Welcoming Communities: Working to Improve the Inclusion of Visible Minorities and Immigrants in Second and Third Tier Ontario Cities Victoria Esses Co-Chair, Ontario Welcoming Communities [e-mail]

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Welcoming Communities Working to Improve the
Inclusion of Visible Minorities and Immigrants in
Second and Third Tier Ontario CitiesVictoria
Esses Co-Chair, Ontario Welcoming Communities
vesses_at_uwo.ca
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• Background and Premises
• Changing face of Ontario communities
• Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement and goal of
  more regionalization
• Increasing recognition of need for immigrants in
  centres outside of Toronto
• Social and economic challenges cities must work
  on accommodating the ethnic, racial and religious
  diversity provided by immigrants and the
  increasing second and third generations

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• Challenges to meeting the needs of a more diverse
  community
• selling it to long-term residents
• removing barriers to full participation
  economic, social
• reconfiguring existing services, new models of
  service delivery
• new ways of living together, new forms of spatial
  and social belonging
• implementation and coordination
• Ontario Welcoming Communities Initiative
  developed to help meet these challenges -
  capitalizes on local expertise and intellectual
  capacity in world-class universities in 2nd and
  3rd tier cities across the province
• Intent is to work with stakeholders to identify
  strategic priorities, conduct analyses, and shape
  policy guidance and practical advice

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• Major Project Goals
• 1) Strengthen municipal capacity to attract and
  benefit from diversity and immigration in 2nd and
  3rd tier Ontario cities
• 2) Strengthen the capacity of the voluntary
  sector to contribute to equitable and inclusive
  communities
• 3) Maximize the economic benefits of diversity
  and immigration for 2nd and 3rd tier Ontario
  cities

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4) Understand barriers to social cohesion, and
test and implement strategies for creating and
sustaining communities in which all members feel
comfortable and valued 5) Share findings and
recommendations widely 6) Train highly skilled
personnel training opportunities for students,
postdoctoral fellows, community personnel,
faculty
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• Key Players
• Researchers at 16 Ontario Universities
• Brock Québec en Outaouais
• Carleton Queens
• Guelph Trent
• Huron University College UOIT
• Lakehead Waterloo
• Laurentian Western
• McMaster Wilfrid Laurier
• Ottawa Windsor

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• Partners in Second and Third Tier Ontario Cities
• Universal Service Providers
• (e.g., United Way/Centraide Ottawa)
• Immigrant-Serving and Ethnocultural Agencies and
  Associations
• (e.g., Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex
  County)
• School Boards
• (e.g., Thames Valley District School Board)
• Municipal and Regional Government Departments
• (e.g., City of Hamilton, Community Services)

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• Association of Municipalities
• (e.g., Association française des municipalités de
  lOntario)
• Business and Employment Associations and Networks
• (e.g., Niagara Training and Adjustment Board)
• National Associations
• (e.g., Canadian Council on Social Development)
• National Research Organizations
• (e.g., Environics)
• Provincial Government Departments
• (e.g., Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration)
• Federal Government Departments
• (e.g., Canadian Heritage)

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• Important Feature
• Collaborative arrangements with Local Immigration
  Partnership (LIP) Committees designed to
  optimize efficiencies and effectiveness

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• Governance
• Governing Council
• co-chaired by university rep and
  community/municipal rep
• equality across participating universities
• full partnership between universities and
  communities / municipalities
• Executive Committee
• University Subcommittee
• 1 rep per university
• Community and Municipal Subcommittee
• 1 rep per community
• Domains

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• Domains
• Community Civic Resources and Initiatives
• led by Caroline Andrew (Ottawa) Carl Nicholson
  (Catholic Immigration Centre)
• - municipal social services (including
  employment assistance and housing) recreation
  policies and programming local cultural
  policies relations with the media and capacity
  of the voluntary sector.
• 2) Health and Healthcare
• led by Bruce Newbold (McMaster) Heather Lee
  Kilty (Brock)
• - provision of health care access and barriers
  to health care determinants of physical and
  mental health and wellbeing care and prevention
  utilizing skills and experiences of immigrants
  and visible minorities and health policy and
  best practices

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3) Education and Educational Policy led by Dawn
Zinga (Brock) Cynthia Levine-Rasky (Queens) -
integrating equity and diversity issues in all
education areas educational outcomes and
educational inequalities for immigrants and
visible minorities second language learning
practices and policies approaches to equity and
diversity issues in teacher education. 4)
Children and Youth led by Audrey Kobayashi
(Queens) Xinyin Chen (Western) - social and
psychosocial conditions affecting integration
responses of long-settled non-minority children
and youth to their immigrant and minority peers
specific issues faced by the second generation of
visible minority youth labour market integration
of immigrant and minority youth and programs and
policies to promote inclusion.
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5) Optimizing Social and Cultural Integration
led by Victoria Esses (Western) - determinants
and consequences of local attitudes toward
visible minorities and immigrants role of the
local media and opinion leaders experiences of
visible minorities and immigrants definitions of
personal and Canadian identity and strategies to
promote inclusion. 6) Entrepreneurship,
Immigrants, and Visible Minorities led by
Benson Honig (Wilfrid Laurier) and Margaret
Walton-Roberts (Wilfrid Laurier) - explaining
immigrant and visible minority enterprise
promoting information and trade flows
transnational entrepreneurship.
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7. Labour Market Participation and Social
Capital led by Ravi Pendakur (Ottawa) and Dirk
De Clercq (Brock) - opportunities and barriers
for immigrant and visible minority labour market
participation individual-level social capital
community-level social capital. 8. Immigration
Policy and New Models of Migration
Management led by Vic Satzewich (McMaster) and
Jenna Hennebry (Wilfrid Laurier) - selection,
recruitment, and integration policies
integration of specific groups
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• Initial Research Strategies
• Focus on CMAs outside of Toronto
• 2nd tier cities populations of 300,000 to
  1,000,000 (Hamilton, Kitchener, London, Oshawa,
  Ottawa, St. Catharines-Niagara, Windsor)
• 3rd tier cities populations of 100,000 to
  300,000 (Barrie, Brantford, Greater Sudbury,
  Guelph, Kingston, Peterborough, and Thunder Bay)

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Comparative studies Multidisciplinary,
multimethod Baseline projects that will provide
data for all domains Iterative process with
continual refinement as new knowledge and
questions are generated by the research
process Scholarship of Engagement
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• Initial Lead Projects
• 1) City profiles, and inventories and audits of
  local resources and services
• Analysis and collation of preexisting data
• Population profiles
• Resources, services, measures to promote
  inclusion
• Gaps and deficits
• Successful practices and initiatives
• Sector-specific study of local policing

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• 2) Visible minority and immigrant service
  utilization and service experiences
• Questionnaires, interviews, focus groups,
  detailed journal of use and satisfaction
• Utilization and experiences with municipal
  services and voluntary organizations
• Identify barriers to inclusion from the
  perspective of visible minorities and immigrants
  themselves
• Whether and how immigrant web portals are being
  utilized

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• 3) Mutual perceptions, attitudes, and experiences
  of community members
• Focus groups, interviews of local opinion
  leaders, standardized survey
• Mutual attitudes and perceptions
• Key drivers of attitudes and perceptions
• Strategies for change implemented and evaluated

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• 4) Entrepreneurial experiences
• Interviews, case studies, life history calendars
• Opportunities and challenges
• Business strategies
• Community capacities to attract and retain
  immigrant and visible minority entrepreneurs and
  their children

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• Communication Strategies
• Annual Summer Institute
• Best Practices Training Modules (e.g., Training
  sessions on non-discriminatory workplaces and
  practices)
• Tool Kit for Improving Access and Provision of
  Services in 2nd and 3rd Tier Cities
• Tool Kit for Reducing Racism and Discrimination
  in 2nd and 3rd Tier Cities
• Advice to Local LIP Committees, United Ways,
  Municipalities

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• Annual Conference
• Workshops and Community Forums
• Methodological Manuals for Comparative Studies
• Antiracism Materials, Public Information
  Campaigns
• Curriculum Resources
• Policy Briefings and Presentations
• Public Speaker Series
• Monthly E-Bulletin
• Community and Academic Publications