Author: Emil Lazarian

Baku Today
Nov 30 2004
Azeri Envoy Pledges to Unblock Rail Traffic for Georgian Freight
On November 29 the Georgian Foreign Ministry summoned Azerbaijani
Ambassador to Georgia Ramiz Gasanov to speak regarding the recent
seizure of Georgian freight by the Azerbaijani side at the border of
the two countries.
After the talks with Deputy Foreign Minister Mikheil Ukleba, the
Azeri Ambassador said that freight which is designated for Georgia
will be released.
`However, the Azerbaijani customs will ascertain the route of
transportation of other freight…if the detained freight is
designated for Armenia, this contradicts the national interests of
Azerbaijan,’ the Ambassador told reporters on November 29.
Azerbaijan fears that some of the freight might be imported to
Armenia via Georgia.
Over 900 train cars loaded with fuel and grain have been stuck at
Georgia’s border with Azerbaijani border for a week.
Commenting on the recent seizure of the Georgian freight, Prime
Minister Zurab Zhvania said, `nothing dramatic is occurring, the
situation will be clarified by the relevant agencies of Georgia and
Azerbaijan.’
A delegation from the Georgian Railway Company has already left for
Azerbaijan to clarify the situation.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ArmenPress
Nov 30 2004
MHER SHAHGELDIAN BACK FROM UMP’S CONGRESS IN PARIS
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS: Mher Shahgeldian, the chairman
of an Armenian parliament committee on defense and national security
issues from Orinats Yerkir party and David Shahnazarian from
ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National Movement (ANM)
were invited by France’s president Jacques Chirac’s governing Union
for a Popular Movement (UMP) party to attend its congress in Paris
that elected the outgoing French Finance Minister Nicolas Sarkozy as
the new party head. President Chirac did not attend the congress, but
was represented by his wife, Bernadette.
Sarkozy replaces Chirac’s ally, Alain Juppe and is widely expected
to use the post to build up support for a presidential run in 2007
against Mr. Chirac, his former mentor. He won the party leadership
ballot comfortably, with 85% of the vote.
Back in Yerevan Shahgeldian told reporters today that on the
sidelines of the congress he had a meeting with the chairman of
France’s Senate Christian Poncelet to convey to him a message by
Armenian parliament chairman Arthur Baghdasarian.
He also said that Chirac’s decision to award the Legion of Honor
to Baghdasarian is the acknowledgment of his contribution to the
strengthening of Armenian-European ties.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARKA News Agency
Nov 30 2004
RA President received secretaries of Security Council of OACS
Country-Members
Today Armenian President receives Chairman of Board of Directors of
RAO UES of Russia Alexander Voloshin
Parliamentary Delegation of Armenia left for Moscow for participation
in the 8th sitting of inter-parliamentary committee for cooperation
RA Foreign Minister receives the former head of the monitoring group
of the CE Committee of Ministers
*********************************************************************
RA PRESIDENT RECEIVED SECRETARIES OF SECURITY COUNCIL OF OACS
COUNTRY-MEMBERS
YEREVAN, November 30. /ARKA/. RA President Robert Kocharian received
secretaries of Security Council of OACS Country-Members, President’s
press office told ARKA. OACS Director General Nikolay Borduja
estimated Yerevan meeting as productive.
Press release said that the heads of departments on fight against
drugs also took part in the sitting. The parties discussed the
results of anti-drug operation Canal-2004. Kocharian paid attention
to close cooperation in given direction. L.D. –0–
*********************************************************************
TODAY ARMENIAN PRESIDENT RECEIVES CHAIRMAN OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF
RAO UES OF RUSSIA ALEXANDER VOLOSHIN
YEREVAN, November 30. /ARKA/. Today Armenian President Robert
Kocharian received Chairman of Board of Directors of RAO UES of
Russia Alexander Voloshin, as Armenian President Press Service told
ARKA. According to the press release, the sides discussed the issues
of Armenian-Russian cooperation in energy sector, particularly those
performed by RAO UES of Russia programs in Armenia.
To mention recently Midland resources officially declined the rumors
on sale of its shares in Electric networks of Armenia to Holding RAO
UES of Russia. The rumors were spread in relation to Deputy Chairman
of RAO UES of Russia Sergey Rappoport.
In Armenia RAO UES Russia owns Sevan-Hrazdan HPP Cascade, Hrazdan TPP
and manages financial flows of ANPP. In May 2003 the holding created
CJSC International Energy Corporation for management of Sevan-Hrazdan
HPP Cascade. Financial flows of ANPP are in trustee management of
CJSC Inter RAO UES – an affiliate of RAO UES Russia for 5 years.
Property complex of Hrazdan Thermal Power Station was transferred to
balance of newly created CJSC Hrazdan Energy Company. It Board of
Directors include representatives of Rusian Federal Agency for
management of state property, Russia Finance and Economy Minsitries,
Rosenergo, RAO UES of Russia, Rosenergoatom, Armenian-Russian CJSC
ArmRosgasprom as well as Armenian energy Minsitry. The financial
streams of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant was transferred with 5
years period to trust management of CJSC Inter RAO UES – affiliate of
RAO UES of Rusia (60%) of shares and concern Rosenerhoatom (40%).
T.M. -0–
*********************************************************************
RA FOREIGN MINISTER RECEIVES THE FORMER HEAD OF THE MONITORING GROUP
OF THE CE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS
YEREVAN, November 30. /ARKA/. The RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian
received Ambassador Pietro Ago, the head of the monitoring group of
CE Committee of Ministers. According to the Information and Press
Service Department of RA Foreign Ministry, during the meeting Pietro
Ago told Oskanian that the Italian Defense Ministry plans to hold a
seminar on regional strategic development and asked the RA Foreign
Minister to state Armenia’s position regarding the issues of Nagorno
Karabakh conflict settlement.
According to the press release, Oskanian acquainted the guest with
Armenia’s approaches to regional problems, especially focusing on
processes around Nagorno Karabakh. He also touched upon the process
of Armenia’ honoring the commitments to the Council of Europe.
Ago Group was founded in January of 2001 simultaneously with
Armenia’s joining the CE. It is involved in monitoring of honoring
Armenia’s commitments to the CE and functions in the framework of CE
Committee of Ministers. L.V.–0 –
*********************************************************************
PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION OF ARMENIA LEFT FOR MOSCOW FOR PARTICIPATION
IN THE 8TH SITTING OF INTER-PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE FOR COOPERATION
YEREVAN, November 30. /ARKA/. The Armenian Delegation headed by Vice
Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Vahan Hobhannisyan left today for
Moscow for participation in the 8th sitting of inter-parliamentary
committee for cooperation of the Federal Assembly of Russia and
Armenian National Assembly. As Armenian Assembly Public and Press
Relations Department told ARKA, the participants of the sitting that
will last until Dec 3 will discuss political and military cooperation
between Armenia and Russia, cooperation of parliamentarians of two
countries in parliamentary organizations and other issues. Chairman
of the Council of Federation Sergey Mironov and Co-Chairs of
Inter-Parliamentary Committee – the Member of the Council of
Federation Nikolay Ryzhkov, Deputy Chairman of eth National Assembly
of Armenia Vahan Hovhannisyan. T.M. -0–

SECOND HIGH VOLTAGE POWER TRANSMISSION LINE LAID BETWEEN ARMENIA AND IRAN
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 29. ARMINFO. The second high voltage (220 KV) power
transmission line between Armenia and Iran is to be launched Nov 30
2004, says the director general of the High Voltage Power Transmission
Lines (HVPTL) company Sahak Abrahamyan.
The 82 km line was laid on Iran’s $8.4 mln credit. Its capacity is 200
MW. The line connects Shinuar and Agarak towns in Sunik and is
expected to redouble electricity flows between Iran and Armenia.
The general contractor is Sanir (Iran), the client HVPTL. The project
is based on the energy cooperation memorandum signed by Armenia and
Iran in July 2002. The Iranian credit is to be repaid in electricity
supplies. Dec 1 the sides are to sign a memorandum to lay the third
high voltage line.
Sanir is also the general contractor of the project to lay the
Armenian section of the Megri-Kajaran 42 km gas pipeline. The work is
to be started Nov 30 2004.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

YEREVAN SEEKS FOR NAGORNO KARABAKH RESOLUTION WITHIN MG AND WITH THE
PARTICIPATE OF KARABAKH: ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 29. ARMINFO. Today the chairman of National Assembly
of Armenia Arthur Baghdassarian met with the advisor on international
issues at the Italian ministry of defense, ambassador Pietro Erkolle
Ago.
According to NA press services, the interlocutors discussed the pace
of fulfilment of Armenia’s commitments in front of CE. NA chairman
briefed on the current and future work. He mentioned that PACE has
twice adopted a resolution on Armenian parliament’s performance in
terms of CE commitments. The two also conferred on regional
conflicts. P. Ago informed that a special discussion will be held in
Rome in Jan on resolution of frozen conflicts, including Nagorno
Karabakh. NA chairman mentioned that Armenia seeks a solution to
Nagorno Karabakh conflict within OSCE Minsk Group and with the
participation of Karabakh. At the same time Armenia is against changes
in the conflict resolution formats. A. Baghdasarian said that Azeri
initiative to raise the question of Nagorno Karabakh in UN is not
constructive. In terms of conflict regulation, the sides underscored
deepening of democratic processes and integration into European
structures which will reform the societies in legal and institutional
terms. The sides agreed that Turkey’s more neutral disposition will
largely contribute to conflict regulation. The sides underscored
mutual contacts and discussions of issues with the participation of
different layers of society. The two also discussed other issues. -A-

UN postponed voting on occupied Azeri territories with Baku’s consent – official
Turan news agency
26 Nov 04
Baku, 26 November: The decision to postpone the voting on the draft
resolution on the situation in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories has
been adopted with Azerbaijan’s consent, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign
Minister Araz Azimov told reporters today, commenting on the results
of the discussions at the UN.
Azerbaijan had not set itself a task to have the draft resolution
adopted on the same day [24 November]. Our main goal was to draw the
attention of the international community to the “artificial” settlement
of Armenians in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories, Azimov said.
As for the voting at the UN, Azerbaijan can return to this issue
at any moment during the 59th session [of the UN General Assembly]
which will last until September 2005.
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have supported Azerbaijan’s proposal
to send a mission to the occupied territories to check the facts of
settlement. Meanwhile, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said
at a meeting in Berlin that Yerevan understands Azerbaijan’s concern
and will take measures. The Armenian side also said it is ready to
resume the talks at the ministerial level.
Azimov said that Armenia’s pull-out from the occupied territories,
the return of the internally displaced people to their homes, the
resumption of communications, as well as Nagornyy Karabakh’s political
status were discussed during the talks in Prague.
Asked which of the occupied districts will be liberated first, Azimov
said that Azerbaijan wants the seven districts surrounding Nagornyy
Karabakh to be liberated. However, it is impossible to do this in
one day, and the issue can be resolved stage by stage, he said.
As for the return of the Azerbaijani population to Nagornyy Karabakh,
Baku insists that Azerbaijanis must be returned to Susa District
and other settlements where they used to live. Baku believes that
the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities [of Nagornyy Karabakh] can
live together under international monitors until Karabakh’s status
is resolved fully, Azimov said.
The Armenians of Nagornyy Karabakh are citizens of Azerbaijan and
Baku is ready to grant them autonomy. Baku is ready to negotiate with
the Armenian population of Nagornyy Karabakh, but to this end “the
foreign occupying army must pull out and the Armenians of Nagornyy
Karabakh must recognize that they are part of Azerbaijan”, he said.
The Armenian community may join the peace talks within the OSCE Minsk
Group, but they may do so in parity with the Azerbaijani community
of Nagornyy Karabakh, Azimov said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CONSTRUCTION OF ARMENIAN STRIP OF ARMENIA-IRAN GAS-MAIN TO BEGIN SOON
RIA Novosti, Russia
Nov 26 2004
YEREVAN, November 26 (RIA Novosti’S Hamlet Matevosyan) -The ceremony
of launching the construction of the Armenian strip Megri-Kadjaran
of the Iran-Armenia gas-main will take place on November 30, reports
the Iranian embassy in Moscow.
“The construction of the 42kilometere-long strip of the gas-main 700
millimetres in diametre will begin in Armenia from the Megri-Kadjaran
strip,” said Levon Vardanyan of the Armenian Energy Industry
Ministry. Finances for the construction of the said strip will be
provided by Iran in accordance with the available agreements while
the remaining strip to Ararat and Yerevan will be built later.
The agreement signed by Armenia and Iran on May 13, 2004, provides
for the construction of an Iran-Armenia gas-main whereby Armenia
will receive 36 billion cubic metres of Iranian gas over a period
of 20 years, with 1.1 billion cubic metres a year, in exchange for
electricity.
The gas-main project with a length of 141 kilometres (41 kilometres
across the territory of Armenia and 100 kilometres across the
territory of Iran) is planned to be completed at the end of 2006.
Early estimates indicate that the Armenian side will invest about
$90 million while Iran’s share will be some $120 million.
The gas-main running from Teheran to Yerevan across the Megri strip of
the border between the two states will also enable transit deliveries
of Turkmen gas to Armenia via Iran.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Financial Times (London, England)
November 27, 2004 Saturday
London Edition 1
The night is always young: Having risen from the ashes of its dark
past, Pico Iyer finds Lebanon’s chaotic capital buzzing with
pleasure:
By PICO IYER
Iwalked through the streets of East Beirut on a Saturday evening, and
felt like a yokel suddenly transplanted to a cosmopolis. Sushi bars
and tapas bars, and a cafe where girls with glitter around their eyes
were deep in this month’s copy of Vanity Fair; boites bathed in blue
light, and cigar bars, and dance clubs that should have been in Soho.
Rap music was pounding out of the late-model Mercedes and BMWs that
jammed the narrow streets, and on every side couples were walking
towards the Che lounge, he in black leather jacket, with an air of
savoir-faire, she in high white boots, with midriff bare, reminding
one that Cleopatra more likely came from Beirut than from Cairo.
In the distance, I could see the heart of downtown Beirut, and
illuminated churches and boutiques and palm trees lit up as in a
museum display case. People were still buzzing in and out of the
huge, mock-ancient Virgin Megastore (open till 1am), and across from
it the spot-lit mosque seemed at once place of worship and unlikely
fashion statement.
I had heard, like many others, that Beirut keeps rising from the
ashes of its latest civil war, which ended in 1990, after 15 years,
with 150,000 dead. I had grown up thinking of the city as one of
those weathered places, driven by the worldliest of wisdoms, that had
managed to survive every change in political climate by bending to
the times and making a killing out of chaos.
But after hearing about Beirut’s reconstruction, I had thought
foolishly that it had managed to recreate the recent gilded past in
which Brigitte Bardot and Marlon Brando took in the sun in Byblos
nearby and the wealthy of the world sauntered down the Corniche, from
the Phoenicia Hotel to the Bain Militaire, in the city that provided
the entire Middle East with its nightlife and its dreams. I had never
guessed that Beirut, characteristically, would be trying to design
the future.
What I was seeing might have made New York or London seem retro by
comparison, fuelled though it was by something of the jumped-up
energy of a boy joyriding in his parents’ Porsche and determined to
take things fast because the escapade could end at any moment. The
parents, in this scheme of things, are history and geography, and
they have left Lebanon a tiny slice of a country, only three hours by
car from end to end, that is made for people from elsewhere.
Over the past 4,000 years the descendants of Phoenicia have seen the
Greeks, the Romans, the Assyrians, then the Crusaders, the Ottomans
and the Europeans, among many others, pass through, and been home to
the longtime exiles of Armenia, Palestine and Iran. For traders, this
all means opportunity; for the young it can mean severe rootlessness.
When I looked in on the American University of Beirut, I saw that six
students were putting on a play they had written called Fragments. On
the striking, ice-cool poster, they had written, “We are ourselves
geological sediments, left with no ancient concepts which will come
to our rescue”.
Lebanon’s way of coping with this absence seems to be to seek
pleasure and have faith in accommodation. When I got into the city,
at 3am on a wet winter evening, a red light beckoned down the steps
of the Godfather bar downtown, and the lights all around offered
Sushi Xpress, X-rated “super-night clubs” and a shop that said
simply, “Me and Me: A Life Philosophy.” When my Lufthansa plane had
landed, teams of smooth young men with designer stubble and expensive
jackets had shuffled off into the immigration hall, and in their
midst had stood a tiny blonde girl, no older than 10, travelling
alone with a Goldman Sachs backpack and a carrier bag from the
Ritz-Carlton Millennium Singapore.
I took myself down to the aged Mayflower Hotel, a monument to raffish
insouciance and resilience, and my dark room came with a love seat
and pictures of dallying French nymphs. The kind man told me not to
use the hotel phones, because they were expensive.
I e-mailed an old friend in California who had once taught at the
American University nearby, to tell him of my arrival, and he
e-mailed back that the Mayflower was where a colleague of his had
been found, with his throat slashed, during the war.
Beirut is not a beautiful city – or, rather, its beauty is that of a
Monaco or Macao, where shrewd developers have seen that they can
construct a time-share offering on paradise.
When you draw back the curtains, much of what you see is concrete,
whole forests of international style high-rises that almost block the
snowcaps in the distance, where you can ski, as the brochures always
boast, the same morning that you swim in the Mediterranean.
Adaptability, you could say, has become the central feature of the
city’s landscape. When I stepped out of the Mayflower my first
morning in Beirut, I was greeted by a man sitting on the pavement,
amid a blast of honking horns and construction cranes, placidly
taking in the day’s newspaper over his brioche and “Guatemalan
Coffee”.
Beirut at night may be a blonde in a mini-skirt sipping a water-pipe
in one of the lavish cafes downtown, but by day it is more like one
of the rumpled men you see shouting out numbers in English, French
and Arabic into a cellphone outside his money-changing stall. And in
the years that Rafiq al-Hariri, a construction tycoon, has been prime
minister till he resigned last month, he tried to yoke these two
sides together making of the city’s ruins a tabula rasa on which to
draft a vision of 21st century post-modernism. The Beirutis I met
often muttered that he was sacrificing history to theme-park in
building up a glittery display-city with the private company,
Solidere; after all, when I wandered across the street from the
trendy Hotel Monroe, I came upon a trade-fair from the Islamic
Republic of Iran, all dour looks and obligatory beards.
To get a clearer picture of the city’s recent divided past, which
could yet become its near future, I drove 20 minutes from the
downtown area of Starbucks’ and The Body Shop to the southern
suburbs, where cardboard-cutouts of Khomeini guard the streets, and
pictures of suicide-bombing “martyrs” promise revenge.
My image of the city was ultimately coloured by its taxi-drivers,
disarming, quick-witted and likeable, who drove me through the city,
offering me sips of their expressos as they drove or delivering a
gallant “enchante” as I got out. My very last evening in Beirut, I
looked for a cab to take me to the airport.
An aged Mercedes slowed down, and I walked into a blast of
heavy-metal music. “I’m sorry,” said the young driver, quickly
turning it off. “I am a Christian, so I don’t listen to the words
about the Anti-Christ. But the music helps me when I’m feeling down.”
Like many people in the city, he had a harrowing story of growing up
Palestinian in Saudi Arabia and driving a car now to put himself
through college. But like most people in Beirut, too, he seemed eager
to learn from his suffering, and there was no self-pity in his story,
only determination.
“Please, if you’d like me to change,” he said, turning the radio dial
down again, “I can. I know many people find this disturbing.” Then,
for the duration of the trip, he offered a definitive disquisition on
the difference between heavy metal, black metal and death rock.
“Thank you,” I said, when I got out, “for explaining this strange
passion.” He put a finger to his lips. “If they hear you talking
about this music, they will arrest you. For being a follower of
Satan.” Somehow, it didn’t seem quite a joke. Pleasure in Beirut is
never without its shadows.
Pico Iyer’s novel about Islam and the west, ‘Abandon’, is available
from Vintage (US). His next book of travels, ‘Sun After Dark’, is
published by Bloomsbury in January
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

How Kiev adds to bear’s sore head ;analysis
by Douglas Fraser
The Herald (Glasgow)
November 26, 2004
THE great Russian bear has a sore head, with the turmoil in Ukraine
simply adding to the nagging pain. Having watched its empire
disintegrate and economy crumble, it has found that the ability to
throw its weight around is strictly limited, and mainly to its near
neighbours.
Not only does it face the intrusions of an assertive hyperpower in the
US, but the European Union has become a much more serious player on its
border since eight of its former Warsaw Pact satellites signed up for
membership and shifted their political allegiances to far-off Brussels.
There is also other satellites lining up to join the EU, including
Bulgaria and Romania. So Moscow wonders: would a westward-leaning
Ukraine be far behind in the EU queue?
But being economically weak should not mean Russia, and its influence
on such as the Ukraine, should be forgotten. The coming issue in
geopolitics is energy security. Emerging economies, such as China’s,
are demanding more oil to fuel growth rates. Europe is looking beyond
declining North Sea reserves for its oil and gas, and, along with
America, everyone wants to become less dependent on the volatile
Middle East.
So the vast expanse of Siberia and the newly independent nations around
Russia are becoming ever more important to international politics
and economics. The key questions are who and which companies get to
the oil and gas reserves, and how they get them to the markets. That
brings together the tricky game of mixing diplomacy, multi-national
oil majors and pipeline supplies. At the heart of this question is
that Russian bear, still nursing a sore head and wanting to make sure
no-one is going to take it for granted, especially as the EU expands.
According to Brussels, the EU’s next era of diplomatic developments
will be to tie together the competing concerns of the 25 members.
While the western countries want to open up links to Russia, both
for their oil firms and to secure future supplies, the eight former
Soviet satellites want to keep Moscow at arm’s length.
America wants oil supply lines from the former southern Soviet
republics of Armenia and Georgia to be piped and freighted via a
route that by-passes both Russia and Iran. The key aim of any energy
security policy in the region is to leave options open, so that if
Russia turns off the taps then they can be turned on elsewhere. This
is not far removed from the US involvement in Iraq.
For hawks in Washington and Moscow, there is the easy familiarity
of a return to the cold war days, using client states and puppet
administrations to fight over this large eastern European and central
Asian turf.
The past Soviet policies of moving ethnic Russians into many of
its then client republics has left a complex politics of ethnic
tension in many, as with Ukraine. Its removal as the superpower
dominating the region has allowed local ethnic rivalries to threaten
instability. Ukraine’s tensions are only one part of a much messier
geopolitical battlefield.

The New FACE of Guelph
by NAOMI POWELL
Guelph Mercury (Ontario, Canada)
November 27, 2004 Saturday Final Edition
GUELPH
The first thing that struck Rodolfo Hennigs when he walked into a
recent salsa dance at Guelph’s eBar wasn’t the blasting horns or the
timba beats.
It wasn’t the scrape of the guiros or the flickering lights.
It was the dancers.
“There were Chinese people, black people, Vietnamese people –
everybody dancing the salsa,” the Chilean native said, opening his
arms up wide to describe the scene. “I couldn’t believe it. Guelph is
not the place it was 20 years ago. Just look around you. Everything
is changing.”
In the last decade, Guelph’s visible minority population has grown
from 8,340 people to more than 12,380 people – an increase of 48 per
cent, the latest Statistics Canada census data shows.
More than 50,000 people are expected to arrive in Guelph over the
next two decades, pushing the total population from 115,000 to beyond
the 165,000 mark. A significant portion of these new Guelphites will
likely be visible minorities – many of them new Canadians.
“This could be a spillover effect from Toronto,” said Harald Bauder,
a professor in the University of Guelph’s geography department.
Although many immigrants traditionally made their first homes in city
centres, the last 20 years has seen more new Canadians choosing to
settle outside the Greater Toronto Area where real estate is cheaper
and competition for jobs is not as fierce, said Bauder, who
specializes in immigration and labour markets.
“There is a trend of newly arrived immigrants arriving in the suburbs
of the city. I would not be surprised if they are coming to Guelph
now.”
Guelph’s growing industrial sector – where many new Canadians find
their first jobs – and the city’s proximity to Toronto, Waterloo
Region and Hamilton make it an attractive community to live in. The
University of Guelph is also an important draw because of its
renowned agriculture and food science programs, said Sheila Nicholas,
director of Guelph’s St. George School for English as a Second
Language Training.
“Many come for work, many come because they have family and friends
here,” Nicholas said. “And you can feel it in the city. When I was a
kid there was one Chinese family in town and they owned the local
Chinese restaurant. Now you walk downtown and you see Greek, Indian,
Afghan restaurants. There is so much diversity.”
The city has seen substantial growth in its Chinese, Korean and south
Asian populations, which have all increased by more than 50 per cent.
The Latin American population is one of the fastest growing groups in
the city – having swelled from 290 people in 1996 to 750 people in
2001, the latest available census data shows.
That’s an increase of 159 per cent – a phenomenal growth.
Spanish language masses are held every second week at St. Joseph’s
Church and, for the first time, this year’s Santa Claus parade
included a Latin American-themed float. It carried new Guelphites
from Guatemala, Colombia, Nicaragua, Argentina, Chile, Cuba and the
Dominican Republic.
“You can expect even more Spanish-speaking people to arrive,” said
economist David Foot, author of Boom, Bust& Echo, a study of Canada’s
demographic profile.
“Countries with the highest number of people in their 20s tend to
have the most moveable populations. In the 60s and 70s that was
southern Europe. In the 80s and 90s it was southeast Asia. Mexico and
South America will be the next place.”
When Hennigs first arrived in Guelph in 1981 “everyone was very
white,” he said.
“This city was a lot less colourful then,” said the 50-year-old, who
had married a Canadian before moving to Canada with her. “I felt very
different. And people weren’t as tolerant then. The first time I
heard a racist remark was in Guelph. I was shocked.”
Embarrassed by his limited ability to speak English, Hennigs found a
job at a leather tannery and retreated into a shell.
“In the factory I just worked, I didn’t have to talk,” he said. “That
was good because I was afraid of being laughed at if I tried.”
Hennigs eventually became a machinist, working in the trade until he
opened the Salsateria restaurant in downtown Guelph four years ago.
Although it took him a long time to gain confidence in his language
skills, he now loves meeting new people and sharing stories.
“Guelph is more welcoming than some places, but I still think there
should be more support for newcomers,” Hennigs said. “They need not
just material things. They need the emotional support.”
At the St. George School – where enrolment has grown from 100
students in 1984 to more than 1,500 in 2004 – students often act as
an informal support network.
“Coming to this school helps very much,” said Arusyak Abrahamyan, who
moved to Guelph from Armenia this year. “I’ve made some friends here
who are going through the same things as me.”
Like many immigrants, Abrahamyan arrived in Guelph only to learn that
her qualifications as a laboratory technologist were not recognized.
It was a shock for the 35-year-old mother of two, who says she was
told by Canadian officials that her knowledge would be a welcome
asset in the country.
“I get very anxious at times,” says Abrahamyan, whose husband is
doing post-doctoral work at the University of Guelph.
“I try to think optimistically but I even know doctors who are
working in factories.”
If the city is to take advantage of the breadth of skill and
experience new Canadians bring, it will need to provide the programs
necessary to support them, Foot said.
“These people bring linguistic skills to the table, they bring
cultural diversity. Let their expertise come forward and they’ll be
great examples for their peers.”
GUELPH FACT
The City of Guelph projects that more than 20,000 new jobs will be
created in the city in the next 20 years. About 46 per cent of those
jobs will be in the industrial sector, where many immigrants find
work.
AN ABORIGINAL MEETING PLACE
The aboriginal community is among the fastest growing groups in
Guelph, the most recent census data show.
The number of aboriginal people in the City of Guelph swelled from
540 people in 1996 to 830 people in 2001, an increase of 54 per cent.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” said Lois MacDonald, employment
development officer for Guelph’s Anishnabeg Outreach Centre.
“We are seeing more First Nations people coming here to escape the
high rate of unemployment and low rate of education on the reserves.
Mohawk, Onandaga, Ojibwa – they come from everywhere.”
Guelph is a historical meeting place for First Nations people who
used to trade their wares along the Speed River, MacDonald said.
“I think Guelph has always had a draw for aboriginal people,” she
said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress