Quote:
Originally Posted by flameswin
From the perspective of a born-Canadian, it seems simple; Don't get involved in criminal activity.
But think of this scenario; You're a 22 year old Somalian immigrant. You come to Canada, you're looking to fit in, to actually have a life. You have three options;
1. Born-Canadians who ignore you and who you can't converse with that well anyways due to language barriers.
2. Older, non criminal somolian community
3. Bad, younger Somalian community.
Unfortunately, option three becomes the "comfort" pick for a lot of immigrants. The sad thing is, most new immigrants want nothing to do with the gang stuff, they just want people their age, that they understand in a crazy new life in a foreign country, and so they get stuck in this never ending cycle.
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To me it comes down to mistakes (or ignorance) made by the Canadian government in distributing immigrant diasporas. Putting them geographically so close and in homegeneous communities only serves to breed suspicion, isolation and prevents full integration into Canadian society as a whole. For example, why does the low-income neighbourhood across from Westbrook Mall exist with, from what appears to me, to be at least an 80% Somalian community? This is esepcially critical now that immigrants have more communication tools than ever before to connect with the communities of their ethnic origins (e.g. social media).
I have never been a fan of things like "Little Italy" or "Chinatown" communities, or even more non-descript places such as Toronto's Jewish neighbourhoods or Woodbridge (where a ton of Italians live). While they are cultural calling points and can be good for cities, they can also serve as silos within towns and cities that, I think, do prevent communities from being the "mosiac" we strive for. There was a time in Calgary a few years ago when the City (rightfully) said no to a Muslim-only gated community (as far as I recall).
Much harder said than done though, especially in a society that believes in free speech, the right to assemble and all other personal freedoms of a democracy like ours.