Data from the 2016 census shows that the number of Mandarin speakers living in HRM has gone up. There are 250 thousand people who participated in the census reported that their mother tongue is Mandarin.

This number has gone by 3.5 times compared to the number five years ago.

Within the HRM area, both central Halifax as well as west Halifax experienced considerable increases with the biggest increase of 155 more people around the Long Lake area. In comparison, Dartmouth only has a biggest change of 50, a third of what central Halifax has had.

Within the HRM, the two areas that have the largest increase are both outside of downtown Halifax. One in the north near Clayton Park and another one in the west, very close to the Long Lake Park.

Both of these two hot spots have had new apartment buildings and houses during the last couple of years.

” I like the people here”

Wang Jun and her husband Man Bu moved to Halifax in a new apartment building at 56 Walter Havil around Long Lake Park, the area that has the biggest increase according to the census.

They moved to Canada along with their son who immigrated as a skilled worker in 2016. Instead of living in the old houses around the building they preferred the apartment because “it was clean and brand new”

“I really like the people here. They will say good morning to you in the morning and stop the car for you when you cross the road,” Wang says, “And the air here is also good.”

The building that the family live in has at least three to four Chinese households on each floor according to the property manager Meagan Sherren. She has had dealings with the apartment building over four years.

“This is a known trend. They(Chinese) love new apartments. They live in one building for two or three years then they go for another one,” Kristin Harpa says. Harpa oversees the daily operation of the company.

Chinese Foreign Workers and Travelling students

This census result mirrors trends in the influx of foreign workers and international students from the People’s Republic of China.

China has exceeded the United States of America and became the No.1 country for people with work permits since March, 2017.

A quarter of the work permit holders come from China based on the data collected between January and March.

Below is a map that indicates the percentage of change in the number of Mandarin speakers between the year of 2011 and 2016 in HRM. 

The Not guilty plea

Liao Qun, a 44-year old landlord, appeared in court again on May 10 at the provincial court on Spring garden road. She was accused by the Crown of an assault that allegedly occurred in the previous month.

The charge also comes with a restraining order which prevents Liao from any contact to the student tenant Zheni Ge, who was allegedly assaulted by her landlord on April, 10 2017.

Liao pleaded not guilty after refusing to hear the details of the charge. A trial date is set on October, 24 with an estimated time of three to four days.

Previous cases  

This is not the first time Liao has been in the court. In January 2016, she was sued by her contractor, Bing Han who did the renovation work for one of her properties on Payzant Avenue claims when filing the file that Liao did not pay the $7,000 after the work. Shortly after, on February, 26 Liao filed a $25,000 counter claim, insisting that the work was not in compliance with the city by-law and need to be redone.

In a motion to dismiss this counterclaim, Han’s lawyer, Kelly Shannon called this a “blatant abuse of the court process.” 

The judge dismissed this counter claim in December 2016.

“This matter came before me on June 9, 2016……I found that because the matter was settled in its entirety at that time, there was no opportunity to re-litigate once settle,” J.W. Stephen Johnston ruled.

The case was settled outside of the court. Han’s wife Xue Fang Han said in a phone interview that she can’t really talk about how much they were paid in the settlement.

“I’m not particularly happy or unhappy about the result. I’m just glad she paid and this is over,” Mrs. Han said.

Han and his wife are originally from Vancouver, BC. They moved to Halifax three years ago.

City’s inspection

Liao immigrated to Canada in 2013. She purchased her first property in 2014 on Greenwood Avenue, Halifax. The property is next to Saint Mary’s University which she converted to a student residence, to mainly international students. Liao continued to buy another two properties and converted them to rental properties in 2015 and 2016. One of her properties that is on 891 Greenwood Avenue is under investigation into land use.

The city says the inspection is “open and active” and refuses to comment further on the details.

Liao was reached by the reporter and defended herself, but declined a formal interview because “journalists take words out of context.”

A controversial Halifax landlord is in trouble, again: this time, facing allegations of assault, which she denies.

Qun Liao, the owner of three different properties in Halifax is facing assault charges. She pleaded not guilty before hearing the charge against her.

The trial is set on  October 24.

This is not the first time she’s been in the news as a landlord. In fact, CBC reported that another one of her properties was under city inspection which was opened last year after a public complaint.

The Tenant’s story

It was around nine pm on 10, April when Gene Ge, an international student tenant, was evicted from her own place, luggage on the street, shaking in the dark.

Ge, who alleges that she was “pushed” and “scratched” and threatened with words, called the police.

She didn’t have a written lease with her landlord, yet she and her roommate had paid two months rent.

Qun Liao also owns two other rental properties close to Dalhousie university which she rents mainly to international students.

“I was so scared and out of breath,” during an interview that was conducted in Chinese, Ge’s mother tougue.

The landlord had expressed that she didn’t want the girl to live there anymore in written text prior to that night. When Ge finally informed Liao that she would be moving out, Liao kicked her out immediately and refused to return her deposit of $500.

When the police asked her whether she wanted to put the landlord behind the bars Ge said no.

“I wasn’t able to think straight at the time and from a Chinese perspective to send someone to prison is such a serious matter.” Ge said she just wanted all this to go away.

Yet it didn’t go away as Ge had wished. The following morning she found her luggage had disappeared again and she said Liao tried to throw a plate at her.

Ge called the police again. Although Ge insisted her luggage was in the landlord’s possession, the police were not entitled to break into Liao’s room and locate her luggage.

Is a written lease a must?

One of the concerns Ge was having is that Liao doesn’t have a written lease with her. She was worried that since the house belongs to Liao and they don’t have a lease, she is entailed to force her out.

However, that is not true according to Billy Sparks, a lawyer at Dalhousie Legal Aid clinic. Sparks have been dealing with tenancy right cases at Dal legal Aid for three years. He said there should be a written lease but if there is not a written lease, if the tenant can show that they have been paying rent they are also legally a tenant.

But Sparks does advise the tenants to have “everything in writing”

“What will happen is that the landlord will say she never told us there was a problem; we never knew that. But if you have copies of emails then they can’t say that.”

Students are vulnerable tenants

Sparks thinks students are vulnerable tenants mainly because they don’t know their rights. But for international students, it’s more than that.

“They just heard the word police and they (got) scared.” Jass Singh the former vice president of Dalhousie International Student Union says. Singh has been helping a number of tenants solve their challenges with living in Halifax.

He thinks a lot of international students try to stay away from any legal activities because they are always worried to get deported if something goes wrong.

“So what they normally do is they end up paying as much as the landlord asks, get out of their apartment and get into another new apartment.”

Qun Liao did not respond the reporter’s inquiry for an interview.