American falls in love with Alberta, plans to move family north: ‘Overwhelmed by the love’

American Pamela Smith already made one trek across the continent in search of a better life for her family — and now, she feels she's found it over the border in Canada.

American Pamela Smith already made one trek across the continent in search of a better life for her family — and now, she feels she’s found it over the border in Canada.

“Believe it or not it came through a dream,” says Smith with a smile of her vision of Calgary and Alberta.  “For some reason I dreamed that I came here and that I was going to lead other people from the USA here.”

But it was quite the journey to get to Alberta.

The married mother of five relocated to rugged Montana from tropical south Florida four years ago.

The family moved to a dream 46-acre property with incredible views and adorable animals.

But, Smith said they never felt welcome in the state directly south of Alberta.

In fact, she said they received angry messages from people pressuring them to leave.

“Our children, being African American, were getting a lot of stares in the store. And at some point that just became overwhelming,” Smith says. “In four years, our children didn’t make any friends and it was just very difficult for them. I was starting to see a real change in my children.”