4 Pinoys die in series of murders

There’s been a series of murders recently in Vancouver and four of the victims are Filipinos. The latest case was a 17-year-old Vancouver high school student who was beaten to death outside his school. Was it bullying gone wrong, racism or stereotyping? The case is currently being investigated.

The Multicultural Helping House Society which is managed by Canadian-Filipino community leaders was fast-moving in organizing a broad coalition to work on the issue of youth violence in the aftermath of the death of the young Filipino immigrant.

Is Canada letting too many immigrants to the country? Too many from third world countries who don’t easily adapt to a highly developed country? A study conducted for Citizenship and Immigration Canada showed that Canadian intolerance toward immigration has grown significantly in year 2003. There’s a nine percent increase in the number of Canadians who believe that too many immigrants are entering the country.

Ontario is the only Canadian province where a higher percentage of the population responded that there are an excess of immigrants than those who said that the numbers are right. The immigration experts normally relate the degree of tolerance to perception of economic health. British Columbia has a higher acceptance from foreign lands nationwide.

According to Ottawa Citizen, the last significant fluctuation in poll tracking on immigration came after 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 when the number of Canadians who felt the country was accepting about the right amount fell to 38 percent from 47 percent.

Still on the subject of immigrants, the Demographic Division of Statistics Canada reported that fertility rates among immigrant women decline shortly after the women arrive in Canada. The study suggests that the women are greatly influenced by the same factors that tend to determine how many children Canadian women have, such as the desire or ambition to pursue an education and work outside the home.

Canada depends on new immigrants to increase the country’s population. More than 18 percent of Canadians were foreign-born in 2001, the highest proportion in 70 years.

The fertility rate for all Canadian women was 1.5 children per woman, the lowest on record.

Experts confirmed that immigrant women know the realities of life, just as Canadian-born women do, that aspects of life in Canada, meaning the high costs of having children and the need for many families to have two pay cheques. They just don’t follow religion, tradition, or what they are told to do by their families, they use their analytical minds.

Grandparents often dream of a stress-free life after raising families and that they can be free of major responsibilities. But according to Montreal Gazette, thousands of grandparents found themselves raising children again. This time, it is their grandchildren, when they should be enjoying full-retirement. It seems unfair for their mature children to burden them once again. Most of these grandchildren are 14 years old or younger.

Canada-wide, there’s an estimated 930,000 Canadians who live in households with three or more generations. B.C. has supposedly the highest rate of extended families, labeled as skip-generation families. This is a situation when a grandparent is raising grandchildren in the absence of the children’s parents. If grown-up children can produce children, then they should be responsible for raising them properly and not shift the burden on other people. I’ve always believed that we must sleep on the bed that we have made for ourselves.

The skip-generation reflects the weakness of the younger generation.

In population, Alberta is said to be the fourth-largest province in the country, and has long been the fourth-largest economy, British Columbia is third in both respects. But that is changing because Alberta’s three million residents now account for exactly the same share of Canada’s GDP as B.C.’s four million people.

Low interest rates has made owning a home in most of Canada much more practical for many families. This means fewer people are renting but it does not mean that rents are falling. It is still more expensive to reside near the downtown area.