groundbreaking polling conducted by a leading Canadian sociologist confirmed what we already know. That 23 percent of Metro Vancouver teenagers, or one in four, have parents born in Canada. And 37 percent of teens in Metro Vancouver, were born outside the country, typically in Asia. And another 39 percent of teenagers in our West Coast metropolis have immigrant parents. Based on an extensive survey of Canadian teenagers, it was discovered that more than nine out of 10 Metro Vancouver teenagers said they have close friends who are not Caucasian.

The conclusion is that the younger people of Metro Vancouver are a remarkably international and intercultural generation. They are by far the most likely in Canada to have interracial friendships. And the extensive foreign connections affect the values of teenagers like how they feel and think about the war, homosexuality, marriage, global warming and relationship to God. Other top interracial cities are Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa and Montreal.

Nationally, 27 percent of Canadian teens have immigrant parents, 17 percent were born outside the nation and 56 percent were born in Canada. In British Columbia, 32 percent of teenagers have immigrant parents, 23 percent were born outside the country and 45 percent were born in the country. When it comes to sexual morality, foreign-born teenagers were more conservative and appeared less likely to view sexual orientation as a human rights issue. Foreign-born teenagers were significantly more likely to disapprove of homosexuality than those born in Canada. Second-generation immigrants are more tolerant to homosexuality.

It was also found that British Columbians remain the most nonreligious English-majority province in Canada. This could be due to the fact that B.C. had a high proportion of immigrants from East Asia, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. However, there is still a minority of people who are beholden to organized religion with is basically a socio-economic outlet. For example, in the Philippine community there are various churches and independent religious groups. The other explicitly religious immigrants are from India, Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Taken as a whole, B.C. teenagers like B.C. adults were on average significantly more likely than other Canadian teens to say they had “ no religion”. B.C. teens were more likely than other teens to lean toward moral relativism. Thank God for this or you will see a lot of young people kneeling down to ask for things instead of working for what they want in life. It is a good reality check.

B.C. teenagers and most adults agreed with the statement –“What’s right or wrong is a matter of personal opinion.” This is an excellent sign that Vancouverites are not blinded by organized religion telling them what to do and what to think. Across Canada the average is 64 percent.

They say that during hard times, moviegoing and drinking alcohol will increase. There’s increased sales of alcohol, wine and beer in the past two years. As for the movies, in tough times, film studios will rake in a lot of money. The Canadian box-office turned in its best July in recent memory.

Cineplex Galaxy chain of theaters reported a $19.9 million profit for the quarter ending in June, more than three times what it made in the second quarter last year. Revenue was $249 million, the best quarter the company has ever seen. The North American industry saw attendance increases of about 12 or 13 percent on average.

Exhibitors such as Cineplex are depending on viewers wanting to see movies on the big screen rather than watch them at home on DVD or through video-on-demand on cable. Selling themselves as a movie experience, rather than simply a movie theater, is a smart effort to compete with home theaters and the Internet which have both taken big slices in market share.

The downside of the trend is that Hollywood will continue to produce mindless and juvenile blockbusters like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra. Both pleased the common denominator which is the average viewer with unsophisticated shopping mall taste and zombie-like third world mentality.

At the moment, the big movie in Canada is District 9, a sci-fi tale, directed by Vancouver- based South African director Neill Blomkamp. There is already a potential District 9 sequel. That’s milking the cow, Hollywood style.

Simon Fraser University added something new to battle against cheating by creating a new grade for academic dishonesty. Cheating in school is increasingly common across post-secondary institutions in Canada. The University can now give a FD grade-“failed for academic dishonesty” to students who are found to have committed serious or repeated offences. The FD grade will appear on a student’s transcript.