Immigrants and assimilation

I think the question of assimilation never really came up back in the day when my clan got off the boat. Of course you were going to assimilate! What else were you gonna do?

Mind you, some of the older folks never really managed. There were enough Italian businesses and Italian people around Guelph that you could get by without speaking English. That was also true of German speakers in Kitchener, just down the road. 

But that was pretty much just a few folks who were already on in years when they got here. If you were of working age you kinda had to learn the language by default. There weren't any ESL lessons on offer either; you were on your own.

There are many more supports in place for immigrants in this day and age, yet ironically, some recent immigrants seem to struggle more.

I think a big part of the reason is that immigration policy has been divorced from labour market needs and the availability of affordable housing. Our current government has a target of 350,000 immigrants per year. What they don't have is any plan for where these people are going to live and where they're going to work.

That's a problem.