Page 9 - Winter 2018 english

NEWCOMERS TO CANADA
The federal government aimed to bring 310,000 newcomers to Canada this year, with 340,000 the target for 2020. Between 2011 and 2016, Canada welcomed 1.2 million new immigrants and Statistics Canada estimates immigrants could represent up to 30 percent of the Canadian population by 2036.
In the latest census, more than half, or 51.5 percent, of people living in Toronto identi ed as a visible minority, while in Metro
Vancouver, immigrants account for 43 percent of the workforce. While large urban centres have traditionally been where immigrants settle, the percentage living in Prairie provinces such as Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta is also rising.
The numbers could ll pages, each painting a multicultural mosaic in which golf needs to tap into if, as we so often insist, the game needs to grow in participation.
“We are talking great business,” said Kris Jonasson, CEO of British Columbia Golf. “The ethnic makeup in British Columbia has ipped considerably. We’re in a situation now where, in the major markets of Vancouver, English is the minority language. That’s only going to increase. As people become more mobile and as golf becomes more of a global game, just reaching out and getting new people into the game is going to become critical from a golf development point of view. ”
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