Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
capacity of funded programmes. There is evidence, too, of considerable
volunteering among the more privileged immigrants, particularly women,
landing from Taiwan (Chiang 2008).
National surveys like the 2002 Ethnic Diversity Survey imply, however, that
Chinese-Canadians at large are considerably less active participants than the
view from SUCCESS might suggest (Reitz and Banerjee 2007). In the 1997
National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participation, 38 percent of
18,300 respondents reported some organisational involvement, but the rate
for ethnic Chinese was lower at 28 percent, and below average across all five
organizational types (Mata 1999). This under-representation remained even
when various controls such as education and length of residence were intro-
duced. The 2003 General Social Survey, with a sample of almost 19,000, also
showed that on indicators of voluntary involvement, individuals from China
and Hong Kong had lower levels of participation than most other groups even
when controls were applied (Baer 2008). Focus groups with Hong Kong-
born immigrants in suburban Toronto and Vancouver confirmed generally
low levels of civic participation, although an exception was volunteering in a
child's school, an understandable response in light of the premium placed on
education (Preston et al. 2006). The salience of the family has likely limited
involvement in voluntary organizations, and the large number of ethnic
Chinese with no religious affiliation has weakened membership in religious
organisations, a site of substantial involvement for other immigrants.
Besides promoting volunteering, SUCCESS has also been an incubator
of political ideals, launching a number of political careers, and by its 25th
anniversary in 1998, four former directors had been elected to Vancouver
City Council. The 1990s represented a breakthrough period for Chinese-
Canadians with Raymond Chan elected to Parliament as MP for Richmond
and appointed to a junior federal Cabinet position, while Jenny Kwan, a
former Vancouver city councillor, became the first Chinese-Canadian cabi-
net minister in the British Columbia legislature. These successes coincided
with an upturn in political awareness and participation. The limited attain-
ment of democracy in Hong Kong has not prepared immigrants for activ-
ism in Canada, while among those heavily engaged in transnational activities,
with an uncertain future in Canada, the motivation for participation is low-
ered further. Nonetheless analysis of voting in the Vancouver ethnoburbs of
Richmond (where Chinese predominate) and Surrey (with a strong Punjabi
Sikh presence) revealed that Chinese as a home language correlated posi-
tively with census tracts with a higher electoral turnout, while contrary to a
public perception of active mobilisation among the Sikh population, Punjabi
indicators coincided with lower turnout (Rose 2007).
20
For some migrants, the hard work of getting established in a new land
limits the leisure to think and act on a wider stage. Lack of time was a reason
for non-involvement among residents of Richmond: 'I am not involved in
