Prairie Metropolis Centre
Funded Research, 2006-2007
From Caregiver to Citizen: Transitional Services of Filipino
Women in Southern Alberta
Glenda Bonifacio, University of Lethbridge
Research Domains Social & Cultural and Citizenship & Political
Filipino live-in caregivers enter Canada as potential citizens. Although their entry is
facilitated by a temporary work visa with stringent conditions under the Live-in
Caregiver Program, there is an evident desire to move through the next immigration route
as landed immigrants and eventually as citizens. The transition from temporary workers
to permanent residents appears crucial especially in the lives of Filipino women who
pave the way for the sponsorship, settlement, and integration of their families into
Canadian society.
This research examines the services provided to and accessed by Filipino women
caregivers in Southern Alberta during their transition to become Canadian citizens. It
analyzes the nature of services provided by immigrant-serving agencies and it usefulness
to Filipino caregivers. Based on individual interviews and focus group discussion, this
research explores other sources of alternative services available to Filipino women and
their families during this transitional phase. A more nuanced understanding of program
delivery and service utilization provides the link between policy and practice; of why
particular services are utilized or not by different groups of immigrants in Canada.
Is Immigrant Clustering in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver part of the Reason
behind Increasing Immigrant Labour Market Misfortunes?
Michael Haan, University of Alberta
Research Domain: Economic
Since 1991, nearly three quarters of all new Canadian immigrants have chosen to live in
Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver (Schellenberg, 2004). Newcomers enrich these areas in
myriad ways, by supplying local labour markets, increasing demand for housing,
enhancing cultural diversity, even preventing population decline. Presumably, the
benefits are reciprocal; immigrants that choose one of Canada’s three gateway cities enter
regions that are well-adapted to welcoming newcomers (Edmonston, 2002). They have a
wide range of choices concerning employment, neighbourhoods, accommodation type,
and many other factors that facilitate successful integration into Canadian society. For
several reasons, choosing a gateway city makes sense.
As declining immigrant fortunes in recent history suggest, however, there may
also be socioeconomic penalties attached to city choice (Heisz, 2005; Picot & Sweetman,
2005). What remains unquestioned (and therefore unanswered) however, is the extent to
which immigrant location choice explains recent immigrant hardships. If immigrants do
indeed incur a penalty for living in a gateway city, can the well-documented declines in
labour market performance (Baker & Benjamin, 1994; Bloom, Grenier, & Gunderson,
1995; Boyd & Thomas, 2001; Frenette & Morissette, 2003) be explained as a three-city
phenomenon instead of a national trend?
This project seeks to determine the effect of gateway clustering on immigrants by
using sample selection regression techniques for continuous variables (Heckman, 1979)
and the 2001 Census of Canada confidential master files (located in Ottawa at the
Statistics Canada headquarters). More succinctly, it will determine whether immigrants
who choose Canada’s three largest census metropolitan areas (CMAs) fare better or
worse concerning three labour market outcomes (employment status, suitability, and
earnings).
Educational Needs and Barriers for African Refugee Students in Manitoba
Yatta Kanu, University of Manitoba
Research Domain: Education
Manitoba has seen an unprecedented increase in the number of refugee students of
African origin in the past five years, without effective educational and other forms of
support specifically targeted at assisting the acculturation, integration and school success
of this group of students who are all from war-affected, disrupted schooling backgrounds
and whose culture, ethnicity, language and religion are significantly different from those
of the mainstream in the host country. This lack of targeted support has resulted in
dramatic school dropout rates and increased criminal gang activities and prostitution
among this population. There is need for research that guides and informs targeted and
effective support programming for this group of newcomers. To this end, the proposed
study will investigate three questions: (1) What do African refugee students need to
succeed in Manitoba schools? (2) What are the barriers to their school success? (3) What
kinds of interventions are needed to overcome these barriers?
Its objectives over a 12 month period are to: use multiple data collection methods
to gather data pertaining to the research questions among African refugee students in 2
Manitoba high schools, the principal and some teachers of these schools, and parents,
community leaders, and high school dropouts from selected African refugee
communities; analyze the data to generate recommendations for providing targeted
academic and social supports and services to African students of refugee origins; and
disseminate the results of this study to relevant community stakeholders, policy makers,
schools and school boards, and Prairie faculties of education.
Examining Social Justice Education in Action
Darren Lund, University of Calgary
Research Domain: Education
The proposed study will build on the Researcher’s current Metropolis-funded research,
“Fostering Acceptance and Integration of Immigrant Students: Examining Effective
School-based Approaches in Prairie Schools,” by studying a specific social justice
program in a Canadian school setting. Currently in its final stages, the ongoing study
examined school-based initiatives across three provinces, looking at projects designed to
enhance the social acceptance of immigrant and refugee students. Robust data from indepth interviews with 13 student and teacher activists will now inform the next phase of
this research, focused on a critical examination of an innovative “Social Justice
Education Program” at an urban high school in the prairie region. The researcher seeks
to better understand the daily experiences, challenges, and successes of a group of
students and teachers who have undertaken to address issues of racism and discrimination
in their school. The proposed study will add depth to our understanding of the vital roles
that teachers and students can play as agents of integration and will contribute to other
studies in the education domain at this and other Metropolis centres. The results of this
study will be of interest to social justice activists, researchers, teacher educators,
curriculum policy developers, school administrators, and community agencies. I will link
this research to other regional studies of formal school and district courses, projects, and
policies in cultural programming and to other official responses to immigrant students,
contributing to policy and programming associated with growing school diversity.
Immigration Flow Patterns: Western Canada Regional Analysis
Valerie Pruegger, University of Calgary
Research Domain: Economic
This research investigates the dynamics of immigrant retention for the major cities in
Western Canada: Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.
Using a model for estimating immigrant retention rates, variations in immigrant retention
by immigrants from different source regions will be analyzed for the 1986-2001 period.
Resulting variations will be analyzed to identify potential relationships between
socioeconomic characteristics and calculated retention rates for source regions. This
analysis will help municipal partners, identify push/pull factors unique to their local
contexts and to develop appropriate policy and strategy recommendations around
immigration at the municipal level.
The Labour Market Experiences of Immigrant, 1.5 Generation and Secondgeneration Immigrant Youth in Canada
Lori Wilkinson, University of Manitoba
Research Domain: Economic
This three-site project is intended to examine the initial labour market experiences of
immigrant, 1.5 generation, and 2nd generation immigrant youth in Winnipeg, Vancouver
and Toronto. A central feature of the transition to adulthood for many youth is the
acquisition of employment. We know very little about the transition to work amongst
newcomer and second-generation young people. Since immigrant youth make up a
significant number of entrants to the labour market, it is important to understand that
process and to learn more about the successes and the barriers to obtaining and retaining
gainful employment. Using a series of focus group interviews, the team will explore
whether or not social capital influences the employment prospects of Filipino/a, Chinese
and Asian youth. Since both community services providers and provincial government
stakeholders are involved in project development, data collection, and analysis, it is
hoped that our study will ensure the results of our research are utilized in current policy
and practice.
An Analysis of the “Post-Multiculturalism” Discourses
Lloyd Wong, Joe Garcea, Anna Kirova
University of Calgary, University of Saskatchewan, University of Alberta
Research Domains: Education, Social & Cultural, and Citizenship & Political
The “post-multiculturalism” discourse which emerged on the heels of the antiimmigration and anti-multiculturalism discourses in the 1990s, has become increasingly
popular in recent years, especially after 9/11 and the recent Madrid train bombings in
2004 and the London bombings in 2005. it is based on the perception that
multiculturalism is not working, or has not worked, in the sense that it is claimed to be
segregating (rather than integrating) diverse ‘racial’, ethnic, and religious groups. From
this point of view, the practice of multiculturalism contributed to a fragmentation of
society and makes social cohesion difficult if not impossible. In the proposed study, a
pan-Canadian team of researchers will deconstruct ‘post-multiculturalism’ discourses in
both the French and English languages in two specific substantive areas: 1) media
sources and 2) academic sources. The analytical tools and concepts that will be utilized
within this methodological approach will include truth claims, power/knowledge,
discursive practices, etc. The analyses of these discourses will inform a discussion about
their potential implications for Canada and the current Canadian public policy on
multiculturalism. A number of critical papers based on the review and synthesis of
disparate bodies of literature on multiculturalism, immigration, integration, citizenship
and education will address the following research questions, What are the implications of
the ‘post-multiculturalism’ discourse on Canadian public policies?, and What initiatives
or strategies are needed to influence the ‘problematic’ dimensions of ‘postmulticulturalism’ discourse? Multiple presentations to various audiences and an edited
volume are planned to communicate the results of the study.