University of Victoria

Immigrant Integration and Immigration Policy @ the Edge: Immigration Policy Changes and Integration Challenges

Recently, federal government policies regarding international migration changed in three fundamental areas: a) in provincial allocations of settlement funding with shifts away from Ontario towards Prairie provinces and British Columbia; b) in the immigration policy arena, with enhanced criminal justice measures targeting immigration consultants, fraudulent marriage, and unauthorized migrants including trafficked women and refugees claimants; and c) in the recruitment of workers (temporary and permanent residents) via the ongoing expansion of the Provincial Nominee class and the decentralization of selection, with provinces and employers having greater roles in the selection process. These developments underscore the importance of sociological research on contemporary topics such as immigrant integration, labour recruitment, economic (in)equalities, trafficking, migration for marriage, refugee populations and past, present and emerging migration policies. This session solicits papers on these topics of Canadian migrant integration and/or immigration policy, as well as papers which assess current on-going issues and/or future implications of policy changes.

Session Chair and Discussant: Monica Boyd, University of Toronto

Session Organizer: Monica Boyd, University of Toronto, monica.boyd@utoronto.ca

Tracking the Turn Towards Temporary: Is Regulatory Policy Working for Temporary Foreign Workers within the Stream for Lower-skilled Occupations in Alberta?

Chad Doerksen, University of Alberta, cmdoerks@ualberta.ca

Over the last decade, the growth of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) in Canada has been unprecedented. Contrasting the relative stagnation of permanent resident arrivals, this represents a marked shift in (im)migration policy towards accessing populations purely for their labour capacity, while concurrently reducing Federal and Provincial governments’ obligations to them. Though some streams of the TFWP still offer Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWs) opportunities for permanent status, workers within the ‘lower-skilled’ streams find access to citizenship all but completely blocked. For them, life in Canada is characterized by precarity - fusing precarious work and migrant status in ways that make them vulnerable to abuse. Exploring the Alberta context, this paper examines emerging policy gaps faced by TFWs, focusing specifically on the regulatory policy of the Stream for Lower-skilled Occupations (SLSO). Drawing on key informant interviews with Edmonton-based social service organizations that provide support to TFWs, it builds upon, and contributes to, existing literature, by comparing already-articulated concerns over the TFWP, with service provider accounts of policy gaps emerging on the ground. This exploratory research informs a larger research project examining the work-life experiences of TFWs within the SLSO and the policy challenges within the TFWP.

Thursday June 6, 2013 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-168

Envisioning two-step immigration: How temporary migration is addressing long-term labour market and community-building needs in Manitoba

Jill Bucklaschuk, Doctoral student, Department of Sociology, University of Manitoba, jill_bucklaschuk@umanitoba.ca

Temporary migration programs are becoming a permanent fixture in the Canadian immigration landscape. While these programs are part of a comprehensive labour market strategy to address purported temporary, sector-specific shortages, industry and community stakeholders have indicated that temporary migrants are fulfilling longer-term and more permanent labour needs. Indeed, temporary migration is utilized both regionally and locally as a mechanism for coping with labour market and demographic challenges.

Recently, so-called "two-step immigration" has provided temporary migrants with pathways to transition to permanent residency (namely Provincial/Territorial Nominee Programs), launching this topic into discussions related to integration and social inclusion. In fact, critics of temporary migration programs advocate for a broader orientation toward considering these workers as contributing members of society, rather than merely just-in-time contingent labourers. Two-step immigration raises implicit tensions between competing, but not incongruous visions- is such immigration primarily part of a labour market strategy motivated by economic development, or can it also be a mechanism for addressing demographic needs and for community-building? This paper highlights how temporary migration polices play out in practice through the local initiatives of government and non-government actors by specifically drawing on the example of Manitoba to illustrate unique strategies that permanently retain temporary migrants.

Thursday June 6, 2013 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-168

Empowering Immigrant Communities: Implications for Settlement Services in Mid-Sized Canadian Cities

Jasmine Thomas, University of Alberta, jthomas@ualberta.ca

Provincial governments increasingly develop strategies that attract immigrants to settle in the prairie provinces. Although considerable research examines the role of settlement services in larger cities such as Toronto and Vancouver, there is less information regarding the needs of immigrants in mid-sized cities. Alberta and Manitoba plan to increase immigration to cities like Winnipeg and Edmonton. Unfortunately, some immigrants experience difficulties during their settlement process, and the varied needs of newcomers create challenges for immigrant-serving organizations as they develop services to meet those needs. This paper explores the influence of the immigrant nominee programs implemented in Manitoba and Alberta and illustrates the challenges of providing services for immigrants in mid-sized Canadian cities through qualitative interviews conducted with service providers in Winnipeg and Edmonton.

Thursday June 6, 2013 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-168

Sidetracked, backtracked: International students’ settlement pathways and regional immigration in Atlantic Canada

Sinziana Chira, Dalhousie University, sinziana.chira@gmail.com

This paper provides an analysis of the development and dismantling of regionalized immigration pathways for international students in Atlantic Canada, focusing on implications for the students and the Atlantic region. In the past decade, international students had been recast as a new source of highly skilled labour at low integration cost for Canada and as a potential fix for the clustering of immigrants in large metropolitan centers. Through recent immigration reforms, provincial immigration pathways for students are closing and settlement supports are drying up. This analysis draws on data emerging from over 100 qualitative interviews with international students and with policy makers and settlement support providers at universities and NGOs in the four provinces of Atlantic Canada over the last three years. The paper illustrates how ongoing policy and programming changes have created uneven landscapes of opportunities for students to become meaningfully connected to their Canadian communities and transition to permanent statuses.

Thursday June 6, 2013 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-168