Ethnie Resources, Opportunity Structure and Coping Strategies : Chinese Businesses in Canada

Abstract

Ethnic Resources, Opportunity Structures and Coping Strategies: Chinese Businesses in Canada Kwok-Bun CHAN The « transilient migrant » is the economic phenomenon of today and the typical migrant of the next era. A transilient migrant is resource-rich, well-endowed and skilled; as a facilitator of international trade, he or she crosses geographic and economic boundaries at will. Increasingly, they have become the prime movers of powerful economic forces. They who bestraddle both the East and the West, leading a « two-legged existence », with one leg in their country of origin and the other in a country of voluntary adoption, operate as cultural brokers, trade mediators and facilitators between the two worlds. The early Chinese immigrants tended to specialise in ethnic consumer products and later, in services like laundries and restaurants. In today's Canada, with the government courting business immigrants, the path trodden by earlier immigrants has become largely anachronistic. The 1988-1989 data on investor-immigrants in British Columbia shows that these Chinese immigrants — primarily from Hong Kong — topped the list in every category of economic contribution. A similar pattern is noted in Ontario, another popular destination for Chinese immigrants. They are now making inroads into the manufacturing and export sectors. In fact it is the Chinese immigrants who have revitalised Toronto's garment industry.