Immigrants In Canada Research Articles

The IMPACT Cross-Sectional Study

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated socioeconomic deficiencies within Canada's immigrant populations, yet the difference between immigrants from countries with similar language and resources (such as the US) and those from a different background (non-US countries) is not well understood. Accordingly, the IMPACT study at the centre of this article included a Canadian national survey that compared key domains of life in US immigrants with non-US immigrants to provide policymakers with a research-based path toward delivering culturally targeted and socially competent services.
 Methods: Potential participants were recruited from newcomer support services centers to complete the IMPACT survey which assess participants' self-perceived impacts of COVID-19 on various socioeconomic markers. For each socioeconomic variable, we analyzed the experiential differences between US vs non-US immigrant subgroups. 
 Results: On average, non-US immigrants in Canada were less likely to disclose their COVID-19 health status; this trend was correlated with reported concerns over discontinuation of one’s income. Qualitative themes within the non-US immigrant subgroup elucidated a mentality of “making it on [one’s]own”, and consequently, a reluctance to seek out external resources. Surprisingly, the US immigrant subgroup was subject to a comparatively greater post-pandemic decrease in socioeconomic well-being, resulting in proportionally greater food and financial insecurities than non-US immigrants. 
 Conclusion: The study highlighted two key findings: (1) US immigrants faced a proportionally increased instability of their socioeconomic well-being; whilst (2) non-US immigrants faced greater social and intrapersonal barriers to external supports and experienced a greater incidence of COVID-19 infections, likely resulting from this cohorts reluctance to miss employment income.

Growth in High-Skilled Mexican Migration Northward: American and Canadian Destinations

As migration of university-educated Mexicans to both the United States and Canada has begun to increase, the greater opportunities Canada’s expanding points-based selection system offers for the highly skilled to become permanent residents highlights a question: which factors may induce high-skilled Mexicans to prefer Canadian destinations versus American? Using traditional migration theories to frame interviews with a volunteer sample of 40 young university-educated Mexicans, this study confirms that reasons of proximity, climate, and culture often favor American destinations, while reasons of social acceptance, social welfare, and personal security favor Canadian. Importantly, urban-specific preferences matter. Those factors favoring U.S. destinations in general lead many to prefer southern-tier U.S. cities traditional for less-skilled Mexican migration. Those considering northern U.S. cities often prefer a Canadian choice. Canadian competitiveness in the northern urban market suggests that increased awareness of Canadian immigration opportunities could significantly boost skilled Mexican migration to Canada.

Cultural and economic integration of immigrants in Canada: “Do you play Hockey?”

This paper studies whether acculturation by immigrants and other minority groups is associated with economic integration in Canada. We examine immigrants’ participation in winter sports, particularly hockey, as a proxy for acculturation given that these sports are popular in Canada but are rarely watched or practiced in the origin countries of many immigrants to Canada. Using the Canadian Community Health Survey, we find that practicing winter sports has a positive effect on the earnings of immigrants and other minority groups. Specifically, practicing winter sports closes the income gap between immigrants and natives. However, the gap does not decrease for visible-minority immigrants, suggesting that acculturation might not be sufficient to combat racial biases.

Low Job Market Integration of Skilled Immigrants in Canada: The Implication for Social Integration and Mental Well-Being

Skilled immigrants are critical assets to the social and economic dynamism of Canada. However, they are less likely to find employment matching their skillset due to a lack of inclusive post-immigration professional integration policies and support. They generally earn less and often live below the low-income cutoff relative to their Canadian-born counterparts. This paper aims to review the current situation of low job market integration (LJMI) of skilled immigrants in Canada and its implications on their social integration and mental well-being. Skilled immigrants continue to face disparities in getting desired jobs, despite having sufficient skills and credentials similar if not superior to that of Canadian-borns. Based on the existing literature, this study demonstrates that low job market integration limits skilled immigrants’ productivity, and they experience a lower level of social integration and deteriorated mental well-being. Therefore, initiatives from multidisciplinary and multisector stakeholders are necessary to improve skilled immigrants’ mental well-being by providing equal opportunities devoid of social exclusion and marginalization.

Ethnic food practices, health, and cultural racism: Diabetes risk discourse among racialized immigrants in Canada

Type 2 diabetes is more prevalent among racialized immigrant groups in Canada compared to the general population. Hence, “ethnicity” is identified as a risk factor for diabetes, focusing on ethnic differences in health behaviours. By linking ethnic differences and diabetes risk, ethnic food cultures are problematized. Using the concept of cultural racism, this paper explores the ways in which ethnic food cultures are used to explain racial inequities in health. This paper will conclude by supporting the naming of racism, rather than ethnicity, as one of the root causes of diabetes among racialized immigrant populations and health inequities in Canada.

Immigrants’ Experience of Health Care Access in Canada: A Recent Scoping Review

Existing literature has reported inequities in access to Canadian health care services among immigrants. The aim of this scoping review was (a) to explore research regarding Canadian immigrants' unique experiences in accessing healthcare, and (b) to provide suggestions for future research and programming considering the identified immigrant-specific service gaps in health care.We searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, and Google Scholar, following the Arksey and O'Malley (2005) framework. The review's findings suggest unmet health care access needs specific to immigrants in Canada, with the most common access barriers including communication, socioeconomic, and cultural barriers. The scoping review expands on the immigrant health care experiences and accessibility factors through a thematic analysis. Findings suggest that developing community-based programming, improving training for health care providers in culturally competent care, and policies that address the social determinants of health can improve health care accessibility among immigrants.

Ubuntu and forced migration: reflections for social work engagement with older refugees in Canada

As an African philosophy, Ubuntu, anchored in our humanness and interconnectedness, holds a lot of promise for social work research and practice with older refugees. It can potentially make communal care and mutual support between older refugees and host communities a lifestyle that can address the peculiar needs of older refugees. This article synthesised literature linking Ubuntu to social work and refugees using a desk review. The reviewed literature illustrates Ubuntu’s significance in social justice, respect for the dignity and worth of refugees and improving their integration into society. Ubuntu was also found to help refugees develop resilience and strength, especially when they support other refugees. It moves away from the pathological view of refugeeism to understanding refugees as people who also provide support. However, despite Ubuntu being a lifestyle in Africa, many Africans seem to have abandoned this, as evidenced by various social issues affecting refugees in Africa, such as xenophobic attacks. This paper makes a case for adopting Ubuntu in social work practice and research with older refugees through the development of communal support systems of care. Journal website: https://ajsw.africasocialwork.net How to reference using ASWNet style: Ekoh P. C. and Warria A. (2023). Ubuntu and forced migration: reflections for social work engagement with older refugees in Canada. African Journal of Social Work, 13(1), 1-11. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ajsw.v13i1.1

An exploration of parenting styles, cultural values, and infant development in a sample of Latin American immigrants in Canada.

The objectiveofthecurrent research wastoinvestigate the relationship between parenting style, culture, and infant development in a sample of Latin American mother-infant dyads in Toronto, Canada. We examined associations between mothers' self-reported parenting style and infantcognitive and socioemotional development, which we compared to results from mothers belonging to two other Canadian immigrant populations. We further examined whether specific cultural correlates, includingaffiliationwithtraditional Latinx cultural beliefs familism and fatalism and acculturation, were associated with positive parenting behaviors in the Latin American sample. Across all three cultural groups, authoritative parenting predictedadaptivesocio-emotionaldevelopment , an effect which differed in magnitude across groups, providing support for the hypothesis that the effect of parenting behaviors on infant development are moderated by culture. Within the Latin American sample, affiliation with the value of familism was associated with higher scores of authoritative parenting, butfamilism decreased as acculturation to the host culture increased. This research adds to our understanding of factors that contribute to the well-being of Latin American familiesinCanada. Findings carry implications for provision of infant mental health services to Latin American immigrant families by identifying cultural variables which should be considered when providing parenting interventions to make such interventions more culturally relevant.

The Work Trajectories of Married Canadian Immigrant Women, 2006–2019

The behaviour of married immigrant women regarding fertility and labour markets is an essential piece to understand the economic and cultural integration of immigrant households. However, the contribution of married immigrant women to the Canadian labour market was—until recently—considered of secondary importance and their labour market choices studied within an economic framework of temporary attachment to the labour force. Recent research, however, finds that a significant fraction of married immigrant women make labour supply decisions (and face barriers) similar to those of native-born married women. We show that this is the case in Canada as well, by estimating the progress of immigrant women over the 2000s. We use traditional measures of labour market outcomes, such as participation, employment and wages, but also novel estimates of labour market dynamics, such as transitions across labour market states to show the work trajectories of married Canadian immigrant women. Results show that immigrant women are less likely to transition into employment—more likely to transition out of employment to either unemployment or inactivity—and more likely to respond to income shocks than the Canadian born. There is evidence of a gradual convergence with years spent in Canada to the outcomes of the Canadian born, which is much slower for immigrant women than immigrant men.

Foreign Practices: Immigrant Doctors and the History of Canadian Medicare. Sasha Mullally and David Wright

In Foreign Practices: Immigrant Doctors and the History of Canadian Medicare, Canadian historians of health Sasha Mullally and David Wright examine the interconnected history of Canadian healthcare and immigration. In documenting the relationship between the healthcare system and foreign-born and trained medical practitioners, Mullally and Wright demonstrate the profound impact that these physicians had on the success of Medicare and, in turn, on the shaping of Canadian identity in the mid-twentieth century. This text fills a significant gap in the historiography; the authors note that the social history perspective has long been lacking and the history of this multifaceted relationship has been dominated instead by policy histories, resulting in the absence of health care providers’ voices. This is remedied in Foreign Practices through both a micro and macro analysis, as chapter by chapter the authors first narrow the lens using existing and newly collected oral histories, published memoirs, and obituaries, and then broaden it using institutionally created sources such as published journals and the records of government offices. Through this methodology, the authors not only examine the relationship between Canadian institutions and foreign-trained physicians but also contribute to a growing pool of transnational histories studying the ways immigration policies were shaped across the global north and how immigrant physicians have in turn shaped the healthcare systems in their new home countries. While approaching this topic from the national and global perspectives, the authors skillfully negotiate the nuances that have shaped regional identity as they explore the motivations of immigrant physicians to settle or migrate within Canada after their arrival.

Staggered Inclusion: Between Temporary and Permanent Immigration Status in Quebec, Canada

Pathways to permanent residency among immigrants in Canada have become more often preceded by a phase of temporariness. Research on these processes indicates that a two-step immigration regime is gaining momentum. However, we know little about those who qualify for permanent residency and experience a transition to permanent status inland. This article examines such experience of encountering federal and provincial administrative borders from within Canada. The analysis is based on 43 in-depth qualitative interviews conducted in the province of Quebec between 2016 and 2020 with temporary migrants in the process of transitioning to permanent residency or having recently acquired it. The article argues that migrants find themselves in spaces of ambiguity and in-betweenness regarding their transition process, access to rights and life perspectives over a period during which their status, as a lived experienced rather than strictly an administrative category, is neither temporary nor permanent. It sheds light on how bureaucratic processes that throw people into precariousness produces different shades of inclusion, not only based on the type of residency permit, but on the staggered transition process resulting from Canada’s immigration multi-governance itself. Furthermore, it calls for a rethinking of the permanent-temporary resident binary that structures Canada’s immigration policies.

Transnational sensemaking narratives of highly skilled Canadian immigrants' career change

PurposeThe authors answer calls for research on the experiences of international professionals' career transitions by investigating how highly skilled immigrants make sense of their career changes in the host country's labor market.Design/methodology/approachThe authors report on a qualitative, inductive and elaborative study, drawing on sensemaking theories and career transitions literature and nine semi-structured reflective interviews with highly skilled Canadian immigrants.FindingsThe authors identified four career change narratives: mourning the past, accepting the present, recreating the past and starting fresh. These narratives are made sense of in a transnational context: participants contended with tensions between past, present and future careers and between relevant home and host country factors affecting their career decisions. Participants who were mourning the past or recreating the past identified more strongly with their home country professions and struggled to find resources in Canada. In accepting the present and starting fresh, participants leveraged host country networks to find career opportunities and establish themselves and their families in the new environment.Originality/valueA transnational ontology emphasizes that immigrants' lives are multifaceted and span multiple national contexts. The authors highlight how the tensions between the home and host country career contexts shape immigrants' sensemaking narratives of their international career change. The authors encourage scholars and practitioners to take a transnational contextual approach (spatial and temporal) to guide immigrants' career transitions and integration into the new social environment.

“We’re Always Looking at the Dollars and cents”: The Financial well-being of Racialized Older Immigrants in Canada Through the lens of Service Providers

“We’re Always Looking at the Dollars and cents”: The Financial well-being of Racialized Older Immigrants in Canada Through the lens of Service Providers

Digital Ethnic Enclaves: Mate Preferences and Platform Choices Among Chinese Immigrant Online Daters in Vancouver

In light of the growing racialized immigrant population in Canada and advances in dating technologies, this study examines Chinese immigrants' partner preferences and mate selection processes through the lens of online dating. We draw on in-depth interviews with 31 Chinese immigrants who have used online dating services in Metro Vancouver to search for different-sex partners. Chinese immigrant online daters show strong preferences for dating Chinese. They emphasize permanent residency status and similarity in age at arrival when evaluating potential partners. Given their preferences, Chinese immigrants strategically choose the dating platforms they primarily use. Men exhibit higher selectivity in their preferences and choices of platforms. Notably, platforms catering to Chinese users create "digital ethnic enclaves" where Chinese immigrant daters congregate. The findings illuminate the intersection of race, gender, immigrant status, and age at arrival in shaping divergent experiences of mate selection and immigrant assimilation in the digital era.

Well-Founded Fear of Algorithms or Algorithms of Well-Founded Fear? Hybrid Intelligence in Automated Asylum Seeker Interviews

Abstract Growing numbers of asylum seekers across Europe have created heightened pressure on governments to employ technologies to assist immigration systems in meeting humanitarian standards of international law. This article analyses the potential of hybrid intelligence (HI)—a machine learning (ML) utility supervised by and supervising human intelligence—for assisting both asylum seekers and immigration officers in performing fair and just assessments, while addressing theoretical underpinnings of what hybridity entails from the perspective of stakeholders and humanitarian systems. While aspects of ML demonstrate promise in reducing bias in immigration decisions, such technology itself suffers from various inherent biases. In addition, technological mediation poses several unforeseen, unintended, and subtle threats to humanitarian missions. By analysing ML algorithms currently employed in refugee status determination pilot programs and immigration control, this article synthesizes universal complications of using assistive technology in Refugee Status Determinations, with special focus on evaluating resultant theoretical refugee identity reconfigurations. Conceptually, this article expands on the theoretical model of what has been termed ‘ID entity’ by biometrics researchers and ethnographers by analysing potential latent consequences from technological mediation in asylum cases, while addressing use cases such as German and Canadian immigration services’ pilot programs, along with automated pilot border screening projects such as Iborderctrl, among others. In addition, several hypothetical scenarios are presented to concretize and further theoretical inquiry of using HI in asylum seeker interviews, with special focus on the requisite criterion of possessing a well-founded fear of persecution.

Exploring Intersections of Age, Gender, Immigration, Ethnicity, and Widowhood among Older Chinese Immigrants in Canada

Exploring Intersections of Age, Gender, Immigration, Ethnicity, and Widowhood among Older Chinese Immigrants in Canada

From Discrimination to Integration: A History of Chinese Immigration in Canada

From Discrimination to Integration: A History of Chinese Immigration in Canada

МІГРАЦІЙНА ПОЛІТИКА КАНАДИ: ПРІОРИТЕТИ ТРАНСФОРМАЦІЙНИХ ЗМІН

The article is devoted to the identification of transformational changes in Canada’s migration policy in the current geopolitical and socio-economic conditions. The origins of the formation of the state migration policy of Canada were identified, and statistical indicators on the number of immigrants in Canada in 2000-2020 were analyzed. It is established that in 2023, the vast majority (97.6 %) of Canada’s population growth came from international migration (both permanent and temporary immigration) and the remaining portion (2.4 %) came from natural increase. The structure of the plans for immigration levels in Canada for 2023-2026 is studied. Overall, the Immigration Levels Plan 2024–2026 has permanent resident admissions targets of 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025. For 2026, the plan is to stabilize at the 500,000 level. The components of the strategic approach to immigration regulation are summarized; the categories of immigrant admission in Canada, as well as the main state immigration programs are characterized. It is concluded that Canada’s current migration policy is focused mainly on business migration. The author identifies the comprehensive tools for regulating immigration that have been operating in Canada for many years. The author highlights the current trends in the regulation of state migration flows that have emerged over the past few years (active promotion of digital transformation, increased competition for talent, revision of immigration goals in the context of determining certain restrictions). The article contains a proposed list of the main components of Canada’s modern migration policy (focus on long-term economic growth; support for humanitarian traditions; support for Francophone immigration; continued implementation of new digital systems in the field of migration regulation). Conclusions are drawn that it is expedient to further study the current transformational changes in Canada’s migration policy in the context of finding effective measures and instruments for regulating migration flows on the principles of long-term and complexity. Keywords: Canada, immigrants, international migrants, labor market, migration, migration policy, transformation.

From Holocaust Hidden Child to Computer Animation Laboratory.

The article describes my long journey as a Jewish-born hidden child who was handed over to a Catholic family before the Krakow ghetto was eliminated in 1943. My father survived and I was reunited with him. We traveled to Germany in 1950 and were accepted as Canadian refugees in 1952. After an undergraduate and graduate program at McGill University, I was married in an Episcopalian/Anglican ceremony. My good fortune continued when I joined a research group at the National Research Council in the 1960s. The group worked on computer graphics and computer animation and won a Technical Academy Award for technology for the animated short Hunger/La Faim.

Oral Health Disparities in United States and Canadian Immigrant Population and Low-income Familie

Oral Health Disparities in United States and Canadian Immigrant Population and Low-income Familie