Problem  Community Submissions  Proposals  Progress towards a Solution  References

Create Villages of Interest throughout the City

Problem

There is no policy as a foundation to direct people of the same ethnicity, nationality, minority to establish their own centers or "villages" in the city.

Although some ethnic groups have visible and long-established villages in Ottawa (for example, Little Italy and Chinatown), immigrants and visitors from other ethnic groups and minorities have to struggle to find their identity in this (for them) strange place. Where do I go? Who can I speak to? What can I eat? What can I buy? Where can I relax for a few moments before going on?

Community Submissions

• Suggestions re a policy towards creating more ethnic/minority villages in Ottawa - submitted by Peter Vasdi.

Proposals

Create a policy that sets a number of basic standards that will empower and direct people of other ethnicities, nationalities, and minorities to set up their own communities in Ottawa.

Why could this be important, and of what benefit would this be, to us others already living here?

1. People of distinct ethinicities, or belonging to certain minorities - in fact, all and any of us - benefit from being "with our own kind" from time to time. It makes us content with who we are. Being with our own kind, and even just knowing that we can have a place to go, is a relaxing feeling and makes it that much easier for us to deal with day-to-day issues, and for other people to deal with us.
2. Having "villages" or footprints in Ottawa for our own ethnicity makes Ottawa attractive to tourists of that ethnicity, and also gives Ottawa more color - another point of touristic interest. They serve as real education centers for us when growing up. We become more worldly, open, and broadminded. We encourage a more informed opinions about world issues. We become better people. In some cases, minorities, such as the gay minority, challenge our personal views, but again we become better people for having been so challenged.
3. Any person, even a casual day tourist from a sports team will need lose no time to drop into a positive climate in Ottawa, find someone who speaks both his/her own language and English or French and who knows Ottawa. Visitors and new arrivals can more quickly find support, necessities, friends, jobs.

Wouldn't it be neat if we could have a visible, ethnically distinct city areas for, for example: Ukrainians, Hungarians, Portuguese, Spanish, Latin (South American), American Indians, Kurds, Jews, Somalians, East Indians, gays, etc. Colorful and established villages to collectively define our city.

We should reverse the trend of creating residential ghettos of people of the same ethnic origins. Ghettos inhibit communication and encourage distrust between ethnic groups. We should encourage new immigrants to distribute the homes they in which they live and improving their security instead by creating collection points - "village" footprints - as optional destinations for all inside the urban core.

Progress towards a Solution

References