Immigrant Settlement Agencies in Canada: a Critical Review of the Literature Through the Lens of Resilience
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Immigrant Settlement Agencies in Canada: A Critical Review of the Literature through the Lens of Resilience Riley Bushell (MA, Immigration and Settlement Studies, Ryerson University) & John Shields (Professor, Ryerson University) October 9, 2018 This research is part of the sub-grant “Critical examination of settlement sector discourses and practices of resilience: a comparative study of three Ontario cities”, and was funded by Migration and Resilience in Urban Canada - Immigration et résilience en milieu urbaine (BMRC-IMRU), a SSHRC funded project. 1 Key Findings and Recommendations: A Report Summary This report offers a comprehensive critical literature review of the role of various institutional actors in the immigration and settlement process in Canada. The core concept of this report is resilience as it pertains to immigration in Canada, focusing particularly on cities in the major immigrant-receiving provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Resilience has been defined as “the capacity of individuals, communities and systems to survive in the face of stress and shocks, and even transform when conditions require” (Akbar 2017, ii). Successful settlement requires the individual resilience of newcomers in Canada and institutional resilience from the organizations, communities and government systems, which either aid in these processes or fail to do so. These actors are inextricably linked, they stand to benefit where Canadian institutions are strengthened, and made more responsive to the needs of immigrant and refugee communities. In contributing to the Building Migrant Resilience in Cities project, this report has gathered, reviewed and analyzed a variety of academic, government and grey literature from the last two decades. In this time frame, it focusses not only on the diverse communities of immigrants and refugees in Canada but also on key stakeholders in their settlement including a range of non-profit organizations, foundations and coalitions, municipal, provincial and federal governments, universities and communities. It pays particular attention to the role of Immigrant Serving Agencies (ISAs) (Also see Praznik and Shields 2018a). This report critically examines these actors in the context of a neoliberal policy environment, which has shaped resettlement in Canada in recent decades. The objective of this report is to present and consider the major themes and dialogues in relevant literature, and in doing so to provide greater understanding of the immigration and settlement system in Canada and to offer a foundation for future research in this critical sphere. This review covers a wide scope but among the many observations identified in this report five key findings are highlighted in this summary. Some Key Findings: 1. Newcomer settlement in Canada is shaped uniquely by federal, provincial and municipal policy. Federal and provincial governments have long shared jurisdiction of such matters outside of Quebec, which is relatively more autonomous in terms of settlement policy. Canada’s other provinces and territories have gained an increasing stake in newcomer settlement through a variety of avenues including federal-provincial agreements and Provincial Nominee Programs. However, for the most part, literature suggests that policymaking power in immigration and settlement remains centralized within Canada’s federal government. At the local level, Canada’s cities has have become major immigrant hubs and are increasingly relied upon to foster resilience among newcomer residents. Unfortunately, constitutional, 2 operational and financial limitations restrict the capacity of municipal governments to foster resilience in resettlement among newcomer communities. 2. A diverse array of non-governmental stakeholders in settlement have developed key roles in fostering newcomer resilience, including the private sector, research and academic institutions and non-profit community organizations. In particular, literature suggests that non-profit community organizations can offer comprehensive, long- term and culturally and/or linguistically compatible settlement services to strengthen their client communities throughout the lengthy resettlement process. Due to their close connectedness to newcomer communities, these organizations are also key advocates for their clients changing needs where invited into multi-sectoral forums and in consultation with Canadian settlement policymakers. 3. Since the late 1980s, neoliberal public policy ascendant across North America has affected the capacity of newcomer-serving organizations to foster resilience among their client communities. In part, this has been caused varying degrees of government austerity in settlement budgeting. It has also been prompted by a shift to New Public Management governance, characterized in terms of federal determination of settlement policy and their regulation of non-profit service provision through competitive, fixed-term contracts and increased administrative reporting. Literature critical of these developments suggests that newcomer-serving organizations are weakened by financial dependence on government contracts and made less able to offer comprehensive, client-centred services and independent advocacy. Some suggest that this competitive environment also dampens capacity- building in the sector, problematizes collaboration within the settlement sector and worsens non-profit-government working relationships. In particular, smaller ethno- specific organizations with less collective resources are likely to be affected by New Public Management governance. 4. Immigration and settlement is by nature a global process, and literature suggests that certain trends examined in Canada are also emerging internationally. In many countries, governments engage non-profit organizations in partnerships to bolster newcomer resilience. These perspectives are valuable in exploring shared issues in terms of funding, autonomy and capacity. International perspectives also particularly important given recent increases in immigration and asylum-seeking in Western Europe, the rise of right-wing populism and anti-immigrant rhetoric emergent in the United States and around the world. As a member of the international community, Canadian settlement policy is influenced by this global context as well as the sharing of best practices between newcomer-receiving countries. 5. In the short-term, literature suggests that the Canadian government and non-profit organizations can strengthen newcomer communities by expanding eligibility for settlement programming, offering pre-arrival services and ensuring that programming is appropriately targeted as well as geographically, culturally and linguistically accessible. As home to the vast majority of immigrants and refugees in Canada, cities must also be specifically developed as sites of resilience for 3 newcomer residents. In the long-term, meeting the needs of Canada’s growing immigrant and refugee populations requires a large, diverse and comprehensively funded settlement sector. To this point, engrained structures of Canadian federalism and neoliberal public policy have limited the capacity of communities, non-profit organizations and municipalities to effectively engage with newcomers to Canada. Ultimately, literature suggests that newcomer resilience would directly result from more horizontal, reciprocal and mutually beneficial relationships between the upper- tiers of Canadian government responsible for coordinating and funding settlement services and the non-profit organizations tasked with their delivery. If settlement in Canada is truly a “two-way street” where both government and non- government stakeholders help to facilitate social inclusion in fostering newcomer resilience (IRCC 2016), then state investments in settlement support and progressive migrant legislation and programing must continue. However, “just as immigrants face many systemic challenges during settlement and integration, so do service providers and policymakers” (Simich et al. 2005, 265). Where these critical support lines are weakened and made less resilient, vulnerability is passed directly into newcomer communities. This report has outlined the neoliberal context of settlement in Canada, mapping the vast landscapes, and hierarchies of government and non-government roles within this ecosystem. It has focussed on the way that these diverse actors shape immigration and settlement in Canada, particularly at the local level of communities, non-profit agencies, and municipalities. As part of the Building Migrant Resilience in Cities project, a multi-sectoral initiative among academics, government representatives, practitioners, policymakers, and newcomer communities, this report aims to contribute to this collaborative effort. 4 Table of Contents 1. Introduction and Objective..………………………………………………………...7 2. What is integration in Canada?..........................................................................8 a. Integration as social inclusion b. Integration as a “two-way street” c. Integration as a gradual, multilayered and uneven process 3. Global discourse on the newcomer………………………………………...…....10 4. Neoliberal policy shift…………....………………………………………………....11 a. Neoliberalism, funding cuts and austerity in Ontario and Quebec b. Neoliberalism and settlement service devolution c. Neoliberalism and New Public Management 5. Social inclusion and labour market integration……………………………...…15 6. Federal role in integration and settlement……………………………….……...17 a. Federally funded settlement