The more than 18,000 people attending the PEI Association for Newcomers to Canada’s (PEI ANC) DiverseCity Festivals this summer are proof that the Island is welcoming a growing range of newcomer cultures, says Workforce and Advanced Learning Minister Richard Brown.
“DiverseCity Festivals celebrate multiculturalism on Prince Edward Island and enable Islanders of all backgrounds to meet and enjoy the diversity that the Island has to offer. Dozens of newcomers showcase the food, music and traditions of their home countries. The festivals also incorporate aspects of cultures that have existed on our province for much longer—including Mi’kmaq, French, Scottish, Irish, and Lebanese peoples, among others,” said Minister Brown. “With the attendance and participation we’ve seen in Charlottetown, Montague and Summerside, it is clear the Island is shaping itself into an inclusive and supportive place to settle and live; a place where Islanders support each other and value each other’s cultural backgrounds.”
The PEI Association for Newcomers presented Minister Brown with a statistical report Thursday outlining the success of this summer’s DiverseCity events. The report found 12,000 people attended the Charlottetown event June 28; while 2,500 attended the Montague event July 4; and 4,000 attended the Summerside event July 25.
Each event was supported by the host location, and featured representatives from dozens of cultural communities, including food vendors, stage performers, martial arts demonstrators, artisans, and information booths of various Island ethnocultural groups.
Craig Mackie, Executive Director for the PEI Association for Newcomers, said that over the past five years especially, there is a growing trend of newcomers staying in Prince Edward Island. He said that as more new Islanders stay, the community integrates, and becomes better able to welcome more new immigrants, and to help them succeed in making a new life on the Island for their families.
Mark Carr-Rollitt, PEI ANC’s DiverseCity Festival Co-manager, adds, “I have heard directly from newcomers at the festivals that they are staying in Prince Edward Island because they love the safe, environmentally conscious, friendly communities they find here – that this is the place where they would like to live and raise their families. Islanders know that this is one of the best places in the world to live and work, and newcomers are choosing to become Islanders because they feel the same way about this Province and this community.”
Minister Brown said the work of Islanders to build welcoming communities from tip-to-tip, and that of the Province to attract and retain newcomers, will lead to a stronger, more resilient, and more diverse Prince Edward Island. “The investments we make now in recruiting and settling newcomers to Prince Edward Island will pay off for generations as newcomers add their skills, knowledge, and ambitions to the fabric of life on Prince Edward Island,” said the minister.
The PEI Association for Newcomers to Canada’s report on 2015 DiverseCity Festivals is available at http://www.peianc.com/content/lang/en/page/front_news/id/132/DiverseCity-2015-Statistics.html