5. Politics and Public Services Domain

As indicated, the absence of reviews in areas of political science, law, social work, and health severely limited the findings in these areas. Even some reviews which might have dealt with issues of culturally sensitive or ethno-specific services, like criminology, focused on other substantive issues. However, the French language review did discuss issues of cultural sensitivity in health, social services, and criminal justice (in fact, mainly policing), and recognized the various types of barriers to care, as well as systemic discrimination.

There is no reference made in the reviews to the most recent work on the ethnic polity in Canada such as that of Breton (1991) or to case studies which explore the actions of ethnic polities in depth (Troper and Weinfeld, 1988). There are few references made to recent studies of ethnic politics, including the representation of immigrants/minorities among elected officials and their participation in Canadian party politics (Megyery, 1991) Nor is there a review of literature on anti-immigrant or racist right wing movements (e.g. Barrett, 1987).

There is also no reference to a state of the art review of ethnicity (Berry and Laponce, 1994) which touches on many of the immigrant related issues mentioned here. There is also minimal discussion of theoretical works such as those by Taylor ( in Guttmann 1992) and Kymlicka (1995) which may inform research in areas of politics and citizenship. These works seek to synthesize claims based on individual and group rights, a daunting task. There is also a substantial legal literature dating back to the adoption of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982, which wrestles with the intersections of individual and collective rights. Other legal writing seeks to interpret the limits and possibilities of section 27 (the multicultural section) and bears on many of the issues relevant here.

One area which is reviewed is the degree of immigrant political participation, and the quality of immigrant political life. Some analysis suggests large numbers of immigrants may dilute the quality of political discourse, since they might not be as familiar with issues and may be pre-occupied by parochial concerns. Other studies find that immigrants demonstrate high levels of political participation, quickly comparable to the native born, and in general this would seem to be accurate. Early studies have found immigrants to have a high degree of loyalty to Canada. The review of French language studies did not cite work on the involvement of immigrants in the general Quebec electoral system. But there is some discussion of research on Quebec ethnic political organizations, which describes their ambiguous position in the face of rising Quebecois nationalism.

Some research has focused on the determinants of Canadian immigration policy and subsequent intake. Clearly the dichotomy is between domestic and international determinants. Some research has identified the role of key bureaucrats and politicians, from the past to the present, in shaping policy. There is evidence of the role of immediate economic determinants, "tap on -- tap off," as shaped by unemployment. Still other studies have focused on factors of globalization and world population movements, or on politics both domestic and international.

Immigration policies are designed, like policies in other domains, to be in the national interest. Canada's altruism -- like that of every nation -- has its limits. Even refugee policy includes a strong measure of selectivity, so that the neediest among the refugees who may have difficulty integrating in Canada are less likely to be selected overseas. Admitting refugees who make successful claims from within Canada also favours those with the resources and energy to make it.

The impact of immigration on a variety of public services, and the desirability and feasibility of cultural sensitivity, is a major issue. Relevant literature is not reviewed. Useful reviews and discussions are found in the two volume collection on health and diversity edited by Masi (1993), in a study of immigrant and refugee mental health by Beiser (1988), and in a review of the provision of social services conducted for the Ontario Government by Reitz (1995). The latter study itself contains a 40 page bibliography with selected annotations; about one tenth of that bibliography deals with Canada. These studies confirm lower rates of utilization by immigrants in Canada of health and social services.

It is not really been established whether low levels of utilization reflect societal or cultural barriers, or actually reduced levels of need. Barriers which play a role are language differences, lack of cultural sensitivity among care-givers or institutions, financial barriers, different cultural patterns of help -seeking (which may impact on degree of need).

Ethnic match (between clients and care-givers) and ethno-specific services have some impact on rates of utilization, as seen in US studies; Canadian studies are almost non-existent on this particular topic.

In Quebec there have been a spate of government reports addressing issues of cultural sensitivity in the domains of health, social services, and criminal justice, which are summarized in the French language review. These have established underutilization, compounded by both the French and English dynamic. The literature reviewed in French did not contain scientific evaluation studies of remedies or programmes. There are also studies which have recognized the differential impact of social services on minority groups such as Haitians or Anglo-Caribbeans, which have found higher rates of placement in care outside of their nuclear family, and a general over-representation of visible minority youth in Quebec social services, as a result of Quebec's Youth protection Act. The studies assert that these over-representations are a result of cultural difference and systemic racial bias. There have been debates in Quebec on cultural differences -- as in the hijab debate --but no definitive resolutions.

In general, the evidence suggests that contrary to public belief, the foreign born use public (income support) services less than do the Canadian born, with regard to welfare, unemployment, etc. But over time they converge to native born rates, according to some six studies; so that issue seems to be settled. Studies of the fiscal impact of immigration are few and inconclusive, but suggest no negative fiscal consequences.

On the other hand, the economic costs and benefits of immigration tend to be distributed unevenly, by region in Canada and by level of government, and may also change over time. This variable fiscal impact is often overlooked in elaborating immigration policy and integration efforts, and requires study.