New York Times Manitoba Immigration Article

New York Times photo:

The province has become an unlikely little outpost of multicultural living on the northern prairie. Winnipeg has four Filipino newspapers and a large Hindu Diwali festival.

Credit: John Woods for The New York Times

This weekend the New York Times has published a story on Manitoba's provincial nominee program. The story has a remarkable photo slide show that should be seen and read along with the captions.

The article written by Jason Deparle is a contrast article between Canada and the U.S. and it singles out Manitoba as a place seeking out immigrants and doing it successfully.

This experiment in designer immigration has made Winnipeg a hub of parka-clad diversity — a blue-collar town that gripes about the cold in Punjabi and Tagalog — and has defied the anti-immigrant backlash seen in much of the world.

As the article has pointed out, there is no political party in Canada that can be described as anti-immigrant.

One family is detailed in the story:

“From the moment we touched down at the airport, it was love all the way,” said Olusegun Daodu, 34, a procurement professional who recently arrived from Nigeria to join relatives and marveled at the medical card that offers free care. “If we have any reason to go to the hospital now, we just walk in.”

“The license plates say ‘Friendly Manitoba,’ ” said his wife, Hannah.

“It’s true — really, really true,” Mr. Daodu said. “I had to ask my aunt, ‘Do they ever get angry here?’ ”

The story refers to Winnipeg's lunch bucket blue collar feel. Guess they didn't get to the ballet.

However, you will find few articles world-wide that are so favourable about a Manitoba policy that has been in place since 1998.