A third of all international students studying in Canada in 2013 were from China, according to the most recent data retrieved from the Government of Canada.

Out of the total 300,000 international students in Canada in 2013, almost 96,000 were Chinese.

“The numbers should be even greater,” said Xiaoshu Li, Second Secretary at the education office of the Chinese embassy. The statistics did not include the large number of Chinese students who come for short-term exchanges because “Canada focuses on those who come with study permits,” said Li.

“It’s not surprising,” said Jennifer Humphries, Vice President of Public Policy and Communications at the Canadian Bureau for International Education. “It’s rather natural that China is a major sending country, given the population of China.”

Compared to other countries like the United States, the number of outgoing Chinese students to Canada is not a big figure, said Li.

In 2013, Canada attracted the most students from these top five countries (in order from greatest to least): China, India, South Korea, France and Saudi Arabia.

But life isn’t easy for these students who enter Canada for the first time. “There are certain culture shocks,” said Hal Guo, a University of Ottawa freshman who came to Canada two years ago from China. “Pushing the button and ringing the door – I didn’t know that.”

When he first arrived, Guo was living with a host family that didn’t provide meals. For the first time, he had to do groceries and cook for himself. “The stove in their kitchen was so different, I just couldn’t cook,” he chuckled.

The University of Ottawa’s data on international students enrollment reflect the government data.

Chinese international students are by far the number one to enroll into the university in 2013, according to data from the university’s Institutional Research and Planning.

The university has invested heavily in China to encourage Chinese international students’ mobility to Canada.

“When it comes to attracting students from China to come to Carleton, Queens, University of Manitoba, […] I think the focal point is the way that Canadian institutions have promoted themselves more,” said Humphries. “They have done a good job individually in these countries.”

The total number international students to Canada have been steadily increasing year after year.

However, South Korea is the only country on the top five list to see a significant drop in numbers.

In 2000, South Korea was the top sender of international students to Canada. By 2007, the South Korean international students numbers doubled to 30,000, but dropping South Korea to second place on the list. By 2013, that number dropped down to 19,000.

“That’s really quite interesting,” said Humphries, looking at the decreasing numbers from South Korea. “Canada is not the only country seeing this.

According to Humphries, the United States is also seeing a lower number of South Korean students.

“It’s something that we’re monitoring and keeping an eye on,” said Humphries.

“Tuition in Canadian post-secondary institutions used to be much less than the US,” said Yang Gyun Chung, Senior Researcher at the Korean embassy. “But it’s not the case anymore.”

Another reason may be that big Korean companies like Samsung and LG used to prefer graduates from foreign post-secondary institutes, said Chung. “They don’t recognize their foreign education experiences as highly as before.”

However, the embassy stated that they were still in the speculation stage concerning this decrease.

According to University of Ottawa’s president of the Korean student association, out of the 15 to 20 Korean students joining the club this year, only five are international students.

“It’s a bit difficult for international students who came alone (to Canada) like me,” said Lacey Kim, president of the association. “It’s the fact that they don’t really adjust well in the Canadian community that the outcome is they join the student association.”

South Korea placed third in 2013, after India which saw a whopping 1,500 per cent increase in international students since year 2000.

The Saudi Arabian international students count increased by nearly 4,000 per cent since year 2000. It joined the top five list in 2013.

The City of Ottawa’s efforts to reduce graffiti in the capital are paying off.

The most recent reports released on the city’s open database reveal that graffiti complaints are down dramatically from this same time last year.

More specifically, while 113 complaints occurred in January and February 2014, only 33 complaints have occurred so far this year.

Councillors and city officials are crediting this to the work of the Graffiti Management Program (GMP), which has been in effect since 2003 as a joint effort between the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Police Service. The program aims to educate individuals on ways in which to deal with graffiti-related incidents, including how to properly report and deter it.

The program also seeks to direct the public to legal graffiti walls, and to keep them aware of the punitive laws that surround illegal graffiti activity.

Barrhaven councillor Jan Harder says that the most successful element of the GMP program has been its efforts to have graffiti removed at a low cost.

“I no longer hear complaints. I used to hear complaints from innocent homeowners who were targeted and then stuck with having to clear the graffiti from their property,” she says. “Due diligence in having it removed in a cost-effective fashion made all the difference.”

The Barrhaven ward has only received one graffiti complaint this year.

Graffiti-related incidents in Orleans have also dropped dramatically in recent years. Councillor Bob Monette says, “Graffiti was a major issue when I first came to council in 2006. In fact, there was a proliferation of graffiti throughout the entire ward.”

“Since that time, we have seen a vast improvement in the battle on graffiti. I am proud to say that there seems to be less of an issue of graffiti in our ward.”

The Orleans ward has not received any complaints yet this year.

Monette credits this to the proactive approach of his team, which aims to report and remove graffiti quickly in order to discourage vandals from acting again.

“What I personally do along with my staff is drive through the entire ward, take photos of all the graffiti at all locations and report it directly to 3-1-1. This has been very successful,” he says.

Monette has also built on the GMP’s preventative methods by educating residents on the location of legal graffiti walls- one of which is the Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex in Orleans. Monette believes that the key to reducing vandalism without stifling artists’ creativity is to direct residents to these sites.

“We have worked with the youth of our community, providing them with a legal graffiti wall, as well as using graffiti artists to create three murals in the Orleans community,” he says.

Rideau-Vanier councillor Mathieu Fleury says that it is important to create a feeling of trust within the community, where artists can feel comfortable coming forward and requesting legal graffiti sites.

“If a graffiti artist comes to me and shares a location that they’re interested in, we’ll work with them to make it permissible for them to do it,” he says.

Kanata-North councillor Marianne Wilkinson agrees, stating that graffiti problems will never go away but can be managed through legal sites.

Individuals who place graffiti in illegal areas can be fined up to $615.00 under the City of Ottawa’s bylaw; but graffiti is considered vandalism under Canada’s criminal code. If caught, individuals can be charged with “mischief under or over $5,000” and face community service hours as punishment.

Often, graffiti vandals who are charged are left with criminal records from their actions.

Graffiti Complaints: January to February 2014
Source: City of Ottawa Open Data Catalog

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Graffiti Complaints: January to February 2015
Source: City of Ottawa Open Data Catalog

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By Nicole Rutherford

In 2014 the Rideau-Vanier ward’s number of discarded needles found by Ottawa’s Needle Hunters nearly doubled— yet residents didn’t seem to notice. This was indicated by a huge drop of 3-1-1 calls made in July and August between 2013 and 2014.

The number of improperly discarded needles collected in Rideau-Vanier rose from 6,695 to 12,167 between 2013 and 2014. Contrary to this, complaints about discarded needles in the ward fell by 80 per cent between 2013 and 2014. When asked about this discrepancy Rideau-Vanier’s Councillor Mathieu Fleury, was surprised but held some explanations.

“What we noticed was that our response time was too lengthy,” said Fleury. “So more funding was added to the 3-1-1 system a couple of years ago to ensure that when a call came in people could be dispatched more quickly.”

3-1-1 Calls for Discarded Needles in Ottawa for July and August 2013 and 2014 as Reported on Ottawa’s Open Data Web Source, 2015.

But the City of Ottawa staff members such as Parks and Recreational staff account for only a minority of the clean up work. Most of the sanitization is done through the collaboration of Public Health Ottawa and the hiring of the private company, Causeway, to hire Needle Hunters.

“We work with the city collaboratively,” said Ottawa Public Health Environmental Protection Branch Program Manager Craig Calder. “They hire people and we allocate people to the locations based upon city hotspots—both where city workers have found needles and where we have found needles.”

The city’s biggest hotspots for improperly discarded needles by far are the Rideau-Vanier and Somerset wards.

In 2013 the Rideau-Vanier ward held nearly 80 per cent of the needles collected by the Needle Hunters in Ottawa, and Somerset nearly 10 per cent. This was reflected in a majority of 3-1-1 calls. Rideau-Vanier received 38 per cent of the calls for 2013 and 2014, while Somerset received 31 per cent.

“It’s a complex problem in the downtown area,” said Fleury, “This isn’t a one-string approach; we have to work with different partners to support those with addictions, work with youth to prevent addictions, and try to help the homeless with Ottawa’s Community Housing.”

In an attempt to try to control this, in 2013 the Needle Hunters instilled a winter collection program solely in the Rideau-Vanier ward, targeting parking garages and other places sheltered from snow.

Yet when confronted with the doubling of needle finds from 2013 to 2014 Calder couldn’t account for it.

“We don’t have all the data to substantiate why the numbers have gone up,” said Calder. “I can attribute some of the numbers to some of the large caches—you know you’ll find a bag of 400 needles. But we can only attribute these sporadic group finds to two or three thousand more needles at the most.”

Despite the increase in finds, the number of complaints in Rideau-Vanier, at least during the summer months, went down significantly in 2014. In fact, it was Somerset who went up by 20 per cent in 3-1-1 complaints and took first place as the most-reported ward in Ottawa for 2014.

However, when asked how she felt about safety in her Somerset neighborhood, Dalhousie Parent’s Daycare worker Cindy MacLaughlin wasn’t too concerned.

“The daycare is locked behind locked gates, so we’re pretty secure,” said MacLaughlin. “We used to have a picnic table outside of the gates at the back of the school which was a cozy area for nefarious activity, but that’s taken away now. The police do frequent that area, and I guess we have the odd ‘lady of the night’ but overall we’re pretty safe.”

Similarly, Heart and Crown Pub General Manager Marty Pineault said that despite being the at the centre of Rideau-Vanier’s Byward Market, discarded needles have not been a problem for the business.

“It’s not something that we’ve encountered,” said Pineault. “Knock-on-wood, but so far we’ve been okay.”

While the Needle Hunters are made up of a group of only 40 people, it is clear they are doing well at keeping the city clean.

“Many of them are former addicts,” said Calder, “This gives them the ability to gain new skills and transition into new society through meaningful employment.”

Meaningful, powerful and yet quietly unnoticed by Ottawa residents.