Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
at the age of 44, he could afford to bide his time. In another part of the
interview he mentioned that he was in a position to draw $250,000 a year
from interest payments on low-risk investments. His fortune had already
been made elsewhere.
Indeed, for some economically successful immigrants, the 'quality of life'
in Canada meant a deliberate reversal of the frantic lifestyle of East Asian
capitalist development. Business immigrants arrived by definition with an
entrepreneurial track record. Like Paul they were frequently in their forties,
had achieved economic success and were wealthy, sometimes very wealthy.
They typically had two young children, and for some the move to Canada
represented a status passage, a decision about 'quality of life' that meant a
fundamental rearrangement of life's priorities. Janine, unusual in that she
was the principal applicant in her family's acceptance as entrepreneur
migrants, sought out Canada following a traumatic event that caused a life-
style re-appraisal:
One day my mum suddenly passed away and realizing that I had aged, I had
this feeling of the transience of life. Life in Korea, if you are submerged in it, it
is really busy every day. I had worked in the fashion business for about twenty
years, I majored in Fashion. But after my mum's death, I visited Canada in
May and toured around the Rockies. I just vaguely thought that Canada would
be a nice place to live when I got old and to educate my children…
Mr. and Mrs. Yip also fitted this profile (Ley and Waters 2004). They had
each held senior management positions in Hong Kong but, landing as
entrepreneurs in the business class, had opted for a relatively undemanding
venture in Vancouver, acquiring a fast food business in a suburban mall.
This was part of an intentional relegation of economic pursuits in order to
promote other family priorities.
Mr. Yip: When we were in Hong Kong, we both felt very busy for life, and we
both wanted some life changes. And so we travelled a lot around the world to
Australia, States, Canada. We went to Toronto and Vancouver. One morning
in the summer in Vancouver, I stepped out of the door of my distant relative's
house. I felt the air so fresh, and the sun so bright and everything so beautiful.
And then I said to my wife that's the place that we want to go. So when after
travelling we went back to Hong Kong and then we made application to immi-
grate to Canada, Vancouver is the place that we chose.
Mrs. Yip: [In Hong Kong] it's the pressure you can hardly face because the
whole society is so rushed, you know, and life is so busy that you can hardly
slow down a little bit to enjoy life… It's both too busy for adults and the kids.
So we want to slow down our pace a little bit so we came… the first year we
came here we just enjoy life. We didn't bother to find a job for at least one year.
That's what we decided. We've been working for twenty years, so busy… And
