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City welcomes changing population

Upcoming festival celebrates cultural diversity within community
Mel Edgar

Whether for clean air, safety or a more multicultural experience, more and more people are moving to Powell River, according to Powell River Immigration Services.

While many in Powell River have seen the purchase of local businesses by Chinese immigrants or the increase in Chinese language books at Powell River Public Library as a sign that newcomers are mainly coming from Asia, specifically mainland China, what’s happening in the community is actually much more diverse, according to immigration services manager Kelli Henderson.

“We’ve had clients from all over,” said Henderson. “It really varies, people move here from small towns and big cities. A lot of people move here because they visited as a student, or a temporary foreign worker.”

Henderson, who started as coordinator at the non-profit immigration services in 2010, said she has helped many clients from South East and Northern Asia, but she has also had clients from South America, Europe and even England, Australia, the US and Argentina.

“They come to us because of language barriers,” she said. “They might come to see us because they have something particular that they need some help with, like sponsoring a new family member over, or getting a driver’s license, or writing the citizenship test.”

According to the most recent Statistics Canada census, 89 per cent of people in Powell River speak English as their primary language, while non-official languages such as Italian, German, Dutch or Polish accounted for under eight per cent of the population. However, as that census was gathered in 2011, there is some difficulty in gauging just how fast Powell River’s demographics are changing.

Henderson said she has noticed a slow but steady increase in new Canadians moving to Powell River since starting her job in 2010. However, it has been in the last two years when Henderson said she has really noticed a jump in people coming to seek help from her organization.

“We don’t really have any data on just how many people are moving to Powell River or from where,” said Henderson. “We just know who is coming to see us.”

Henderson said she has seen the number of clients accessing programs at Powell River Immigration Services rise from 20 to 30 clients a year to 40 or 50, including many clients with families and small children.

Originally from Taiwan, Coco Kao moved to Powell River in 2009. Like many newcomers to Powell River, she wanted to live in a small town with amenities for small children.

“I had two young kids,” said Kao. “I didn’t know if there would be anything for them to do in Powell River, and I soon realized there was almost too much for them to do here.”

Kao described how her daughters Misia Choo, eight, and Cheyenne Choo, seven, with their choir, piano, ballet, swimming, soccer and gymnastics activities are almost as busy as their mother. An avid Bollywood dancer, Kao said she probably wouldn’t have had the chance to participate in a recent local Bollywood event if she was living in Vancouver.

“They probably would have wondered why this Asian lady wanted to join them,” said Kao. “In the city, people tend to stick with their own cultural group.”

Using the example of her own parents-in-law who moved to Vancouver from China over 30 years ago, Kao said many of Vancouver’s Chinese immigrants live within the comfort of their small, local communities and rarely get the chance to learn English or about other cultures.

“Their life was geared towards just their small community,” she said. “They didn’t know about other cultures, didn’t use English and they’d never even tried an Indian restaurant.”

After Kao and her family moved to Powell River, she said that she quickly sought out services to help her in-laws, who were soon to follow.

It was a fortuitous circumstance that Powell River Immigration Services had recently opened, according to Henderson, who is now Kao’s employer.

“Coco’s parents were our first clients,” she said. “And before she worked here she started volunteering, helping out here at our events as a translator.”

Kao, now an immigration services coordinator, does more than normally required to help clients, even interpreting for a pregnant woman during delivery, said Henderson.

“How’s that for a volunteer?” said Henderson. “Coco offered to interpret for a woman that had not been to a doctor since earlier in her pregnancy when she lived in China, and she went to all the doctor’s appointments and eventually into the delivery room with her.”

Henderson said that type of generosity of spirit is what she wanted to celebrate in Powell River’s upcoming Celebration of Cultural Diversity.

“Everybody jumped in and was so excited,” said Henderson. “There was so much interest and enthusiasm to celebrate cultural diversity from so many people in the community.”

At the cultural diversity celebration Kao and other members of Powell River’s diverse citizenry will come together to share their cultures through demonstrations of clothing, dance, music and food. Countries represented come from as far away as Thailand, Hungary and Austria.

“The goal of the event is to increase inclusivity and tolerance in the community,” said festival organizer Carma Sacree. “It has become a fantastic event with well over 800 people attending last year.”

A three-time participant in the Celebration of Cultural Diversity, Puk Burroughs said the festival allows her to show off her Thai culture, give back to her new home and thank it for how she was welcomed.

“I came here in 2002 and everyone was so welcoming,” said Burroghs. “When I wanted to learn English or practice for a job interview there were always about four or five people offering to help me.”

Now in its fifth year, the widely attended festival is one of many the reasons why Powell River Diversity Initiative (PRDI) has recently been nominated for a 2015 BC Multiculturalism Award. A co-organizer of the festival under the umbrella of the Powell River Employment Program (PREP), which also coordinates immigration services, the festival was listed as just one of the many ways Powell River has contributed to multiculturalism in BC.

Attending the awards ceremony in Vancouver on Friday, November 20, PRDI program coordinator Megan Dulcie Dill said she will be sharing and exchanging ideas about what Powell River is doing with other communities.

“Powell River has a rich variety of cultures,” said Dill. “This diversity is vital to creative expression, human acceptance and understanding.”

Celebration of Cultural Diversity takes place for the fifth year from 10 am to 3 pm on Saturday, November 21, at Powell River Recreation Complex. For more information, readers can go to facebook.com/events/703355703129235.