Importance of Individual and Environmental Assets for Newcomers' Socio-cultural Integration


Reza Nakhaie, University of Windsor

To assess socio-cultural integration of newcomers by attending to the strength and weaknesses of their individual and community assets. Integration is often conceptualized as a two-way street that requires accommodation of both Canadians and immigrants. However, the focus is often on what immigrants can do for Canada and not what Canada can do for immigrants. In this paper, we focus on both newcomers’ individual and environmental assets. Analyses are based on administrative data collected by the YMCA of South-Western Ontario regarding 1,144 of their clients pre and post Covid19. Analyses suggest that newcomers possess more individual assets than environmental assets. Individual assets are mainly influenced by length in Canada, higher education, and health while environmental assets are primarily influenced by social support and education. Language ability is also important for both types of assets but about twice more for individual than environmental assets. Finally, individual assets are about three times more important than community assets in influencing newcomers’ socio-cultural integration. Canadian communities need to be more welcoming and institutions more open to newcomers, enhancing their assets which would be useful for their integration.

This paper will be presented at the following session: