“请进”我对我的朋友说。他比我年长，大概60多岁。我叫他迈克尔，以代替他的真实姓名。他在King’s Landing 工作，那是位于加拿大东海岸新布伦瑞克省（NB省）的一个重建历史定居点。那是个美丽、古老的地方，到处都是花园、苹果树，古老的建筑和有数百年历史的文物。人们穿着百年前欧洲祖先的服饰——他们是北美真正的第一批欧洲大陆移民。迈克尔是我们家很多年的朋友，我们经常在一起共度周末。照我们家的传统，我和妻子会为来访的客人做晚餐。我和妻子爱做中国菜。我前天做了一道汤，那是我们做过的最好喝的汤，迈克尔也觉得不错，然后我和迈克尔坐下聊天。

我是自由职业的新闻撰稿人，有自己的写作业务。迈克尔问我写作业务进展情况时，我告诉他，我在给一个中文博客撰稿，雇我的人正在做新布伦瑞克省和多伦多的市场调查，目的是在弗雷德里克顿建立一家企业。迈克尔似乎对此感到不安，我问他为什么，他说“ 如果他们（中国人）开始在这里定居，那就不会停。” 这让我感到非常惊讶。作为新不伦瑞克省的人，我和“波兰人”、“美国人”、“中国人” 、“印度人” 一起长大。在新布伦瑞克省究竟有20个还是2万个中国人，我不觉得对我有任何影响。我无力的争辩说我们需要中国的资金促进经济发展，但这似乎没什么作用，我缺乏事实依据。

考虑到历史，也许这种对外来者入侵的恐惧对加拿大人来说是天然的恐惧。自16世纪以来，我们一直在殖民北美，取代土著文明，重塑国家以符合我们自己的想法和社会习俗，所导致的结果只能用“种族灭绝”来形容。也许因为我们对原住民的文明做了这样的事，所以无法接受自己有同样的命运？

我从没想过新移民会对原居民怀有敌意，更没想过我的社区会对新移民怀有敌意。但是现实不就是如此？我的朋友，我尊重他个人和他的意见，但他居然有对于外来人口入侵的恐惧。由此我想到一个问题：在新不伦瑞克省究竟有多少人像我一样看待移民这个问题，多少人像我朋友一样？我开始寻找答案。

我在创业中心工作，那是一个公共办公空间，弗雷德里克顿的商业人士聚集在这里工作。在同一栋楼里是一个小型办公室，致力于帮助新移民创办企业。在这里，每个人并肩工作，没有任何偏见。我在这里结识了很多来自新布伦瑞克省本地、巴基斯坦、印度和中国的朋友。当我开始询问有关中国移民的问题时，我注意到多数新布伦瑞克省的人对这个问题有些紧张。大多数人都对中国人搬到这里持积极态度。我的同事Ray经营着一家数据公司，当我告诉他我的一个朋友认为“ 一旦他们（中国人）开始来到这里，他们就不会停止。” Ray困惑的回答说：“他们不是已经来了吗？” 尽管大部分人不愿意表达意见，但我没再碰到像我朋友迈克尔一样的偏见。

为了收集更多的观点，我采访了弗雷德里克顿的人口增长专家Nausheen Ali。“我会告诉你一些关于加拿大政府为什么邀请移民的背景。” 她在办公室说。“出生率难以弥补死亡率……事实上，2015年的数据表明，死亡人数超过了出生人数，所以为了确保全省的正常运转，确保经济正常运转，这里需要人。”我熟悉Nausheen的这种说法。我从很多人那里听说过，这里没有足够的年轻人留在本省以接管待出售的商业。

这种对移民的支持是加拿大多数人怀有敌意的原因。用Nausheen的话说：“他们认为移民接管了他们的重要资源，政府支持移民而不是当地人……所以他们当然会变得敌对。”

这种敌意可以理解但毫无根据。新不伦瑞克需要新的技术工人已经成为基本常识。自迈克尔坐在我的餐桌旁喝着汤，表达他对中国人的担忧，已经过去了两个月。当我开始工作时，我听到了广播电台与新布伦瑞克省多元文化委员会主席Moncef Lakouas的采访，他指出移民是我们保持经济活力的最大希望。他说，为了填补新布伦瑞克省人员流失造成的劳动力短缺，我们每年需要大约7500名新移民。虽然这看起来似乎并不多，但请记住，新省的人口稀少，最终选择在这里定居的人口更少。

“每年有大约250万人申请来加拿大，我们谈论的是高技能工人。现在，新布伦瑞克省能得到大概4000人，我们的留存率约为70％，”Lakouas说。但移民，无论是学生还是商人，都为我们的国家带来了投资，而且 ，幸运的是， 大多数新布伦瑞克人似乎都明白这一点。

如果你来到新不伦瑞克省，你大概不会立刻感受到任何敌意，但它就在那，而且很微妙。几个月前，我去到一家商场的电脑销售部。一个自行车骑车手穿着印有摩托车俱乐部徽章的皮夹克站在展示电脑前。一个商场的员工试图向这个自行车手推销电脑。根据这个店员的口音，我断定他是个“中国人”。这位中国店员的英文还说得过去，但他显然在费力解释这几种不同型号电脑之间的差异。这个场景引起了我的注意，因为似乎有什么地方不对劲。这个骑车人的言语傲慢，他对待中国店员说话的态度就像对待一个小孩。

经过观察，我觉得骑车人根本不想买电脑，他只是在向一个移民挑衅。对那个店员来说，他的英文程度有限，加上他对外国文化模糊的理解使他完全没办法为自己说话，因此他只能简单的展示他的电脑，并极为耐心的忍受对方的不尊重。

我在一边观察，但想不出办法介入。我生气的离开了那家店。后来我想，其实当时也许我可以装作感兴趣，并且一起来听那个店员对于电脑的讲解。“对不起” 我可以说 “我也想了解一下这些电脑”。至少那样可以让那个骑车人有所收敛，没准儿他就会走了。

这种行为并不常见。但作为新布伦瑞克省人，白人男性新省人，我对于移民是否经常遇到歧视几乎完全没概念。Vikram，一个在开发为老年人提供服务的手机应用程序的印度人，他说他没遇到过歧视。Nausheen也没遇到过。

自迈克尔表达他的仇外情绪以来，已经过去了好几星期。我想知道我生活的地方是否仍大体上对外地人友好。虽然新不伦瑞克省被认为是友好的地方，但我看到了美国种族主义力量的聚集，所以我担心我的家乡。然后我遇到了一位女士，她的故事给了我所需要的视角。

露露来自青岛。她2010年来到新省，她的丈夫，一名电气工程师很幸运的找到了大学的工作机会，与知名教授Liuchen Chang一起工作——这意味着他的丈夫在工作中不需要用英语。三年后，合约到期，露露和她的丈夫搬到了温哥华。在那里露露开始学习英语同时兼职做美容师。这并不容易。她需要照顾两个孩子而她的丈夫在100公里外的Chilliwack工作。她全职学习英语，周末工作，每天晚上继续学习提高英语水平。当她的英文水平达到要求，她就去修读了美容课程——在加拿大一所学校（温哥华社区学院）拿到了认证文凭。虽然此后她的情况有所改善，但温哥华跟新省完全不同。

据露露说，在温哥华，“人们对中国人并不太友好。例如，没人帮你推着门。” 虽然对上海或北京人来说这普遍缺乏友善的感觉还可以忍受，但遗憾的是事情没有就此止步。“我永远不会忘记那天。我们在麦当劳，我试着为孩子们点餐，那个菜单很长，我试着点单，女店员站在我面前让我根本看不到菜单。我对她说对不起我需要看看菜单”。女店员并不理会继续挡着她，导致露露没办法点餐。旁边的客人看不下去问女店员为什么挡着，导致她恼羞成怒说了句“愚蠢的中国人”。露露说“这让我很伤心。我跟丈夫商量后决定在2016年搬回新省。”

当我问露露是否新省更好时，她毫不犹豫的说“ 这里的人们会为你开着门，即便互相不认识也会打招呼，感觉很不一样。在这里你觉得自己被尊重，在温哥华没有。” 她还回忆起她对弗雷德里克顿的第一印象 。“当时我们刚移民到加拿大，我们在这没有朋友。我们租了个公寓，我们没有家具，什么都没有。第二天一早，我打开门，门口放着一个大盒子里面有新鲜的面包，一大碗土豆泥和肉，他们写了一张卡片：欢迎来到我们的社区。”

现在露露在弗雷德里克顿市中心拥有自己的水疗中心。那是一个美国特许经营连锁品牌，她在前业主退休的时候接手的。目前为止，她的生意很好，她的客人都很喜欢过来光顾她的生意。

作为一个新省人，听到这个故事是种解脱。这个世界到处都是仇外的社区和社会，他们认为“如果别人跟我们不一样，那么我们就不欢迎。”我一直认为我的家乡是个友善的庇护所，而且我可以说，它的确是的。

我在撰写本文时，与许多新省人交谈的过程中，了解到了一些人提出了建议。Levi Lawrence，我曾经的老板，一个商业顾问建议说：“给新移民的一个建议，尤其是韩国和中国移民，最重要的一件事就是融入加拿大社区。如果你来到这里只是参与华人社区，那你就不会学习语言或文化，也不会建立联系，结交朋友。

一个越南人，Kinh Huynh，他在弗雷德里克顿拥有一家UPS店，他说“我必须跟所有人交流，只是越南社区还不够。”

对于计划移民加拿大的人另外一条非常重要的建议是，你过去的履历未必被加拿大接受。这并不是说你不能把它们写在简历上，但对于专业的就业市场来说，需要相关职业证书才能进入。这对新移民来说是个巨大的障碍，在申请移民时很多人没有关注到这种障碍。

Moncef Lakouas的家庭遇到了类似的问题。“我的妻子是麻醉师，她在新省已经居住了一年，但她一直无法执业。她被告知必须从头开始。我认识的很多人都面临着这样的障碍”。事实上，我为这篇文章采访过的每一位新移民都遇到了类似的问题。来自越南的Helen拥有会计证书，但未经重新认证就无法在加拿大执业。同样适用于来自巴基斯坦的Nausheen，其人力资源证书未被接受（她很幸运能找到一份不依赖她证书的工作）。即使是在中国训练有素的美容师露露也不得不在温哥华学习相关课程，然后才能在自己的领域工作，并最终开创自己的事业。 Lakouas说：“作为一个社区，我们必须能够共同努力解决这个问题。”

这条建议，超过了以上所有建议，是最重要的。如果你有中国的职业证书，很有可能在加拿大是没用的。但因人而异，所以我有理由相信这些限制将会发生改变。与此同时，新移民也需要采用创造性的方式工作。Kinh Huynh曾是越南的顶级商业主管，他买了一家UPS商店，因为他不想从底层开始，做体力劳动。露露，当她刚来加拿大时，做过一段时间厨师助理。

Lakouas 也有相似的经历：“我在农场工作过，我也洗过盘子。这没什么，这是生活的一部分，它能锻炼你。但是新移民必须满怀希望，就像其他新省人一样相信未来会更好……如果他们有能力和强烈愿望为该省作出贡献，作为社区我们可以提供相应的空间让他们发展。”

来加拿大的任何一个社区都其实都是一个挑战。你经常需要从零开始，而且几乎都有对外来移民的偏见。然而在新不伦瑞克省，这里温暖好客，社会偏见相对较少。虽然我不能代表整个加拿大，但我可以肯定的说，在新布伦瑞克省，或者在东海岸的任何地方，尽管有不友善的极少数，但你仍然会受到欢迎和尊重。

英文版：

“Come in,” I say, and my friend obliges. He is older than me, well into his 60s. I’ll call him Michael: an alias to preserve his anonymity. He works at King’s Landing, an historical re-creation of an English settlement in 纽宾省 on Canada’s east coast. It’s a beautiful, ancient place, full of gardens, apple trees, buildings and artifacts hundreds of years old, full of people dressed in the clothing of our European ancestors, the first true immigrants to North America. Michael, a long-time friend of my family, comes to visit us on many weekends. As is our tradition, my wife, Terri, and I feed him supper when he comes to visit. 我和我的妻子爱做中国饭. I had made a miso soup the day before, one of the best miso soups I have ever made, and settling down to the table for a conversation, Michael accepts the soup gratefully.

I own a writing business where I do freelance work businesses and some journalism. When Michael asks how the writing business is going, I said I was writing for a Chinese blog (必都), and that the man employing me was conducting market research in 纽宾省 and in Toronto with the goal of starting a business here in Fredericton. My friend seemed troubled by this, and when I asked why, he said “If they (中国人) start settling here, they’ll never stop.” That surprised me. As 纽宾省人, I’ve grown up with 波兰人， 美国人，中国人，印度人. Whether there are 20 or 20,000 中国人 in New Brunswick, never made any difference to me. I made some feeble arguments about needing Chinese revenue for economic growth, but could produce no heroic response. I did not have the facts.

Maybe a fear of invasion is natural fear for 加拿大人, considering our history. Since the 1500s, we have been colonizing North America, displacing the indigenous civilizations and reshaping the country to conform to our own ideas and social practices, resulting in what can only be described as genocide. If we did this to the other civilizations living here in North America, might we not expect that the same could happen to us?

I’ve never thought of newcomers as hostile toward my people. I’ve never thought of my community as hostile to newcomers, either. But is it? This friend of mine, a friend that I respect and whose opinion I value, he has this fear of invasion. Therefore, now I have a question: how many people in 纽宾省 think like me, and how many people think like my friend? I began to search for an answer.

I work at an entrepreneurial hub. It’s an office space where business people from Fredericton get together and work on projects. In the same building is a smaller office devoted to helping immigrants start businesses. Here, everyone works side-by-side, and there is no prejudice. I have made friends from 纽宾省, Pakistan, India, and many from China. When I begin asking questions about Chinese immigration I notice that 纽宾省人are mostly nervous to talk about it. Most people are vaguely positive about the idea of Chinese people moving to 纽宾省. My co-worker, Ray, who runs a data business, was puzzled when I told him that someone I knew said “Once they start coming here, they won’t stop,” and responded “aren’t they coming here already?” In spite of a general reluctance to speak, I wasn’t encountering the same prejudice that I discovered in my friend, Michael.

To gain perspective, I interviewed Nausheen Ali, a population growth specialist in Fredericton. “I will give you a little background about why the government of canada invites immigrants,” she said in her office. “The birthrate is not high enough to cover the loss of lives... In fact, the 2015 numbers showed that the number of deaths are more than the number of births, so of course to make the province work, to make the economic machinery work, they need people here.”

I’m familiar with Nausheen’s line of reasoning. I’ve heard from many people in this business community that there aren’t enough young people staying in our province to take over for business owners who are selling their businesses. This support to immigrants is part of the reason why many in Canada feel hostile. In Nausheen’s words: “They think the immigrants come and take over the resources that are meant for them, and that the government supports the immigrants but not the locals... So of course they get hostile.”

This hostility is understandable, but unfounded. New Brunswick needs new skilled workers, and now it’s becoming common knowledge. It’s been about 2 months now since Michael, sitting at my table eating miso soup, expressed his worries about Chinese. As I pull into work, I hear an interview on the radio with the president of the 纽宾省 Multicultural council, Moncef Lakouas, who points to immigration as our best hope to keep our economy alive. He said that to fill the gap left behind by 纽宾省人 leaving the workforce, we need about 7500 newcomers per year. While that may not seem like much, remember that 纽宾省 is sparsely populated, and far less people are settling here than that.

“There are about 2.5 million people applying to come to Canada every single year, and we’re talking about high-skilled workers. Now, 纽宾省 is getting about 4000 people and our retention rate is about 70%,” says Lakouas. But immigrants, whether they are students or business people, bring investment to our country, and – fortunately – most 纽宾省人seem to understand that.

If you come to 纽宾省, you probably won’t see any hostility right away, but it’s there, and it’s subtle. Months ago, I was at a department store where they sell computers. There was a biker wearing a leather jacket emblazoned with a motorcycle club insignia standing at a display of laptop computers. There was an employee trying to advise the biker on computers. By his accent, I concluded he was Chinese. The Chinese man’s English was passable, but he was struggling to explain the differences between each model of computer. The scene caught my eye because it seemed like there was something wrong. I noticed the biker’s voice was full of condescension. He spoke to the Chinese clerk as though he were speaking to a child.

After observing for some time, I concluded that the biker was only looking at laptop computers because he wanted to antagonize an immigrant. For that clerk, so limited in his English, and at the ambiguous mercies of a foreign culture, there was nothing he could do to stand up for himself, so he simply showed the biker the computers, one at a time, and patiently endured the man’s disrespect.

I watched, but I couldn’t think of a way to approach the situation. I left the store angry. It wasn’t until later that I thought perhaps I could have feigned an interest of my own and joined the biker in listening to the clerk explain each model. “Excuse me,” I could have said, “I’d like to hear about these computers, too.” And at least then, it would have made the biker more self-conscious. He may have gone away.

I don’t see this behaviour often. Hardly ever. But as a 纽宾省人, a white male 纽宾省人, I have almost no idea of how often immigrants encounter prejudice. Vikram, an Indian who is developing an iphone app that provides services to senior citizens, says he has not encountered prejudice. Neither has Nausheen.

Many weeks have passed since Michael expressed his xenophobia. And I still wonder if I’m living in a place that is generally friendly to outsiders. Though 纽宾省 is considered friendly, I see racism gathering force in 美国, and I wonder about my home. Then I met a woman whose story gave me the perspective that I needed.

Lulu is from 青岛. She came to 纽宾省 in 2010, and her husband, an electrical engineer was lucky enough to find a job with the University working with award-winning professor, Liuchen Chang: a job for which her husband needed no English. 3 years later, when the contract ended, Lulu and her husband moved to Vancouver, and there she studied English while working part time as an esthetician. It was not easy. She took care of two children while her husband worked in Chilliwack during the week, 100 km away. She studied English all day, and worked on the weekends, and steadfastly improved her language at nights. Once her level of English had improved, she was able to take an esthetician course, and re-certify herself with a Canadian school (Vancouver Community College). Though her situation was improving, Vancouver was not at all like 纽宾省.

In Vancouver, according to Lulu, “people aren’t really nice to Chinese. For example, no one will hold the door for you.” Though a general lack of friendliness might be a tolerable burden for someone from Beijing or Shanghai, sadly it didn’t stop there. “I never forgot the day. We were in McDonalds. I tried to order food for my kids. There is a big menu. I tried to order, the lady tending the cash stood in front of me so I couldn’t see. I said ‘excuse me I’m trying to see that,’” The cashier paid no attention to Lulu, but instead continued to stand in the way so that Lulu could not see the menu to order. Some other patrons at a nearby table spoke up, asking the cashier why she was standing in the way, and she got angry, making some remark about “Stupid Chinese” “This broke my heart,” said Lulu “I talked to my husband and we decided to move back to 纽宾省 in 2016.”

When I ask Lulu about whether it is better in 纽宾省, she does not hesitate. “People here will hold the door. They say hi even though you don’t know each other. Quite different. You feel you’re being respected. In Vancouver, no.” She also recalls her first impression of Fredericton. “When we first immigrated to Canada, we don’t have any friends here. We leased an apartment. We don’t have furniture, we don’t have anything. The second day, in the morning, we opened the door, and there was a big box has fresh bread, a big bowl of mashed potato with meat, and they wrote a card that says ‘welcome to our community.’”

Lulu now owns her own spa in downtown Fredericton. It’s an American-owned franchise that she took over when the former owner retired. So far, business is great, and her customers are very happy to be doing business with her.

As 一个纽宾省人, hearing this is a relief. The world is full of communities and societies who are xenophobic, who have the opinion that “if they are not like us, then we don’t want them.” I’ve always thought of my home as a friendly sanctuary, and from what I can tell, it is.

While speaking to the many 纽宾省人that it took to write this article, some offered advice. Levi Lawrence, a business advisor who used to be my boss in a local kitchen says “One thing that we’re telling newcomers, especially people from Korea, people from China is that they need to reach out to the Canadian community. If you come here and you’re only involved in the Chinese community, then you’re not learning the language or culture, you’re not making connections, making friends.”

One Vietnamese man, Kinh Huynh, who now owns a UPS store in Fredericton observed “I have to talk to everyone. The Vietnamese community is not enough.”

Another piece of advice that is very important for people planning to immigrate to Canada is to keep in mind that your credentials may not be accepted here in Canada. This doesn’t mean you can’t put them on a résumé, but for professions where certifications are required for entry into the job market, this is a significant barrier for newcomers, and one that is often not mentioned when people apply to immigrate to Canada.

Moncef Lakouas had this problem within his own family. “My wife is an anesthesiologist and she’s been living in 纽宾省 for about a year and she is not able to practice. She was told that she has to start from the beginning. A lot of people that I talk to are a facing the same gap...” Indeed every newcomer that I have interviewed for this article has faced the same problem. Helen from Vietnam, has an accounting certificate, but cannot practice in Canada without re-certifying. The same goes for Nausheen from Pakistan whose HR credentials were not accepted (she was lucky enough to find a job that did not depend on her credentials). Even Lulu, who was a trained Esthetician in China, had to take a course in Vancouver before she could pursue work in her field and finally open her own business. Lakouas says “We have to, as a community, be able to work together to be able to tackle that.”

This advice, above all else, seems to be the most important. If you have a certification in China, it’s probably no good in Canada. But we personnel. So there is some reason to think that this restriction will change. In the meantime it has required newcomers to take a creative approach. Kinh Huynh worked as a top business executive in Vietnam. He bought a UPS store because he didn’t want to start from the bottom, doing menial labour. And Lulu, when she first arrived, while her husband worked at the university. spent her evenings as a Chef’s assistant.

Lakouas has had this experience also: “I’ve worked at farms myself, and I’ve washed dishes. That’s okay, that’s part of life and it forges the person that you become. But ... newcomers have to have hope just like any other 纽宾省人that the future could be brighter… that if they have the competencies and the burning desire to contribute to the province that as a community that we are allowing them to do so...”

Coming to any community in Canada is a challenge. You frequently have to start from zero, and there is prejudice toward outsiders almost everywhere. However, in 纽宾省, social prejudices relatively few compared to the warmth and hospitality you can find here. I can’t speak for all of 加拿大，but I can say for certain that in 纽宾省, or really anywhere along the East Coast, in spite of an unfriendly minority, you will be welcomed and treated with respect.

声明：版权归原作者所有，诚意分享，如有侵权，请联系小编，我们会第一时间处理。