Dear Editor:
I emigrated from Taiwan to Canada, and I've been in New Westminster for three years. Currently, I'm attending the New Westminster Community Immigrant Mentorship Program by Family Services of Greater Vancouver. I'm learning many things about Canada from this program.
My only concern is about people who are immigrants and can't speak and read English. During this time, I've seen that most Chinese immigrants are very isolated and don't have much knowledge about what's going on in our community, especially seniors and those whose English level is low. Due to the language barrier, they can't access to all of the information related to the community, newspapers, public library, etc.
Unfortunately, seniors are the most affected population, because when their children go to work, they mostly stay at home to take care of their grandchildren and watch TV. This is not good for their physical and emotional health.
How can the City of New Westminster support them and make them feel that they belong in to our great community?
In my opinion, city hall's website should add different languages to translate their municipal administration services information. Also, during the municipal election, why didn't the candidates translate their political propaganda into the most spoken foreign languages from our city?
In addition, cultural awareness classes to educate people and develop activities to mix the communities, such as Chinese New Year, Moon Festival, etc. All of these suggestions are a way to assist not only Chinese immigrants, but also other isolated members from our multicultural community.
Claire Wu, New Westminster
