I moved from Ontario to the Maritimes – These 5 East Coast norms were major culture shocks

Everyone knows everyone

Coming from a massive city like Toronto and the GTA, I was used to a certain level of anonymity. You could walk down the street and nobody knew your name, your job or your business. But out in the Maritimes? Forget about it.

People always say "everyone knows everyone" as a joke, but on P.E.I., it felt pretty close to the truth. If someone didn't know you personally, chances were they knew your brother, your cousin or your best friend.

It never stopped surprising me when I'd casually mention someone's name and immediately hear, "Oh yeah, I went to school with them!" or "They're friends with my sister."

The circles are incredibly tight-knit, and word travels fast. People somehow know your business even when you don't think they do. In fact, sometimes it feels like they know your business before you do.

Coming from Ontario, where I could go about my day without running into anyone I knew, that level of connectedness was a major culture shock. It made P.E.I. feel much smaller than I was used to — and made me realize pretty quickly that you truly never know who you're talking to.

The entrepreneurial spirit is next-level

Charlottetown — and P.E.I. as a whole — is packed with small businesses in a way I just wasn't used to seeing in Ontario.

Coming from the GTA, I was so accustomed to big-box stores and major chains being everywhere that independently owned businesses didn't always feel as visible. Of course, plenty of people in Toronto run their own businesses, but it often felt more like freelance work or something happening behind the scenes.

But P.E.I. is different, and it's something I always found really inspiring. While big-box stores also exist in Charlottetown, so many people have started their own businesses — whether it's restaurants, boutiques, interior design companies or gyms — and it's noticeable in the community.

Seeing so many independent local businesses thriving was a huge (and very refreshing!) change from what I was used to in Ontario.

Storm Chips are a thing

Maritime snow days are a whole lifestyle. I guess they have to be, because there are a lot of snow days on the Island, and people really take advantage of them —and genuinely seem to enjoy them.

Personally, I think part of that is because of this massive tradition called "Storm Chips."

When a storm is coming, everyone rushes to the grocery store, grabs their favourite bags of chips and hunkers down. It's a very real thing, because you're pretty much guaranteed a number of snow days where you just stay home and don't do much.

And this isn't just a thing for kids at school — it applies to the whole town, and sometimes even the whole province, depending on the storm.

So everyone gets to stay home with their storm chips. Those kinds of snow days rarely happened back in Ontario, and when they did, yes, it was exciting.

But in P.E.I., it's just a normal part of life. To be honest, it was fun at first, but after a while, it got a little annoying and boring because I just wanted to leave the house.

I didn't want to eat more chips — sue me!

The intense pride and deep connection to their heritage

Another thing that really struck me was just how connected people are to their heritage in the Maritimes. You can see it in the work they do, like fishing and farming, and in the sheer number of festivals and events throughout the year that celebrate their history and traditions, from the Fall Flavours Festival to the Charlottetown Festival and the Acadian Festival.

Living on P.E.I., I noticed a connection to local roots and traditions that I just hadn't experienced in Ontario — at least not on the same scale. Of course, there are plenty of cultural events and festivals back home, but they tend to be tied to specific communities rather than Ontario as a whole.

On P.E.I., being an Islander itself feels like an identity, and it's something people are genuinely proud to celebrate.

That's what felt so different to me. People back home don't tend to celebrate simply being from Ontario in quite the same way, so seeing that deep sense of provincial pride was a major culture shock.

Small community events are woven into daily life

Now, it's not like people in Charlottetown don't go to the pub or do other normal things on the weekend — they definitely do. But I really noticed that small community events were incredibly common in a way that felt much more visible than in Ontario.

There are kitchen parties, potlucks, craft shows and community breakfasts, like the ones my parents go to through their church.

Maybe it's because P.E.I. is smaller that these things stand out more, but they really do feel woven into the fabric of the community. You don't have the same massive, flashy events that you get in Toronto or elsewhere in Ontario crowding them out, so these smaller, more traditional gatherings take centre stage.

It's a completely different way of connecting with people, and one that felt really unique to the Island.