University of Victoria

Immigrant Integration and Immigration Policy @ the Edge: Social Processes of Migration and Integration

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.

Chair & Discussant: Doug Baer, University of Victoria

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

Future Migrants and Knowledge Transfer: a study of university students in India

Kara Somerville, University of Saskatchewan, kara.somerville@usask.ca , Scott Walsworth, University of Saskatchewan, walsworth@edwards.usask.ca

There is widespread recognition of the employment problems facing skilled migrants in Canada. As a result, research reports high levels of frustration and anger over migrants’ failed attempts to secure employment in Canada that is commensurate with their foreign earned credentials and experience. Furthermore, research suggests that these employment problems are largely unanticipated by migrants. As these employment difficulties have been observed for at least a decade, our study asks why migrants are surprised by the difficulties they face in Canada. Our research questions focus on the sources of information being used by future migrants living in India, and whether these sources are informing them of these employment struggles. To investigate, we surveyed 500 university students in India who plan to migrate. Our findings confirm the pervasiveness of informal networks among future migrants in India, and show how knowledge transfer within these networks in problematic. Some policy suggestions are provided.

Thursday June 6, 2013 03:15 PM - 04:45 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-168

Immigrants’ Occupational and Earning Attainment

Reza Nakhaie, University of Windsor, nakhaie@uwindsor.ca

Immigrants to Canada experience significant economic inequality and their situation has worsened in recent decades. The brunt of the inequality is experienced by visible minority immigrants. They are more likely to be at the lower occupational strata, their job do not match their pre-immigration experiences and have minimal occupational benefits. The occupational gap among ethno-racial minority and dominant immigrants to Canada remains even after accounting for their human and social capital.

In this paper, I suggest that differences in the level of economic development and labour market reward structure in immigrants’ country of origin are partly responsible for ethno-racial occupational inequality among immigrants to Canada. These differences seem to provide important clues to the employers when evaluating immigrants’ credentials, and hiring and rewarding them differentially.

Using the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC), conducted by Statistics Canada between 2001 and 2005, I show that occupational attainment of the recent immigrants to Canada is related to pre- and post-immigration human and social capital, but more importantly, to their country of origin’s quality of life, as well as its economic and political development. However, the footprints of country of origin declines within two and then four years after immigrants have landed. Theoretical and policy implication are discussed.

Thursday June 6, 2013 03:15 PM - 04:45 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-168

Measuring Social, Cultural, and Civic Integration in Canada: The Creation of an Index and Some Applications

Lloyd L. Wong, University of Calgary, lloyd.wong@ucalgary.ca , Annette Tézli, University of Calgary, atezli@ucalgary.ca

This paper reports on findings from a research project that was funded by the Prairie Metropolis Centre. The research utilizes a large quantitative data set in Canada, the Ethnic Diversity Survey, to develop a specific index to measure the social, cultural, and civic integration of immigrants in Canada and then selectively applies it for some comparative analyses. The paper begins with a definition of integration and then reviews the literature on measuring immigrant integration in Europe and the United States as well as the relevant Canadian literature that foregrounds the variables that we considered for a Canadian immigrant integration index. We then explain how, using factor analysis, our immigrant integration index is developed for Canada. Finally, the paper applies this social integration index and presents some of the results where this index is applied. More specifically this last part of the paper presents comparative social integration index scores and analysis for: 1) nativity (comparing immigrants to the Canadian-born); 2) generational status; 3) racialized (visible) minority status; and 3) nativity by generation and racialized (visible) minority status. While there are statistically significant differences in all of these comparison one of our major findings is that immigrant integration, as measure by our index, is not that dissimilar to the Canadian-born.

Thursday June 6, 2013 03:15 PM - 04:45 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-168

Social Capital, Diversity and Giving or Receiving Help Among Neighbours

Fernando Mata, Associate Faculty School of Public and International Affairs University of Ottawa, fmata@uottawa.ca

Authors: Fernando Mata and Ravi Pendakur, University of Ottawa

In this paper we look at the links between social capital and helping neighbours or receiving help from neighbours. Our data are drawn from the 2003 and 2008 Canadian General Social Surveys, both of which looked at linkages across social networks. In particular, we examine the relationship between municipal, neighbourhood and individual level ethnicity social capital formation and the level of helping amongst neighbours. Using a combination of factor analysis and random intercept model regressions, we find a strong link between social capital formation and helping, but do not find strong links between diversity, social capital and helping. This suggests that previous research, which found strong links between diversity and social capital, may be overstated.

Thursday June 6, 2013 03:15 PM - 04:45 PM Building: Elliott Building, Room: E-168