Migrants battle ‘fear of unknown’
Michael and Ceci Young decided to give their daughter a nontraditional Chinese name.
They gave her what they believed to be a more neutral name so as to not limit her future job prospects.
‘‘It was a very important point,’’ said Michael Young, on the release of a new report on Asian integration.
He wanted to ensure his daughter started life on an equal footing, he said.
Superu’s Families and Whanau Status Report 2016, which focuses on how New Zealand’s ethnic families are faring, said 81 per cent of Asian two-parent families with younger children had experienced discrimination.
They were more likely to feel uneasy about expressing their identities than other similar families of European, Maori and Pacific descent, the report said.
Young, now a preschool teacher, came to New Zealand from China in 2002 for tertiary education and the Kiwi lifestyle.
As a pizza delivery man, he put up with racist taunts and profanities.
Children yelled at him to ‘‘go back home’’. ’’I was worried about it in the early years and now it’s getting better,’’ he said.
He was optimistic his daughter’s experience, as a second generation New Zealander, would be different to his.
According to the report, 13 per cent of the 1.13m families living in
"I was worried about [racism] in the early years and now it's getting better." Michael Young, Asian migrant
New Zealand are Asian.
It said 68 percent of Asian families felt they could express their identity compared to 81 per cent of Maori and Pacific families and 86 per cent of European families.
About 13,000 migrants arrived in Canterbury for permanent or long-term migration in 2015.
Canterbury Migrants Centre general manager Henry Jaiswal said discrimination against migrants and refugees came down to a lack of awareness.
‘‘Kiwis need to understand what migrants are like and why they are here. If you look at it from a human level, it is the fear of the unknown.’’
He said discrimination was more prevalent in rural Canterbury. Suppression identity combined with language barriers contributed to the social isolation of migrants and refugees.
Jaiswal said social isolation was one of the ‘‘biggest challenges’’ for migrant families.
Overseas-born residents accounted for 20 per cent of Canterbury’s population in the 2013 Census. Of the overseas-born living in Canterbury, 27 per cent were born in Asia.
Statistics New Zealand figures found that in the year ended June 2014, 29 per cent of migrants arriving to Canterbury from Asia came from the Philippines.
Filipino man Hardy Caballef moved to New Zealand in September 2015 to join the rebuild and earn good money.
‘‘The place was so amazing, so I decided to bring my family here.’’
He disagreed Asian families were more likely to face discrimination and suppress their identity in Christchurch to integrate.
‘‘It’s not easy but if you want it, you can have it.’’
Vietnamese Society of Christchurch president Minh Lengoc said he had witnessed a shift in attitudes since he moved to New Zealand from Vietnam in 1975, but people still had a ‘‘long way to go’’.
He hoped tolerance of other cultures would become the norm as younger generations grew up in a more multi-cultural society and ventured overseas.