In 2020, my best friend, who is Canadian and well-traveled in her country, described Newfoundland to me and told me she thought i’d like it there. At the time, i was trying to decide where to go next: the pandemic had killed both my decade-long job at Reactor.com and my other decade-long job at Dakota Art Stores, and i was getting tired of the too-warm winter and too-hot summer.
Over the next few years, as i researched the places on my list, Newfoundland & Labrador moved up until it was at the top. Cold wet winters, cool wet summers, low crime, low population, no breed-specific legislation, protective GRSM legislation, did i mention it rains like all the time, and best of all, more nature trails and rocky shorelines than i could possibly explore in the entire-ass rest of my life.
So in 2024, my partner Moose and i booked a trip to check it out.
I started without expectations, just exploring St. John’s on foot with an open mind, but by the time we drove out of the city to explore the fishing villages and wilderness on the Avalon Peninsula, i was already trying to find some reason not to move there.
I found zero reasons. Instead, i fell the rest of the way in love.
We asked locals, both born-and-grown as well as come-from-away, what the worst parts of living in NL were, and all i heard were things i put up with now (because people are people everywhere) or absolutely love (rains every day? Snowpocalypse when it doesn’t rain? Rocks on the seashore instead of sand? Everyone knows each other and is cheerfully nosy about it? Yes, please!).
I set all my energy toward plans to immigrate. And then…
The slimy orange bomb went off in U.S. politics (and the ensuing terrible behavior toward our neighbors to the north and south). It’s been the worst timing for me, because suddenly a bunch of Americans are competing with me to move to Canada. I understand that people want to run away from something they find unpleasant or threatening, but unfortunately, a lot of those people are more privileged–which gives them more points. Anyway, my chances have been endangered by the 47th U.S. President taking office.
But i am exactly as stubborn as an island of fisherfolk who used to move their houses by floating them along the Atlantic on rafts of rolling logs. Gwen was right when she said i belong there!
I am determined to live on that gorgeous, stormswept rock, where i saw my first moose and Moose saw his first otter, where i picked up trash off of lonely beaches and ate home-cooked food in friendly rural restaurants and got my face sprayed by a rowdy ocean spitting at me over 560 million-year-old rocks. Determined.
I’ve been saving and planning for three years since NL first hit the top of my list, but at this point, whether we can move to NL hinges on a provincial nomination. That’s when the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) agrees that they want you to move there, which gives you extra immigration points. The PNP would make up for the fact that i learned on the job, instead of at university; that i’m not in a high-demand field like healthcare; and that i don’t speak French (yet, i’m learning).
Cross your fingers for me…
…Or hire me!
Especially if you’re Canadian. Some of my income already comes from Canada, but i’m actively looking to add Canadian contracts to meet the terms for the PNP. If you’re Canadian and your company needs an editor for fiction or nonfiction, design work, illustration, or writing… I’m quite motivated! 😉
In the meantime, i’m trying to get to know (and support) the place i fell in love with from afar.
I joined Eastern Edge, an artist-run center for the arts in St. John’s. While we were in NL, we enjoyed visiting the then-current exhibit, which was painted clothing hung on lines, so that you could walk through and around it like laundry drying in a yard. I hope i get to volunteer for them in person some day.
I also joined Editors Canada–i’m already a member of my local guild, and i’m looking forward to making connections with Canadian colleagues, too. When i was in St. John’s i asked about local publishers, and two people recommended i check out Running the Goat. Alas, we accidentally chose a holiday to drive south, so it was closed when we came by.
It’s not the only fascinating stop we missed out on, but i wasn’t that bummed even at the time, because i already knew i was coming back.
I can’t wait to join Writers NL, but you have to be a resident first, so it goes on my list with visiting the places that were closed, hiking/biking the length of the T’railway, and seeing wild snow chickens ptarmigans. Moose is excited about the 709 Roller Derby, more karaoke and live music in St. John’s, and riding his motorcycle on the TCH. We intentionally avoided getting screeched in because i thought it would be more fun to do it when we set foot on the island to stay.
We do have the funds to resettle, but we’re cautious people, and there will be inevitable surprise costs in a 4,000 mile move. So on top of our existing savings, we each have a jar and we’re competing to see who can get the most into his by December 31, 2025.
(I just took that photo while he’s at work and can’t add more money to his jar. Hahaha!) If Moose pulls ahead as we approach the holidays, i will run a few art-based fundraisers, so i can leave him in the dust.
If you want to aid our rivalry for the sheer joy of it, or to thank me for sharing my art online in spite of the abundant genAI thieves, you can contribute to my jar via PayPal or Ko-fi. (Though if you want to donate to Moose’s jar instead, say so in the note and i will give it to him, grudgingly.)
So what was the point of all this? Why did i make this page? Because every time i announce my intention to move to NL, people ask “Why?” and then sometimes they ask “How?”
And now you know. ❥
