5 Reasons Meghan And Harry Are Right To Raise Archie In Canada

From the Queen’s mouth, all the way down the mountain and into our eager ears: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  are officially relocating to Canada.

And you know what that means! They’ll be bringing baby Archie with them, and they’ll be searching for a suitable place in the country to settle down and raise their family. 

Good news: there are plenty of upsides to doing that in Canada, not the least of which being the grand possibilities for privacy (consider Drake’s massive fences ), a luxury the pair wasn’t really afforded in the UK.

So just for the sake of reassurance and reflection, here are just a few of the things that make Canada a great place for Meghan and Harry to raise baby Archie: 

Canada is the 9th-happiest country on the planet

Sure, it’s not all rainbows and waterfalls here. But according to the United Nations 2019 international happiness ranking , Canada still sits among the top 10 happiest countries in the world — a ranking determined by factors such as freedom, trust, social support, life expectancy, generosity, and how immigrants of a country feel.

That ranking takes into account 156 different nations , and looks at everything from the link between smartphones and depression to the relationship between governments and corruption.

All of that is to say that Meghan, Harry and Archie are likely to feel right at home moving to Canada rather than, say, the United States , which has never made the top 10. (Plus, we have universal healthcare. And winter sports.)

Education and achievement levels are among the highest in the world

It’s hard to imagine Harry and Meghan wouldn’t think about quality of education when discussing possible places to move, especially considering their combined track record of passionate speeches on the matter .

Fitting, then, that Canada consistently rings in as a global education superpower , and was named the most educated country in the world by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in 2018.

Canada really shines when it comes to the national report card . Nine of our universities were ranked among the top 100 worldwide . Canadian children age 15 and under have high achievement in math, reading and science . High school students rank among the top performers in reading , and have among the highest rates of expectation to complete a university degree in the world.  

Basically, if Archie goes to school in Canada, he’s likely to be driven, energetic, mature, overachieving, and roundly above average. What’s not to love about that?

We have a beautiful landscape, perfect for an outdoors-loving family

One truth we can hold to be self-evident is the royal couple’s love for the great outdoors, be it for sport or for leisure .

Beyond the more policy-focused benefits to life in Canada, there exists also the less quantifiable pleasures: the various things Meghan and Harry can take baby Archie to do that will make glorious, lasting memories and bonding experiences.

By grace of its landscape, there are a bunch of things Canada offers for those who like to be outside . You can swim with a polar bear , for example, or sleep in a Quebec ice hotel . You can visit a real life Jurassic Park in Saskatchewan. You can paddle past icebergs in Newfoundland , or you can see the Northern Lights in Yellowknife. 

Canadian kids might fare pretty poorly when it comes to physical activity , but with the options available and parents who love physical activity, it’s safe to say baby Archie would be in good hands (and hopefully never bored). 

Raffi, an enduring musical icon, lives in B.C.

This one isn’t exactly based on science or math or any official census. It’s just a fact that Canada is home to the greatest children’s entertainers of all time.

Raffi’s music has been a fixture of Canadian kids’ lives for decades, so if Meghan and Harry really do choose to head out to the West Coast, it means they’ll be closer to one of the best people this nation has ever produced. (There is literally no way Archie will be able to resist a song like “Baby Beluga ” or “Bananaphone .”)

Bonus: Raffi is also a climate activist , just like Meghan and Harry.

Privacy and paparazzi works differently in Canada than in the U.K.

It’s not that we aren’t just as fascinated (read: obsessed) with the royals as any other country. It’s just that one of the starkest differences between Canada and the UK, or Canada and the US, is that we don’t have the same hyper-aggressive paparazzi or tabloid culture.

There’s no TMZ here, for example, and no National Enquirer. There’s no News International phone-hacking scandal . We have strict libel laws about what journalists are allowed to publish , which may be, in part, why Canadians typically allow celebrities some breathing room. 

Consider: Harry and Meghan spent six weeks on Vancouver Island over the Christmas break, and not a single paparazzi image of them surfaced throughout their time spent there.

Baby Archie is more likely to have some privacy here than he is hanging out in Kensington Palace.

To be fair, it’s not all perfect

No list is complete or honest without balancing the good against the not-so-good. Inequality persists, particularly when it comes to racialized children. For example: according to a national report card from Campaign 2000 , one in five kids in Canada are currently living in poverty, and those rates are exceptionally higher for children of Indigenous and First Nation heritage. 

This, of course, wouldn’t be an obstacle for baby Archie, who — even as his parents choose financial independence — isn’t likely to struggle financially. But it’s still an obstacle for many Indigenous peoples, particularly the 53 per cent of children on reserves and the 41 per cent off-reserve , two groups that presently live in “shockingly” high poverty.

It’s likely that Meghan is aware of this discrepancy, considering her legacy of undercover charity work , sometimes for the homeless, in Toronto. Though Canada is, in many ways, a great place to raise a family, it’s crucial to acknowledge that the sun isn’t always shining for everyone. 

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