Up until about 4 years ago, I could comfortably advise family and friends who had plans to move to Canada that they had nothing to worry about. As long as they were okay with starting from scratch, manufacturing assembly line, customer care, and other "unskilled labor" jobs were readily available and offered a viable option for newcomers to sort themselves out as they settled in. Then, as a single person in Ontario, you could rent 1 room in a 4-bedroom townhouse for $450, afford weekly grocery shopping, phone bills, and even a drink or two on the weekends all from $13.50/hr. People with more responsibilities could support themselves by working multiple jobs.
Okay, so what does this have to do with rising waters?
For new developments to be approved, civil engineers spend a lot of time figuring out how certain intensities and durations of rainfalls will be effectively managed to avoid flooding the development and neighboring properties. Depending on the size of the land to be developed, they set aside a vacant area to be dug up and converted into a pond. This pond is designed to receive up to a particular category of rain. Runoff from these rains is collected at strategic locations throughout the development and conveyed through sewers to the pond. These sewers are designed and sized to be about 80% full during these rain events, and as long as the intensity or duration of rain does not exceed what the system was designed for, the water level will just rise and fall as the rains start and stop.
In the pond, the water level continues to rise as the rain intensifies, up to a level where it flows through an outlet and into a neighboring channel or water body. This outlet is designed to prevent erosion by reducing the velocity of water leaving through the outlet. This way, the risk of flooding is effectively mitigated. And through consistent maintenance efforts by Municipal Operations, this system continues to function effectively for decades.
But because nature is as unpredictable as it can be, we get really intense storms that last longer than these systems are designed for. When this happens, water levels in water bodies rise, ponds and pond outlets get submerged, and so do the sewers that convey runoff to the pond. Because runoff can't flow downhill to the pond anymore, it backs up and floods roadways, parking lots, backyards, and basements. Individuals affected spend time and money cleaning and mopping basements, cities spend more cleanring out debris from the streets, and insurance companies spend more replacing submerged vehicles under eligible insurance plans.
Immigration has had a similar effect on Canadian society in recent years. In the past four years, there has been more hardship for the average Canadian than they've experienced in the years prior. More people work multiple jobs now, just to maintain their lifestyle. Most of the second jobs being the typical "unskilled labor" jobs. And as more students and newcomers settle, the available "unskilled labor" jobs continue to dry up faster than new ones can be created. The new comers that are lucky enough to land a skilled job have a hard time keeping these jobs due to a whole different set of challenges.
Like the floods, those that can fit in the sewers get conveyed to the pond, and stay in the system without many issies. But those that don't fit, end up homeless, on the streets, or in people's sheds. Parks that used to provide that symbol of peace and serenity in cities are now packed with the tents of those that can't afford a safer structure to call home. Cities are now forced to spend more money implementing policies in an attempt to provide homes for as many of these people as possible, to clean up the streets.
As the hardship intensifies, food banks dry up faster than they can receive donations, because the donors don't even have enough to maintain previous rates of donations. Insurance premiums increase for certain brands of cars, because the rate of auto thefts have also increased. To cap it all, more college graduates are deployed into the job market than available jobs.
Newcomers with enough money, who do not need to worry about the living cost for the first few months tend to be least impacted by the hardship. They are more equipped to maintain their preferred lifestyle at any cost. They have no issues with rent, no matter the cost. So they maintain the rate of demand, regardless of the rising prices.
In these scenarios, it seems easy to point to immigration as the root cause. And while addressing immigration concerns could be part of a solution, I don't believe it is the recommended approach. I'll use stormwater management to help explain why.
Some of the factors taken into account to design an appropriate system of sewers to safely convey runoff to a pond are, the amount of water collected at strategic areas of the development and the velocity of water in the sewer - both of which are related to the size of the sewer and the difference in elevations from the intake upstream to the outlet downstream. The higher the difference, the faster water flows through the sewers, increasing the risk of erosion or damage to the sewers.
When the flows coming through the sewer are too large, designers can incorporate numerous techniques to reduce the velocity and rate of flow as required. They could increase the sewer size, reduce the difference in grades, or incorporate catch basins, oil-grit separators, or vortex systems along the sewer network to reduce the flow rate of water through the sewers at any time. Although the intensity, duration, or frequency of the storm event cannot be controlled, systems can be designed and built to ensure that these storms do not become a threat to public safety.
In early winter 2023, which was not one of the harsher winters, I learned of the death of an immigrant at a shelter. The word was that this person came from a tropical country and died from being exposed to the cold weather for an extended period. This must have been someone who had the dream of experiencing a better life, only to meet hardships harder than what they experienced in their home country. There are many stories of newcomers dying shortly after arrival due to the unexpected hardships they face. And with the increasing rate of immigration each year, there's a real chance more of these types of stories will be told.
What can we do to consistently integrate newcomers into various new communities, where we can contribute in our own capacity, to the values that make these communities appealing to us? How can our skills be maximized and improved to create a positive impact on these communities? How can we improve our systems and reduce the number of people on the streets? What systems need to be improved to better manage these rising waters? And how are we measuring our success?