Sustainable diversity

The increasing diversity of Canada, and in particular the rapid growth of the Chinese and South Asian communities, raises the profile of public engagement with ethnic Canadians to a level where organizations, businesses and political parties are continuously vying for the attention and support of new Canadians. [...] Recognition of the pull factor of the environment in the immigrant story opens the door to multiple points of engagement with communities that have traditionally been left out of the environmental dialogue. [...] Through the annual event, momentum was built for both the REaDY Summit and its impact on the community as well as the partnerships between DSF, the City of Richmond and the Richmond School District. [...] At the same dialogue, a senior executive also shared how he feels “very wronged by the stereotyping and the Canadian community and he was really happy to join us in this conversation because he wanted the Canadian communities, the white people to know that it’s not the immigrants are against the environment, because that makes no sense to them — they came here for the fresh air that they could not [...] As noted before, one of the primary reasons for the success of the partnerships between the Richmond School District, the City of Richmond and DSF was the cohesive vision of supporting youth leadership.