Another Observation About Vancouver

[mbarrick]

The other day, as I walked the two blocks from the Burrard Skytrain station home, I heard no less than six different languages being spoken and saw representatives of every race of humanity. The only thing unusual about this is that I stopped to think for a moment about how I take this for ordinary now.

Comments

[sovietnimrod.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when I was up in Prince George this summer I was amazed at all the white people

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

must have been like heaven to you...ha ha...

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

since i ride the skytrain and the bus quite a bit i'm amazed at the sheer amount of different languages i hear in a day...there are many times that english is the language i hear the least...and that is normal to me too...

[sovietnimrod.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I felt like I was in Canada for a change... ha ha ha

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

see i would think the real canada would be all first nations...us whiteys are just long term immigrants...

[sovietnimrod.livejournal.com]

Basically my point is that everyone up there regardless of colour seems to be better integrated as a whole. Down here it's like cultural apartheid and/or ghettoisation gone mad.

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

it's a very small city...in any small city that seems to be the case...but to tell you the truth even though there is better integration there is usually also even more rampant racism...i lived in a small city of that size in alberta for many years so i know of what i speak...in the larger city there are more opportunities to celebrate your diversity and more community to join...

michael you can delete the anonymous comment...

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

K. I deleted the anonymous one - way to not log it, Larry.

I agree with aspects of what you are both saying. Racism in smaller towns can be more blatant - but at the same time the cards are all on the table in that kind of situation. The problems Dave mentions are indicative of the massive amount of immigration Vancouver is seeing. There simply hasn't been the time for culture shock to wear off and Vancouver is seeing similar problems to what cities in the east saw in the 19th century with Italian, Irish, and eastern European immigration - insular communities within the city, gangs, and turf wars. As well Vancouver has a unique problem not faced by those city, which is the effects of wealthy immigrants and investors capitolizing on middle-class immigrants and creating things like the real estate bubble I was talking about in my previous post.

I have an optimism, based on a number of things, that Vancouver in the 21st century (current growing pains notwithstanding) is on the brink of becoming what New York was to the 20th century and London was the the 19th.

On another note, the term "First Nations" is starting to bug me. Other than the empires of Central and South America, most of the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America did not have anything resembling nation-states. Talking about "First Nations" is equivalent to trying to talk about pre-Roman Celtic Europe in terms of nations. There were no nations. There weren't even city-states. There were tribes and clans with loose alliances. Other than those exceptions that were civilised (i.e. building and living in permanent cities) and had those cities organised by a central government, it's a misnomer to talk about "nations".

[sovietnimrod.livejournal.com]

in the larger city there are more opportunities to celebrate your diversity

That's where I'm lost by living in Vancouver - I want to celebrate more uniformity.

[sovietnimrod.livejournal.com]

the term "First Nations" is starting to bug me.

Same here - I staunchly refuse to use it or any other touchy-feely PC-terminology. The way I see it, we're all on the same planet so everyone comes from a 'first' nation of some sort. But the politically-correct "multicultural industy" here in Canada is oblivious to such general social patterns of change generally known as "migration" and / or "conquest" because it makes their bleeding hearts all sad and in a tizzy.

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

i use the term mostly because it bugs people...ha ha...

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

move to the good ol' u s of a where they love blandness and uniformity...melt away my friend...i like the cultural mosaic myself...

[sovietnimrod.livejournal.com]

Well I actually want to be around people who want to be around me. I don't like the ghettoiastion I see with the ethnic neighbourhoods. Why should I be culturally inclusive if the cultures we allowing in aren't being made to be inclusive themselves? Call it a double standard - that's why I am jaded and turned off multiculturalism.

There needs to be *some* common ground amongst everyone. A common language would be a good start. Speak English or speak French or shut up. Official languages only should be used in public. It's insulting to our country and the rest of us that some people have been here for five ot ten years or more and make no effort to learn the fukcing official language. It's like *they* only came here to exploit us for money and don't give a rat's arse about the social welfare of Canada.

[sovietnimrod.livejournal.com]

USA? Nope, don't like the heavy emphasis on business. I'd rather go to a social welfare nationalist country somewhere like Norway or Iceland. Neither countries I would describe as culutrally bland but you are expected to subscribe to the national culture - to the extent that in Norway all children of immigrants must be given Norwegian-language names. In Iceland, it's even more extreme, immigrants themselves (if accepted) must take on an Icelandic name. If I immigrated to Iceland, I would have to change my surame to Ivarsson and probably find a new first name (because I don't think David is used in Icelandic).

Michaëlle Jean

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

I like what the new Governor General said in her inauguaral speech (emphasis mine):

The time of the “two solitudes” that for too long described the character of this country is past. The narrow notion of “every person for himself” does not belong in today’s world, which demands that we learn to see beyond our wounds, beyond our differences for the good of all. Quite the contrary: we must eliminate the spectre of all the solitudes and promote solidarity among all the citizens who make up the Canada of today. As well, we must make good use of our prosperity and our influence wherever the hope that we represent offers the world an extra measure of harmony.

And that is how I am determined that the position I occupy as of today will be more than ever a place where citizens’ words will be heard, where the values of respect, tolerance, and sharing that are so essential to me and to all Canadians, will prevail. Those values, which are paramount for me, are linked inextricably with the Canada I love.

I wonder how many Americans realise that Canada's official head-of-state -the person holding the office equivalent to their president, complete with (albeit rarely exercised) veto power and command of the armed forces - is black, female, francophone, and an immigrant.

Re: Michaëlle Jean

[sovietnimrod.livejournal.com]

Yes, at first I thought... oh no! here we go again, not another non-native born GG to pander to the multicultural industrialists and bleeing hearts. But she won me over with those comments when I first read them (I think in the G&M).

It's interesting that she refers to the "two solitudes" - as that's reminiscent of Trudeau-era references to the original concept of multiculturalism, in that it was solely Anglo-Quebecois in nature in attempts to difuse the Quebec sovreignty crises of the day. Somehow or another, someone hijacked it and then expanded multiculturalism to groups outside of that Anglo-Quebecois definition.

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

but why shouldn't you be culturally inclusive and then maybe others will follow suit...i play ball hockey with a lot of east indian players...i didn't know many of them or much about their culture...over the years i've played on some of their teams and some of them on mine...

and expecting someone to only use official languages in public is assinine...for one tourists wouldn't be able to always comply...but beyond that there isn't a country in the world where people don't speak their native tongue...whatever you are comfortable with is good...i don't know how speaking a different language jeopardizes our social welfare...

[sovietnimrod.livejournal.com]

and expecting someone to only use official languages in public is assinine

Okay, what I mean to imply more is usage in signs and writing as well in public services. Drive along No.3 Road in Richmond and look at how many stores have signs in nothing but Chinese only - or along Kingsway but in Vietnamese or Tagalog. Great examples of cultural ghettofication there as they are only catering to their own kind.