'It's very fast and exciting': Chinese immigrant shares love of Canada's game
Roland Liu sponsors the Charlottetown Islanders and hosts members of the Chinese community
Roland Liu is crazy about hockey — and about the Charlottetown Islanders.
Liu emigrated to P.E.I. four years ago from Beijing.
He attended his first Islanders game towards the end of the 2014/15 season. He was hooked from the opening faceoff.
"I like everything," he said. "The power play, fighting, time outs, quick substitutions. It's very fast and exciting."
Liu, who operates a local tour business, regularly hosts families from China at games to see if they might be interested in emigrating to P.E.I.
'Local traditional culture"
"Most people who come to P.E.I., only stay here for a year or so, then quickly move to Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal," he said. "We need to change that. We need culture to attract newcomers."
Liu jumped on board as a sponsor of the QMJHL club this season, hosting as many as 400 visitors at a game.
Hockey, he said, is an easy way to introduce newcomers to Canadian culture.
"People from China need to get involved in local life," he said. "We need to do business with local people. We also need to learn some local traditional culture. What's more local and traditional than Canadian hockey?"
'Being part of the community'
According to the P.E.I. Association for Newcomers to Canada, close to 3,000 Chinese immigrants now call the Island home.
Craig Foster, president of operations with the Charlottetown Islanders, sees the new partnership as a great opportunity to grow the team's fan base.
"We're lucky the newcomers have taken a real interest in hockey as much as they have," he said.
"It's probably a pretty cool, unique experience for people who may not have experienced that before. We want bring them to the rink, get them to enjoy their time here and hopefully get them to come back."
Liu plans to introduce the game of hockey to as many tourists and newcomers as he can, in hopes of attracting and retaining more immigrants in P.E.I.
"We need to get them here, fall in love with the game of hockey and to fall in love with the country," he said. "This is the connection we need more of."
- MORE P.E.I. NEWS I New Charlottetown bookstore acts as library for immigrants
- MORE P.E.I. NEWS I Census 2016: P.E.I. leading region in population growth, but behind national average