Mar13
Call to curb ethnic malls in Calgary?
Ah yes, Calgary is finally a ‘big city’ with big city isses. It’s very interesting how large cities seem to undergo similar types of issues through its course of growth.
There are a number of reports [CBC, Calgary Herald, Canada.com] in the past week regarding the apparent community outrage about a report commissioned by the City of Calgary about avoiding “the development of ‘Asian’ malls that cater only to a specific group.”
As CBC reports, “[t]he 139-page report, authored by Tom Leung, president of Global Retail Strategies, suggests: “An effort must be made to avoid 'exclusive' cultural-specific retail developments, as they lead to marginalized ethnic enclaves which can diminish overall community cohesiveness.”
From my glimpse of the more educated comments on the CBC article, the reaction to the report is fairly mixed.
Valid comments in support of the report
The comments in support of Leung’s report recognized that ethnic shopping centres naturally facilitate the segregation people of different cultural groups and the clustering of homogeneous ethnic groups. Also, because of the diminished prominence of English language signage and the lowered levels English understanding by store staff, there is a sense these establishments are not accessible to everyone in the community.
Valid comments against the report
The negative comments towards the report recognize that the report is in poor taste because it singles out one specific ethnic and racial group, and that governments should plan communities based on the ‘use’, rather than the ‘users’. In addition, some voiced comments about the dangers of governments in attempting to “over-manage” our diversity and that these measures would intrude on market forces. Lastly, there are a number of individuals who simply enjoy these ethnic shopping centres and would understandably speak out against these developments.
Leung a racist?
It has been very easy for people to accuse Leung has a “racist” or a “bigot” especially as his report did single out a particular race, but without actually reading the report, it’s difficult to legitimately make that judgment. Was the document in poor taste? Yes. Was it communicated poorly, thus causing people to question the legitimacy of the report altogether? Probably.
I don't think we need to focus too much on what Leung's intentions are. What is worth focusing on is for all of us to understand and try to resolve these issues recurring issues in Canada's large suburban communities.
We are indeed noticing more ethnic commercial centres. We are indeed seeing greater concentrations of people of similar socio-economic and cultural spheres. What caused them to happen in the first place? Why do people have such strong opinions for ethnic malls? What are the real social implications of these development trends?
This report has again raised the awareness and interest in this issue, and I hope to take this opportunity to shed some light about our current planning framework, processes and trends which may have led to the creation of these arguably segregated communities. Because I tend to write such long entries, I have decided to divide the entries down into more manageable lengths. Stay tuned.
Addendum
This has always been a topic that I’ve been very interested in, and over the years, I’ve learned to take a more objective stance and to remove the emotional attachments associated with these issues. I’ve written a number of articles on this topic in the past, and I think my perspectives on this topic have evolved slightly. You can read my previous entries here:
- Ethnic Relations I: The Evolution of Steeles and Kennedy
- Ethnic Relations II: Carole Bell and Markham's Racial Tensions
Articles in the series
Comments (5)
1
radmila
I'm sorry, I read all of your links and left the following comment on the last one I read, rather than leaving it on the most current:
I find this discussion (as always) interesting.
When an exclusive community gains economic power, they use it.
I'll cite an experience that a family member of mine had in Meaford, Ontario when he acquired land there in the '90's.
Being an immigrant with an accent and looking like a "spic" as he was often called by residents. They were so inexperienced with outsiders that they couldn't even get their ethnic slurs right.
He was openly told that his presence was not wanted in the community and eventually driven out 10 hard years later to a 2 million dollar loss.
He paid taxes as well...
I guess what I'm trying to say is that when a community works to be exclusive...white or not, Anglo or not, they work to make sure that the unwanted cannot be successful in that community.
I've heard stories of businesses being driven out of plazas and malls through not being allowed to re-new a lease, or rents raised so high that long standing businesses have to leave. This is the M.O. of exclusive communities whose members will purchase a mall or plaza and then proceed to drive out the businesses that do not reflect their own community.
It's how it's done.
After all, it's a natural thing to want to help people of your own nationality over those who are not.
Ethnic business owners (I assume) learned this from their own experiences.
Personally, I don't like to see too much of any one nationality monopolizing an area. It breeds contempt and the exclusion of others as well a sense of entitlement to do so because they have the support of their larger community.
It also encourages not learning English since employees who are new to the country don't have to learn if they work in their own communities.
My own Aunt has lived here for 20 years with minimal English. It's not a good thing. She's stuck in her community. Many people think that's ok.
I don't.
2
Jason Tsang
You might want to provide a link to the actual report itself.
http://www.calgary.ca/docgallery/BU/planning/pdf/plan_it/commpolicystudy_macro_march1309.pdf
3
Jason Tsang
Looks like they edited the report (probably to remove the offending bits)...
4
tiff
It's the age-old "integration versus accommodation" argument. My thoughts are that neither would be
sufficient on its own. I agree with Radmilla's point that it's not productive when long-time citizens of immigrant backgrounds refuse to integrate into their larger community. But I don't think "an effort to avoid" exclusive cultural retail development is the solution to encourage integration. It's a ban-aid solution at best -- it's unlikely that banning PacMall will get my mom shopping at Fairview Mall.
Then there's the constitutional issue. Can the government dictate where ethnic developments occur? Doing so would constitute discriminatory treatment based on ethnicity and race. It's a bit of a slippery slope argument.
What's the authority for a city to avoid a development based on ethnicity of the businesses clientele?
If such a planning policy passes constitutional muster, there may as well be a policy to "avoid" ethnic congregation in residential neighbourhoods and in schools.
Does this not sound familiar to the underlying social rationale for internment and concentration camps?
5
Matt
Radmila makes an interesting point about businesses being driven out of plazas in favour of other businesses which may better reflect that their own community.
The question is, are landlords artificially inflating rents to accommodate this? Or are the market forces at work? I'm assuming it's more likely the latter.
Urban economic theory have always realized this phenomenon, called Economies of Agglomeration, where firms of related goods, products, or services would cluster together to achieve greater economic advantage.
For that reason, it may be less likely that you will see a non-Asian business at Pacific Mall, because the premium to capitalize on the attractiveness of agglomeration does is valued lower than those who may be establishing an Asian-themed business. This is likely the reason why "incompatible" businesses are systemically priced out of the market.
The same argument can be made about the gentrification of many downtown neighbourhoods. It's the market forces at work. I don't think, or I hope not to think, that there are any bad intentions by landlords to purposely exclude or price-out certain types of businesses-- so long as it is legally compatible.
Back to the topic, and going on the similar lines as Tiff said. I think it would be very dangerous to allow governments to intervene as to where anybody would like to live or where they could establish their business-- even if it may be well-intentioned to promote integration.
So it's clear that I think people should have the right to establish ethnic retail clusters should they so desire. At the same time, I do support greater accessibility by all populations to be able to visit these establishments. I hope to address that in another blog entry.
