Ethnic Diversity Increasing in Canada's Suburbs

"Richmond, once a sleepy rural district on the outskirts of Vancouver, has been transformed by waves of recent immigrants into a bustling new centre of urban growth. It has become a small satellite city that seems a world away from the old English charm of the Tudor-style mansions on the Vancouver side of the river.

What just over a decade ago was farmland in Richmond has been transformed into sprawling housing tracts, subtopian malls, industrial parks, condo towers and a flurry of Chinese-language business signs.

All of this growth has been driven by a steady flow of immigrants, mostly from China and South Asia. It's part of a national trend that is making the suburbs bigger, busier and more ethnically diverse."