A good article of how Winnipeg's hispanic/Latin American population is growing quite quickly:
Biz group for local Latin Americans
Community creates own chamber of commerce
By: Martin Cash
24/04/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0
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KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image
Juan Godiner (left) and Edgar Rascon, founders of LACAM, say the desire for success is a shared goal.
Edgar Rascon saw the growth of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Winnipeg first-hand and figured the city's Latin American community also needed something like that.
A longtime employee of an audio-visual company, Rascon set up equipment at events for other ethnic business associations over the years.
He believed the Latin American business community in Winnipeg could also benefit from that sort of networking support.
That was the genesis of the Latin American Commerce Association of Manitoba (LACAM), holding its first-ever trade show and forum in the rotunda of the legislature this afternoon.
Representatives from Latin American-owned businesses like travel agencies, financial planners, restaurants and web companies will be on hand.
Central and South Americans account for about six per cent of the province's total immigration last year, which numbered 12,000, with the Philippines, India and Germany representing the largest groups.
The number of skilled workers and entrepreneurial and business immigration to the province has been increasing.
Rascon, whose parents emigrated to Winnipeg from Mexico in the late 1960s, sold a rental property that doubled in value after six years and is starting what he says is the city's first authentic Mexican restaurant, called La Bamba, in Osborne Village, opening Monday.
"There may be some trust issues with some of the different nationalities within the community, but our common denominator is a desire to be successful in our careers," he said.
Tony Melendez, another LACAM organizer, whose family came to Winnipeg from El Salvador in 1984 when he was 10, said the people who came here in the first wave of immigration in the '70s and '80s can help those coming now.
"There are plenty of obstacles to overcome," said Melendez, a sheet metal worker with East Side Ventilation. "We thought we could get together and help the community through commerce. We are all workers -- whether we have a business or try to start a business, we need help in this community."
Among other things, Melendez said the organization's goal is to set up a Latin American credit union in five years. He realizes that might be ambitious, but said it would be a tangible aid to the expatriates here and a signal to the mainstream of its substance in the broader community.
LACAM also wants to establish a scholarship for Latin American students to maintain the tradition of ensuring the younger generation receives a good education in Canada.
The group is starting with modest means, holding its first public event at the legislature, where no fees are required.
And the group will be challenged in making a go of it.
For one thing, their numbers in the province are quite small and one longtime Winnipegger from Chile said there really is no tradition of Latin American national expatriates working together, because of national rivalries. Not only that, she said, there is not much of a track record among many of the Latino communities of helping new members settle in the city.
Ben Rempel, provincial assistant deputy minister of immigration and multiculturalism, said immigration from Central and South America to Manitoba may not be large, but has been steady.
"I don't think we should underestimate their presence here," he said. "They are important to the province."
In the last couple of years, the largest numbers have come from El Salvador and many of them are settling in Brandon, where there is work at the Maple Leaf Foods plant.
Rempel said efforts like LACAM, even if small, can have an impact.
"They can definitely fill a niche," he said. "It just takes one or two successful entrepreneurs from a community to really make a difference."
martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
Source:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/bus...-91997329.html