Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
enhanced quality of life, they were unsure how long they would remain in
Canada. Ten years later Mr. Park still owned his initial business, a video
store located in a largely white suburb where business is conducted
in English. Especially in the early years language presented difficulties in
answering customers' questions. But he employed one full-time and four
part-time English-speaking staff, and persevering with the business reported
net revenues of $400,000 in his last tax year. The store continues to show
growth and Mr. Park is well satisfied with its progress. He has moved on to
a second initiative, establishing a parking site for recreational vehicles as he
aspires to 'move up to bigger business'. His own circumstances lead to some
optimism - 'here are many opportunities' - while at the same time he is well
aware of the challenges to small business: 'it's very hard to make money
here… There are many Koreans who are getting a lot of stress because of
terms [and conditions]'.
One of the sadder accounts of opportunities lost came from Mrs. Chan,
who moved to Vancouver from Hong Kong with her husband and three chil-
dren in 1995. She had less than high school education, but as opportunities
opened up on the Mainland her family started a garment factory, and at the
time of their move to Canada were on a wave of success, operating three
factories with almost a thousand workers. They felt strong social pressures to
leave Hong Kong's political uncertainty even as their business was thriving:
We moved to Canada at the best time of our business. I consider that a sacri-
fice, a painful sacrifice. We did not know much about Canada, we only found
it very beautiful and our friends told us the education system here is very
good… except taxation which is very high. We did not have a full picture of
Canada. We were scared of 1997. Everybody wanted to leave Hong Kong. We
did not know English and our children were still very young. We did not really
want to come but everyone was leaving.
We have seen that limited education in particular and also the lack of English
skills are correlated with business failure in Vancouver. These limitations would
also preclude landing as an independent economic migrant, so the family were
pressed into the business class where their strong manufacturing record and
cash assets would ensure easy entry. Their initial plan was a sojourn of at most
five years, time enough to guarantee the 'insurance policy' of a Canadian pass-
port. But life in Vancouver has proven an unmitigated disaster.
I have been very depressed since we came here… We failed in whatever we
tried. We could not control our business in China from here. We bought a com-
mercial property, a retail store, but we were deceived. When we invested in a
restaurant we lost the money. We did not know much about Canada, we had
never thought of being cheated in Canada, but we found a bigger trap here.
