Vancouver’s ethnic diversity and the upcoming municipal elections

Vancouver’s ethnic media are watching and listening as the municipal elections approach on October 20. They are also circulating their opinions and reporting on municipal issues in their respective communities. Candidates and campaigners who ignore their voices run the risk of ignoring those communities’ concerns on issues ranging from housing to opioid addiction, with many others in between.
 
Whether stories about candidates, like this one:

JoJo Quimpo as NPA Vancouver City Council candidate for upcoming municipal election

• From Filipino newspaper Philippine Asian News Today

“NPA Vancouver has announced the names of the City Council and Park Board candidates who will join mayoral candidate Ken Sim on the NPA slate. In addition to incumbents Melissa De Genova and Sarah Kirby-Yung, both of whom were previously announced as NPA candidates for City Council, the NPA candidates for City Council include Lisa Dominato (currently on School Board), Rebecca Bligh, Justin P. Goodrich, David Grewal, Colleen Hardwick, Kathy McGarrigle, and Francisco (Jojo) Quimpo. "I'm super excited about our NPA candidates and what each Individual brings to our team," said NPA mayoral candidate Ken Sim. "We are thankful to the many great people who applied and these were not easy decisions. We really needed multiple opportunities and hours to meet with the candidates to determine the very best team we could bring together, who will work hard and are committed to improving the lives of the citizens of Vancouver." (18/08/2018)

Or news about issues, such as:
 
Poll: 84% blame foreign buyers for Metro Vancouver housing crunch

• From CHMB AM 1320 Cantonese radio

“Foreign buyers, population growth, shadow flipping and money laundering are mainly to blame for the Metro Vancouver housing crisis, according to respondents of an Insights West poll released August 2. Nine in 10 agreed that the region is in a major housing crunch – rising to 98% among residents earning less than $40,000 a year and 97% among those renting their home (97%). No matter what the income level, respondents had strong opinions about what was the cause of this problem.” (02/08/2018)
​
These stories affect the mind-set behind the diverse doors candidates will be knocking on during the campaign.

MIREMS currently monitors 152 ethnic media sources in BC’s Lower Mainland, spanning 26 language groups, which include Chinese (Mandarin & Cantonese), Farsi, Filipino, German, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Jewish, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, South Asian English, Spanish, Tamil, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese among others.
 
In line with the City of Vancouver’s demographics MIREMS monitors 30 sources in Chinese, Mandarin and Cantonese, covering both Ming Pao Vancouver and Sing Tao Vancouver, the two leading Chinese newspapers in the region. Ming Pao Vancouver, with a weekly circulation of 277,500, is recognized as one of the most influential papers for Chinese professionals and business leaders in Western Canada. CHMB AM 1320 Cantonese, which has an audience of 49,000, is a content-rich program that targets the Cantonese community with the most recent local, national and international news of the day.

Other top demographic groups in Vancouver include the East Indian and Filipino communities. Statistics Canada says Punjabi is the second largest “immigrant language” in Vancouver. Almost 100,000 Filipinos live in the city.

A prominent local South Asian radio station, Red FM 93.1, which reaches an estimated audience of 170,000, contains programming in both Punjabi and Hindi. Its Punjabi morning program expresses public opinion on municipal, provincial and federal political news, as well as economic and social issues. The host, Harjinder Thind, conducts interviews with politicians from the municipal to federal level, health professionals, mortgage specialists, insurance and immigration experts and many others.

But Harjinder Thind is not the only “hidden persuader” on the airwaves. Take the following:

Achieving for Delta

• From Punjabi TV - Harpreet Singh Show
  

“Chief Administrative Officer with the City of Delta George Harvie worked for 30 years in Burnaby and then for a long time in Delta. He has lived in Delta for 44 years. He is running for Mayor of Delta. He wants to finish his career by ensuring young people are listened to and included on the city council. He wants a diverse council inclusive of all political parties. His priorities are keeping Delta debt free, rather than building many things like stadiums. He wants to increase the tax base by attracting more people, so that more people pay taxes instead of people paying more taxes. The key is going back to Ottawa to get infrastructure funds for Delta, and reporting back on what they are doing with the money. He wants to keep young people in Delta or to have them come back to Delta and be able to get a home in Delta. Affordable housing and safety are priorities. He said Surrey really needs their own police force; the Delta police have been very successful and he will fight to keep it. He expressed concerns that agricultural production is being converted from food production to marijuana.” (25/08/18)
​
MIREMS monitors ethnic media sources, removing linguistic and cultural barriers so that non-English speaking communities can be heard, and offering insight into how and what they think about a range of social and political issues.
 
Stay tuned for our upcoming free newsletter, Diversity Empowers Cities, to be released after Labour Day. To subscribe, click here:

SUBSCRIBE TO THE DIVERSITY EMPOWERS CITIES NEWSLETTER