David Suzuki Said What?

According to David Suzuki, Canada is full. There is no room for immigrants.

An article link from www.myvisasource.com lead to the National Post article by Josh Visser where David Suzuki was quoted saying, “Oh, I think that Canada is full too! Even if it’s the second biggest country in the world, our usable land is reduced...Our immigration policy is enough to make you sick: we pillage the countries of the south by depriving them of their future professionals and we want to increase our population to help our economy grow. It’s crazy!”

David Suzuki is an award winning scientist and environmentalist who is a third generation Japanese Canadian. He is respected by many and has captivated Canadians with his eco-friendly mindset and his environmental activist work. He achieved national fame through his television broadcastings as the host of the popular series, The Nature of Things and later in 1985 The Secret of Life. In 2004, David Suzuki was one of ten finalists for CBC’s The Greatest Canadian of All Time. He is definitely viewed in a positive light and well known to Canadians.

When Suzuki made the statement of Canada being “full” many were shocked to see this. I am honestly at a loss for words when I read that he said this. I have never seen any articles portraying David Suzuki in a negative way aside from this one. This just does not seem like something David Suzuki would say. As a respected person in Canada who shows in the media a lot, I feel David Suzuki should not have said this. As well, David Suzuki is known for his liberal and accepting views. A comment like this seems discriminating and unfair.

People want to live in the country from a mari usque ad mare – or in English the country from sea to sea, Canada, because it’s a beautiful, safe country that has many opportunities. Immigrants to the country bring a lot of things with them such as new skills and culture. Immigration is a good thing because it adds to Canada’s cultural mosaic, something that upholds what Canada is, and it also creates diversity in Canadian cities, but does David Suzuki have a point to what he is saying?

Suzuki backs up his reasoning as to why Canada is full by saying that our usable land is reduced, but what his comments are still quite baffling. Canada’s Immigration minister Jason Kenney is absolutely furious with David Suzuki’s comment, as are many other Canadians. Kenney claims Suzuki’s comments are “toxic.” Suzuki also explains that he believes the reason why Canada lets in immigrants is solely to increase the population in order to grow the economy. It is true that Canada has a low birth rate and a low death rate, keeping the population relatively steady.  

While he may have reasons to support what he said, here are 3 reasons why it’s shocking to hear the comment about Canada being “full”.

1. His grandparents immigrated to Canada

In the early 1900’s, Suzuki’s paternal and maternal grandparents came to Canada. It’s surprising to hear Suzuki say that no more immigrants should be allowed into Canada when his family came into Canada 3 generations ago.

2. He generally has liberal views

David Suzuki usually has very liberal views. He hopes for a “greener” Canada where its citizens are more eco-friendly. He reduces his carbon foot-print by not vacationing overseas, and also aims to hold web conferences opposed to actually travelling to conferences in person. One would believe that these liberal views would support immigration and promote lax immigration laws. These liberal views contradict the anti-immigration idea he mentions which is why it is surprising to hear David Suzuki saying that Canada is full.

3. He was a finalist for the Greatest Canadian

As a finalist on the hunt for the Greatest Canadian presented by CBC in 2004, he is well known to many and an icon in Canadian culture and heritage. This just goes to show the respect people have for him. He is supported and loved by many due to his work, and when he makes a comment like that, it takes everyone by surprise. Therefore, due to his popularity he should be welcoming and have an open mindset to immigrants and new Canadians. As a role model to many people around Canada, he should act in a way that others look up to. Saying Canada is full is a really harsh statement.  

While David Suzuki has his reasons to what he said about Canada’s immigration, he should be mindful of the repercussions of what he said. He is looked up to, and as someone whose family immigrated to Canada a few generations ago, his comment on Canada’s immigration seems almost inappropriate. Check out the article in the National Post at this link: http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/07/11/jason-kenney-slams-david-suzukis-immigration-views-as-toxic-and-irresponsible-after-environmentalist-says-canada-full/. What do you think of David Suzuki’s comments about immigration? Did you expect him to say something like this? 

Employee Evaluations: The benefits

It’s Friday afternoon. The clock strikes 4, and all the camp counsellors rush to get their belongings and leave work. “Stop right there,” – this is what is heard as a disapproval of dismissal from a supervisor. After working tirelessly for the week, everyone just wants to relax and unwind at home, not listen to some debriefing from a supervisor. It is almost forgotten that today is pay-day. Before the supervisor hands out the payrolls, everyone gathers in a community circle to talk about successes and failures of the week. After that, the supervisor hands out the plain, sealed envelopes, engraved with only names. As the supervisor hands out the envelopes, individual success and failures of the counsellors are made apparent to them.

This is perhaps the first form of employee evaluations that a teenager would experience. It is 10 years later and that teenage camp counsellor is out of college and has landed their first job. Now the employee evaluations are done online by companies such as Grapevine Evaluations (www.grapevineevaluations.com). Employee evaluations now serve as an important aspect of their job life because it’s more than just a form their employer fills out.

Employees may not see advantages to employee evaluations; however, there are many benefits to having employee evaluations. Here are some outlined below:

1. It lets the employee reach their full potential.

Let’s take Rob for example, who has been working in an office for the past year. In college Rob worked hard to achieve good grades so he could land a solid job. Rob was not so average in high school - he was involved in a plethora of extracurricular activities, but now lacks the zeal of getting involved in the workplace. He has a lot of potential, but he doesn't exactly know how to reach it in the work environment. Employee evaluations will help Rob reach his full potential by setting guidelines for him to follow. Now that Rob has guidelines to follow however, he can work at going above and beyond now that he knows where the bar stands. This will serve to both Rob’s benefit and his employer since he will be working hard which will please the employer, but also the employer will see Rob living up to his full potential and opening up doors for promotions and raises.

Employee evaluations will assist employees reach their full potential by allowing employees to see their faults and correct them. When people visually see what is required of them, they will work hard to achieve the standard, and once it has been surpassed, they will aim for the next big thing allowing them to reach their full potential.

2. Allows the employee to fix their performance problems.

Let’s take a look at Rob again. Rob is having difficulty meeting the company standards and does not get his work done in a timely manner. Rob is behind on all his work and has to stay after hours or take his work home to get everything done. Rob does not see this as an issue since the work is getting done anyway. An employee evaluation will help Rob see the problem and correct it before things get really chaotic.

Employee evaluations help correct problems before they even become a problem. If an employer notices an employee lacking in performance, an employee evaluation can help both the employer and the employee work on fixing the performance problem.

3. Allows the employee to set goals.

Rob received his first employee evaluation and realizes that everything mentioned on his evaluation is within reach. Rob decides he wants a raise. In order to do this, he must impress his employer and seek a promotion. Rob uses the employee evaluation to go above and beyond what his employer expects of him and is on his way to a raise.

Employee evaluations help employees self regulate. They allow the employee to set a goal and work towards it. This is extremely important in the workplace. Sometimes employees lose their ambition and drive for greatness, but an employee evaluation will help rediscover the ambition. When the employee is successful, they contribute to the success of the company. The goal-setting is beneficial in two ways. It benefits the employee by the rewards they will earn, but it also benefits the employer as they will have gained a hardworking, conscientious employee.  

4. Prevents the employee from getting fired.

Coming back to Rob, Rob wants to make sure he doesn't get fired and has a stable job for the next few years. Whatever he sees on his employee evaluation he follows every step of it religiously. As long as Rob has the job he’s happy.

Employee evaluations keep the employee in check with their circumstances and job conditions. This will benefit the employee as they know as long as they get a positive evaluation, their job is secured. A negative evaluation will give the employee a reality check, and the employee will step up their game to ensure their job is not on the line.

In all, employee evaluations serve dual benefits to both the employee and the employer by allowing the employer to reach their full potential, to fix their performance problems, to set goals and to prevent themselves from getting fired. This in turn helps the employer by having an employee who wants to succeed, and an employee who contributes to the success of the company.