Metropolis - Toronto Centre of Excellence

Learning is central to the successful adaptation of immigrant and refugee children and to their participation in Canadian society. As the only mandated service for young immigrants, the school system is responsible for ensuring language proficiency and the acquisition of employment skills. For adult immigrants and refugees, learning about Canadian culture and how to survive in it calls for life-long learning. CERIS encourages research about both formal and informal education, immigrant adjustment and government supports for adaptation.

The economic contribution of immigrants has always been a driving force of Canadian immigration policy. Most immigrants have economic aspirations as well, and the success of settlement is affected critically by economic integration. Research on the economic contributions of immigrants is vitally important along with examining the costs of services used to acquire linguistic and employment skills. Policy issues must include the means to help immigrants integrate by taking into account the resources they bring, as well as the optimal numbers and selection criteria for newcomers.

The health domain has two principal thrusts: 1) the study of the pre-migration and

post-migration (resettlement) determinants of immigrant health; and 2) the study of the health

system's response to immigrant health needs. The first thrust will contribute to theory about

coping with the stresses of resettlement, and will provide information useful for creating programs to prevent illness and to promote health. The second thrust focuses on: a) whether immigrants have equitable access to care, as the Canada Health Act and other legislation decree; b) factors affecting the quality of care immigrants receive within the health care system; and c)

formal and informal systems of care, including so-called "traditional" health practices and their

The community domain seeks to identify those factors which facilitate or impede the social integration and civic participation of immigrants in contemporary urban societies. The experience of immigrants and the receiving society, and the service-providing agencies of both, are appropriate foci, with emphasis on those elements of welcome, service, and integration (or the absence thereof) that are legitimate concerns of public policy in an urban area.

The housing and neighbourhoods domain focuses on the residential patterns and housing conditions of immigrants and on the social and built aspects of the neighbourhoods where they live. Emphasis is placed on the changing residential locations of immigrants, the nature of residential or housing segregation, and immigrants’ involvement in neighbourhoods with all the implications for integration and access to appropriate and affordable shelter. The effects of immigration on housing demand, housing stock, local planning issues, and neighbourhood social and political life are of interest.

Justice is a core component of successful settlement and social cohesion in democratic societies. Creating a just society that respects the rights not only of its citizens but of all within it is a particular challenge for nations of immigrants. The link between law and justice needs to be clear in the lived experience of immigrants and refugees. Research conducted in this domain will focus on the development and administration of Canadian law and policy, and the impact they have on settlement and cohesion. It will include research on the current tensions between Canadian ideals and actual experiences in this area; the contributions of immigration and immigrants to Canada’s system of laws; the treatment of immigrants and immigrant groups by Canada’s legal institutions; immigration policies and practices and their interaction with other legal systems; the outcomes of laws, settlement policies and practices on successful settlement; crime related to migration, such as trafficking in human beings; and the differential impacts of law and policy on diverse populations.

Appendix I-B

OVERVIEW OF CERIS’ RESEARCH PROGRAMME

(1996 - 2002)

A. Executive Summary

From 1996 to 2000, CERIS funded a total of 47 RFPs. In the years 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2000, these were categorized by Research Domain: 11 in the Economic domain; 9 in Education; 13 in Community; 8 in Health; 4 in Housing and Neighbourhoods and 1 in Justice and Law.^{^[1]} In 1998 they were categorized by Research Theme: 2 in Children and Youth; 4 in Cohesion, Citizenship and Social Climate; 1 in Institutional Restructuring and Policy Change; 2 in Ethnic Economy. These projects engaged more than 250 academic and community-based researchers (including undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students), reflect a wide range of disciplines and research methodologies, and involved several universities and community organizations. Each of the project research teams involved a collaborative partnership of some form or other, whether these be interdisciplinary, inter-university and/or academic-community collaborations in the research itself and/or the dissemination of research results. What follows is a full list of research projects organized by domain as well as a listing of major research themes or areas. Full project descriptions for the 1996 – 2000 RFP’s are available as separate documents for consultation purposes.

B. List of Research Projects by Domain, Title and Lead Researcher

Economic Domain

Immigrants, Ethnic Economy and Integration: A Case Study of Chinese in the Greater Toronto Area

Lead researcher: Lucia Lo [1996] - $15,000

Chinese Ethnic Economy in Toronto

Lead researcher: Ambrose Ma/Eric Fong [1996] - $15,000

The Immigration Points System and Labour Adjustment Program: A Gender Analysis

Lead researcher: Roxana Ng [1996] - $6,000

Changing Patterns of Immigrants' Socio-economic Integration (1986-1995) and their Policy and Program Implications

Lead researcher: Edward Harvey [1997] - $15,000

Investigating Policy Barriers to Immigrant Business Development: A Case Study of Chinese in GTA

Lead researcher: Shuguang Wang [1998] - $16,410

Employment Barriers Experienced by Chinese Immigrant Women in the GTA

Lead researcher: Valerie Preston [1998]- $19,640

Immigration, Ethnic Diversity and Labour Unions in Canada

Lead researcher: Jeffrey Reitz [1998] $12,950

Immigrant and Refugee Youth Unemployment: A Qualitative Exploration of Labour Market Exclusion.

Lead researcher: John Shields & Khan Rahi [1998] $14,510

An Analysis of Socio-economic Situation by Ethnocultural Groups, Periods of Immigration and Gender for Canada and Toronto CMA: 1996, 1991 and 1996 Compared.

Lead researcher: Edward Harvey [1999] $12,988.

Cultural Resources, Ethnic Strategies and Immigrant Entrepreneurship: A Comparative Study of Six Ethnic Groups in the Toronto CMA

Lead researcher: Lucia Lo [1999] $27, 561 (over two years)

Apprenticeship Opportunities and Barriers for Immigrant Youth in the GTA

Lead researcher: June Yee [2000] $15,180

Education Domain

Supporting Parental Involvement in Schools: An Ethnographic Study of the Toronto Latino Parent Support Group

Lead researcher: Judith Bernhard [1996] - $15,000

Upward Mobility Among Second Generation Caribbean Men Living in Toronto: A Pilot Study

Lead researcher: Clifford Jansen [1996] - $15,000

Opportunities and Possibilities: School Board/University Partnership as a Means of Enhancing the Educational Experiences of Immigrant and Refugee Students

Lead researcher: Carl James [1996] - $8,000

The Next Generation: Life Course Effects of Immigration and Educational Experiences on Adolescent Transitions to Adulthood

Lead researcher: John Hagan [1996] - $6,000

Parent Participation in Elementary Schools: The Experience of Hispanic Immigrants

Lead researcher: Carl Corter [1997] - $15,000

Early Differences Experienced by Visible Minority Children

Lead researcher: Kenise Murphy Kilbride [1997] - $14,871

School Experiences of Immigrant and Ethnic Minority Youth: Risk and Protective Factors in Coping with Bullying and Harassment

Lead researcher: Debra Pepler [1997] - $15,000

Enhancing School Retention Among African-Canadian Youth

Lead researcher: Gloria Roberts-Fiati [1998] - $14,900

Thanks for Asking: Public Legal Education Project for Immigrant Women in Domestic Violence Situations

Lead researcher: Shahrzad Mojab [1999] $17,705.50

Latin American Families and Social Service Providers’ Interactions on Parenting Issues Arising in Elementary School Settings

Lead Researcher: Judith Bernhard [2000] (over two years) $28,692

Community Domain

Link by Link: The Challenge of Building Community with Survivors of Torture

Lead researcher: Adrienne Chambon [1996] - $15,000

Immigration, Urban Citizenship and Municipal Governance in the Greater Toronto Area

Lead researcher: Myer Siemiatycki [1996] - $15,000

Research Toward Equity in the Professional Life of Immigrants: A Study of Nursing in the Metropolis

Lead researcher: Enid Collins [1997] - $14,714

The Impact of Sponsorship on the Equality Rights of Francophone Immigrant Women

Lead researcher: Andrée Côté [1997] - $12,500

The Civic Engagement of Immigrants and Refugees: Towards a Comparative Study of Women's and Men's Participation in Schooling Issues in the Greater Toronto Area and Vancouver

Lead researcher: Luin Goldring [1997] - $11,000

Satellite Children: An Exploratory Study of Their Experience and Perception

Lead researcher: Howard Irving [1997] - $14,950

Voices of Immigrant Women: The Effects of Cutbacks on Their Settlement Experiences

Lead researcher: Neita Israelite [1997] - $5,000

The Collaborative Development of Culturally Appropriate Definitions of Child Abuse and Neglect for the South Asian Community

Lead researcher: Nico Trocmé [1998] - $12,970

Latin American Youth in Toronto: Identity and Immigration Issues

Lead researcher: Alan Simmons [1998] $23,706

Civic Participation & Homeland Ties: A Comparative Study of Croatians & Sri Lankan Tamils in the Greater Toronto Area

Lead researchers: Winland Daphne and Wayland Sarah [1999] $16,944

Product of Canada?! Caribbean-Canadians, Family Transnationalism and the Settlement Process

Lead researcher: Carl James [2000] $17,400

Health Domain

Immigration and Settlement Issues for Ethno-Racial People with Disabilities: An Exploratory Study

Lead researcher: Judith Sandys [1996] - $10,000

Identifying Barriers and Incentives to Breast Cancer Screening Behaviour in Tamil Immigrant/Refugee Women 50 Years Old and Over

Lead researcher: Marta Meana [1996] - $10,250

Towards Respiratory Health Among Immigrants in South East Toronto: Life Histories of Chinese and Caribbean Immigrants

Lead researcher: Esme Fuller-Thomson [1996] - $15,000

Food Security, Health and the Immigrant Experience

Lead researcher: Jennifer Welsh [1997] - $14,616

Study of the Health Status and Health Care Access for the Arab Community in Toronto:

A Pilot Study to Assess Health Needs

Lead researcher: Lillian Yuan [1997] - $15,000

Pathways and Barriers to Mental Health Care for Ethiopians in Toronto

Lead researcher: Samuel Noh and Ilene Hyman[1998] - $49,196.75

The Health Effects of Reductions in Welfare Payments and Hospital Closures on Immigrant Populations in Southeast Toronto

Lead researcher: Richard Glazier [1998] $45,000 (over three years)

Chinese Immigrant Women Who Care for Aging Parents

Lead researcher: Lynn McDonald [2000] $12,016

Towards Healthier Bones: A Cross-sectional Study Examining Fracture Risk and Access to Care among Chinese Immigrants

Lead researcher: Angela Cheung [2000] $21,860

Assessing the Impact of the Kosovo Crisis on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Newcomer Serbian Children in the GTA

Lead researcher: Joanna (Anneke) Rummens [2000] $24,144

Housing and Neighbourhood Domain

The Rental Housing Experience of Salvadorean Refugees in Toronto

Lead researcher: David Hulchanski [2000] $17,520

Race, Gender and Age in Non-familial Settings

Lead researcher: Janet Lum [2000] $20,140

Multicultural Planning Practice in the GTA

Lead researcher: Beth Moore Milroy [2000] $11,103

Pathways to Housing: The Experiences of Refugees in Accessing Permanent Housing in Toronto

Lead researcher: Robert Murdie [1999] $14,960

Justice and Law Domain

The Impact of Criminal Deportation on Toronto’s Jamaican Community

Lead researcher: Scot Wortley [2000] $19,870

C. Key Research Themes

The following list identifies key research themes and areas evident in the 47 research projects for 1996-2000. Its purpose is to determine which research areas are being addressed both for informational purposes and to make it easier to identify current gaps in CERIS’ research programme.

Ethno-specific groups and linguistic communities specifically dealt with in research projects include: Arab; Caribbean; Chinese, including Chinese from Hong Kong; Croatian; Ethiopian; Latino/Hispanic; Korean; Polish; Portuguese; Serbian; Somali; and South Asian, including Tamil. Two of the four 1998 projects focused on barriers faced by Chinese immigrants in the G.T.A.: one on policy barriers to immigrant business development (Shuguang Wang) and one on employment barriers faced by Chinese immigrant women (Valerie Preston). One project in the Economic Domain (Edward Harvey - 1997) dealt with a total of 46 ethno-cultural groups; another project (Andrée Côté - 1997) dealt with francophone immigrants in Ontario; and yet a third yielded a mapping of immigrant settlement across the G.T.A (Myer Siemiatycki - 1996). One of the projects funded in 1999 compared entrepreneurship in six ethnic groups, including Caribbean, Chinese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese and Somali immigrants in Toronto. An update of Edward Harvey’s research on the socio-economic situation of ethnocultural groups looked at 58 ethnocultural groups in Toronto and Canada in general, based on the latest 1996 census data. In the 2000 RFP, two projects examined issues in the Chinese community (Lynn McDonald – 2000 and Angela Cheung – 2000). Two others dealt with the Caribbean community (Scot Wortley – 2000 and Carl James – 2000). All CERIS research projects necessarily deal with the wide variety of linguistic, cultural and “racial” immigrant and refugee groups evident in the Greater Toronto Area given the nature of the Centre’s research mandate and immigration trends in Canada.

=====

Adaptation/Acculturation

            Judith Bernhard - 1997; Debra Pepler - 1997; Howard Irving 1997; Alan Simmons 1998; Carl James - 2000

Civic Engagement

Judith Bernhard - 1996; Carl Corter - 1997; Myer Siemiatycki - 1996; Luin Goldring 1997; Gloria Roberts-Fiati 1998; Winland D. & Wayland S. 1999.

Community Action Strategies

Jennifer Welsh - 1997

Community Integration

Adrienne Chambon - 1996

Comparative studies

Andrée Côté - 1997; Luin Goldring - 1997

Discrimination/Equity Issues

            Cliff Jansen - 1996; Kenise Murphy Kilbride - 1997; Debra Pepler - 1997; Enid Collins -1997; Andrée Côté - 1997; Judith Sandys - 1996; Nico Trocmé - 1998; Shuguang Wang - 1998; Valerie Preston – 1998; June Yee 2000; Scot Wortley – 2000

Ethnic Economy

            Lucia Lo - 1996; Ambrose Ma/Eric Fong - 1996; Shuguang Wang - 1998

            Jeffrey Reitz 1998; Shields & Khan R- 1998; Lucia Lo - 1999

Gender Issues

            Roxana Ng - 1996; Andrée Côté - 1997; Luin Goldring - 1997; Marta Meana - 1996; Valerie Preston – 1998; Janet Lum - 2000

Government Responsiveness

Myer Siemiatycki - 1996

Health Care Access and Delivery

Marta Meana - 1996; Judith Sandys - 1996; Lillian Yuan - 1997; Samuel Noh & Ilene Hyman- 1998; Angela Cheung - 2000

Health Status/Issues

Debra Pepler - 1997; Marta Meana - 1996; Esme Fuller-Thomson - 1996; Jennifer Welsh - 1997; LillianYuan - 1997; Samuel Noh & Ilene Hyman - 1998

Mapping of Immigrant Settlement Patterns

            Myer Siemiatycki - 1996

Policies/Programs

            Roxana Ng - 1996; Edward Harvey - 1997; Carl James - 1996; Judith Bernhard - 1996; Kenise Murphy Kilbride - 1997; Neita Israelite - 1997; Enid Collins - 1997; Andrée Côté - 1997; Neita Israelite - 1997; Adrienne Chambon - 1996; Esme Fuller-Thomson - 1996; Judith Sandys - 1996; Jennifer Welsh - 1997; Nico Trocmé - 1998; Shuguang Wang 1998; Richard Glazier 1998; Mojab Shahrzad – 1999; Beth Moore Milroy - 2000

Refugees

Marta Meana - 1996; Samuel Noh & Ilene Hyman 1998; Robert Murdie – 1999;

Hulchanski - 2000

Settlement Services

Adrienne Chambon - 1996; Neita Israelite - 1997; Myer Siemiatycki - 1996

Social Mobility

Cliff Jansen - 1996

Socio-Economic Integration

Edward Harvey – 1997; Edward Harvey - 1999

"Special Needs" / Vulnerable Groups

Howard Irving - 1997; Marta Meana - 1996; Judith Sandys - 1996; Jennifer Welsh - 1997; Lillian Yuan - 1997; Nico Trocmé - 1998.

D. CERIS RFP Submissions by Domain and Year

Domain 1996 Submissions 1996 Awards

Economic 13 3

Education 13 4

Community 33 5 (inc 2 Health)

______ ______

TOTAL 59 12

Domain 1997 Submissions 1997 Awards

Economic 4 1

Education 7 3

Community

(Social Services; Other) 16 5

Community

(Health) 6 2

______ ______

TOTAL 33 11

Research Theme 1998 Submissions 1998 Awards

Children and Youth 10 2

Cohesion, Citizenship,

and Social Climate 9 4

Institutional Restructuring

and Policy Change 3 1

Ethnic Economy 2 2 ______ _

________ _______

TOTAL 24 9

Domain 1999 Submissions 1999 Awards

Economic 5 2

Education 2 1

Community 8 1

Health 3 0

Housing and

Neighbourhoods 2 1

______ ______

TOTAL 20 5

Domain 2000 Submissions 2000 Awards

Economic 3 1

Education 2 1

Community 6 2

Health 6 2

Housing and

Neighbourhoods 4 3

Justice and Law 2 1

______ ______

TOTAL 23 10

TOTAL

SUBMISSIONS 159

TOTAL AWARDED 47

^{^[1]} In 1996 and 1997, Community consisted of:Social Services; Other, and Health. In 1998, Community was broken into three separate new Domains: Health, Community, and Housing and Neighbourhoods.