Re: Refugee influx part of the housing problem (Letters, oakbaynews.com)
As an immigrant to this country I completely agree with Mr. Filan. We have, for many years, been letting immigrants into urban areas where their influx is not required, and whose tastes exacerbate existing social problems. The large numbers of skilled workers wanting to live in urban areas is unreasonable, and the tendency of white immigrants to seek similar communities merely creates ghettos of ethnicity and language that are counter to the multicultural goals of the Constitution and Charter.
I realize that this view may be unpopular, but we should take control of immigration and require affluent Europeans to move to smaller communities, to invest in rural landscapes, and use their skills to develop our hinterlands. As a British refugee, I certainly see how the expectations of foreign immigrants of a middle-class life, modeled on the baby-boomer generation, with access to a variety of goods and services, would be trying for any community. The scourge of foreign culture cannot be underestimated - just how many English Sweet stores, Irish pubs, or Scottish games can any city reasonably absorb? When will we call enough, enough?
Foreign immigrants out!, I say, and then the rightful Coast Salish peoples of Esquimalt, Songhees, Scia’new, T’Sou-ke, Tsawout, Tsartlip, Tseycum, Pauquachin, Malahat, and Metis nations might finally live in peace and prosperity. What we don’t resist will persist.
Edward White
Victoria