Underclass: even in countries that traditionally have welcomed immigrants, newcomers often are underprivileged and live isolated lives of hardship.(CITIZEN--BARRIERS)

Publication: Canada and the World Backgrounder

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COPYRIGHT 2006 Canada & the World

Language has often been a barrier to full participation in Canadian life. After the Second World War many immigrants came to Canada from Italy. They lived in Italian-speaking communities in Canada and lots of them were able to get by quite well without learning a single word of English or French. But, Italians were European and Christian and so fitted in with mainstream Canada.

Now, there are cultural and religious barriers as well as linguistic. The results can be catastrophic.

In France, for example, in October 2005 there were some fiery riots by immigrants who are tired of being treated as a permanent underclass. The riots started in Clichy-sous-Bois, a suburb of Paris, after two teenagers were electrocuted trying to hide from police in an electricity substation. Three weeks of violence swept across the country following the tragedy. About 10,000 vehicles were burned, 255 schools, 233 public buildings, and 51 post offices were attacked, 140 public-transport vehicles were stoned, and 4,770 people were arrested, according to the French newspaper Le Monde.

Clichy-sous-Bois is an area where 35 percent of the population is not ethnically French, and unemployment is 24 percent (compared with 10 percent nationally). Among young people unemployment is a staggering 40 percent in the poverty stricken suburb (compared with 23 percent on average). Residents say they...

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