Conclusion: Major Lacunae and Emerging Themes

These points are not presented in order of importance, but in the order in which they have emerged in reviewing this chapter to date. The unifying focus of these themes is the issue of immigrant integration, rather than the international factors which will help determine the levels of immigration into Canada.

1. The reviews suggest an absence of research focused on the urban setting and immigrant integration in Canada. While many studies obviously focus on immigrants living within Canadian cities, there is little specific linkage made to the intersection of uniquely urban conditions with the integration process. Of importance here is the study of the role of immigrant/ethnic residential concentrations in Canadian cities as these affect processes of integration of immigrants, as well as the perceptions of native born and largely European Canadians. The latter may not recall that earlier waves of immigrants also had their immigrant concentrations.

There is a need for various sorts of comparative work. There has been little systematic inter- city comparative research within Canada. There is also very little systematic comparative work cited comparing Canadian and other cities. It is possible that the specific contexts of Canadian cities -- or all cities -- are so different that there may be few generalizations which can be drawn which would be useful for policy makers. On the other hand preliminary observations suggest there may be common patterns and challenges found in all major cities with large immigrant populations, in Canada and all immigrant receiving countries. And finally, there is little work comparing the same ethnic groups and their experiences in various locales, e.g. several Canadian cities, several international cities, and perhaps a homeland control group.

2. Researchers must recognize new evolving paradigms of the immigration experience. Immigrant integration today is affected by forces relating to globalization, including technological change and increased travel which helps maintain contacts between immigrants, their homeland, and other diasporic concentrations. The urgency of rapid integration into a new society may be lessened, while the means for preserving homeland times are being enhanced. Multiple or diffuse loyalties may become more prevalent. This is also emerging through the impact of regionalization, as in the case of the European Community. Immigrant receiving countries may find themselves competing globally for the best quality immigrants, or using immigrant communities as elements in global trade strategies, or for geo-political influence -- rather than seeing them as possible threats to national unity or security.

Within this paradigm, researchers should seek to gather data and analyze processes such as onward or return migration, travel to and from the homeland, remittance patterns, communications contacts via telephone or e-mail, and the role of homeland countries in supporting diasporic communities in Canada. Diaspora cultures can also be sustained through readily available videos as well as radio and cable television ethnic programming. These various networks of contact, with their economic, cultural, and political implications, deserve sustained study.

3. The approach to immigrant integration should grapple with the issue of benchmarking. Work to date reflects the ideological or convenient bias in which the native born pattern is inevitably assumed as normative. But these norms may reflect arbitrary impacts of social power, rather than objective measures of social merit. The consideration of ethnic concentrations as problematic is an example. Such immigrant economic enclaves could be seen as sources of innovation. For some variables, societal outcomes might be enhanced were the native born to "converge" with immigrant patterns.

4. Research on immigrant integration must recognize that integration is usually a nested process. Immigrants often integrate into a family, then neighbourhood, ethnic subcommunity, ethnic community, and then lastly -- if at all -- into an amorphous Canadian society. This understanding points to the need to study ethnic communal organizations not only for their political roles, but as agents of immigrant integration. Research has neglected organizations such as ethnic churches which have been and remain important in the process of integration.

Even more neglected by researchers than ethno-specific organizations have been mainstream voluntary associations and organizations which play important roles in the process of immigrant integration. Often these roles are subtle and indirect. But their impact is considerable. Mainstream churches, Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, amateur sports leagues of various sorts, YMCA's and YWCA's, are examples of organizations in the voluntary sector with a considerable impact on integration, for both adults and children alike.

5. The provision of culturally sensitive services for immigrants remains a challenge that impacts on many policy domains: health, social services, education, justice, business, the media, etc. These services play a key role in facilitating integration. Research is needed on the roles of ethnic origin professionals, ethno-specific institutions, and culturally sensitive practice.

In general such research should seek to extend and explore the role of institutional completeness as either promoter of or impediment to efficient immigrant integration.

These issues relate to the broader question of what limits there can and should be to cultural pluralism in Canada, in the public domain, which in turn will set the parameters for immigrant integration policies. Legal research will be central in this effort.

6. Studies of immigrant integration must become more sensitive to the unique dilemmas faced by immigrant women, both in access to the labour market and in terms of family stresses and strains.

In the latter case, research on the nature of any unique tensions within immigrant families, between grandparents, parents and children or between spouses may provide information which can ease the integration process.

7. It is crucial to include research on the second generation i.e. child immigrants and Canadian born children of immigrants, in any research agenda. Such research should focus on educational attainment and occupational outcomes, as well as on cultural and attitudinal measures. This recognizes that the process of integration is ultimately a multi-generational one. In addition, second generation problems of identity formation, or reactions to discrimination, are often different from those of immigrants themselves. The inclusion of a census question on birthplace of parents would be of immense use in this effort.

8. There are many disciplines with research pertinent to immigrant integration which were not included in this initial set; These would bear strongly on the policy domains of interest to Canadian policy-makers. These include: political science; social work; health; education; law and criminology (from the perspective of the workings of the justice system);cultural studies; business, marketing, and human resources ( as distinct from economics).

As an example, the political integration of immigrants remains understudied, though subject to opposing perceptions. Either immigrants are marginal to the system, or they seem "too involved" and perhaps distort the political agenda through special interest lobbying or voting. Similarly, the links between ethnic communal organizations and mainstream political entities, such as parties or governments, remains unsystematically studied.

Even more understudied has been the actual housing conditions as opposed to residential patterns, in which immigrant live. This could be examined easily with available census data.

9. The experience of immigrant integration is by definition multi-dimensional, with interactions over several domains. But most published research is disciplinary-specific, with cross-disciplinary publication rare. Often researchers and their studies talk past each other. A challenge for the field would be to explore ways in which researchers from different disciplines, and indeed using different methods, might coordinate or initiate such collaborative efforts. The urban focus lends itself superbly to the weakening of disciplinary barriers to innovative research models. The field of ethnic studies has emerged as a multi-disciplinary and at times inter-disciplinary area specialty. Perhaps the field of immigration studies might evolve either in parallel, or in merged form with ethnic studies, to reflect a similar multiplicity and intersection of issues.

10. Very few of the studies cited focus on the impact of categories of immigrants -- independents, investors, or business class; family class; refugees -- on integration processes. Logically these should be important, and they should be included as explanatory variables. But it is also not clear to what extent these categories produce meaningful social groupings and experiences, compared to factors such as region of settlement or ethno-cultural origin.

Almost no research has explored the very basic premise of selectivity and the basic classes of immigration which underlie Canadian policy. Are the benefits of this elaborate system of selection and categorization worth the additional expenditures? Alternate models using principles of a lottery system in some form might well yield comparable outcomes. We just do not know.

11. Many studies speak in general terms about immigration, or about visible minorities, or about national trends -- where there is enormous variation in experiences. The major challenge for integration is generally faced by those groups which are recent immigrants, visible minorities, and refugee or family class.

12. There is a need for more qualitative studies of the texture of urban life, which could then be linked to more quantitative measures such as indices of residential concentration. There is a need to study middle class immigrant\ethnic suburbs as well as inner city areas of first settlement. The tradition of the Canadian classic suburban study Crestwood Heights could be revived.

There is a need to study specifically the urban political environment and municipal politics, as a frequent site of conflict or contested terrain between immigrants and non-migrants. This would require an "Americanization" of the study of urban ethnic politics in Canada. This would also include contentious issues like "white flight" and the political dimensions of school integration policies. Ethnic/political conflict is more likely in big cities since minorities generally have a large enough critical mass to sustain political mobilization.

13. There is a glaring lack of scientific research on many aspects of the linkage of immigration and crime on the one hand, and the justice system on the other. The evidence that exists indicates that immigrants, as a group, are NOT over-represented among those apprehended or convicted for criminal acts. Yet this generality masks significant internal variation.

The existence of systemic bias against minorities along the various steps of the justice system, from police harassment on the street through arrest, trial and conviction, sentencing, and parole, are more asserted than documented with rigorous Canadian data. These data -- linking crime statistics to origin or birthplace of perpetrators -- are not collected or analyzed for most crimes. (Such data are available for the First Nations population). Though none of the reviews addressed this issue, it may be timely to explore the possibility of collecting such information (which has been done routinely in the United States) to establish what benefits or costs (through misuse) might accrue.

14. It is generally asserted that Canada's multiculturalism and immigration policies are somehow linked, but the nature of that linkage remains to be established. One way to do that might be through international comparisons. A "hyphenated" Canadian seems more acceptable than a hyphenated German, Swede, or Italian. How does this influence patterns of immigrant admissions and integration?

15. a. A central question which can guide policy- relevant research is the degree of relevance of the experience of earlier waves of mass European migration to the likely experience of contemporary waves of non-European migration.

We know from the demographic evidence that there is generally convergence on most socio-demographic indicators over time and generation. Economic gaps tend to narrow, though the process is slower for the more recent cohorts of immigrants. Immigration continues to add to urban concentration and to ethnic diversity.

15.b There is still a need for additional research on the demographic consequences of immigration on variables such as sex ratios, marital patterns, dependency ratios, and age structure. Each one of the variables listed is of major social and demographic importance, with major policy implications, and deserves in -depth study. These studies should disaggregate the national data by province and urban centres, since regional variations may be pronounced.

One problem in utilizing demographic research is the absence of a population policy within which one can evaluate immigration processes and other demographic characteristics, such as the size, composition, and preferred distribution of the population.

There is also evidence of cultural assimilation with succeeding generations. These findings derive from socio-demographic studies of earlier waves of mainly European immigrants, and their numerous descendants.

Important differences relating to recent immigration may include greater racism directed at non-Europeans, economic restructuring and downsizing, increasing communications with home countries, official multiculturalism, and lower relative educational and occupational levels among more recent arrivals.

16. There may be a need to broaden the approaches to researching the economic costs and benefits of immigration. The consensus seems to be that immigration yields at least a small but positive benefit overall, and is not a fiscal liability. Immigrants in general catch up with the native born, though comparing incomes of immigrants with the native born does not yield a comprehensive macro-economic picture. It is unclear how incomes of the native born themselves are impacted by immigration, or how immigration impacts on unemployment rates of the native born population.

More work remains to be done on whether economic segmentation of immigrants in certain niches represents a loss or gain for immigrants, and for society as a whole. Part of this work should include a focus on the particular roles played by immigrant entrepreneurs, and indeed how, if at all, their economic patterns differ from those of the native born.

If ethnic economic segmentation is found to be negative, how can policies address that without major interference in labour markets? It might be difficult to reconcile such findings with positive income performance, on average. And if ethnic economic segmentation is found to be counter-productive, what steps can or should governments take to ameliorate these conditions?

There seems to be little work actually measuring the linkages, if any, between immigration to Canada and international trade. The fact that many successful (Asian) trading countries are not immigration countries does not mean that such a link might not operate in the Canadian case.

Measurement issues also abound: economic costs are usually up front, while benefits may include savings in human capital formation, as well as a longer term and multi-generational stream of benefits. Immigrants may also be over-represented in unpaid family business or domestic labour, or among those with undeclared incomes, all of which understate a net economic contribution.

It is also important to research the role of post-secondary students who are foreign born, or children of immigrants, in key educational (notably graduate and post-graduate) areas in the sciences, math, and engineering.

17. There is a need for research on the geographic and occupational mobility of immigrants. This should include data on the reasons for internal geographic and occupational moves, and is best obtained by longitudinal surveys. Few of the reviews have addressed the question of how it might be possible to attract and retain immigrants to smaller cities and towns, or to other regions of Canada in which the foreign born have been under-represented. Given constitutional mobility rights, it is also not clear whether immigrant dispersion is a legitimate or feasible goal of public policy. It is not clear what are the support services for immigrants that are decisive in such cases, as well as how a critical mass of initial immigrants can be established as a base for attracting others. But it is important to compare integration processes in Canada's large cities with those in smaller cities and towns.

Also, few detailed studies were cited analyzing the forces which determine the labour market strategies of immigrants: previous skills, language barriers, devalued credentials, discrimination, general economic conditions, specific job opportunities, retraining opportunities, formal employment searches, informal contacts through family or ethnic communal contacts, etc. In other words, what is the interplay between economic and other social forces that determine these decisions on the part of immigrants?

18. There is need for continuing research on impacts of immigration on language knowledge and use in Canada, with this recognized as a human capital asset. It is important to disaggregate this research by city or region, since national data alone may mask the significance of the patterns.

19. Racism in all its manifestations must be elevated to centre stage in research on immigrant integration. It is recognized that racist attitudes and actions are a result of a complex set of factors, some individual and some societal. Yet little is known about why Canadians hold the racist ( prejudicial, or stereotypical) attitudes they do. Replicated research with uniform instruments can help. In addition, research is needed on the more basic issue of Canadian attitudes to cultural difference and cultural change. It is unclear from the cited studies whether policies which directly or indirectly promote either cultural retention or assimilation impact on tolerance positively or negatively.

In addition, it is not clear whether multiculturalism policy actually impacts on the lives of immigrants. But it is important to recognize that multicultural polices in themselves do not "require" immigrants to do anything vis a vis their heritage culture.

20. Discrimination can shape the process of immigrant integration. Research has been conducted on both the determinants of prejudice and possible impacts on victims. These studies have used both surveys and laboratory methods. Yet the findings have not yet been synthesized to yield policy advice on how to minimize levels of prejudice and also enable immigrants to cope better with it. The reviews did not include evaluations of policies or programmes aimed at reducing levels of racial prejudice (e.g. in schools, or the workplace) or in helping minorities cope with psychological consequences of discrimination.

21. So much of the Canadian response to immigration and integration is a result of perceptions which are shaped by the media. Most of the available research tends to condemn the mainstream media for either perpetuating stereotypes or focusing on negative new stories dealing with immigrants. More scientific research using a variety of methods is required. In addition, systematic studies of the ethnic media, particularly as an agent of socialization and integration, are important.

22. Canada, through its constitution and other federal and provincial laws, continues to wrestle with a "values mismatch" between individual and collective models of citizenship. There may well be no "solution" here. This legal tension may also feed into pubic perceptions of immigration, and resulting diversity, as undermining societal cohesion. In Quebec, the debate is even more complex given the concern of the French majority for the integration of immigrants into francophone society.

Related to these issues are questions of the reciprocal impact of immigrants and the host society on evolving conceptions of Canadian citizenship, the character of Canadian civil society, and the nature of Canadian culture. At times there is a public misconception that these have historically been static, only now subject to challenge from new waves of immigrants. There was little research cited that measures the practical ways in which these theoretical debates impact on the realities of immigrant integration. But it is important to develop research to enable Canada to manage this transition with a maximal amount of civility, efficiency, and fairness.