Immigration and the changing Canadian city
TL;DR: The impact of immigration on Canadian cities since the Second World War has been profound, especially following the removal of barriers to non-European immigrants in the 1960s and the significant increase in the number of immigrants admitted since the mid-1980s as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The impact of immigration on Canadian cities since the Second World War has been profound, especially following the removal of barriers to non-European immigrants in the 1960s and the significant increase in the number of immigrants admitted since the mid-1980s. Over two million immigrants entered Canada in the 1990s and the vast majority have settled in just a few metropolitan areas. As a result, the social geography of large Canadian cities has been transformed, an issue that has attracted considerable attention from Canadian geographers. In this paper, research on these changes—published by cultural, social, and urban geographers between 1996 and 1999—is surveyed. This work is exceedingly diverse in emphasis and method, and has contributed a great deal to our understanding of the relationship between immigration and urban change, particularly in the areas of housing, the labour market, and neighbourhood life. In general, geographers are emphasizing the complexity of outcomes, highlighting on the one hand the importance of local contingency, and on the other the growing connections between Canadian cities and global processes. This research challenges traditional theories of immigration and urban structure, and in so doing will redefine the way we conceptualize urban spatial structure and urban social life.
L'impact de l'immigration sur les villes canadiennes depuis la seconde guerre mondiale a ete profond, particulierement depuis la suppression des barrieres a l'egard des immigrants ne venant pas d'Europe dans les annees 1960, et l'augmentation significative du nombre d'immigrants dans les annees 1980. Plus de deux millions d'immigrants sont entres au Canada dans les annees 1990, dont la grande majorite s'est installee dans seulement quelques metropoles. Cela a provoque une transformation de la geographie des grandes villes canadiennes, phenomene qui a attire une attention considerable de la part des geographes canadiens. Dans cet article, des recherches sur ces changements, publies par des praticiens des geographies culturelle, sociale et urbaine entre 1996 et 1999, sont passees en revue. Les champs d'investigation et les methodes de ces travaux sont extremement divers. Ces derniers ont grandement contribuea notre comprehension du rapport entre immigration et changements urbains, particulierement dans les domaines du logement, du marche du travail, et de la vie de quartier. En general, les geographes mettent l'accent sur la complexite des consequences, en soulignant d'un cote l'importance de la contingence locale, et de l'autre les relations croissantes entre les villes canadiennes et les processus globaux. Ces recherches remettent en question les theories tradition-nelles sur l'immigration et la structure urbaine et, chemin faisant, redefinissent notre facon de conceptualiser la structure spatiale et la vie sociale des villes.
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TL;DR: In this article, a case study of the development of an innovative approach to drug policy in Vancouver, British Columbia is used to deepen our understanding of what I call "urban policy mobilities".
Abstract: There is growing attention across the social sciences to the mobility of people, products, and knowledge. This entails attempts to extend and/or rework existing understandings of global interconnections and is reflected in ongoing work on policy transfer—the process by which policy models are learned from one setting and deployed in others. This paper uses a case study of the development of an innovative approach to drug policy in Vancouver, British Columbia to deepen our understanding of what I call ‘urban policy mobilities.’ It details the often apparently mundane practices through which Vancouver's ‘four-pillar’ drug strategy—which combines prevention, treatment, enforcement, and harm reduction—was learned from cities outside North America and is now increasingly taught elsewhere. In doing so it draws on a neo-Foucauldian governmentality approach to emphasize the role of expertise (specialized knowledge held by many actors, not just credentialed professionals) and the deployment of certain powerful tru...
317 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined whether urban ghettos along the U.S. model are forming in Canadian cities, using census data for 1991 and 2001 and borrowing a neighbourhood classification system specifically designed for comparing neighbourhoods in other countries to the US situation.
Abstract: Recent literature suggests a growing relationship between the clustering of certain visible minority groups in urban neighbourhoods and the spatial concentration of poverty in Canadian cities, raising the spectre of ghettoization. This paper examines whether urban ghettos along the U.S. model are forming in Canadian cities, using census data for 1991 and 2001 and borrowing a neighbourhood classification system specifically designed for comparing neighbourhoods in other countries to the U.S. situation. Ecological analysis is then performed in order to compare the importance of minority concentration, neighbourhood classification and housing stock attributes in improving our understanding of the spatial patterning of low-income populations in Canadian cities in 2001. The findings suggest that ghettoization along U.S. lines is not a factor in Canadian cities and that a high degree of racial concentration is not necessarily associated with greater neighbourhood poverty. On the other hand, the concentration of apartment housing, of visible minorities in general, and of a high level of racial diversity in particular, do help in accounting for the neighbourhood patterning of low income. We suggest that these findings result as much from growing income inequality within as between each visible minority group. This increases the odds of poor visible minorities of each group ending up in the lowest-cost, least-desirable neighbourhoods from which they cannot afford to escape (including social housing in the inner suburbs). By contrast, wealthier members of minority groups are more mobile and able to self-select into higher-status ‘ethnic communities’. This research thus reinforces pleas for a more nuanced interpretation of segregation, ghettoization and neighbourhood dynamics.
267 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the initial settlement needs and experiences of Ethiopian and Somali refugees in Toronto and found that most Ethiopians and Somalis encounter considerable difficulties during the initial stages of resettlement in Canada.
Abstract: Very little research exists on the resettlement of refugees in Canada. This is particularly so in the case of refugees from African countries, albeit there are significant numbers of them in Canada. Drawing on both qualitative and quantitative data, this paper contributes to the scanty geographical literature on refugee research by examining the initial settlement needs and experiences of Ethiopian and Somali refugees in Toronto. Analysis suggests that most Ethiopians and Somalis encounter considerable difficulties during the initial stages of resettlement in Canada. They face social exclusion and multiple forms of disadvantage including high unemployment, underemployment, and overcrowding, as well as frustrations and despair that sometimes result in suicidal behaviours, particularly among the young males. Host language incompetence and recency of immigration are some explanatory factors, but it is clear that systems of institutional and everyday racism have created very formidable barriers for Ethiopians and Somalis as they integrate into their new country. For Ethiopian and Somali newcomers settling in Toronto, information on (initial) settlement assistance tends to come from sources other than the government. Majority of respondents obtained such information through their personal network of friends, family, and compatriots. Ethnic origin does not discriminate between Ethiopian and Somali refugees in regard to the difficulties they face in Toronto, in that it does not show any statistically significant relationship with almost all the variables examined in the study. Understanding how refugees attempt to reconstruct their social geographies in the most multicultural and cosmopolitan Canadian city will contribute to a better understanding of their settlement needs and assist in the provision of higher quality services and programmes, besides informing policy decision-making on immigration and settlement in Canada.
132 citations
Cites background from "Immigration and the changing Canadi..."
...Like many other recent immigrants, Ethiopian and Somali immigrants to Canada tend to settle in the Toronto area (Ley, 1999; Hiebert, 2000)....
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...Like many other recent immigrants, Ethiopian and Somali immigrants to Canada tend to settle in the Toronto area (Ley, 1999; Hiebert, 2000 )....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the barriers and challenges experienced by the Polish, Portuguese, Caribbean, Korean, and Somali immigrants in the establishment and operation of their businesses in the Toronto CMA.
Abstract: Immigration since World War 2 has been a primary engine of economic, social, and cultural change in Canada. Two of its important characteristics have been its ‘urban’ character and the non-European origins of immigrants since the 1960s. The Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) has been a major destination for those immigrants who have entered the self-employed sector of the economy in ever-larger numbers. The authors focus on the barriers and challenges experienced by the Polish, Portuguese, Caribbean, Korean, and Somali immigrants in the establishment and operation of their businesses in the Toronto CMA. With information collected through key-informant interviews, a questionnaire survey, and focus groups, it is found that, despite the Canadian commitment to multiculturalism at all levels of government, visible-minority entrepreneurs still confront more barriers in their business practice than do non-visible-minority entrepreneurs, with access to financing being a persistent problem. Given the increasin...
84 citations
TL;DR: The authors study the structure and development of ethnic entrepreneurship among immigrant groups, and particularly among visible minorities, in Canada, and find that "relatively few attempts have been made by geographers in Canada to make a study of the ethnic entrepreneurship in Canada."
Abstract: Relatively few attempts have been made by geographers in Canada to study the structure and development of ethnic entrepreneurship among immigrant groups, and particularly among visible minorities. ...
82 citations
Cites background from "Immigration and the changing Canadi..."
...This is particularly the case in the area of small business development, which has been especially strong in Toronto (Hiebert, 2000, 1994; Rees, 1998; Nash, 1994)....
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...In the Canadian context, scholarly research into entrepreneurship among immigrants, and their diverse economic experiences and impact upon Canada’s economy, has not been documented comprehensively (Lo et al., 2000; Hiebert, 2000; Mata and Pendakur, 1999)....
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References
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TL;DR: This paper examined three discursive constructions of "Filipina" and argued that they work to structure Filipinas' labor market experiences in Vancouver and demonstrated that geography has much to bring to discourse analysis; there are geographies written into discourses of Filipina that work to position Filipinas in Vancouver as inferior.
Abstract: This paper is an exploration of what poststructuralist theories of the sub- ject and discourse analysis can bring to theories of labor market segmentation, namely an understanding of how individuals come to understand and are limited in their occupational options. I examine three discursive constructions of "Filipina" and argue that they work to structure Filipinas' labor market experiences in Vancouver. Filipinas who come to Canada through the Live-in Caregiver Program often come with university educations and professional experiences (e.g., as regis- tered nurses) but then become members of the most occupationally segregated of ethnic groups in Vancouver. As domestic workers in Vancouver, they are defined as "supplicant, preimmigrants," as inferior "housekeepers," and, within the Filipino community, as "husband stealers." I demonstrate that geography has much to bring to discourse analysis; there are geographies written into discourses of "Filipina" that work to position Filipinas in Vancouver as inferior. While the examined dis- courses overlap and reinforce the marginalization of Filipinas, I also explore how discursive analysis can function as ideology critique, by examining the internal inconsistencies and silences within particular discourses and the points of resis- tance that emerge when different discourses come into contact and tension. workers.
283 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined stereotypes of Filipina and British nannies presented by nanny agents in a series of interviews conducted in 1994, and then considered the influence of these stereotypes in structuring the work conditions of each group of domestic workers.
Abstract: This article examines stereotypes of Filipina and British nannies presented by nanny agents in Vancouver, Canada in a series of interviews conducted in 1994, and then considers the influence of these stereotypes in structuring the work conditions of each group of domestic worker. Working with Bhabha's concept of ambivalence and Kaplan's ideas about the 'impossibility' of the concept, 'mother', the agent interviews are then reread for signs of inconsistency and ambivalence. The British nanny is portrayed as both superior in terms of training and temperament, but cold and controlling. The Filipina nanny is both uncivilised and poorly motivated, and well-educated. These ambivalences are read in terms of anxieties about maternal substitution, colonial pasts, racial difference, and working mothers. Some implications of the inconsistency in agents' portrayals of Filipina nannies for political practice are briefly outlined.
151 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a number of trends in recent immigration to Canada are discussed: the scale of contemporary movement; the transformation of national origins over the past generation; the diversity of entry classes and the lack of any singular immigrant condition; the remarkable contraction of immigrant destinations to a few large cities; the contribution of immigration to population growth and housing demand in these metropolitan areas; and the distinctive geography of the various entry classes, with higher-status arrivals disproportionately located in Vancouver.
Abstract: A number of trends in recent immigration to Canada are discussed: the scale of contemporary movement; the transformation of national origins over the past generation; the diversity of entry classes and the lack of any singular immigrant condition; the remarkable contraction of immigrant destinations to a few large cities; the contribution of immigration to population growth and housing demand in these metropolitan areas; and the distinctive geography of the various entry classes, with higher-status arrivals disproportionately located in Vancouver. The remainder of the paper considers and rejects two common myths in the discussion of immigration: first, the myth of an immigrant underclass, and second, the myth of an immigrant overclass. Using research from Vancouver associated with the Metropolis Project, the first myth is challenged from an analysis of Census data that emphasizes the social context of immigrant life and upward mobility; the second myth is shaken by a qualitative methodology that reveals the unexpectedly fragile experience of a number of business immigrants.
Certaines tendances relatives a l'immigration recente au Canada sont examinees: l'envergure des deplacements actuels, les changements dans l'origine nationale des immigrants au cours de la derniere generation, la diversite des categories d'immigrants admis et, par consequent, l'absence d'une seule condition pour tous, le fait que les immigrants choisissent essentiellement de s'etablir dans quelques grandes villes, la croissance de la population et la demande en logement attribuables aux immigrants dans ces regions metropolitaines, et les choix geographiques distincts des immigrants selon leur categorie a l'admission, comme c'est le cas de Vancouver, qui accueille un nombre disproportionne d'arrivants de statut eleve. Dans le reste de l'article, les resultats d'etudes effectuees dans le cadre du Projet Metropole permettent d'examiner puis de refuter deux mythes communement associes a l'immigration au Canada: l'existence d'un sous-proletariat et celle d'une classe dominante d'immigrants urbains. D'abord, l'existence d'un sous-proletariat est rejetee suite a l'analyse de donnees tirees du recensement concernant le contexte social entourant les immigrants et la mobilite sociale ascendante de la plupart des nouveaux arrivants. Ensuite, une methode qualitative met en lumiere une decouverte surprenante: la fragilite de l'experience de la pretendue classe dominante – les immigrants qui travaillent dans le monde des affaires.
129 citations
TL;DR: This paper evaluated l'influence des caracteristiques metropolitaines sur l'emploi independant, i.e., groupes d'immigres and des minorites ethniques, in Canada.
Abstract: Cette etude evalue l'influence des caracteristiques metropolitaines sur l'emploi independant au sein des groupes d'immigres et des minorites ethniques au Canada. Les resultats montrent que les variations locales au sein des groupes clairement distincts de la population moyenne du Canada, et au sein des groupes comportant le plus d'entrepreneurs, different sensiblement par rapport aux variations locales dans le reste de la population. Les groupes immigres et ethniques deploient leurs activites particulierement dans les zones metropolitaines peripheriques, la ou les opportunites pour entreprendre sont faibles. La presence d'une importante communaute de meme ethnie ou de meme origine n'influence pas la propension a l'emploi independant. Neanmoins, ces groupes s'agglomerent en « niches entrepreneuriales » assez resserrees. Beneficiant d'une moindre competition dans leurs rangs, les immigres sont probablement contraints a l'emploi independant en raison du manque d'opportunites alternatives
110 citations
TL;DR: How domestic workers' constructions of their occupation are interwoven with their own national identities, the (partial) internalisation of others' images of them, and how they define themselves in relation to other domestic workers are explored.
Abstract: In Canada, paid domestic work is often associated with (im)migrant women from a variety of countries of origin. We critically analyse Canada's foreign domestic worker programmes, noting the shifting definitions of which nationalities should participate. We note how gendered, racialised, and classed constructions of national identities infuse these programmes. We then turn to an empirical analysis of how foreign domestic workers are constructed in Toronto, where demand is the highest in Canada. In particular, we investigate how the practices of domestic worker placement agencies reinforce images about which national identities supposedly have qualities that make them best suited to certain types of domestic work. Finally, we explore how domestic workers' constructions of their occupation are interwoven with their own national identities, the (partial) internalisation of others' images of them, and how they define themselves in relation to other domestic workers.
109 citations