A decrease in Chinese languages spoken in Ottawa could be connected to Canada’s new Express Entry visa. The visa prioritizes applications of immigrants who can speak English or French. Canada has accepted more immigrants from English speaking countries such as India and the Philippines. Rupert Yeung the Director of the Ottawa Chinese Immigrant Services commented that, “Immigrants from these two countries are now at the top of the list and China has dropped off to the third place. But immigrants from China will continue to come to Canada, attracted by Canada’s superior education system, rule of law, human rights and freedom and above all, its clean air and environment.”

Linguistic Growth in Ottawa

Chinese n.o.s. (not otherwise specified) decreased by a staggering -1376 per cent. Chinese n.o.s. languages include Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka, Taiwanese, Chaochow, Fukien or Shanghainese. Despite the decrease, Chinese immigrants are immigrating to Ottawa at a high rate, as reflected in the 51 per cent increase in Mandarin. Statistics Canada.

An 11 per cent increase in Arabic spoken in Ottawa is partially due to the federal government’s decision to bring a significant number of Syrian refugees to Canada. Ottawa has resettled over 3,000 Syrian refugees since 2015. Syria was the third most accepted country for permanent resident applicants in 2016.

According to Hassan Ezdahmad, Program Coordinator of the Services for Syrian Refugees Program, most Syrian refugees arrive with little English language skills. His program operates on an annual contract with the federal government. Ezdahmad worries about how clients who access services such as language programs and employment training would be affected if the contract isn’t renewed next year. “It’s very challenging to develop programs annually,” said Ezdahmad. “We know Canada is a country of immigrants and will always have newcomers. It’s critical that the newcomers you are inviting will find the proper environment to succeed.”

Top 10 most spoken languages in Ottawa from 2011-2016

Check out the Excel Spreadsheet.

For this piece I started out by combing through the Census data set. I thought looking at language diversity in Ottawa would be interesting. I isolated the top ten highest number of non-official languages, and the top ten mother tongue languages in Ottawa. After my feedback from Mr. McKie, I compared the top 10 non-official languages from 2011 to the top 10 non-official languages in 2016 in Ottawa. This rendered much more interesting results. I found that Arabic had increased by 11 per cent, and Chinese n.o.s. had decreased by more than a thousand per cent.

I reached out to Rupert Yeung of the Ottawa Chinese Immigrant Services, and asked him for his opinion on why there was a huge decrease in Chinese n.o.s. language. He mentioned that the Skilled Worker visa was affecting Chinese immigrants, because of its emphasis on English language skills. I researched his response by looking at the Express Entry Visa Year-End Report 2016. His comments were accurate—as India and Philippines, two English speaking countries, were the most accepted permanent residents on the skilled worker visa. This fact contributed to the decrease in Chinese immigrants and the decrease in Chinese n.o.s. spoken in Ottawa. Mr. Yeung also pointed out that Syrian refugee resettlement could contribute to a higher number of Arabic language spoken in Ottawa.

From there I met with Hassan Ezdahmad, the Program Coordinator of the Services for Syrian Refugees Program to hear more about the impact Syrian refugees have on the linguistic diversity in Ottawa. He mentioned that most Syrian refugees have little English skills. After hearing this I looked at IRCC’s data set referring to language abilities of Syrian refugees. I found that most Syrian refugees speak Arabic as their first language. (While this may be obvious, it was important to me to be able to have the proof in the dataset).

Ottawa’s new light rail system is slated to open this spring, but some people with visual impairments feel the City is not taking their mobility seriously. In their third meeting with the City since December 2015, the Ottawa Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians, expressed their concerns with the lack of digital navigation in the light rail system.

Alliance president, Peter Field believes digital navigation would allow riders to use a GPS-like function on their phones to travel independently. According to Field, the City has not committed to a digital navigation system. They did, however, say train operators could assist people who struggle to find their way on the train. “This is not universal design – where an environment is created to fit the needs of everyone,” said Field.

The light rail system will incorporate an assessable fare box and audible gates tones. While this is a good start, Field feels the City is disconnected from the needs of visually impaired people. “There is an accessible procurement policy in Ottawa which means they don’t procure anything until accessibility is taken into account,” said Field. “But I don’t know what was taken into account. They didn’t talk to the users. They decided what was assessable.”

Field has been fighting for accessibility rights for over 40 years. His experience was first documented in a 1979 Globe and Mail article titled, “He was Blind and they were Deaf.”

The article states:

“Peter Field, blind since 1977 was ejected from a Toronto restaurant the other night because “they wouldn’t let the dog in. I tried to convince them that the dog wouldn’t do any harm, but they wouldn’t listen.”

Peter, 17 turned to the police for help. It was the logical thing to do, and logically, he should have received a cordial reception, and the promise of assistance. He received neither.

The person answering the telephone at Division 52, told him there was nothing the police could do. After a quick word with The Canadian National Institute for the Blind, which assured him he had the full support of the law, Peter called Division 52 again, and said he “wanted to tell the Inspector to inform his men that there is a law.””

“I remember that clearly,” said Field. “When I started to lose my vision, I went straight to a guide dog. There wasn’t a time when I used a cane, so the dog really was my independence.”

Field remembers being asked to leave the hotel restaurant in front of his friends. “The idea of being refused felt very personal – like someone was doing something to me,” he said.

A grade eleven law teacher showed him The Blind Persons’ Rights Act, and encouraged Field to report this matter to the police. This Act which was passed in 1976, guaranteed people with visual impairments the right to be accompanied by a guide dog at all times.

Unfortunately, the police were unaware of the Act. Stories like Field’s were so common that in 1978 Attorney-General Roy McMurtry mailed over 6,000 notices to restaurants, hotels and bars reminding them of their duties to uphold the law – and of the $1,000 fine.

“Fast-forward to today, and not a lot has changed,” said Field. Just three years ago Field was denied service from a taxi driver, because of his guide dog. When Field reported the incident the police said there was nothing they could do. “So much time has passed and the police still don’t even know how to enforce this Act,” Field said.

“This happened when I was 17, and I am now coming up to 57,” he said.

In the next 40 years, Field envisions digital navigation as the primary way people with visual impairments navigate the world. He thinks Ottawa has missed a great opportunity to implement digital navigation in the light rail system — forcing people with visual impairments to remain patient for change yet again.

• This historical documentation is The Blind Persons’ Rights Act which was introduced in Ontario in 1976.
• I obtained this document through the McOdrum Library digital archive.
• This document helped me observe the original language surrounding the Act.

• This is a Globe and Mail article written on February 26, 1979, titled, “He was Blind and they were Deaf.”
• I obtained the article on the historical Globe and Mail digital archive through the Ottawa Public Library.
• This article was written three years after The Blind Persons’ Rights Act was passed, so it helped me understand how Act was applied in real life.

The Ottawa Public Library is encouraging patrons to pick up after themselves, by introducing a new $1.00 fee.

The new restocking fee rolled out last month, and is a part of a fee adjustment plan outlined in the Ottawa Public Library 2018 Operations Budget.

According to Ottawa Public Library spokesperson, Monique Brûlé, the restocking fee was not implemented to generate revenue for the library, but rather to improve wait times and increase user satisfaction.

Library expert Amber Lannon, of the MacOdrum Library, said that although levying a fee to promote library use sounds counter-intuitive, the fee is likely to increase user access. She said that by forcing people to pick up their books, the Ottawa Public Library is promoting, “fair and equitable access to the collection for everyone.”

But library users have mixed feelings about the new fee.

An Ottawa Public Library user who wished to go unnamed, said, “If I start getting nicked for missing holds, then I will definitely have to stop using the hold system, and thus the library.”

Several library users have expressed concern about what to do when multiple items placed on reserve show up on the same day. One library user commented, “I put a ton of books on hold, and do my best to manage them, but sometimes a half dozen or so show up at once. Often, I’ve not been able to pick them up on time. Since this new $1.00 fee, I have been cancelling holds—which I’d say has decreased my overall usage of the library.”

The plan to implement restocking fees goes as far back as 2016. Minutes of the Ottawa Public Library Board meeting states that The Board approved the new fees in December 2016. The adjusted fee schedule was intended to start in 2017, but was delayed until the following year in order to, “align with new cash handling equipment, policies, and procedures.”

Councillor Marianne Wilkinson who serves on the Ottawa Public Library Board said when books aren’t picked up, it slows down the whole system. Wilkinson said, “If people order a book and it comes in, and they don’t pick it up after a certain number of days, then we have to send it back. Some books have a line-up.”

In fact, some books have nearly one-thousand users waiting for a copy. The Ottawa Public Library released a list of the most requested books last week, and Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff landed at the top with 960 requests.

Wilkinson said, “When you put something on hold, you are hindering other people from getting that book.”

Beyond long wait times, when a book isn’t picked up, it will need to be re-shelved which Wilkinson believes is a waste of resources. “We have to send the book back to our operations. That’s an extra trip for people, picking up, and carrying, and hauling back and forth unnecessarily.”  In addition, drivers must go between branches all across Ottawa. Long hours can pose a problem for the unionized staff and volunteer drivers.

“The library is limited under union contracts in how many volunteer staff they can employ,” said Wilkerson.

Wilkinson said that the restocking fee will not even begin to cover the cost of transportation or labour. “That’s beside the point,” she said. “We didn’t do it for that. We did it to keep people aware that they’ve asked something and need to follow through. They put a fee in to deter people from not picking up their books. If you don’t pick it up, then you’re making it more difficult for the library to provided services.”

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