RANT - Part 3: Xenophobia & the PEI Political Landscape

*WARNING* The contents of this blog post may include profanity, anger and frustration. The opinions presented are solely mine and admittedly are somewhat biased. You are encouraged to come to your own conclusions.

As we waited for a position to open up with Charlottetown Police, I began to notice what I can only describe as bizarre behaviour going on all around me.

I began to try to get involved in the community. I started to attend public meetings about local issues. On a number of occasions, I found that no one wanted to hear what I had to say when I tried to offer my opinion. Each time I would get up to speak, I was shut down by the others in the room who only wanted to know where I was from. It should be noted that these people wanted to know where I was from ORIGINALLY, because it was obvious to those in attendance that I was not a "local" as my opinions and views did not parallel theirs. On one such occasion, when I admitted that I was from Moncton, the response was: "Leave our Island, we don't want your kind here"! I wondered what "my kind" was? As far as I could tell, "my kind" was a born and raised Maritimer of Acadian descent, who can trace back family lineages to what is now Eastern Canada for over 400 years. Blew my mind.

Even when not expressing my somewhat progressive opinions about local issues, I still seemed to encounter some resistance among others who I met. On one occasion, I met a paramedic to whom I explained that I had previously worked as a dispatcher for ambulance in Ontario. Before I even had to opportunity to explain that it had been a part-time position to earn some income while I finished my PhD, this individual cut me off and very confrontationally said, "Don't ask me for information about how to get a dispatch job in PEI. We're not hiring outsiders. Good jobs like that are reserved for locals". This type of conversation also arose when discussing how my husband planned to apply for the next open position at Charlottetown Police. Again, I was very confrontationally advised that outsiders shouldn't be "coming in and taking all the good jobs away from locals".

Some of the contacts I have made in PEI's biotechnology sector have also noted that they have witnessed evidence of local bias. In fact, one person told me a tale about participating in an employment survey where they were chastised by a provincial government representative for recruiting the majority of their scientific staff from "off Island". I would argue that a provincial population base of only 140,000 doesn't have a whole lot of depth from which to draw candidates with highly specialized training.

Emigration in large numbers is the reality faced by many Eastern Canadian communities. But seemingly, no other province is being hit quite as hard as PEI. If the articles written for the Charlottetown Guardian or posted on CBC.ca are any indication, the province of Prince Edward Island is apparently haemorrhaging young residents. This past summer for example, local farmers were faced with a lack of labour force available to harvest crops because many general labourers are leaving for better paying jobs in Alberta. The Guardian reported that as the Island workforce continues to diminish, the province has no choice but to immediately turn towards immigration to compensate for a skilled worker shortage. By attracting young professionals to the province, the economy will benefit as these people will need housing, they will be contributing to the taxation-base and they will likely have children, adding to population growth. In my opinion, candidates being considered for jobs should be judged on their qualifications, skills and suitability for the job, and NOT based on the geographic region from which they originate. I think that hiring from "off Island" can both benefit the companies in need of skilled labour and benefit PEI natives by contributing to the local economy. But that's just my two cents.