Lifestyle and Leisure
Discovering British Columbia
Like any truly international city, Vancouver’s identity has many faces. But that’s not to say that all of its myriad cultures are on an equal footing, writes Paul Beasley
Indeed, even a brief visit to the city of sleek skyscrapers standing proud against a mountainous backdrop reveals that it is as much Asian as it is North American. BC resident Rudolf Kischer, an immigration lawyer, explains as follows: "In recent years we have seen in BC a large percentage of immigrants coming from Asia. Some reports put 40 per cent of households in the lower mainland of BC as having an Asian language as the first language spoken in the house."
Indeed, the significance of BC's Asian communities is loud and clear, at least statistically speaking. While the 2001 Census revealed that the overall percentage of Canada's population who are of Asian origin is ten per cent, that figure doubles for British Columbia – and is a full eight per cent higher that the figure for Ontario. Not that Vancouver has more immigrants or cultural influences overall than Toronto, as immigration lawyer and BC resident Ian Goldman points out. "Vancouver is very multicultural but less multicultural than Toronto. In Toronto, the cultural mix is much more evenly distributed among people from different countries."
In BC, however, Asians predominate, with an obvious effect – on Vancouver's culture in particular. "There is now an Asian film festival and music events but best of all is the great variety of food found in Vancouver," says Kischer. "We probably have some of the best and cheapest sushi in the world, and there is great variety of Chinese restaurants to choose from. These include anything dim sum dumplings to Szechwan hotpots." Not that all Asian influences are equal, you understand, as the prime ingredient in Vancouver's Asian melting pot is undoubtedly China. And its impact, moreover, is clearly visible in many area's of city life, with Chinese New Year, the Dragon Boat festival, and the China Town Night market being major annual events.
But the influence doesn't end there, says Goldman. "There are the deeper values of Chinese culture which emphasise education and hard work. These values show up in the school system where Chinese students set examples for other students in terms of discipline and focus." In addition, the openness of mainstream Canadian society to Chinese languages and culture also contribute significantly to Canada's competitiveness in international commerce. "Vancouver, with one foot in Asian societies and one foot in the Western world, is well-positioned to become a main cultural and economic bridge between them," Goldman adds.
But this isn't to say that BC only attracts Asians. In fact, the province is also a popular home with Canadians born in other provinces, a fact I couldn't help noticing on my brief stay in and around Vancouver last year.
Although this is obviously some kind of outrageous fluke, not a single BC resident I spoke to was from the province, but rather from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, Ontario...
Perhaps the most extreme story of intra-provincial relocation I heard was from Greg, who at the time of my visit was running Whistler Resort and Club. Hailing from Ontario, Greg holidayed in Whistler in the mid 1990s as a break from what looked to be a failing marriage. He liked the resort so much that, in his own words, "when I returned home I packed all of my worldly goods in the back of my car, told my wife I was leaving her and drove all the way back to Whistler, all within three days of the end of the holiday." Of course, a broken marriage isn't often the backdrop to such internal migrations, but BC's awe-spiring backdrop often is.
Kischer is just one Canadian to have been bitten by the beautiful BC bug. Having grown up in Toronto and attended school in Montreal, he immigrated to BC in 1990 to go to law school and it's impact was immediate. "I fell in love with Vancouver!" Kischer exclaims. "In my second summer after one week sea kayaking on the Broken Island group with friends, we had an island to ourselves. For five days I collected Dungeness crabs and fished for mackerel in the bay as bald eagles soared overhead." Vancouver's close proximity to jaw-dropping scenery means that such activities are never more than a few minutes away, even from downtown. "Within half an hour of leaving my office I can be on a river kayaking in a forest with salmon running up it," Kischer says.
Like Kischer, Goldman was raised and educated in the Toronto area and moved to BC in 1988 to go to law school. Again, the province proved to be irresistable. "Immediately I found Vancouver to be much more relaxed and enjoyable place to live than Toronto," Goldman explains. "Of course, there is the much better climate and the setting near the mountains and the ocean which enables someone to really get in touch with wilderness (not just nature) and to have a much more outdoorsy lifestyle. The hikes and water sports around Vancouver are not just good, they are stunning and my two kids and my wife enjoy our weekends immensely." Not that Vancouver doesn't have its downsides for Goldman, as he confesses to missing "the buzz of the large metropolitan feeling of a big city with many more cultural options and the feeling that things that are central to the country and the world are happening nearby". And Goldman and Kischer are by no means alone, even among lawyers. "Half my law class came from outside the province," says Kischer, adding, "They say 'go west my son', and this translates to less than 50 per cent of British Columbians being born in BC."
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