Vancouver least friendly of Canadian cities: immigrants say in the 2012 HSBC survey
Vancouver was ranked the least welcoming Canadian city in an HSBC survey released Thursday that polled immigrants about their relocation experience.
While 73 per cent of survey respondents said they found Vancouver a welcoming city, it placed last behind Montreal (89 per cent), Calgary/ Edmonton (84 per cent) and Toronto (79 per cent).
The findings reinforce Vancouver’s reputation as a relatively cold and unfriendly city, which was highlighted in a survey released by the Vancouver Foundation in June. It found that about a third of Metro residents find it difficult to make friends, most of us don’t know our neighbours or participate in community activities and over a third of us have no close friends outside their ethnic group.
While making friends was cited as a challenge by about a third of Canadian immigrants surveyed for the HSBC study, it placed third after finding employment (62 per cent) and missing family (42 per cent). Adapting to the weather (29 per cent) and getting a credit card (24 per cent) were both cited as challenges more often than language barriers and finding a home (both 18 per cent).
Source: Vancouver Sun, November 2, 2012
Tags: city, immigrants, settlement, study, Vancouver, welcoming
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