Salt Spring Island - Perfect for Families

Hi Everyone,

I firmly believe that Salt Spring is an ideal place to live for nearly everyone, but especially for families and retirees. Since my husband and I moved to Salt Spring for the purposes of the former, (with dreams of the latter) I'll speak on this subject first.

Over the past couple years, my husband and I were deciding where we should move to in order to start a family. Living in Vancouver, we had come to understand that the city was probably not our ideal environment for our children. We weighed a lot of options, both larger and smaller communities, and had several requisites and preferences. After much deliberation we realized there was truly only one choice. Granted, I grew up here on the island, so my opinion could be biased, but here are the main reasons we felt Salt Spring was the place for our family:

- Access to health care (including state-of-the-art and comfortable birthing rooms on island, and short to non-existent waits at the local emergency room)
- Quality and variety of education (numerous standard and alternative elementary schools, and well established middle and secondary schools)
- Daycare and preschool availability
- High level of personal safety (exceptionally low crime rates, and the island has it's own Police, Fire and Ambulance stations)
- A warm community that celebrates family, diversity, creativity, eco-friendliness, and world-mindedness
- Access to amazing natural beauty (lake swimming and hikes are the norm)
- Easy access to the 'outside world' (museums, concerts, medical specialists etc. are close enough to take advantage of)
- Relatively inexpensive housing when compared to Vancouver
- Possibly the best weather in Canada

Since we moved here there have been a few more additions to the island that have made it even better. These include our new bus service and our first indoor pool which is set to open early next month. Also, we've noticed many people are moving here with the same ideas we did, creating a excellent, supportive, sub-community of young families.

We have been very happy with our decision, and are now looking forward to the arrival of our first baby in September. I know our little one will adore this island as much as we do.

If you are considering moving to Salt Spring to start or raise your family, feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

All the best,
Neacol