Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The substitution of gifts for physical presence has the potential to create
greater instabilities in the case of parachute or satellite children, who have
no parents living in Canada, and are in the care of an elder sibling, a rela-
tive or a guardian. They are left behind when a wife rejoins her husband in
East Asia; sometimes they represent a family vanguard entering high school
in Canada under the care of a guardian or home-stay programme. Though
the numbers of pre-university children living alone are not great, their cases
are more public because of the intensified exposure to risks of all kinds.
Cases of extortion at school have come to the attention of both the English-
and Chinese-language press (Bellett 1997; Tang 1999). In some instances
this leads to strong-arming to join teenage 'big brother' gangs requiring
payment of a further 'loyalty fee'. While newly arrived immigrants are tar-
geted for these crimes, satellite kids supported by regular cash flows from
East Asia have been particularly at risk. The gifts of cars led to a deadly
subculture of 'rice rockets' and street racing that killed six people during
2001-02 in the ethnoburb of Richmond. In each case the driver was a
young Chinese-Canadian male, and in the community view, absent busi-
ness immigrants who were lavishing gifts on their children were to blame
(Mickleburgh 2002).
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Though living in East Asia apart from their children, parents still try to
script their future. Jason left Hong Kong at the age of 16 to complete high
school (Fong 2003). For the past three years he has seen his parents once
a year, though they speak on the phone several times a week. But although
'We are not as close as a family as we used to be because we are so far
apart', Jason's parents still have a definite career plan for him. Despite his
technical education in Vancouver, they intend he will return to Hong
Kong to work. But this will not achieve family re-unification, for they will
criss-cross from one side to another of the transnational social space:
'They expect me to go back and take over the [family] business when I'm
done. Then they will retire and move out here to Canada and I will have
to work hard in Hong Kong.' The search for an affirming youth subcul-
ture follows from the emotional impoverishment often resulting from
absent family members. A youth in Toronto reflected sadly on his own
family life:
It looks like a family but it is not a family. Talking to our parents over the
phone and seeing them here infrequently does not make sense to me anymore.
We know why they are doing this and we can look after ourselves. However,
the feeling of emptiness is very real. When faced with a problem, we would like
to have them here, listening to us and helping us. They expect us to do well in
school and we don't want to disappoint them. I am doing fine in my studies
but my sister is not. She misses her friends and mom. She is always on the
phone calling her friends and mom in Hong Kong. The phone bill runs into a
few thousand dollars a month (Lam 1994: 176).
