On 3 March 1950, Dickinson married Vera Klausner. The couple had met at the Esmeralda, a club owned by Vera's sister. The two sisters were Austrian and at the outbreak of the War had been sent to England to go to boarding school. Two months after marrying, the newlyweds sailed to Canada on the RMS Franconia, leaving on 5 May and arriving in Halifax on 13 May. Four days later, Dickinson began work in Toronto. Eight years later on 16 May 1958, Peter Dickinson became a Canadian citizen.