Portrait of a city: bilingual, secure, the envy of others

The Ottawa Citizen
Oct. 5, 2006
Page B1

By Mohammed Adam

Posted with permission from the Ottawa Citizen.

With its vast open spaces, sound economy, low unemployment, and generally contented, well-educated and well-paid citizens, the portrait of Ottawa that emerges from the Community Foundation's Vital Signs report is one of a secure and thriving community -- but with some considerable fraying at the edges.

The nation's capital is a quintessentially bilingual city, with English at the core, but a French language and community that is thriving. Our city and rural character are the envy of others, and with 4,000 people living on farms, Ottawa's agricultural revenue is more than the combined total of Canada's five other major city regions. But the fault lines between city and rural are considerable, with most rural residents less enthusiastic about their quality of life.

Two-thirds of us work, and in the last 10 years, the number of seniors working has gone up -- to four per cent in 2005, from 2.8 per cent in 1995. About two-thirds of the workforce speaks English at work, while close to one-third speaks French. The immigrants who come to our city are often more educated than Ottawa-born residents, but the trouble is, they usually can't find work.

Ottawa is a green city, healthy and active, with more doctors and specialists than most Canadian cities. But our women don't exercise enough -- at least not as much as the men. We are slightly younger, and a good deal wealthier, than the Canadian average, and more of us give to charity than any city in Canada. We are good and caring, but not perfect, and overall, we have a lot to be proud of.

"If I was talking to somebody from another part of the world, or the country, and I showed them this report, they'd want to move here," said community foundation president Barbara McInnes.

"The physical environment is exceptional and the community is thriving in a lot of different ways," she said.

"But it is a city of dichotomy and we have to pay attention to things that aren't going well," said Ms. McInnes, acknowledging that the growing gap between rich and poor is a matter of great concern.

Of concern, too, is the increasing number of people who live on the edge of poverty and require help from food banks and shelters.

Abdirizak Karod, the executive director of the Somali Centre for Family Services, an immigrant advocacy group, says for many people, particularly immigrants who are struggling to feed their families for lack of employment or because they are underemployed, there is no joy in the report.

Ottawa's Vital Signs says the unemployment rate among visible minorities is about twice the figure for the rest of the population, and Mr. Karod says many immigrants live in a different Ottawa than the 86 per cent of residents who say their quality of life is good".

Ottawa is a very prosperous city, but for whom? There are a lot of people who are left behind. It is not prosperous for everybody," he said.

"If you are a doctor, engineer, teacher, nurse or any other profession from Egypt, Pakistan, Russia, India, Hungary, and you can't work in your profession, how can you stay out of poverty? How can you realize your dream?"

Mr. Karod says many professionals are forced to take low-paying menial jobs, trapping them in a never-ending cycle of poverty, and no one is doing anything about it.

"Take the City of Ottawa. They have 15,000 workers and I don't think even two per cent are visible minorities."

Visible minorities make up about 18 per cent of the city's population.

"As a professional, don't turn me into a cab driver or cleaner. Open the opportunity for everyone," he added.

Decent housing is an elusive dream for some. While the number of people waiting for subsidized housing fell three per cent last year from 2004, the price of houses has shot up. In the last 10 years, the average price of a single-family house has gone up 52 per cent, to $248,358 last year. Over the same period, the overall increase in consumer prices was 22 per cent.

Ottawa may be a green city, but we are also exhibiting all the problems of a growing city.

Round-trip commute times increased 14 per cent to 65 minutes last year, from 57 minutes in 1992.

Transportation expert Barry Wellar says the trend is for even longer times on the road. The good news is that the city's commute times are better than Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. While the report worries about our air quality, it is much better than others.

The largest number of smog alert days in the last five years came last year when there were seven. In comparison, Toronto had more than 30 smog alert days last year, up from 14 in 2004 and 12 the year before.

Ottawans consume too much water. Last year, average residential water consumption was 438 litres a day, down from 510 litres in 2001. But Toronto consumed 244 litres a person a day in 2004, down from 251 the year before.

Another blot on the city is the poor support for the arts. Among Canada's seven largest cities, Ottawa was last in 2003 for municipal arts funding at
$3.44 per capita. Combined federal, provincial and city arts funding also put Ottawa last at $10 per capita. Montreal topped the list with $46.
Toronto spent about $23.

The presence of federal government institutions, such as the National Arts Centre, the National Gallery and museums is a key reason for the poor arts funding, but Ms. McInnes says the city ignores arts at its own peril.

"Creative cities that support arts and nurture them are the ones that do well economically. We should not consider the arts expendable," she said.

© Ottawa Citizen 2006