The New Loneliness....Turning a collection of individuals into a community.
From and earlier Editorial in The Catholic Register
Canada is becoming a nation where the sum is not even equal to -- let alone more than -- its parts. The recent election, with its historic low turnout, suggests we are turning our backs on working together to solve our common problems.
This sense of "bowling alone" -- a term coined by U.S. author Robert Putnam in his book of the same name -- was only reinforced by a Statistics Canada study released this month. Once a nation of common purpose and drive, we have become bewilderingly diverse in our interests. And this is without even talking about Quebec.
The StatsCan survey on social engagement, using figures from 2003, suggests that Canadians are a very busy people. Sixty-one per cent of the population belong to at least one organization that takes up their time outside of work and home. But that was about as full as the glass was.; Some of the other findings of the study are rather ominous.
First, 38 per cent belong to nothing. They don't play sports, don't belong to a church group, aren't in contact with their alumni association, don't even belong to a union or professional association. They are cut off -- perhaps voluntarily and willingly -- from many of the usual connections that give a sense of purpose to life. While most still reported having close relationships with family and friends, the surveyors found that the happiest people those most involved their communities. This same group also had a greater sense of trust in institutions such as government, police, the health system and schools.
There was little good news for churches. Church attendance figures this survey confirmed those of many others. Only 30 per cent attended regularly (at least once a month). For younger people, aged 15-34, the figure drops to just over 22 per cent.
Figures on voting -- perhaps the single easiest and most direct form of participating in our democratic system- mirror involvement with religion. From a high turnout of 75 per cent in 1981, we have dropped to 60.5 per cent today And once again, there is a definite split between young and old.
Is this cause for despair? Not yet. Millions of Canadians continue to have a sense of responsibility to a world larger than themselves and their families. With their devotion, enthusiasm, talent and energy they fuel all that activity that turns a collection of individuals into a community. Yet those of us involved in all those organizations need to ask seriously why so many seem to be alienated from all we hold dear. It is not enough to dismiss those outside our busy circles as apathetic or completely self absorbed Our own Gospel call to spread the Good News demands that we talk not just to ourselves, but to everyone. And serve not ourselves but those whose heeds are greatest. That's the real measure of a society.

Without Immigration, There Would Be No Way For Canada
By Binoy Thomas BinoyThomas@weeklyvoice.com
From: http://www.weeklyvoice.com/CNews/?CNewsID=526901
All of us immigrants, never mind which country we come from or what colour we wear, take a bow. Because, but for us, it looks like Canada is on the way to being depopulated back into a barren wasteland. Well that may sound like a bit too dramatic, but I think I will rather go with this after taking a close hard look at the population stats just released by Statistics Canada.
According to them, Canada's total population stood at 31,946, 316 or to round it off 32 million, on July 1. The rate of growth as compared to year 2003 stood at .9%. On July 1 2003, the total population was 31,660,466. In one year, the total number increased by 303,855 precisely. Though we still do not have exact statistics of how many people joined us by way of immigration, going by previous years it's safe to assume that nearly a quarter million or slightly more came into the country in the past year.
Which means that the total number of babies born in the country is less than 40,000, out of which a large percentage born to immigrant parents! Clearly, without the immigration numbers we would slip badly into negative growth figures.
That is very clear from the statistics given for Provinces that do not get the immigrants. For example, the growth rate for Nova Scotia is a paltry .1 % not enough to sustain a population for long. The same is true of Sasktchewan (.1%). Manitoba and Quebec fare slightly better at .7% each.
According to some experts, for a population to be stable it must have more than one percent growth rate. And we in Canada seems to be on the downward slide. The rate of increase between 2001-02 was 1.1% but it has declined to .9% in the two years since then. It's disingenuous not to link it to perhaps a slow down in immigration since Sept.11.
This is clear from the population trends revealed for the Provinces that traditionally have attracted the maximum number of immigrants.
Ontario has been recording a declining growth rate over the past few years - 1.7% (2001-02) 1.3% (2002-03) and 1.1% (2003-04) British Columbia, however, shows a tiny upward movement in the latest round of census, from .9% to 1.1% for last year.. On the other hand, Alberta's rate has declined from a healthy 1.9% in 2001-02 to 1.4% in 2003-04.
So once again, the argument whether or not Canada needs immigrants is settled finally. It does and badly. Not that any sensible expert or politician could've thought so otherwise given the numbers staring at them. Now the debate is likely to shift from 'yes' or 'no' to immigrants to what kind of immigration is desirable for Canada. And from where!
I don't know if there is much to be debated even on that front, because it's clear that immigration follows only one course, from the lesser developed world to the more developed. And today, the lesser developed world is Asia and Africa and parts of Eastern Europe and the South Americas. Come to think of it, we have pretty much the whole world to choose from. So getting the numbers should be a breeze. But the more difficult part is first picking and choosing the right kind of immigrant who can make a substantial contribution to Canada and its future.
There are many theories being circulated. But one thing is for sure. It's time we faced the ugly fact that Canada is still not a society that values immigrants in the real sense of the term if we safely ignore some platitude emanating out of some. Any number of studies, including ones from very authoritative sources like the Conference Board of Canada have affirmed that
immigrants are victims of systemic racism and discrimination. We at The Weekly Voice perhaps raised this issue years ago when it was not so fashionable to talk about it so openly. We would then get letters from our own people castigating us for being critical of Canada that "allowed us in" clearly missing the Canadian 'value' of debate and criticism to create a better society.
There is not one politician or serious expert on the subject who would argue against the need for the Canadian system to adapt to more open ways to not just integrate, but to accord full opportunities to the skilled immigrants.
There are some experts who doubt whether we would really have that openness in the absence of the all important catalyst - competition within our society. Going by the population trend, there is no doubt whether our system likes it or not, it will have no other choice but to embrace (I use this word deliberately) immigrants. In the absence of it, there will be no local
market, no expansion of tax base to finance the wonderful social programs that we have. More importantly, the Canadians need to be told constantly about the vital importance of immigration. There is a constant need to firmly impress on our politicians, the union leaders, the corporate chieftains and the bureaucracy about the absolute truth that by giving immigrants all the opportunities they deserve, Canada is only betting on its own viable future.

Canada churns out new jobs; unemployment rate drops to 7.1%
www.cbc.ca, Fri, 08 Oct 2004
OTTAWA - Canada's unemployment rate edged down to 7.1 per cent in September - the lowest in more than three years - as the country generated a better-than-expected 43,200 new jobs, Statistics Canada reported Friday.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/national/2004/10/08/USjobless_041008.html
Loonie nudges close to 80 cents US
Economists had been forecasting job growth of 20,000 or less and didn't think the jobless rate would budge from August's 7.2 per cent. The strong jobs report (along with the weaker-than-expected U.S. employment figures) led to a big gain in the Canadian dollar. The loonie was up 0.68 cents to 79.96 cents US in early trading.
BMO Nesbitt Burns senior economist Douglas Porter said the employment report was "likely plenty strong enough to keep the Bank of Canada on its rate-hike program later this month."
September's job creation followed two relatively static months of employment.
Job growth concentrated in full-time, public sector work Statistics Canada said last month's job growth was entirely in full-time work and said the services sector was especially strong, with a lot of new hiring in education.
So far this year, the number of full-time jobs has grown by 229,000 while part-time jobs have shrunk by 74,000.
Public sector jobs grew by 36,300, due in part to that increase in education employment. "Public sector employment has shown an upward trend since mid-2003 and this month's increase brings total gains since the start of 2004 to 60,000," Statistics Canada said.
Factory work remained little changed. An increase of 22,000 manufacturing jobs in Quebec was offset by a loss of 21,000 factory jobs in Ontario. In the last year, Statistics Canada said the number of manufacturing jobs has hardly moved.
The Canadian Labour Congress noted the lack of growth in manufacturing jobs and called it a troubling sign.
"There is a fundamental weakness in the economy when a key sector like manufacturing had 79,000 fewer workers than in November 2002," said CLC president Ken Georgetti.