I have been here in Southeast Ontario for almost a year, and on June 30th I will also have completed my first year of work here. It has not been an easy year, but I do not regret the move. I have learned, however, that credit unions here simply do not compare to those in the United States. I have also discovered that obtaining a mortgage takes far longer here and, realistically, cannot be done unless one has lived here for at least a year and filed taxes. If you do not already have a mortgage preapproval, there is little point in even looking at homes, because if you find one you like, the approval will not come through in time.
The mortgage process itself has been unreasonably difficult. While Ontario faces a severe shortage of primary care providers, I made no progress at all with two banks and one credit union. I am now working with a mortgage broker, and I expect a better result. Banking in general has been equally frustrating. I opened an account with RBC in June of last year and was given a credit card with a pathetic $500 limit. About two and a half weeks ago, I asked whether they could add another zero to that limit. A helpful person on the phone worked with me personally and even followed up, but it still took two full weeks for corporate approval. The Canadian Medical Protective Association’s website could not process my annual membership dues using my bank debit card, and with a Canadian credit card limit that low, I ran into another obstacle when I tried to buy a new computer online last week: the bank had set my daily online purchase limit at $2,000. Thankfully, I still have my U.S. cards.
I have lived in four different places over the past year. The first was a furnished two-bedroom apartment in downtown Brockville near the St. Lawrence, which rented for $2,850 a month. I stayed there for three months before moving into the basement of a friend’s colleague for much less. As it turned out, though, having someone else living in their home was uncomfortable for them, so I stayed only a couple of months. After that, I moved into an off-season Airbnb on the river, where I lived for seven months, from October through April. The rent there was $1,200 a month, though utilities added quite a bit more. Now I rent another friends’ furnished basement apartment, and this arrangement has gone much better. Most evenings, we eat dinner together upstairs. I will refrain from saying what I pay now, but it is quite reasonable, with utilities included.
Another challenge is that doctors in this socialized medical system are most often classified as self-employed. That means that if you work for six months, as I did, at year’s end, you pay the full amount of tax owed all at once. So while trying to save for a house cover overhead and other expenses, I used almost an entire paycheck to pay my 2025 taxes in one lump sum, in a 30% tax bracket, with no payment plan available. I lived on peanut butter and jelly for a couple of weeks, but I survived.
I am paid only once a month, and during my first couple of months in the FHO (Family Health Organization), they had not yet sorted out my direct deposit with their bank, so I received paper checks instead. The bank held those checks for an entire week before releasing the funds, which effectively stretched my pay cycle to five weeks. In fact, the first check arrived even later than that, because payments reflect billings from the previous month. Once my locum ended, I had to accumulate billings for two months before I could be paid for the month before. Fortunately, the board of the St. Lawrence District Medical Centre (SLDMC), where I work, has shown me grace during those stretches. As a community-sponsored nonprofit, it has far more flexibility with the timing of overhead payments than many other places would.
For all the stress and hurdles involved in getting established here, the SLDMC is the best place I have ever worked. I have the best staff and colleagues I could ask for, and my patients appreciate my quirks and idiosyncrasies because they feel comfortable speaking with me in my frank, informal style. I have also never felt more at home in a congregation than I do here in Brockville at Wall Street United Church. So although this past year has not held back its punches, I feel as though I have been reborn here in middle age. I belong here, and I am genuinely making a difference in the community.
