The Role Of Immigrant Serving Organizations In The Canadian Welfare State: A Case Study

Drawing upon an interdisciplinary body of literature this thesis investigates the role of immigrant serving organizations in the Canadian welfare state. Comparative literature on the voluntary sector, international perspectives on settlement services for immigrants, and state/minority relations in Canada are reviewed to illuminate salient research questions. A case study was undertaken guided by the following research questions: what is it that the organizations do, including both their service and nonservice functions; what is the impact of the organization on clients and other stakeholder groups; what is the agency’s relationship with government, its primary funder; and lastly, what are the implications of the study for analyses of the welfare state?

The key findings reveal that, in their service dimension, the organizations proffer a type of safety net of cultural, kinship, and linguistic resources for immigrants; increase immigrants’ access to mainstream services; and through collective action, articulate needs and thereby extend the provisions of the welfare state to immigrants. In political terms the symbolic allocation of societal resources minority communities is realized. An examination of the agency’s relationship with government representatives indicates that, within the constraints imposed by government funding, variables such as ideological affinity and bureaucratic professionalism contribute to positive relations. In so far as the welfare state is concerned, the mobilization by ethnoracial communities to extend welfare provisions highlights the role of social movements as agents of change in social policy.

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Virtual Library		Updated February 09, 2004