LIVING IN CANADA : CALGARY, ALBERTA

Calgary ranked 24th in the Mercer Human Resource Consulting annual international survey that ranked 215 cities around the globe, based on 39 criteria measuring such quality-of-life determinants as personal safety and social, economic and environmental conditions.

The largest city in the province of Alberta, Canada is Calgary. It is located in the south of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, approximately 80 km east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies. Calgary is the third largest civic municipality, by population, in Canada.

In the last several years Calgary has experienced high population growth, the foreign-born population has added to this increase. In 2006, there were an estimated 252,800 foreign-born residents in Calgary, up from 197,400 in 2001.

The Canadian immigrant population increased by 28% between 2001 and 2006, compared with 9.1% for its Canadian-born population. Growth in Calgary's foreign-born population was one of the fastest in the country. While some other smaller cities also had an increase, Calgary's growth surpassed that of comparably-sized cities such as Edmonton, where the foreign-born population rose 14.9%, and Ottawa - Gatineau rose 9.5%.

Calgary is well-known as a destination for winter sports and ecotourism with a number of major mountain resorts near the city and metropolitan area.

Geography & Climate

When reviewing Calgary as a possible Canada immigration destination, consider the landscape of Calgary. Calgary is located at the transition from the Canadian Rockies foothils and the Canadian Prairies and is relatively hilly as a result.

There are two major rivers that run through the city. The Bow River is the largest and flows from the west to the south. The Elbow River flows northwards from the south until it converges with the Bow River near downtown. Since the climate of the region is generally dry, dense vegetation occurs naturally only in the river valleys, on some north-facing slopes, and within Fish Creek Provincial Park.

Calgary has a highland continental climate with long, but highly variable, winters and short, warm summers. The climate is greatly influenced by the city's elevation and close proximity to the Rocky Mountains. Although Calgary's winters can be uncomfortably cold, warm, dry Chinook winds routinely blow into the city from the Pacific Ocean during the winter months, giving Calgarians a break from the cold.

The city is among the sunniest in Canada, with 2,405 hours of annual sunshine, on average.

Top Regions of Birth for Recent Immigrants
Birth Region	Population	Percent
United States of America	1,885	3.3%
Central America	1,005	1.7%
South America	2,710	4.7%
Western Europe	630	1.1%
Eastern Europe	4,190	7.2%
Southern Europe	1,235	2.1%
Northern Europe	2,490	4.3%
Western Africa	1,055	1.8%
Eastern Africa	2,370	4.1%
Northern Africa	1,830	3.2%
Central Africa	240	0.4%
Southern Africa	540	0.9%
West Central Asia and the Middle East	4,825	8.3%
Eastern Asia	13,195	22.8%
Southeast Asia	7,810	13.5%
Southern Asia	11,035	19.0%
Oceania and other	455	0.8%

Calgary Immigration Profile

Calgary’s population continues to change through immigration. Recently, a substantial portion of Canadian immigrants that settled in Calgary were from Asia and the Middle East (63%), specifically the People’s Republic of China (16%), India (10%) and the Philippines (10%).

During the period of 2001 to 2006 Calgary became home to 57,940 new Canadian immigrants. The chart to the left shows the regions of birth for the recent immigrants according to the Canadian 2006 Census.

In recent years Calgary suffered a shortage of both unskilled and skilled workers, as a result many people chose to immigrate to Calgary, thus changing the demographics of previous years. Recently newcomers to Calgary have had a positive impact on the local workforce, the working-aged population (25 to 54 years old) increased 10.9% between 2001 and 2006. Recent immigrants in this age group accounted for nearly two-thirds of that growth. An estimated 34,100, or 58.8% of all recent immigrants in Calgary were aged 25 to 54.

The Canadian 2006 Census states that Calgary was the census metropolitan area with the fourth-largest share of newcomers, after Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver. Calgary was home to 5.2% of the estimated 1.1 million recent Canadian immigrants, an increase from 3.8% of recent immigrants in 2001.

Recent immigrants living in Calgary came from all around the world, where 63.5% of Canadian immigrants in Calgary spoke a non-official language most often at home.

Economy and Job Opportunities for Immigrants

Calgary is another great city for immigrants with experience in the oil and gas industry. Calgary's economy is still dominated by the oil and gas industry, despite recent diversification. The larger companies are BP, EnCana, Imperial Oil, Petro-Canada, Shell Canada, Suncor Energy, and TransCanada, making the city home to 87% of Canada's oil and natural gas producers and 66% of coal producers. A shortage in workers has motivated Calgary to start programs to promote Calgary immigration, with a focus on skilled worker immigrants.

In 1996, Canadian Pacific Railway moved its head office from Montreal to Calgary, and is now among the city's top employers. In 2005, Imperial Oil moved its headquarters from Toronto to Calgary in order to enjoy Alberta's favourable corporate taxes and to be closer to its oil operations. This involved the relocation of approximately 400 families.

Calgary is not just looking for skilled worker immigrants in the oil and gas industry. There are many industries that need more unskilled and skilled workers. Other large employers include ATCO, Fluor Canada, the Forzani Group, Nortel, Shaw Cable, TELUS, and WestJet.

Education for Dependant Children and Post Secondary

Potential immigrants to Calgary will be please to know that Calgary is the site of five major public post-secondary institutions. The University of Calgary is Calgary's primary large degree-granting facility. Currently, 28,807 students are enrolled there. Mount Royal College is the city's second largest institution (13,000 students), and it grants degrees in a number of fields. SAIT Polytechnic provides polytechnic education and grants certificates, diploma and applied degree. The Main Campus is in the North West Quadrant, just north of downtown. Bow Valley College's main campus is located downtown and provides training in business, technology, and the liberal arts for about 10,000 students (the college has three campuses in Calgary and numerous in the region).The Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD) is located in Calgary. In addition, the University of Lethbridge has a satellite campus in the city.

There are also several private liberal arts institutions including Alliance University College, Nazarene University College and St. Mary's University College. There are a number of other smaller private colleges in the city. Calgary is also home to DeVry Career College's only Canadian campus.

Families with small children looking to immigrate to Calgary should consider the elementary and secondary school system in Calgary. In the year 2005 roughly 97,000 students attended K-12 in about 215 schools in the English language public school system run by the Calgary Board of Education. Another 43,000 attend about 93 schools in the separate English language Calgary Catholic School District board. The much smaller Francophone community has their own French language school boards (public and Catholic), which are both based in Calgary, but serve a larger regional district. There are also several public charter schools in the city. Calgary has a number of unique schools, including the country's first high school exclusively designed for Olympic-calibre athletes, the National Sport School. Calgary is also home to many private schools including Strathcona Tweedsmuir, Rundle College, Clear Water Academy, Webber Academy, Masters Academy,CFIS, and West Island College.

Calgary is also home to Western Canada's largest high school, Lord Beaverbrook High School, with 2241 students enrolled in the 2005-2006 school year.

Arts and Culture

Calgary is also starting to become recognized as one of Canada's most diverse cities. Today, Calgary is a modern cosmopolitan city that still retains much of its traditional culture of hotel saloons, western bars, night clubs, and hockey. Following its revival in the 1990s, Calgary has also become a centre for country music in Canada. As such, it is referred to by some as the "Nashville of the North." Calgary is also home to a thriving all-ages music scene of many genres, including pop, rock, hip-hop, electronic and country.

Calgary immigrants have left their mark on the cultural scene of Calgary as it now has a number of multicultural areas and assets. It has one of the largest Chinatowns in Canada as well as a “Little Italy” in the Bridgeland neighbourhood.

Calgary is the site of the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, a 4 million cubic foot (113,000 m³) performing arts, culture and community facility. The auditorium is one of two "twin" facilities in the province, the other located in Edmonton, each being locally known as the "Jube."

The city is home to several museums. The best-known of these, the Glenbow Museum is the largest in western Canada and includes an art gallery. Other major museums include the largest Chinese Cultural Centre in North America, the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame (at Canada Olympic Park), The Military Museums, the Cantos Music Museum and the Aero Space Museum. There are also a number of art galleries in the city and many of them are concentrated along the Stephen Avenue and 17th Avenue corridors. The largest of these is the Art Gallery of Calgary (AGC).

Sports and Recreation

In large part due to its proximity to the Rocky Mountains, Calgary has traditionally been a popular destination for winter sports. Since hosting the 1988 Winter Olympics, the city has also been home to a number of major winter sporting facilities such as Canada Olympic Park (luge, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, downhill skiing, snowboarding, and some summer sports) and the Olympic Oval (speed skating and hockey). These facilities serve as the primary training venues for a number of competitive athletes.

In the summer, the Bow River is very popular among fly-fishermen. Golfing is also an extremely popular activity for Calgarians and the region has a large number of courses.

Professional Sports Teams
Club	League	Venue	Established
Calgary Flames	National Hockey League	Pengrowth Saddledome	1980*
Calgary Stampeders	Canadian Football League	McMahon Stadium	1945
Calgary Roughnecks	National Lacrosse League	Pengrowth Saddledome	2001
Calgary Vipers	Northern League(Baseball)	Foothills Stadium	2005
(*) Established as the Atlanta Flames in 1972.

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