[LINK] Why so few immigrants on PEI?

[rfmcdonald]

CBC Prince Edward Island suggests why.

People move to Prince Edward Island for its quality of life but they leave if they cannot find work, says a new study on Island immigration.

Godfrey Baldacchino, the Canada research chair in Island Studies at the University of P.E.I., studied 320 people who moved to the Island from 1998 to 2003 to find out why they came and why they left.

The study found that most immigrants are in search of a better life, but if they leave, they do so because of a lack of employment. They also report that they feel discriminated against as people who come from away.

Baldacchino said it's no surprise that quality of life draws people but a lack of jobs sends them packing.

"The quality of life won't buy me food. I need to have a job, so the concerns at that point become what type of employment is available."

Baldacchino said it is a surprise that most immigrants to the Island come from other provinces, not other countries, and that the main source of new people for P.E.I. is Ontario.

According to the study, many immigrant found Islanders to be friendly but in a superficial way and they did feel as though they were treated as outsiders.

Baldacchino said one immigrant told him that she changed her name on her work tag to fit in better. "She put on an island name and that seemed to make a big difference because people started relating to her as if she were an islander."