In the last few years, as Canada has rushed to welcome millions of immigrants, cities and towns across the country have been overwhelmed by the influx. That is perhaps especially true in once-sleepy Charlottetown, P.E.I. which has recently experienced the highest per-capita immigration rate of any Canadian urban region. The Anne-of-Green-Gables-obsessed monoculture has turned into a multicultural metropolis.
Alex Cyr, who grew up near Charlottetown, has written for Maclean’s a fascinating portrait of a city he says is now “buckling under the stress of its ultra-fast growth.” Housing is hard to find, doctors aren’t taking new patients and there’s a growing homeless population. How did this happen? Cyr lays it all out.
In the run up to Canada Day, Maclean’s is publishing a series of stories on immigration, including Cyr’s powerful investigation of a tiny island under great demographic pressure. His Charlottetown story is a microcosm for what’s happening across the country and a terrific piece of journalism.
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–Sarah Fulford, editor-in-chief
