Transcript Slide 1

Welcoming Communities:
Working to Improve the Inclusion of
Visible Minorities and Immigrants in
Second and Third Tier Ontario Cities
Victoria Esses
Co-Chair, Ontario Welcoming Communities
[email protected]
Background and Premises
• Changing face of Ontario communities
• Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement and goal of
more regionalization
• Increasing recognition of need for immigrants in
centres outside of Toronto
• Social and economic challenges: cities must work
on accommodating the ethnic, racial and religious
diversity provided by immigrants and the increasing
second and third generations
• Challenges to meeting the needs of a more diverse
community:
- “selling it” to long-term residents
- removing barriers to full participation: economic, social
- reconfiguring existing services, new models of service
delivery
- new ways of living together, new forms of spatial and
social belonging
- implementation and coordination
• Ontario Welcoming Communities Initiative:
developed to help meet these challenges capitalizes on local expertise and intellectual
capacity in world-class universities in 2nd and 3rd tier
cities across the province
• Intent is to work with stakeholders to identify
strategic priorities, conduct analyses, and shape
policy guidance and practical advice
Major Project Goals
1) Strengthen municipal capacity to attract and benefit
from diversity and immigration in 2nd and 3rd tier
Ontario cities
2) Strengthen the capacity of the voluntary sector to
contribute to equitable and inclusive communities
3) Maximize the economic benefits of diversity and
immigration for 2nd and 3rd tier Ontario cities
4) Understand barriers to social cohesion, and test
and implement strategies for creating and
sustaining communities in which all members feel
comfortable and valued
5) Share findings and recommendations widely
6) Train highly skilled personnel: training
opportunities for students, postdoctoral fellows,
community personnel, faculty
Key Players
Researchers at 16 Ontario Universities:
Brock
Carleton
Guelph
Huron University College
Lakehead
Laurentian
McMaster
Ottawa
Québec en Outaouais
Queen’s
Trent
UOIT
Waterloo
Western
Wilfrid Laurier
Windsor
Partners in Second and Third Tier Ontario
Cities
Universal Service Providers
(e.g., United Way/Centraide Ottawa)
Immigrant-Serving and Ethnocultural Agencies and
Associations
(e.g., Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex County)
School Boards
(e.g., Thames Valley District School Board)
Municipal and Regional Government Departments
(e.g., City of Hamilton, Community Services)
Association of Municipalities
(e.g., Association française des municipalités de l’Ontario)
Business and Employment Associations and Networks
(e.g., Niagara Training and Adjustment Board)
National Associations
(e.g., Canadian Council on Social Development)
National Research Organizations
(e.g., Environics)
Provincial Government Departments
(e.g., Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration)
Federal Government Departments
(e.g., Canadian Heritage)
Important Feature =
Collaborative arrangements with Local
Immigration Partnership (LIP) Committees:
designed to optimize efficiencies and
effectiveness
Governance
Governing Council
- co-chaired by university rep and community/municipal rep
- equality across participating universities
- full partnership between universities and communities /
municipalities
Executive Committee
University Subcommittee
- 1 rep per university
Community and Municipal Subcommittee
- 1 rep per community
Domains
Domains
1) Community Civic Resources and Initiatives:
led by Caroline Andrew (Ottawa) & Carl Nicholson (Catholic
Immigration Centre)
- municipal social services (including employment assistance
and housing); recreation policies and programming; local
cultural policies; relations with the media; and capacity of the
voluntary sector.
2) Health and Healthcare:
led by Bruce Newbold (McMaster) & Heather Lee Kilty (Brock)
- provision of health care; access and barriers to health care;
determinants of physical and mental health and wellbeing;
care and prevention; utilizing skills and experiences of
immigrants and visible minorities; and health policy and best
practices
3) Education and Educational Policy:
led by Dawn Zinga (Brock) & Cynthia Levine-Rasky (Queen’s)
- integrating equity and diversity issues in all education areas;
educational outcomes and educational inequalities for
immigrants and visible minorities; second language learning
practices and policies; approaches to equity and diversity
issues in teacher education.
4) Children and Youth:
led by Audrey Kobayashi (Queen’s) & Xinyin Chen (Western)
- social and psychosocial conditions affecting integration;
responses of long-settled non-minority children and youth to
their immigrant and minority peers; specific issues faced by
the second generation of visible minority youth; labour market
integration of immigrant and minority youth; and programs
and policies to promote inclusion.
5) Optimizing Social and Cultural Integration:
led by Victoria Esses (Western)
- determinants and consequences of local attitudes toward
visible minorities and immigrants; role of the local media and
opinion leaders; experiences of visible minorities and
immigrants; definitions of personal and Canadian identity; and
strategies to promote inclusion.
6) Entrepreneurship, Immigrants, and Visible
Minorities:
led by Benson Honig (Wilfrid Laurier) and Margaret WaltonRoberts (Wilfrid Laurier)
- explaining immigrant and visible minority enterprise;
promoting information and trade flows; transnational
entrepreneurship.
7. Labour Market Participation and Social Capital
led by Ravi Pendakur (Ottawa) and Dirk De Clercq (Brock)
- opportunities and barriers for immigrant and visible minority
labour market participation; individual-level social capital;
community-level social capital.
8. Immigration Policy and New Models of
Migration Management
led by Vic Satzewich (McMaster) and Jenna Hennebry (Wilfrid
Laurier)
- selection, recruitment, and integration policies; integration of
specific groups
Initial Research Strategies
Focus on CMAs outside of Toronto
• 2nd tier cities: populations of 300,000 to 1,000,000
(Hamilton, Kitchener, London, Oshawa, Ottawa, St.
Catharines-Niagara, Windsor)
• 3rd tier cities: populations of 100,000 to 300,000
(Barrie, Brantford, Greater Sudbury, Guelph,
Kingston, Peterborough, and Thunder Bay)
Comparative studies
Multidisciplinary, multimethod
Baseline projects that will provide data for all
domains
Iterative process with continual refinement
as new knowledge and questions are
generated by the research process
Scholarship of Engagement
Initial Lead Projects
1) City profiles, and inventories and audits of
local resources and services
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Analysis and collation of preexisting data
Population profiles
Resources, services, measures to promote inclusion
Gaps and deficits
Successful practices and initiatives
Sector-specific study of local policing
2) Visible minority and immigrant service
utilization and service experiences
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Questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, detailed journal
of use and satisfaction
Utilization and experiences with municipal services and
voluntary organizations
Identify barriers to inclusion from the perspective of
visible minorities and immigrants themselves
Whether and how immigrant web portals are being
utilized
3) Mutual perceptions, attitudes, and
experiences of community members
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Focus groups, interviews of local opinion leaders,
standardized survey
Mutual attitudes and perceptions
Key drivers of attitudes and perceptions
Strategies for change: implemented and evaluated
4) Entrepreneurial experiences
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Interviews, case studies, life history calendars
Opportunities and challenges
Business strategies
Community capacities to attract and retain
immigrant and visible minority entrepreneurs and
their children
Communication Strategies
• Annual Summer Institute
• Best Practices Training Modules (e.g., Training sessions
on non-discriminatory workplaces and practices)
• Tool Kit for Improving Access and Provision of Services
in 2nd and 3rd Tier Cities
• Tool Kit for Reducing Racism and Discrimination in 2nd
and 3rd Tier Cities
• Advice to Local LIP Committees, United Ways,
Municipalities
• Annual Conference
• Workshops and Community Forums
• Methodological Manuals for Comparative Studies
• Antiracism Materials, Public Information Campaigns
• Curriculum Resources
• Policy Briefings and Presentations
• Public Speaker Series
• Monthly E-Bulletin
• Community and Academic Publications