Immigration minister concerned over ethnic enclaves

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Canada’s immigration minister is warning of the problems of ethnic enclaves.

It comes in the aftermath of a report that suggests Caucasians will one day be the minority in Metro Vancouver.

Projections suggest within the next two decades, Caucasians will make up two out of five people in Metro Vancouver.

Federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says it’s normal for people to find others of a similar culture, but cautions against neighbourhoods that function outside of the country’s two official languages.

“I want to make sure that we don’t end up 30 or 40 years from now having communities that are operating in primarily Chinese or in Punjabi,” he says.

Kenney argues the key is to ensure people who come to the country can work in jobs that make use of their training. “I just don’t want Canada to sleepwalk into the kind of parallel communities that we’ve seen, quite frankly, in parts of Western Europe that have led to problematic outcomes.”

Kenney was in Vancouver to release an updated version of a guidebook for newcomers to Canada.

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