Research Library

Skilled workers and their dependents are the largest group of economic immigrants in Canada. Their labour market integration is critical for immigrant well-being as well as host country economic productivity. However, immigrant professionals face significant barriers to workplace integration, including unfamiliarity with workplace norms and practices. Participants of this study described challenges related to workplace communication and interactions, adaptation to new workplace cultures, recognition of qualifications and experience, and professional outcomes. They identified general professional values, skills, and capacities, and communication and relationships perceived as essential for workplace integration. Strategies for supporting workplace integration included continuing learning and education, training on cultural diversity and workplace skills, professional field experience, and professional mentorship. These findings have implications for practice and policies facilitating the workplace integration of immigrant professionals in Canada, including training and mentorship approaches. Skilled workers and their dependents are the largest group of economic immigrants in Canada. Their labour market integration is critical for immigrant well-being as well as host country economic productivity. However, immigrant professionals face significant barriers to workplace integration, including unfamiliarity with workplace norms and practices. Participants of this study described challenges related to workplace communication and interactions, adaptation to new workplace cultures, recognition of qualifications and experience, and professional outcomes. They identified general professional values, skills, and capacities, and communication and relationships perceived as essential for workplace integration. Strategies for supporting workplace integration included continuing learning and education, training on cultural diversity and workplace skills, professional field experience, and professional mentorship. These findings have implications for practice and policies facilitating the workplace integration of immigrant professionals in Canada, including training and mentorship approaches.
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Objectives: The increasing cost of clinical laboratory testing is a challenge in our health care system. This study calculates the annual clinical laboratory test costs. Results: While more women received laboratory testing (58.4%), men had slightly higher testing costs per capita. Except for Chinese, visible minority and Aboriginal populations had higher testing costs. There was an inverse correlation between testing cost and household income. Higher costs were found in those without postsecondary education and the unemployed. Furthermore, another factor that affect the costs is where patients live and access healthcare. Conclusions: Laboratory costs are different depending on social and economic background of patients. Objectives: The increasing cost of clinical laboratory testing is a challenge in our health care system. This study calculates the annual clinical laboratory test costs. Results: While more women received laboratory testing (58.4%), men had slightly higher testing costs per capita. Except for Chinese, visible minority and Aboriginal populations had higher testing costs. There was an inverse correlation between testing cost and household income. Higher costs were found in those without postsecondary education and the unemployed. Furthermore, another factor that affect the costs is where patients live and access healthcare. Conclusions: Laboratory costs are different depending on social and economic background of patients.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine support needs of African refugee new parents in Canada. Separated from their traditional family and cultural supports, refugee new parents reported isolation and loneliness. They lacked support during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum and had limited interactions with people from similar cultural backgrounds. Refugees required support to access services and overcome barriers such as language, complex systems, and limited financial resources. Support preferences included emotional and information support from peers from their cultural community and culturally sensitive service providers. The purpose of this paper is to examine support needs of African refugee new parents in Canada. Separated from their traditional family and cultural supports, refugee new parents reported isolation and loneliness. They lacked support during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum and had limited interactions with people from similar cultural backgrounds. Refugees required support to access services and overcome barriers such as language, complex systems, and limited financial resources. Support preferences included emotional and information support from peers from their cultural community and culturally sensitive service providers.
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This is an environmental scan. It examines the impact of federal policy changes on the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) and the flow of nominees to the Alberta labour market and communities. It was found that the AINP has taken on a broad scope of helping to achieve provincial economic and labour market needs. It is mainly low/semi-skilled TFWs who use the program to achieve residency, as the federal immigration streams tend to have higher requirements. The program itself has been criticized for creating a vulnerable environment for TFWs in addition to its limited capacity to process applications in a timely manner. The key learnings of the report find that immigrant retention is best achieved through community and family support. Although there were moves away from this with the closing of the family stream of the AINP in 2013, the new Liberal government has highlighted family reunification as a key immigration goal. However, federal and provincial immigration goals have also been shown to conflict with each other, as the provincial labour market need for low/semi-skilled workers is misaligned with the federal target of a highly-skilled and educated workforce. Lack of intergovernmental communication in the past resulted in confusion and little consideration of how immigration streams may influence each other. Behaviour of employers is also as a key factor contributing to TFW vulnerability. Thus, we recommend increasing intergovernmental communication and lateral dialogue on policy changes and how they may affect other immigration streams. Long-term labour market assessments are recommended to support the provision of residency to immigrants who are needed most. Furthermore, the AINP’s structural complexity should be reduced to be more inclusive, consistent and easy to access for applicants. Greater accountability, transparency and oversight should also be employed to reduce labour abuses and reduce the vulnerability of nominees of the program. This is an environmental scan. It examines the impact of federal policy changes on the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) and the flow of nominees to the Alberta labour market and communities. It was found that the AINP has taken on a broad scope of helping to achieve provincial economic and labour market needs. It is mainly low/semi-skilled TFWs who use the program to achieve residency, as the federal immigration streams tend to have higher requirements. The program itself has been criticized for creating a vulnerable environment for TFWs in addition to its limited capacity to process applications in a timely manner. The key learnings of the report find that immigrant retention is best achieved through community and family support. Although there were moves away from this with the closing of the family stream of the AINP in 2013, the new Liberal government has highlighted family reunification as a key immigration goal. However, federal and provincial immigration goals have also been shown to conflict with each other, as the provincial labour market need for low/semi-skilled workers is misaligned with the federal target of a highly-skilled and educated workforce. Lack of intergovernmental communication in the past resulted in confusion and little consideration of how immigration streams may influence each other. Behaviour of employers is also as a key factor contributing to TFW vulnerability. Thus, we recommend increasing intergovernmental communication and lateral dialogue on policy changes and how they may affect other immigration streams. Long-term labour market assessments are recommended to support the provision of residency to immigrants who are needed most. Furthermore, the AINP’s structural complexity should be reduced to be more inclusive, consistent and easy to access for applicants. Greater accountability, transparency and oversight should also be employed to reduce labour abuses and reduce the vulnerability of nominees of the program.
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International migrants experience first-hand differences between countries in terms of the social meanings, spatial regulation and prevalence of smoking. This research centred on the smoking-related perceptions, experiences and behaviours of recent migrants from China to Canada. Participants of this study observed that smoking remains almost ubiquitous in China due to ineffective spatial restrictions and the social importance of smoking among men. By contrast, smoking bans in Canada were perceived as effective due to widespread compliance and expectations of enforcement. They were conscious that male smoking was both less prevalent and less socially valued in Canada; conversely, female smoking was perceived as more accepted in Canada than in China. There was broad agreement that smoking was tolerated in Canada, provided it occurred in appropriate places. Complying with widespread spatial restrictions brought about changes in smokers’ behaviours: they smoked less often and consumed fewer cigarettes. Because smoking was more difficult to perform, participants thought the Canadian context supported quitting. Non-smokers were enthusiastic about smoke-free environments in Canada and had become acculturated to air that did not smell of smoke. These findings affirm the importance of comprehensive smoking bans, backed by enforcement, in contributing to the denormalisation of smoking and the protection of non-smokers. International migrants experience first-hand differences between countries in terms of the social meanings, spatial regulation and prevalence of smoking. This research centred on the smoking-related perceptions, experiences and behaviours of recent migrants from China to Canada. Participants of this study observed that smoking remains almost ubiquitous in China due to ineffective spatial restrictions and the social importance of smoking among men. By contrast, smoking bans in Canada were perceived as effective due to widespread compliance and expectations of enforcement. They were conscious that male smoking was both less prevalent and less socially valued in Canada; conversely, female smoking was perceived as more accepted in Canada than in China. There was broad agreement that smoking was tolerated in Canada, provided it occurred in appropriate places. Complying with widespread spatial restrictions brought about changes in smokers’ behaviours: they smoked less often and consumed fewer cigarettes. Because smoking was more difficult to perform, participants thought the Canadian context supported quitting. Non-smokers were enthusiastic about smoke-free environments in Canada and had become acculturated to air that did not smell of smoke. These findings affirm the importance of comprehensive smoking bans, backed by enforcement, in contributing to the denormalisation of smoking and the protection of non-smokers.
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In this paper, I illustrate how race and class hierarchies mark Filipino temporary foreign workers as foreign ‘others’. Because public spaces are structured in gendered and racialized ways, Filipino migrants have to carefully navigate public spaces to ensure their safety and create their own spaces of belonging that give them refuge against xenophobia. I argue further that the paradoxical discourses of multicultural inclusion and economic protectionism invoke the figure of the ‘good’ migrant and the ‘bad’ migrant. These, in turn, promote contradictory actions towards migrants, whose public acceptance hinge on wildly variable and changing notions of inclusion/ exclusion and economic acceptability. These lead to the passage of inconsistent policies where migrants are read as being ‘good’ one day, and as being ‘bad’ the next. In this paper, I illustrate how race and class hierarchies mark Filipino temporary foreign workers as foreign ‘others’. Because public spaces are structured in gendered and racialized ways, Filipino migrants have to carefully navigate public spaces to ensure their safety and create their own spaces of belonging that give them refuge against xenophobia. I argue further that the paradoxical discourses of multicultural inclusion and economic protectionism invoke the figure of the ‘good’ migrant and the ‘bad’ migrant. These, in turn, promote contradictory actions towards migrants, whose public acceptance hinge on wildly variable and changing notions of inclusion/ exclusion and economic acceptability. These lead to the passage of inconsistent policies where migrants are read as being ‘good’ one day, and as being ‘bad’ the next.
This publication has no Abstract to dispaly

This study examined criminal gang involvement of youth from immigrant families in Calgary, AB based on 30 interviews. Calgary, AB. Our analysis showed that gang-involved youth had experienced multiple, severe and prolonged personal and interpersonal challenges in all facets of their lives and that gradual disintegration of their relationships with family, school and community had resulted in the unravelling of self-concept, ethnic identity, sense of belonging and sense of citizenship and progressively propelled them towards membership in high-risk social cliques and criminal gangs. Our findings brought attention to the need for coordinated, comprehensive support for youth from immigrant families through family-based, school-based and community-based programs. This study examined criminal gang involvement of youth from immigrant families in Calgary, AB based on 30 interviews. Calgary, AB. Our analysis showed that gang-involved youth had experienced multiple, severe and prolonged personal and interpersonal challenges in all facets of their lives and that gradual disintegration of their relationships with family, school and community had resulted in the unravelling of self-concept, ethnic identity, sense of belonging and sense of citizenship and progressively propelled them towards membership in high-risk social cliques and criminal gangs. Our findings brought attention to the need for coordinated, comprehensive support for youth from immigrant families through family-based, school-based and community-based programs.
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Given the Canadian government’s focus on refugee resettlement in light of global crises, many schools are receiving increased enrolment of students who have experienced the trauma associated with living in, and fleeing from, regions experiencing armed conflict. The authors assert that given the numbers of such students entering Calgarian classrooms, it is important that educators have at least some knowledge of trauma-informed teaching practice. While acknowledging the challenges inherent in trauma-informed teaching practice, the article encourages a move away from a deficit perspective on children from refugee backgrounds, toward one of hope, befitting the resiliency such children bring to their new country. Given the Canadian government’s focus on refugee resettlement in light of global crises, many schools are receiving increased enrolment of students who have experienced the trauma associated with living in, and fleeing from, regions experiencing armed conflict. The authors assert that given the numbers of such students entering Calgarian classrooms, it is important that educators have at least some knowledge of trauma-informed teaching practice. While acknowledging the challenges inherent in trauma-informed teaching practice, the article encourages a move away from a deficit perspective on children from refugee backgrounds, toward one of hope, befitting the resiliency such children bring to their new country.
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When re-establishing their lives in Canada, international migrants with dependent children regularly encounter dramatically different conditions for family life. The parents’ employment situation, the limited availability of extended kin to help with child rearing, and a multicultural and relatively more permissive social environment, all of these invite or even demand changes in newcomers’ family practices. Yet, more information is needed about the ways in which skilled immigrants negotiate the changed conditions for work and family life in this country, and the impact this has on family dynamics during settlement. This study explores how coming to Canada impacted participants’ situations of paid work, parenting practices, and familial gender relations. Findings suggest that strained economic and social resources often limited the extent to which mothers and fathers were able to maintain an organization of family life similar to what they had established in their country of origin. However, while in some cases, shifts in family formation caused heightened levels of stress and strain and further entrenched the doing of conventional gender roles, in others, changed conditions acted as a catalyst for positive change. When re-establishing their lives in Canada, international migrants with dependent children regularly encounter dramatically different conditions for family life. The parents’ employment situation, the limited availability of extended kin to help with child rearing, and a multicultural and relatively more permissive social environment, all of these invite or even demand changes in newcomers’ family practices. Yet, more information is needed about the ways in which skilled immigrants negotiate the changed conditions for work and family life in this country, and the impact this has on family dynamics during settlement. This study explores how coming to Canada impacted participants’ situations of paid work, parenting practices, and familial gender relations. Findings suggest that strained economic and social resources often limited the extent to which mothers and fathers were able to maintain an organization of family life similar to what they had established in their country of origin. However, while in some cases, shifts in family formation caused heightened levels of stress and strain and further entrenched the doing of conventional gender roles, in others, changed conditions acted as a catalyst for positive change.
This publication has no Abstract to dispaly

Until recently, there was little acknowledgement that homelessness existed in rural areas in Canada. In order to understand the dynamics of homelessness in rural Alberta, we conducted interviews with service providers and other key stakeholders across Alberta. We examined homelessness dynamics and responses to rural homelessness in 20 rural communities across the province. Across all of the communities in the study, homelessness was reported however, the magnitude of the issue and its dynamics were distinct depending on the local contexts. We also identified several themes which serve as descriptors of rural homelessness issues. We note a number of recommendations emerging from this data which are aimed at building on the experiences, capacities, and strengths of rural communities. Until recently, there was little acknowledgement that homelessness existed in rural areas in Canada. In order to understand the dynamics of homelessness in rural Alberta, we conducted interviews with service providers and other key stakeholders across Alberta. We examined homelessness dynamics and responses to rural homelessness in 20 rural communities across the province. Across all of the communities in the study, homelessness was reported however, the magnitude of the issue and its dynamics were distinct depending on the local contexts. We also identified several themes which serve as descriptors of rural homelessness issues. We note a number of recommendations emerging from this data which are aimed at building on the experiences, capacities, and strengths of rural communities.
This publication has no Abstract to dispaly