5 Important Items to Cargo as a New Immigrant to Canada

To Cargo or Not to Cargo?

As a new immigrant to Canada, you are probably not sure whether you should buy certain items from your home country and send them to Canada via air cargo before you arrive in Canada.

In this post, I will share my personal experience on which items I’m grateful I brought and which ones weren’t very necessary.

Remember this is my list and not a standard for a new immigrant to Canada.

What you should bring depends on your unique/family situation and need. I recommend you book a one-on-one settlement call to get help with evaluating your personal situation.

Important Items You Should Bring As a New Immigrant in Canada

FOODSTUFF: I am glad I brought my Nigerian foodstuff. Items such as ground crayfish, ogbono, egusi, dry pepper, Abacha, achi, dry leaves (ukazi, bitter leaf, uziza, etc.) were my lifesavers.

Your taste buds will not adjust overnight to the type of food they eat as a new immigrant in Canada.

As an adult, it is difficult to abandon the foods you’ve known your entire life and embrace new ones. Even your kids will need their comfort and familiar foods for some time.

Many will argue that there are African stores. Yes, we have them but not in all the cities. In fact, in lower mainland BC, you will find these stores in Burnaby and Surrey. If you live in Chilliwack or Whistler, that is quite a drive for egusi and ukazi.

Again, the quality and quantity may not be comparable based on experiences.

Also, you need time to settle and sort out pressing issues without adding grocery shopping to it.

MEDICATIONS: I have a kitchen cabinet dedicated to our medications. Since I am very familiar with the type of mild illnesses (common cold, aches/pain, constipation/diarrhea, etc.) my entire family suffers from periodically, I brought some of these over-the-counter medications that our family doctor usually prescribe for them.

I am not encouraging you to self-medicate but they mostly serve as first-aid. We’ve spent 8 hours at the ER in BC to see a doctor just for them to tell us it was just constipation.

Yes, there are pharmacies here but when you have an emergency, you will wish you had a stock of familiar medications in your cabinet. There is a particular anti-flu medication that I miss so much that was super effective for my kids. I haven’t been able to find a comparable alternative since I ran out of the ones I brought from Nigeria.

CLOTHING/SHOES: This is one item I didn’t want to bother my head with when we arrived. I packed all my kids’ clothing and ours as well. I have had challenges finding comparable wear and shoes for the kids here in Canada. They are expensive and boring in my opinion.

I checked all the stores in Langley sometime last year looking for pajamas for my toddler for pajamas day in school and what we settled for and the cost made me cry. The ones I bought in Nigeria were far better and cheaper.

BEDDINGS: In terms of designs, quality and cost, I still prefer the ones we bought in Nigeria.

HAIR EXTENSIONS AND ACCESSORIES: This is very important especially if you have female kids. I am glad my stylist in Nigeria packed a bag full of wigs, attachments, weavon, hair cream, shampoo, conditioner, wool, needle, thread, everything you will need to Do-It-Yourself.

As a new immigrant in Canada, you don’t want to spend your settlement fund buying these items from African stores. They are very expensive and would cost a lot if you have more than one female child. Also, making hair is very expensive in Canada. You would need to wear a wig most of the time. It is more affordable to buy and bring along your preferred style.

This may not be relevant if you are a man or do not have female kids.

Items You Should Not Bother to Cargo As a New Immigrant in Canada.

WINTER GEARS: We spent a lot of money at Yaba, Lagos buying winter jackets, sweaters, mittens, gloves, scarves, and hats. These items were bulky so they occupied a lot of space in the cargo. Because of their weight, they also cost us money.

I wish we never bothered and maybe bought just 1 or 2 jackets.

For my province British Columbia, the jacket buying spree was not necessary. There are lots of stores here to find affordable and good winter jackets. I still have bags full of jackets we haven’t worn to date. (Please come and buy from me if you are coming to BC)

TOYS: My kids got lots of toys from their last birthday in Nigeria. Because most of them were yet to be used, I was sentimentally attached to them and had to cargo them.

When we arrived in Canada, people from church donated lots of toys that I had to beg them to stop. I have enough toys to start a daycare now. Some of them are still in boxes and have never been used to date.

STILLETOES: You will not need this, I repeat; you will not need this 99% of the time. That’s all I have to say on stilettoes.

COOKWARE (PLATES/POTS/CUTLERY): Thankfully, I didn’t bring these items. There are lots of stores to get them here in Canada. Save your money and space.

There are some items that I’m standing on the fence about bringing them. It depends on if you can afford to spend money on an extra kg for them. As a new immigrant to Canada, you may want to save some of your settlement funds instead of spending them on cargo fees. Some of these items are:

• Books
• Towels
• Grains – Rice, Beans, Garri etc.
• Palm Oil
• Jewelry
• Bags

At the end of the day, any item you choose to cargo will depend on your personal situation.

This is not a list of items you should or shouldn’t send via cargo.

This is my personal experience so far on how I could have saved money on cargo by not bringing these items.

For a more comprehensive list of things to bring before you arrive, please get a copy of my eBook – Arrive Canada Prepared: A Pre-Arrival Power Guide for Immigrants.

If you found this post useful, I will appreciate it if you drop a comment and share it with your friends.

More suggestions are welcomed in the comments.

Kindly share this post.