Visible Minority Immigrants Research Articles

Employment Barriers for Racialized Immigrants: A Review of Economic and Social Integration Support and Gaps in Edmonton, Alberta

This article explores the strategies used by government-sponsored institutions dedicated to addressing systemic barriers to employment for racialized immigrants in Edmonton. The research involved conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews with service providers, employment program coordinators from different settlement and employment agencies, and a research and training centre operating in Edmonton, Alberta. The first objective is to understand the barriers racialized immigrants face through the hiring and promotion process. The second objective is to understand the support provided by those institutions and the impact of their equity policies on how they assist racialized Canadians in finding gainful employment. Lastly, this study explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement on the employment of racialized immigrants in Edmonton. The results show that around 50% of employment service providers acknowledged that visible minority immigrants face barriers while integrating into the labour market, including racial microaggressions in their jobs. In addition, the findings indicate a lack of programs tailored to the needs of racialized job seekers. Participants in this study reported that the Black Lives Matter movement raised awareness among employers regarding racial issues in the workplace. Hence, there is a demonstrated need for employers to undergo training to recognize and address racism in hiring, promoting, and retaining racialized employees at Canadian workplaces. Interviewees recognized that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted racialized employees and newcomers. They recommended that Canadian companies establish educational programs that emphasize the importance and benefits of racial diversity, equity, and inclusion in the hiring process.

Themed section introduction: Emerging research on racial/ethnic inequality in Canada.

Themed section introduction: Emerging research on racial/ethnic inequality in Canada.

Employment Probability of Visible Minority Immigrants in Canada by Generational Status, Circa 2016

Using 2016 Census data, we compare the odds of employment (full time or self-employment) for visible minority immigrants in Canada with those of non–visible minority immigrants. Intergenerational comparisons of employment outcomes are made because one would expect second- and third-generation immigrants to be less prone to labour market barriers than first-generation immigrants. Estimates based on a logistic regression of employment probability reveal lower employment odds for four out of 10 identified visible minority immigrant groups in comparison with non–visible minority immigrants for all three generations. For first- and second-generation immigrants, the results were mixed, but third-generation immigrants faced significantly lower employment probabilities in all groups of visible minorities with the exception of Chinese and Japanese. A lack of proficiency in official languages (English or French) lowers the employment probability for all groups. It is estimated that post-secondary education (PSE) acquired outside of Canada has a weaker positive association with employment than PSE acquired within Canada. Pre- and post-immigration labour market experience have a weak association with employment.

Systemic and Individual Factors That Shape Mental Health Service Usage Among Visible Minority Immigrants and Refugees in Canada: A Scoping Review.

There exists considerable research which reports that mental health disparities persist among visible minority immigrants and refugees within Canada. Accessing mental health care services becomes a concern which contributes to this, as visible minority migrants are regarded as an at-risk group that are clinically underserved. Thus, the purpose of this review is to explore the following research question: "what are the barriers and facilitators for accessing mental health care services among visible immigrants and refugees in Canada?". A scoping review following guidelines proposed by Arksey and O'Malley (International Journal of Social Research Methodology 8(1): 19-32, 2005) was conducted. A total of 45 articles published from 2000 to 2020 were selected through the review process, and data from the retrieved articles was thematically analyzed. Wide range of barriers and facilitators were identified at both the systemic and individual levels. Unique differences rooted within landing and legal statuses were also highlighted within the findings to provide nuance amongst immigrants and refugees. With the main layered identity of being a considered a visible minority, this yielded unique challenges patterned by other identities and statuses. The interplay of structural issues rooted in Canadian health policies and immigration laws coupled with individual factors produce complex barriers and facilitators when seeking mental health services. Through employing a combined and multifaceted approach which address the identified factors, the findings also provide suggestions for mental health care providers, resettlement agencies, policy recommendations, and future directions for research are discussed as actionable points of departure.

Difficulties accessing health care services during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada: examining the intersectionality between immigrant status and visible minority status

BackgroundDifficulties accessing health care services can result in delaying in seeking and obtaining treatment. Although these difficulties are disproportionately experienced among vulnerable groups, we know very little about how the intersectionality of realities experienced by immigrants and visible minorities can impact their access to health care services since the pandemic.MethodsUsing Statistics Canada’s Crowdsourcing Data: Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadians—Experiences of Discrimination, we combine two variables (i.e., immigrant status and visible minority status) to create a new variable called visible minority immigrant status. This multiplicative approach is commonly used in intersectionality research, which allows us to explore disadvantages experienced by minorities with multiplicative identities.ResultsMain results show that, compared to white native-born, visible minority immigrants are less likely to report difficulties accessing non-emergency surgical care (OR = 0.55, p < 0.001), non-emergency diagnostic test (OR = 0.74, p < 0.01), dental care (OR = 0.71, p < 0.001), mental health care (OR = 0.77, p < 0.05), and making an appointment for rehabilitative care (OR = 0.56, p < 0.001) but more likely to report difficulties accessing emergency services/urgent care (OR = 1.46, p < 0.05).ConclusionWe conclude that there is a dynamic interplay of factors operating at multiple levels to shape the impact of COVID-19 related needs to be addressed through changes in social policies, which can tackle unique struggles faced by visible minority immigrants.

The COVID-19 Pandemic: An Immigrant Family Story on Reconnection, Resistance, and Resiliency

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a significant effect on the vulnerable portion of society, particularly on Indigenous and visible minority immigrants. We, as a minority family from Bangladesh who are on Indigenous land in Saskatchewan Canada, explore family-based pandemic resiliency, mainly focusing on Indigenous notions of resistance and reconnection. This article discusses our family-based resiliency on family interaction, social distancing, and isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper explores a family-based decolonizing autoethnography as a methodology for understanding health and wellness from an immigrant family’s perspective. We discussed why Indigenous and immigrant stories matters for building resiliency and resistance within a family. How do we know it is effective? How can it be helpful for others? Here, we highlight how Indigenous Elders, Knowledge-Keepers, and ancestors’ stories helped us for building our resistance and reconnection to be active, hopeful, and joyful during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perceived barriers and primary care access experiences among immigrant Bangladeshi men in Canada.

ObjectiveThe study aimed to explore the experience of male members of a rapidly grown community of Bangladeshi immigrants while accessing primary healthcare (PHC) services in Canada.DesignA qualitative research was conducted among a sample of Bangladeshi immigrant men through a community-based participatory research approach. Focus group discussions were conducted to collect the qualitative data where thematic analysis was applied.SettingThe focus group discussions were held in various community centres such as individual meeting rooms at public libraries, community halls and so on arranged in collaboration with community organisations while ensuring complete privacy.ParticipantThirty-eight adults, Bangladeshi immigrant men, living in Calgary were selected for this study and participated in six different focus groups. The sample represents mostly married, educated, Muslim, Bangla speaking, aged over 25 years, full-time or self-employed and living in an urban centre in Canada >5 years.ResultThe focus groups have highlighted long wait time as an important barrier. Long wait at the emergency room, difficulties to get access to general physicians when feeling sick, slow referral process and long wait at the clinic even after making an appointment impact their daily chores, work and access to care. Language is another important barrier that impedes effective communication between physicians and immigrant patients, thus the quality of care. Unfamiliarity with the healthcare system and lack of resources were also voiced that hinder access to healthcare for immigrant Bangladeshi men in Canada. However, no gender-specific barriers unique to men have been identified in this study.ConclusionThe barriers to accessing PHC services for Bangladeshi immigrant men are similar to that of other visible minority immigrants. It is important to recognise the extent of barriers across various immigrant groups to effectively shape public policy and improve access to PHC.

Immigration, education, sense of community and mental well-being: the case of visible minority immigrants in Canada

ABSTRACT Immigrants often cite improvements in quality of life as the motivation for immigration, yet it can lead to the loss of social networks, family and community ties. This article employed key informant interviews to explore visible minorities’ sense of community from the perspectives of immigrant resettlement service providers. Nine key informants were interviewed to document visible minority immigrants’ experiences in Canada, and how this affected their sense of community. Participants identified barriers to immigrants’ development of a new sense of community, including discrimination tied to improper placement within the Canadian educational system, unemployment/underemployment, poor housing conditions, language barriers, and lack of social support networks. Confronting these barriers will require creating a stronger sense of community by providing more and better support of immigrants, visible minorities and everyone across Canada. This would help eliminate discrimination against ethnic minorities and enhance a sense of community belonging amongst visible minorities in Canada.

Immigrants and Workplace Training: Evidence from Canadian Linked Employer–Employee Data

Job training is one of the most important aspects of skill formation and human capital accumulation. In this study, we use longitudinal Canadian linked employer–employee data to examine whether white/visible minority immigrants and Canadian‐born emplooyees experience different opportunities in two well‐defined measures of firm‐sponsored training: on‐the‐job training and classroom training. While we find no differences in on‐the‐job training between different groups, our results suggest that visible minority immigrants are significantly less likely to receive classroom training, and receive fewer and shorter classroom training courses, an experience that is not shared by white immigrants. For male visible minority immigrants, these gaps are entirely driven by their differential sorting into workplaces with fewer training opportunities. For their female counterparts, however, they are mainly driven by differences that emerge within workplaces. We find no evidence that years spent in Canada or education level can appreciably reduce these gaps. Accounting for potential differences in career paths and hierarchical level also fails to explain these differences. We find, however, that these gaps are only experienced by visible minority immigrants who work in the for‐profit sector, with those in the nonprofit sector experiencing positive or no gaps in training. Finally, we show that other poor labor market outcomes of visible minority immigrants, including their wages and promotion opportunities, stem in part from these training gaps.

Feeling Attached and Feeling Accepted: Implications for Political Inclusion among Visible Minority Immigrants in Canada

AbstractImmigrants’ sense of belonging to their host communities is viewed as a core condition for their successful inclusion, but there is no consensus on which attributes of belonging are most relevant to understanding inclusion, nor is there agreement on how the sense of belonging ought to be measured empirically. This study examines how two related but independent dimensions of belonging help to better understand the political inclusion of visible minority immigrants in Canada. More specifically, it examines the role of feeling attached (immigrants’ feeling toward the host community) and the role of feeling accepted (immigrants’ sense of how their host communities feel about them). We assess the relationship between attachment, acceptance and political inclusion for both first‐ and second‐generation visible minority Canadians; the results suggest there is analytical value in utilising separate measures of attachment and acceptance: political inclusion is more likely when both are stronger.

The Role of Access to a Regular Primary Care Physician in Mediating Immigration-Based Disparities in Colorectal Screening: Application of Multiple Mediation Methods.

Colorectal cancer screening participation is lower among recent immigrants than among Canadian-born individuals. We assessed whether this screening disparity is mediated by access to regular primary care physicians (PCP). Pooling years 2003 to 2014 of the Canadian Community Health Survey, lifetime screening in respondents aged 50 to 75 years of age who immigrated in the previous 10 years (n = 1,067) was compared with Canadian-born respondents (N = 102,366). Regression- and inverse probability weighting-based methods were used to estimate the total effect (TE) and controlled direct effect (CDE) of recent immigration on never having received either a stool- or endoscopic-based screening test. The proportion of the TE that would be eliminated if all had a PCP was computed using these estimates [proportion eliminated (PE) = (TE - CDE)/(TE - 1)]. Analyses were stratified by visible minority status and adjusted for income, rurality, age, sex, marital status, education, and exposure to a provincially organized colorectal screening program. The prevalence of never having been screened was 71% and 57% in visible minority and white recent immigrants, respectively, and 46% in white Canadian-born respondents. If all had regular PCPs, there would be no reduction in the screening inequality between white recent immigrants and Canadian-born (null PE), and the inequality between visible minority immigrants and white Canadian-born may increase by 6% to 13%. Ensuring all have regular PCPs may lead to greater screening gains among Canadian-born than recent immigrants. Improving access to PCPs may increase colorectal screening overall, but not reduce immigration-based disparities screening. Alternative interventions to reduce this disparity should be explored.

Revisiting the healthy immigrant effect with diabetes risk in Canada: why race/ethnicity matters

ABSTRACTObjective: Evidence shows that recent immigrants are healthier than the native-born population, a phenomenon known as the healthy immigrant effect. With increasing duration of stay, this health gap significantly narrows as immigrants’ health deteriorates to either resemble or become worse than the host population. However, little is known about the category of immigrants for whom this decline is most pronounced since the extant research largely considers immigrants as a homogeneous group, thus overlooking important racial/ethnic differences.Design: Using data from the 2014 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), we categorised immigrants by race/ethnicity and duration of stay in Canada and compared them to their native-born white Canadian counterparts on the likelihood of having a chronic health condition, using type 2 diabetes (T2D) as a case.Results: In the base model, recent visible minority (i.e. non-white or non-Caucasian) immigrants and recent white immigrants were less likely than the native-born white Canadian population to have T2D (recent visible minority immigrants OR = 0.46, CI = 0.27–0.79, p = 0.005; recent white immigrants OR = 0.26, CI = 0.11–0.64, p = 0.003). The odds of having T2D were significantly higher for long-term immigrants than the native-born white Canadian population (long-term visible minority immigrants OR = 1.59, CI = 1.27–2.00, p = 0.000; long-term white immigrants OR = 1.74, CI = 1.44–2.10, p = 0.000). In the multivariate model, long-term visible minority immigrants were about 2.3 times more likely than their white Canadian born counterparts to have T2D (CI = 1.86–2.96, p = 0.000). Long-term visible minority immigrants were about 2.1 times more likely than long-term white immigrants to have T2D (CI = 1.49–2.94, p = 0.000)Conclusion: Immigrants’ health deterioration varies significantly across ethnic categories in Canada. Interventions for facilitating the integration of visible minority immigrants may help reduce these health inequities.

Immigrants and Workplace Training: Evidence from Canadian Linked Employer Employee Data

Job training is one of the most important aspects of skill formation and human capital accumulation. In this study we use longitudinal Canadian linked employer-employee data to examine whether white/visible minority immigrants and Canadian-borns experience different opportunities in two well-defined measures of firm-sponsored training: on-the-job training and classroom training. While we find no differences in on-the-job training between different groups, our results suggest that visible minority immigrants are significantly less likely to receive classroom training, and receive fewer and shorter classroom training courses, an experience that is not shared by white immigrants. For male visible minority immigrants, these gaps are entirely driven by their differential sorting into workplaces with less training opportunities. For their female counterparts however, they are mainly driven by differences that emerge within workplaces. We find no evidence that years spent in Canada or education level can appreciably reduce these gaps. Accounting for potential differences in career paths and hierarchical level also fails to explain these differences. We find however that these gaps are only experienced by visible minority immigrants who work in the for-profit sector, with those in the non-profit sector experiencing positive or no gaps in training. Finally, we show that other poor labor market outcomes of visible minority immigrants, including their wages and promotion opportunities, stem in part from these training gaps.

Sense of place and mental wellness amongst African immigrants in Canada

ABSTRACTThis study examines the effects of self-perceived mental wellness and other socio-economic variables on sense of place amongst Ghanaian and Somali immigrants living in Hamilton, Ontario. Research results are based on the analysis of survey questionnaires (n = 236) of Ghanaian and Somali immigrant adults, with recent (0–5 years), mid-term (6–10 years), and long-term (more than 10 years) residency in Canada. Our findings revealed several significant factors of sense of place, including self-perceived mental wellness, income, age, employment, citizenship status, marital status, dwelling type, and length of residency in Canada. The findings highlight the need for research to incorporate sense of place into studies on visible minority immigrants and to focus on those factors contributing to place attachment amongst recent immigrants.

Labor market mobility and the early-career outcomes of immigrant men

We examine the role of between- and within-firm mobility in the early-career outcomes of immigrant men. Among Canadian workers with less than 10 years of potential experience, we find that visible minority immigrants were significantly less likely to have been promoted with their initial employers than similar white natives but were just as likely to have moved to new employers over the course of a year between interviews. White immigrants, on the other hand, were just as likely to be promoted as white natives but much more likely to move to new employers—suggesting that they enjoyed more overall mobility than white natives and other immigrants. We present tentative evidence linking these mobility patterns to differences in wage growth and occupational change between immigrants and natives. Overall, our findings suggest that the between- and within-firm mobility of white immigrants may play an important role in their relative economic success in Canada, while adding to growing evidence that visible minority immigrants experience frictions in the labor market that hinder their mobility and thus their economic prospects.JEL Classification: J61, J71

How Do English-speaking Caribbean Immigrants in Toronto Find Jobs?: Exploring the Relevance of Social Networks

INTRODUCTION This paper draws from a doctoral dissertation that examined factors beyond human capital that influenced labour market outcomes for immigrants to Toronto from Jamaica, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. The majority of Canada's immigrants from these three countries live in Toronto. In addition, these immigrants are primarily racialized individuals who possess strong English language skills and high levels of education, training and work experience, but have experienced higher unemployment rates and lower incomes than the Canadian-born population (Colin 2007; James 2009; Preston et al. 2010). The key argument is that for English-speaking Caribbean immigrants, social networks are as important, if not more so, as human capital, for securing meaningful employment in Toronto. Canada's immigration policy seeks to attract immigrants on the basis of their human capital, but largely ignores the demand side factors that relate to how immigrants actually find jobs and does not adequately address factors that allow high-skilled immigrants to find work. The study is based on critical policy research, an inter-disciplinary approach to research that has many dimensions, but this paper is primarily focused on critical race. Critical race theorists investigate notions of race, blackness, and whiteness in the production of societal biases. Traditional critical race theory is focused on an analysis of the social construction of race and racism, and the manner in which people of colour are ordered and constrained in society (Trevino, Harris and Wallace 2008). In the Canadian context, emphasis is placed on examining the manner in which structural and institutional arrangements operate at a disadvantage to racialized groups. Critical race theory, therefore, offers useful insights in how discrimination comes to be structured into Canada's labour market (Galabuzi 2006; James 2009; James, Plaza and Jansen 1999). A number of researchers have expressed concern that Canada's employers may be discriminating against immigrants on the basis of race (Aylward 1999; Block and Galabuzi 2011; Teelucksingh and Galabuzi 2007; Warner 2006). Others have documented that Canada's visible minority immigrants earn lower incomes and have higher unemployment rates than other immigrants and the native-born (Block and Galabuzi 2011; Cardozo and Pendakur 2008; Gilmore 2008; Pendakur and Pendakur 2011; Reitz 2001, 2007). Quantitative studies have also established that poor labour market outcomes for racialized immigrants are linked to racial and gender discrimination (Pendakur and Pendakur 1998; Pendakur and Pendakur 2011). Though not the focus of this study, there are also lessons to be learned from the labour market experiences of Canada's seasonal agricultural workers, live-in caregivers and other temporary foreign workers who have experienced wage discrimination and abusive recruitment practices (Faraday 2014; Satzewich 1991; Tilson 2009). Experimental studies have also found evidence of discrimination, in that resumes from applicants with non-English sounding last names are often excluded at early stages of the job application process (Henry and Ginzberg 1985; Oreopoulos 2011). Qualitative studies of the experiences of nurses in Ontario also found that African-Canadian nurses experienced racism, sexism and classism (Das Gupta 1996; Hagey et al. 2001). Many of Canada's Caribbean immigrants have reported experiences of discrimination in the labour market, which they believe have affected their labour market outcomes (Colin 2007; James 2009; Preston et al. 2010). In each census period from 1996 to 2006, immigrants from the Caribbean experienced higher unemployment rates and lower incomes than the Canadian-born population (Colin 2007). This is the context from which the study examined the lived-experience of English-speaking Caribbean immigrants in Toronto, focusing in part on the obstacles they faced and highlighting the relevance of social networks to their job search. …

Which Child Immigrants Face Earnings Disparity? Age-at-immigration, Ethnic Minority Status and Labour Market Attainment in Canada

Using Canadian Census microdata from 1990 to 2005, we investigate the earnings attainment of immigrants to Canada in 6 age-at-arrival cohorts. In comparison to past work we extend our understanding regarding three dimensions of the age at immigration debate: we explore heterogeneity across fine grained age-at-arrival cohorts, over a fifteen-year period and across different ethnic groups. We find that white immigrants and female immigrants arriving in Canada prior to age 18 face little earnings disparity. In contrast, visible minority male immigrants face significant earnings disparity regardless of their age-at-migration, and additionally this disparity increases sharply with age-at-migration. We find a break in earnings attainment at an age-of-arrival of 17, with immigrants arriving after this age performing much worse than those arriving at this age or earlier. The patterns observed are found for visible minority immigrants as a whole, and for Chinese, South Asian and African/Black origin immigrants examined separately.

Participation in Voluntary Associations and Social Contact of Immigrants in Canada

We explore how participation by immigrants in voluntary groups is related to their social contact patterns. Our discussion is guided by the structural integration and the homophily perspectives. Drawing from the 2008 Canadian General Social Survey, the findings in general support the structural integration perspective. The findings also show that frequency of participation in voluntary groups and number of voluntary associations participated have independent and significant positive relationships with socioeconomic range of contact and number of high-status contacts, except that the number of voluntary associations involved does not relate to the number of high-status contacts among immigrants. In addition, the findings show that receiving education overseas does not relate to the range of contact and high-status contact. However, visible minority immigrants significantly has lower socioeconomic range of contact than other immigrants even controlling for voluntary association participation.

Psychological pathways from social integration to health: An examination of different demographic groups in Canada

RationaleThe health effects of social integration have been extensively studied, yet the underlying dynamics of this relationship deserves more exploration. One of the important hypothesized pathways through which social integration affects health is psychological functioning, including a sense of belonging, personal control and generalized trust. ObjectiveUsing a Canadian national survey, this study explored the effect of social integration on different health outcomes via psychological pathways, while incorporating network homophily as a predictor in the model. MethodsFive distinct demographic groups of Canadians (the Native-born Whites, Native-born visible minorities, the Aboriginal people, immigrant Whites and immigrant visible minorities) were compared on their social integration, psychological functioning, and health outcomes. Structural equation models tested the mediation effects of psychological pathways, and group differences were explored by adding interaction terms. ResultsThe study found that visible minority immigrants were least socially integrated, and the Aboriginal people had the poorest self-reported physical and mental health. Although the Aboriginal people had large networks and active network interactions, they showed stronger ethnic and linguistic homophily in their network formation than the two visible minority groups. Structural equation model results supported the mediated relationship between social integration and health via psychological pathways. A positive effect of friendship ethnic homophily on health was identified and explored. ConclusionPolicy makers may seek opportunities to create social environments that facilitate social interactions and formation of social ties and provide support for programs serving ethnic and immigrant groups.

A Study on Visible Minority Immigrant Women’s Experiences with Domestic Violence

The purpose of this exploratory and qualitative research was to better understand the personal experiences of visible minority immigrant women seeking help with domestic violence (DV) in Southern Ontario, Canada. In-depth interviews were carried out with two survivors of DV and three DV professionals: their personal and professional experiences with DV as it affects visible minority immigrant women were explored. A gender-based analysis of the participants’ narratives revealed that a number of diversity-related axis such as, gender, visible minority, immigrant status and economic status influenced women’s experiences with abuse. The results indicate the various barriers visible minority immigrant women who are experiencing DV, may face when they try to seek help and support. Specifically, challenges include recognition of foreign credentials and employment, language, culture, isolation, and shelters. Police responses, court proceedings, spousal sponsorship policies, legal status and fear of deportation/breakdown of sponsorship contribute to structural barriers. Study implications for policy and practice are discussed and recommendations provided.