose huge plant is still on the eastern edge, bordering Marcel-Laurin south of Henri-Bourassa.
IMHO the West Island is your best bet (Valois, Pointe Claire, Beaconsfield...). Try to get a house in walking distance of the commuter rail parallel to Hwy 20. It's an easy drive to St Laurent & also close to the airport. You could move further in on the west side to be in the subway system.
You should consider Montreal West, it is really close to downtown and saint-laurent, plus there are great english schools there. Anywhere in the West Island is good too. In Laval, Chomedey and Ste-Dorothee could be options aswell as Rosemere. I work in a real estate agency. Here is a link for a house in Montreal West.
Hello everyone, I am living in Toronto and would like to move to Montreal this year, I have a few questions, my kids are going into grade 7 in September, they are 11, never went to a French school, only does 45 minutes French every day, if I register them in a French school in Montreal would it slow them down academically? or should I put them in an English School? I would like them to learn the French language though, I speak creole because I am from the Island of St. Lucia, but I don't speak French, could someone help me in making the right decision?
I am a single mom and I would like to move to a safe area where my kids can play outside, good schools. also an area with other families, any recommendations?
Whether your kids will be eligible for English schooling in Quebec will depend entirely on how much English schooling you did in Canada, if you did none of your education in Canada your kids will be going to French school.
Whether your kids will be eligible for English schooling in Quebec will depend entirely on how much English schooling you did in Canada, if you did none of your education in Canada your kids will be going to French school.
That's not true. If her kids are 11 this means they've been in school in English for at least 5 years in Canada. This would normally qualify them for English school in Quebec. Regardless of where the parents went to school.
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