Prince Edward Island to Indian Immigrants: "We're full.''

I’m glad at least one province is standing up for a modicum of common sense

Prince Edward Island (PEI), where my mother was born and I have too many cousins to count (I think I’m related to half the island), is Canada’s smallest province. With a population of just 176,00 and an area of 5,660 km², geographically speaking, it is somewhere between the sizes of Delaware and Rhode Island.

PEI is famously home to Anne of Green Gables.

The "Green Gables" house is one of the island's top tourist destinations.

PEI is also famous for having red dirt.

This red dirt is amazing for growing potatoes.

Potatoes are the main industry in PEI.

An economic impact study published in 2012 ^[5] notes that the potato industry is worth over $1 Billion (CAN) to the PEI economy each year, contributing 10.8% of provincial GDP. The potato industry also directly or indirectly employs approximately 12% of the provincial workforce.

Prince Edward Island is the most Scottish province, and perhaps the most ethnically Scottish place anywhere in the world outside Scotland. When combined with Irish and Welsh, almost 80% of islanders have some Celtic stock.

For centuries, PEI existed as a quiet, isolated Celtic farming community.

However, in recent years, it has seen a significant influx of immigrants from India, challenging the very essence of its cultural identity.

Before ~2006, international immigration to PEI was virtually nonexistent, but it has recently increased dramatically.

This has led to exponential population growth:

Which is driven almost entirely by immigrants and non-permanent residents.

PEI has a fertility rate of just 1.22 children per women!

PEI is not building enough houses for its exploding immigrant population, of course, with only 200-300 new housing starts every quarter:

As a predictable result, PEI’s apartment rental vacancy is the worst in the country. Charlottetown’s (PEI’s capital & biggest city) vacancy rate is a mere 0.5% — half of Vancouver’s.

This structural housing shortage has led to skyrocketing housing prices:

Which has filtered through to rent.

PEI has the fastest-growing rents in the country:

Beyond rent, PEI experienced the most severe broad-based post-Covid inflation spike in Canada, peaking at nearly 12% in 2022.

PEI is this pink line:

"We have seen in our operations here in Charlottetown an increase in people coming to our breakfast program, an increase in people coming to our food bank, and an increase of people coming to the home heating program … The biggest concern that people have is being able to afford just the basics in life. We're talking about food and housing costs, like home heating and clothing. People are struggling to be able to afford all of those basic needs. It's a bit of a sad state of our society right now where someone who, say for example, was making $60,000 a year and they can't afford to live."

— Lt. John Burton with the Salvation Army's Community Church in Charlottetown

In addition to the worst housing and inflation, PEI ranks dead last in wages.

…and has the 2nd highest unemployment rate, at 7.3%.

If PEI were an American state, this 7.3% unemployment rate would be dead last, more than 2% higher than the two states with the highest unemployment (Nevada: 5.1%, California: 5.3%).

Oh, and PEI also has the fewest doctors per capita.

The median wait time from arriving at the ER to being admitted to another hospital unit is 35.6 hours, more than double the national average of 14.7 hours.

P.E.I. has the second longest wait time for referral by a general practitioner to treatment, with a median wait of 55 weeks.

55 weeks!

Worst housing shortage, worst healthcare shortage, worst labor market in the country. Given these challenges, an influx of low-skilled immigrants is the last thing PEI needs. The challenges are already tough enough. More people will only make it harder.

Changes to the Provincial Nominee Program

In February 2024, the Premier of PEI announced a reduction in the number of international nominees for permanent residency in Canada through the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). These PNP permits are ostensibly for temporary foreign workers and students, but in practice, they serve as a backdoor for recipients to worm their way into permanent resident status.

With the new changes, the province will now prioritize healthcare, childcare, and construction workers, while deprioritizing food, retail, sales, and service workers. The focus is clear. Essential work comes first.

"I think it's about 215, 220 that have been allocated to the sales and service sector this year," says Jeff Young, P.E.I. Office of Immigration. ‘‘That is a significant decrease from past years when 700 to 800 service sector employees annually were granted a work permit … This year, the province of P.E.I. will nominate just under 1,600 people for the path to permanent residency, which is down from about 2,100,’’ says CBC News.

So — about a 25% reduction in permits, mostly concentrated in low-skill food service jobs. Hundreds of food service workers in PEI will not have their documents renewed, and will either have to leave or be deported.

It’s a start.

“PEI, like many jurisdictions, is faced with finding the right balance of welcoming new residents to our Island workforce and relieving the pressure population growth has on our increasingly stressed public services and infrastructure system. Whether it’s building more housing or having enough staff in our child care, education or health care system, we know that we need highly trained, skilled workers to grow these systems sustainably. That’s why the temporary changes we are introducing today on reducing our use of immigration nominations by 25% and ensuring the remaining nominations are aligned with key sectors will help balance skilled labour needs and allow sufficient time for infrastructure and services like health care, housing and early learning catch up to what our province needs.” 

- Premier Dennis King

Protests

The Indian community in PEI is not taking this 25% reduction very well. On May 9, they began protesting and haven’t stopped since. The next big protest is scheduled for tomorrow at 175 Richmond Street, Charlottetown.

‘‘The people of PEI will also be affected, because now they’ll have to wait 20 minutes for a cup of coffee.”

— Indian protester to the Hindustan Times

The protestors have 3 demands.

"We have three demands that we are focusing on," said Rupinder Pal Singh, a leader of the protest, who came to Canada from India in 2023.

"First, we demand to be grandfathered into the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) system because we were already here, working on valid work permits, before the new rules were implemented. It is only fair that those who were present before the changes be allowed to continue under the old system," Singh said.

"Secondly, we call for fair PNP draws without a point system. Recently, sales and services, food sectors, and even truckers have been excluded from the PNP draws, despite our hard work and contributions. We deserve the same opportunities as other sectors, and the current point system, which requires 65 points, is nearly impossible for those under 25 to achieve," he said.

"Lastly, we demand an extension of our work permits. Due to the government's changes and economic issues, our work permits were effectively wasted, causing many of us to lose our jobs. It is only fair that our work permits be renewed to compensate for the lost time and opportunities," Singh added.

The thing about demands… is that if you have no leverage, they are meaningless. What happens if your demands aren’t met? Oh, you’ll go on a hunger strike to the death? You’ll literally kill yourself?

"If any of our demands are not fulfilled by 16th of May, [if] we are not grandfathered, we are going to give this protest another name. This will be hunger strike to death," said Singh. 

Toothless threat—I put the chances of anyone starving themselves over PEI’s immigration policy at precisely 0%. Hunger strikes are all fake nowadays, I see headlines about them every week, but can’t remember the last time I actually saw a single person withering away. No Indian UberEats driver in Prince Edward Island is going to starve themself to death for their right to remain an UberEats driver in PEI. They just aren’t. It’s not a serious threat, and even if it were, fuck off, you don’t get to dictate immigration policy this way.

They gave the province a deadline of May 16th or else they would starve themselves to death.

So? It's May 22nd now, where are all the hunger strikes to the death?

As I said: toothless threat.

I can’t get over the arrogance and entitlement.

‘‘Meet our demands or we will kill ourselves!’’

Following their failed hunger strike, the Indian protests are now suffering a systemic problem with the male protestors harassing the female protestors As per the /r/PEI subreddit:

It’s worth noting that foreigners who participate in protests in India are promptly deported. For instance, a German student who recently joined a protest was put on a plane and expelled from the country on the same day.

A German physics student told DW he was asked to leave India by immigration authorities on Monday due to his engagement with student protests in Chennai.

Temporary work or study permits are just that—temporary. You come to Canada for the duration specified on your permit, and unless you qualify for permanent residency, you must leave.

Conclusion

In the first four months of 2024, Canada’s population grew 47% faster than in the same period in 2023.

This situation is absurd. This isn't healthy for Canada. It doesn't make any sense for one random country across the world to dominate all other countries as a source of immigration.

Even most immigrants agree it is out of control.

According to a new Leger poll, Southeast Asians in Canada are the immigrant demographic group most opposed to immigration, with 64% saying it is too high. Southeast Asians, Chinese, South Asians, and Filipinos in Canada each hold more anti-immigration views than white immigrants.

I’m glad at least one province is now standing up for a modicum of common sense. I say ‘‘modicum’’ because this is just a start — PEI offered 1,070 PNP slots in 2018, which doubled to 2,050 slots in 2023 — so this new 25% reduction to 1,600 in 2024 is still 75% higher than it was in 2018. But, it’s going in the right direction, and that is the most we can realistically hope for.