Vital Signs Article #5

COME ONE, COME ALL
Published Monday September 8th, 2008
Appeared on Page A1
By Shawn Berry

Editor's note: This is the fifth in a weekly series that will focus on the Fredericton Community Foundation's first Vital Signs report.


George Maicher is always touting Fredericton's quality of life to prospective immigrants. There's the healthy environment, the great community for a family to grow in and the quality of services. Then there's that other important factor - money.

"When you look at the success of people, they have good opportunities and a good quality of life," said Maicher, president of the New Brunswick Multicultural Council. "That's why we're trying to tell people to come to Atlantic Canada."

Here in Fredericton, and the rest of Atlantic Canada, immigrants tend to make a decent living. The median income among immigrant families is fairly close to the median income among Canadian-born families. The equity of immigrant incomes is an important indicator of a community's potential for growth and is one of the areas the Fredericton Community Foundation is looking at as it prepares its first Vital Signs report to assess the city's vibrancy.

Across Canada, immigrants tend to earn significantly less than the average. But that's not so in Fredericton and the rest of Atlantic Canada, Maicher said. "Atlantic Canada differs from the rest of country, here immigrant families are closer to the general income."

The median immigrant family income in New Brunswick in 2006 was $61,966. That's compared to $62,272, which was the median income for families in Fredericton. Across Canada the median immigrant income was $39,623, while the national median was $41,401.

Maicher said the Fredericton experience is one that's different from what immigrants might experience in a larger centre. But he said the connections that immigrants find with their communities in larger centres are a major force that attracts them away from Fredericton. "The message appears to be that if they stay here, newcomers make a decent living," said Cindy Sheppard, executive director of the Fredericton Community Foundation, which is preparing the survey to be released next month.

"This is one of those positive conversations. It might generate discussion about how we bring immigrants here and show them they can have a very good quality of life here."

It's a message New Brunswick's Population Growth Secretariat has been trying to get out to prospective newcomers. "That's a strong selling point," said Business New Brunswick Minister Greg Byrne, who is overseeing efforts to bolster immigration to the province. Evidence that immigrants enjoy a standard of living similar to Canadian-born New Brunswickers is there.

"It's certainly a message we have to continue to get out," Byrne said. "We have a great quality of life and immigrants can make a better life for themselves and their families here. They can generate an income to support themselves and families here and immigrants fare better in smaller communities." Byrne said the province tries to entice people by pointing out housing and the general cost-of-living is also lower in rural and smaller urban centres. "That increases your spending power and allows you to have a better quality of life."

Sheppard said people should keep in mind that not all families are making the amounts listed in the statistics. The median number used by Statistics Canada is the middle number in a range of values. That means 50 per cent of people in each group earned more than that amount, while the other 50 per cent earned less