Managed to find an answer. 7-eleven sells SIM cards. Pricey, but these things usually are.

I have been using Fi in Canada for years and never had any issues. It works great

However, my Canadian friends sometimes ignore my calls because they look like SPAM, coming from the US.

Also, some government agencies are blocked from calling outside Canada.

Also, some Canadian 800 numbers can’t be called from US number.

All that is worthwhile because you can get calls from US banks and other security verifications and the cost is way less than any Canadian plan.

You can get free Canadian numbers to use on data from Fongo and others.

Funny you ask, I have Project Fi and I’m in Canada (also BC) now. No problem, works exactly like it does in the US. A matter of fact even call connects are really easy.

Where did you adventure end up taking you Wes? Did the Nomad List help you find great people and places? I run digital nomad specific accommodations in Ucluelet, BC and the internet is screaming fast. No party scene but a great coastal lifestyle and surfing. Great people from around the world in the summer and it almost never gets below 5 degrees C. See the pics @ findhabitat on instagram.

I would love to spend some more time in Canada. I briefly visited Toronto and Montreal a few years ago with some friends when I was back in college.

However, for me the reason it’s not on the top of my list is the cost. Much more expensive than Southeast Asia. Also, when I was there before, I didn’t find it to be a whole lot different than the states (but I imagine there are some places in Canada that are different). For me, traveling is also about experiencing a different culture and I didn’t feel that as much when I was there.

Once I can increase my monthly income, I’ll probably reconsider it again but not for the time-being.

Actually that’s why we started a nomad house in Montreal.
We felt it was hard to be a nomad in Canada/North America and that the options where pretty much non existant.

Tenants ask for credit score, high deposits and sometimes the process is just too slow and painful.
Plus it’s hard to integrate to the community rapidly if you don’t know anyone.

It’s a bet we made and we still are not sure demand wise, but our goal is to offer something complete at an affordable and flexible price. Talent and awesome people are hard to attract so I hope to see more digital nomads in Montreal and in Canada,

Would any of you consider rural Canada or more specifically Nova Scotia where I am from? It would be much more affordable and definitely provide a true local experience.

I’m in Toronto right now, and I’m looking to leave because the cost of living here is PHENOMENALLY high. A 2 bedroom apartment in the city is close to $1700 CAD, which is over $2000 US right now. I know Montreal is much cheaper accommodation wise, so I am actually considering that as my next destination. Canada is too varied to make general assumptions I think!

I’m a Canadian who does nomadic things mostly in Asia. In my view, the only sensible responses to the Canadian winter are to either hibernate or migrate. Of course, not everyone shares that view; in particular winter sports enthusiasts might really enjoy our winters.

It is worth noting that Canada is a huge country (marginally larger land area than either US or China) with a relatively small population (roughly a tenth of US numbers) and huge variation from place to place. A couple of decades back my (now-ex) wife had a job with a lot of travel and some of the local managers tried to recruit her to move to their cities. Housing costs in Vancouver were about twice Ottawa, Halifax half Ottawa.

Hi Wes,

its mainly because most nomads do it by also leveraging their first world wages. I also returned to Vancouver (I’m not Canadian however) once upon a time because of I noted that on a prior trip, its place to easily get a roomshare for awhile. Toronto however I went through literally hell renting. Its an entire city that’s hostile from working from home from a rental perspective and internet can be very hit and miss.

Plus if anyone thinks Canada’s bad, don’t go to Australia unless you can afford it. The most expensive country on the planet now and past several years running.

Hi Wes,

I live o the west coast of Canada and it’s great for digital nomads! There is fast wi-fi, a great travel network for getting around on different budgets, epic beaches in the summer and snowy mountains in the winter, and in Vancouver there is a massive startup community and group of digital nomads that live here at least part of the year.

Hi Jesse!

I can explain you my personal experience with parlam where you can translate english to spanish and spanish to english or to any other language and get paid for your work. I’ve working as a professional translator in this marketplace for the last three months and nowadays I am in contact with several clients, without middlemen. So I recommend you at least take a glance to this site too.

Hey Jesse, I’ve been a freelance translator for almost 10 years. the #1 site for freelance translators is ProZ dot com. You can register for free but paying for membership is a good investment. If you have a good profile on ProZ, clients will seek you out. That’s how I got my best clients. ProZ is the only site I use, but many translators also find work through LinkedIn. Freelance translation is a “get rich slow” scheme. It’s hard the first couple of years, but after you develop a solid client base and solid skills it’s a very rewarding career.

Can’t give you advice about Canada, but for the HK taxes …if you are non resident in HK then you will pay no personal or business taxes other than renewal fees. Get a local HK tax person to do your taxes returns/business license renewal in HK and make sure you are legal for another year.

Some info here, but I am not certain it is up to date:
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Inuvik#Connect