we have poverty, sure.
we also have areas that happen to be quasi-segregated, by some combination of choice and market realities.
however, they're not at all correlated with each other.
one of the reasons for this is that canada actually has a pretty strict immigration policy that is focused very strongly around education. the result is that our immigrants are actually the most educated members of our society.
brampton is not a wealthy town in spite of it's high immigrant population, but because of it. it has very high education levels - not in spite of it's immigrant population, but because of it.
and, in fact, it's attracting a lot of investment because of it. if you drive through brampton, you'll see a lot of corporate offices. engineering. technology. fortune 500.
in a sense, it's almost a gated community. but, the gate isn’t about skin colour.
so, ghetto? absurd. canada doesn't have ghettos because we plan our cities to ensure that rich and poor neighbourhoods are intertwined. we have an effective tax system that distributes wealth properly. more importantly, we understand that the issue is not race but class. i grew up in a welfare project that was sandwiched between wealthy developments. there were gates at the top of the hill, but the geography prevented slumification of the area. the projects were only a few rows of houses at a time.
for a while, my mom lived in the welfare strip while my dad lived in a four bedroom standalone. the only thing that separated the two properties was a public park. i remember forming teams to play soccer in the park: it was the rich kids vs the poor kids. we were starkly aware of the class divide, yes. but, we used the same facilities. we kicked the same balls. we did it together.
so, no - brampton is not a ghetto. but, it will not stay how it is forever, either. the city will have to move some poor white people in at some point, and it will be good for everybody when they do.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/brampton-a-story-of-political-importance-power-and-ethnic-enclaves/article30273820/
i have a lot more to say about this, but i stopped reading when she said "white people send their kids to private catholic schools when they can afford it".
in ontario, we have a public catholic school system. this is a historical relic of canada being a francophone/catholic colony with a protestant/english ruling class. the solution was to set up two public school systems: a protestant school system for the english and a catholic school system for the french. over time, the protestant school system became a public school system and the catholic school system became bilingual to accommodate for irish immigrants.
but, the schools are neither separated by class nor by race nor by religion. i went to a catholic school. it was paid for by public funds. there were muslims in some of my classes.
i don't know why this piece was written, but it obviously wasn't fact checked and shouldn't have been published. it's attempting to understand canada through the filter of internalized american racism and ultimately declaring that canada must conform to a set of preconceptions, rather than learning that those preconceptions are actually not supported by any of the facts.
like i say: this is hard. americans think that america is the center of the universe, and that everything is pretty much the same, everywhere else. they have a very hard time understanding that the vast majority of their problems are unique to their own history and failure of governance and simply don't exist elsewhere. it's another example of the fallacy of universalizing the specific.
but, publishing the idea that white people have private catholic schools in ontario is pretty bad, globe & mail. you're in toronto. you should have caught that.
at the end, there's something about how brampton might collapse into a ghetto if the immigrant population loses it's source of low-wage labour.
no! you don't get it!
you can't become an immigrant into canada unless you have an advanced degree, can speak at least one of the languages and are determined to have strong market potential.
canada does not have a low skill, low wage immigrant population because it does not admit immigrants unless they are highly skilled.
i know. let's stop for a second.
has it clicked?
!?!?
if you're coming from india to canada, and we let you stay here, you probably have a phd. honestly. at least a masters. you don't even get the form unless you've graduated from something or other, alright?
they don't work in low skilled, low wage positions. they're at the top of the wage hierarchy. they're doctors. engineers.
and, if you look at the numbers, it comes out: south asians have the highest average income of any ethnic group in canada.
so, it's not a ghetto - it's one of the wealthiest places in canada, actually. because it's one of the most educated. because there's so many brown people.
yeah, i know. let your head explode. and realize that the solution is that government matters.
...and that america is not the center of the universe.
i just want to be clear.
let's say you're a young south indian fellow that wants to come to canada and start a business. you don't speak the language well, but you'll learn. you don't have money, but you'll work as a dishwasher for a while and then get a loan. this is the classic american immigrant experience in the minds of most, as placed there through a combination of 20th century propaganda and modern film work.
no. just no. canada will never let you in.
first, you need to be able to speak the language. beforehand. you get two options: english or french. we'll test you, too. rigorously. not an easy test. no comprende? no cigar, amigo. the americans have lower standards, we'd suggest you try them.
then, you need to have some money before you get in. we're pretty generous and everything, sure. but, you're applying for immigrant status. if you want to apply for refugee status, that's the line over there. we're not going to let you in if you're not bringing anything with you. that wouldn't be so smart, would it?
next, you need to have some education. high school? no. hit a school, and call us back. what, you want to go to school here? well, get through the process, and we'll let you in temporarily - but you're probably going home right afterwards, unless you find a job really fast.
finally, you need to have job prospects. it's not 1900. you can't just come here and think you're going to get a job picking grapes or something. you have to be able to prove you have some kind of communication with somebody on the inside. and, we want documents. we're gonna check up on you, be sure of it.
strict? well, maybe. but, note that we don't have any ghettos.