Personalized journeys

Average rents, vacancy rates and city profiles: SCHL figures and practical benchmarks for choosing where to settle in Quebec.

Every fall, the surveys rents and available apartments in every Quebec centre. It is the most reliable reference for comparing cities. The October 2025 survey puts the average two bedroom at $1,460 in Gatineau, $1,346 in Montréal, $1,277 in Québec City, $1,062 in Sherbrooke, $1,045 in Drummondville, $1,016 in Trois Rivières and $985 in Saguenay. The chart below shows the full picture. To compar...

Quebec's public pension plan in plain language: who contributes, how much, what you'll receive, when to start, and the disability and survivor benefits.

Retirement income in Canada rests on three layers. The first, Old Age Security (OAS), is federal: from age 65, based on years lived in Canada, even without ever working. The second, in Quebec, is the QPP/RRQ: mandatory, tied to your earnings — the subject of this guide. The third is your own savings: RRSP, TFSA, employer pension plan. Layer Managed by In short 1st — Old Age Security (OAS) Feder...

Who the eleven nations are, where they live, what languages they speak, and how to discover their cultures without getting it wrong.

You already live in the middle of these cultures, whether or not you know it. The word Québec comes from an Indigenous language. The maple syrup you eat at the sugar shack rests on know how that the Government of Quebec itself describes as a legacy of Indigenous peoples. Dozens of town and river names around you come from Algonquin, Innu, Abenaki or Mi'kmaq. And yet most newcomers spend their f...

Why there are no spirits at the grocery store, how late you can buy, and what you may actually bring to a BYOW restaurant.

This is one of the most common blind spots for newcomers. You are planning a dinner, you stop at the grocery store, and you look for a bottle of rum or vodka. You will not find it. Not because the store is poorly stocked — because the law forbids it. In Quebec, the state controls alcohol sales, and the rules resemble those of almost nowhere else you have probably lived. Where to buy what, until...

When to go, what you eat, what it costs and how to prepare — the most Quebec spring tradition there is.

If a single outing were to make you understand Quebec, this would be it. At the end of winter, when the snow is still there but the sun is starting to warm things up, thousands of Quebec families head for the cabane à sucre. You eat far too much, you sometimes sing, and you leave with syrup filling the trunk. This is not a tourist attraction invented for visitors: it is a family ritual that cut...

Why French is everywhere in Quebec, and what the Charter concretely changes for your family, your job and your paperwork.

You arrive in Quebec and you notice something immediately: the signs are in French, the government form is in French, the cashier answers you in French. This is not a coincidence, nor simply a cultural habit. It is a law. The Charter of the French Language — which almost everyone here calls Bill 101 — has governed the language of school, work, commerce and the state since 1977. It was deeply re...