Professor says Asian immigration is destroying Vancouver

[antares]

Other than saying I think he has a right to his opinion and technically the school did the right thing, I don't really know what to think. Any Canadians able to chime in? Is vancouver really as tense and quietly resentful as the internet makes it seem?

m.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/schools-backs-prof-who-says-asian-immigration-has-damaged-vancouver/article22358317/?service=mobile

[DGayle]

I have friends in Vancouver, BC, and from Vancouver, BC, and they've complained about this. In many parts of the city, all signs, light street signs, also have to be in Chinese for safety reasons, and communication is extremely difficult when there are so many people immigrating who aren't learning the local languages, and it is causing segregation based just on who can even talk to each other (and this is leading to the need for the city to be replacing all the signs everywhere). There's a lot of complaining that the people immigrating aren't trying to assimilate or even blend cultures, but are trying to turn the whole city into a 2nd China. No one thinks the people already there should be the ones to have to learn another language, but if you bring any of this up, you risk being called a racist.

Vancouver is now about 20% Chinese nationals who've immigrated. That's a lot of recent immigration from the same country. Some people are going to think it's great, but a lot are seeing problems with the speed and extreme numbers. I can see how it's a problem, and it's not a race issue. If Germans started immigrating in droves, were not trying to learn the local language or anything, and expected the existing local to an area to start making all the changes, it would still be a problem, even though it's all white people.

[tropaka]

As far as I know no signs/lights need to be in Chinese, only English - unless someone can prove me wrong, this is about the only instance (2012 signs on a construction site, first time language other than English used). I have several cousins in Vancouver and I've never heard a complaint.

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Signs+ ... story.html

There was a also a fuss in the same area by a small number of English residents who managed to get bilingual adverts on council's agenda because they didn't like ads in Chinese only appearing (in predominantly Chinese areas).

The irony of this prof is that he is at a university on the East Coast. He apparently worships "western" culture and hates multiculuralism (not a surprise there). His profile

http://www.unb.ca/saintjohn/arts/depts/ ... hesne.html

[DGayle]

I don't think there are laws requiring signs be in any language other than Chinese, but that doesn't stop towns from doing it for the residents.

There are people mad that in-Chinese-only advertisements are distributed to Chinese people? Why?

[Ursula]

I live in the greater Vancouver area and I've never seen street signs/street light signs in any language other than English so I have no idea where this is allegedly taking place. It's *possible* that it's in Richmond only. Richmond is its own city/municipality directly south of the city of Vancouver and has the highest population of Chinese-Canadians as well as recent immigrants who would be the most likely to not be able to read/speak English. I rarely go to Richmond but the last time I was there the only thing I noticed was that street signs with the names of streets on them were written in both English and Chinese characters (I'd guess either Mandarin or Cantonese but I don't know which one exactly) where the signs look something like this:

(smaller font) Chinese characters

(larger font) English street name

Actually, I'm pretty sure the street signs in Downtown Vancouver's China Town district are similarly labeled but there's always English too.

The only time I've heard about there being signs with ONLY Chinese and no English has been in Richmond's blocks and blocks of strip malls. Yes, many small businesses there will have their store name and all advertisements with no English whatsoever. That's not exclusive to Chinese as there's a (much smaller) Korean district on the border of Burnaby and Coquitlam that does something similar - many businesses there advertise only in Korean, no English. And that's just fine with me. I don't know what you're selling? You obviously won't be getting my business. Easy peasy.

Anyway, immigration to Vancouver isn't a/the "problem" for those of us living here. It's more about foreign land/home buying and the issues that is creating for people who were born and raised here (people born and raised here of every colour and creed under the sun, I should add lest I sound as racist as that professor) and how we're being pushed out of the city and in some cases out of the province because of the insane real estate costs. When a 400 square foot shoebox costs nearly HALF A MILLION DOLLARS in a Yaletown high rise but sits empty for 10 months out of the year because the owners only use it as a summer home but someone who lives and works (and therefore pays income tax and contributes to the economy of Canada all year round) has to commute to their job in downtown Vancouver from Langely OR FURTHER because they can't afford to live closer, I really think that's something the BC government should be looking into. Doubt it'll happen though. They just like money and I doubt they give a shit where it comes from.

[warriorblade8857]

From the article:

“One crosses a line into being a racist when you use mean-spirited words, foul language, degrading words in reference to other ethnic groups and cultures, which I never do,†he said.

No, Ricardo Duchesne, you have obviously failed to grasp a basic sociological concept—ironic since you are a sociology professor. Racism is "the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races"¹ One does not need to be verbally abusive to be racist.

If you think that transforming a "beautiful British city" into one with "a strongly Asian character" is a bad thing, you are revealing your belief that the latter is inferior. You are racist.

Furthermore, you are not mourning the extinction of a unique British-Vancouver culture. In fact, you believe that "Vancouver...still remains British in many areas." Your objection is to the "two-faced character" of the city—in other words, the Chinese-Vancouver portion of Vancouver culture. Again, YOU ARE RACIST.

End rant.

¹ Oxford English Dictionary.

[warriorblade8857]

I actually grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, but we have lots of family in Vancouver, so head up there often. The housing thing where long-time residents are being pushed out sucks. It's happening in San Francisco too—due to rich people willing to shell out the big bucks for real estate (both tech company-rich and foreign-rich).

[2xx1xy1JD]

Academic freedom is a pretty broad concept, and universities really don't have the right to fire or discipline professors for any of their views, no matter how unsavory.

I read the article he wrote on Vancouver, and it's a joke. There's nothing remotely academic about it, it's just a racist screed. He describes families in the old predominantly British Vancouver as "jovial", then talks about the "soulless" homes built by Asian families.

FWIW, I was in Vancouver in 2012, and it still felt pretty jovial. We rented a flat within a house that still had plenty of character, even though the owner was Asian. Plenty of signs were in English.

Economically speaking, isn't it generally a good thing if millionaires from a growing economy want to move to your city? Wouldn't that pump money, jobs and trade links into the economy? The one downside seems to be that the Vancouver real estate market is even crazier than Toronto's. On the other hand, it's the opposite of Detroit.

I'm sure this prof would have a fit if he saw the city where I grew up: Markham. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/tor ... e15087829/

There's a giant Pacific Mall, you see Chinese signs as well as English, there are lots of other "minorities", and an area that was formerly quite white and rural is now filled with high-tech businesses, subdivisions and a population that is less than 30% white. Guess what? The sky hasn't fallen. It still looks like a Canadian suburb. The schools are doing great. It actually works really well.

[Vivi_music]

Academic freedom is a pretty broad concept, and universities really don't have the right to fire or discipline professors for any of their views, no matter how unsavory.

I read the article he wrote on Vancouver, and it's a joke. There's nothing remotely academic about it, it's just a racist screed. He describes families in the old predominantly British Vancouver as "jovial", then talks about the "soulless" homes built by Asian families.

FWIW, I was in Vancouver in 2012, and it still felt pretty jovial. We rented a flat within a house that still had plenty of character, even though the owner was Asian. Plenty of signs were in English.

Economically speaking, isn't it generally a good thing if millionaires from a growing economy want to move to your city? Wouldn't that pump money, jobs and trade links into the economy? The one downside seems to be that the Vancouver real estate market is even crazier than Toronto's. On the other hand, it's the opposite of Detroit.

I'm sure this prof would have a fit if he saw the city where I grew up: Markham. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/tor ... e15087829/

There's a giant Pacific Mall, you see Chinese signs as well as English, there are lots of other "minorities", and an area that was formerly quite white and rural is now filled with high-tech businesses, subdivisions and a population that is less than 30% white. Guess what? The sky hasn't fallen. It still looks like a Canadian suburb. The schools are doing great. It actually works really well.

Bolded: What? Woah! That's more than a little biased. British Vancouver is more jovial than a Chinese neighborhood? Not to mention this prof seems to forget that a purely ''British'' Columbia never really existed. What does he make of the first asian immigrants in the beginning of the 20th century? Or the native peoples? Yeah. :roll:

I do wonder though, because I really don't know the situation in BC, are there classes offered to new immigrants to improve or practice their English skills? Because it could be a good help if some adults really have a hard time getting a job. In Quebec, the government gives financial help to new immigrants who want to take French lessons. It's a way to encourage them. Do they know the exact amount of people who are unilingual madarin/chinese? Must not be a lot because canadian immigration services does take that into consideration (people often forget).

[2xx1xy1JD]

Learning French is more of a good priority for the Quebec government politically than learning English is for other provinces. Where I live it is possible for older people to live their lives only in Chinese but anyone younger learns English. If you go to school here you speak English and many Chinese parents will get extra tutoring for their kids if they need it. My mom found that her Chinese students also did well in French.

[Burris]

I don't live in BC, so I can't speak to how the signage is created. There are countries all over the world with multilingual signs.

The racial damage to a community occurs in part when people with a public platform start using their access to instill paranoia in the average population - and this is especially true when they hide poor arguments behind academic titles.

[Vivi_music]

Learning French is more of a good priority for the Quebec government politically than learning English is for other provinces. Where I live it is possible for older people to live their lives only in Chinese but anyone younger learns English. If you go to school here you speak English and many Chinese parents will get extra tutoring for their kids if they need it. My mom found that her Chinese students also did well in French.

I was thinking more for adults who immigrate when they are in age to be on the job market. Kids will learn in school. It's not a problem. And I don't think it would be necessary for retirees either to be fully bilingual English/Mandarin. I asked this because most people I've seen taking language classes were adults in the age-range to work; but they had a hard time finding something because their language skills (may it be French OR English) was not up to point according to the employers. I thought the idea to encourage them financially to take the classes was a good one, for those who need it of course. Disclaimer: This comes from a totally non-scientific point of view. As in, ''the things I've noticed in my entourage, where I work or where I go to college''. ;)

The racial damage to a community occurs in part when people with a public platform start using their access to instill paranoia in the average population - and this is especially true when they hide poor arguments behind academic titles.

I've seen so many profs with repulsive ideologies and mentalities. Being an ''academic'' doesn't mean you're theories are good, nor does it mean people can't argue with you.

[acheronbeach]

What utter nonsense. My BF is originally from Hong Kong, grew up in Van, and now lives in Toronto.

The vast majority of Chinese Vancouverites emigrated from Hong Kong to escape the handover to Mainland China. They've been there 20+ years and if you look around, they're pretty integrated - I saw Asian/white couples and interracial kids all over the city. They DEFINITELY don't want to make it a new China... because HK-descent people (in general) view themselves as a wholly separate culture.

If anything, the tension is between white AND Asian Vancouverites and mainland Chinese buyers who don't live full-time in Canada. There's also a huge amount of tension between Hong Kong Chinese and mainland Chinese.

The only place I've seen street signs in Chinese is in Chinatown (as in every major Canadian Chinatown), and the privately-erected signs around the Aberdeen Mall in Richmond.

There are lots of towns that have huge Chinese populations - Markham and Richmond Hill, Ontario, or Poco/Port Moody/Richmond in BC. They're doing just fine and I've never heard or seen any sort of racial tension. I've been to Van dozens of times and I can't think of any actual Vancouverites I've met who couldn't speak English on a basic level. (Tourists - especially to the casinos - are a different story!)

[OddlyAmused]

I think people have covered what I was thinking, except: has he been talking to Kidist?

[keen23]

I think people have covered what I was thinking, except: has he been talking to Kidist?

I know there are parts of Tempe (Guadalupe) that have street signs and names in Spanish. Stores, billboards, all that advertise pretty much in Spanish.