How to survive the Canadian winter

By Katharine O’Hearn, Concordia University, Canada

As we all know, Canada is cold. There is a lot out there telling you how to deal with the cold. Buy a good coat, wear layers, gloves, scarf, hat, etc. This will be focused on what you REALLY need to know. My qualifications: survived a winter in Montréal, including the largest snowfall (75cm in four days!) since 1941.

1: Buy snowboots. Do not base the level of cold, and more importantly, the iciness, you are dressing for on the people you see out the window in the morning. There will be people running in shorts in any temperature. The more important thing in my experience is to not trust their choice of shoes. The sidewalks are not as salted as they should be in their iciest state, and you will slip and fall if you wear anything other than propper snowboots with a sole made to be grippy. Buy the snowboots, wear them every day in winter. Even if it gets a bit warmer for a day or two, it will get colder and all the melted snow will freeze, so keep wearing the snowboots! This is the most precarious time to go outside, as you will inevitably think ‘finally, I can wear other shoes!’. You will fall. It will hurt. I learned this from experience. Don’t make the same mistakes I did.

2: If someone in your family comes to visit in Spring, do not give them your big winter coat to take home! Do not give them your snow boots! First spring is not real. It will snow more. It will be cold again. For reference: I am writing this on April 21st. It snowed last week, AND the week before that. Hold on to your coat and boots for as long as possible.

3: This is less important than the other two, but if you’re buying a new coat, don’t buy a white one. You will inevitably ignore point 1, fall, and have scuffs from the sidewalk all over your coat. Not a huge deal, but just something to keep in mind.

All fearmongering aside, Winter in Canada is cool. If you have skates, bring them! A lot of outdoor ice rinks open in Winter (in Montréal at least) only charge you if you rent skates, so take advantage of the free skating. Go sledding, and enjoy the snow!