CERIS EVENTS CALENDAR
Events Calendar in PDF Format
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
All CERIS Seminars take place from 12-2pm, in room 548 (5th floor) of 246 Bloor St. West (St. George Subway Station, Bedford Street Exit) unless otherwise announced.
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DATE and TIME |
UPCOMING EVENT |
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Friday |
10:00 – 11:30am (Room 730) Management Committee/Domain 12:30 – 2:30pm (Room 730) Management Committee meeting |
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Friday
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11:00 – 1:00pm (Room 702) Governance Board meeting 1:00 – 3:00pm (Room 730) Management Committee meeting 3:00 – 4:00pm
(Room 730) Management Committee/Domain |
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DATE |
PAST EVENTS - 2008 |
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Friday 246 Bloor St. West, Room 548, 5th Floor (St. George subway station, Bedford St. exit)
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Topic: Forced to be
Free?
Moderator: Dr.
Patricia K. Wood,
CERIS Domain Leader, Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic
Integration Beginning before the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., Madrid and London and accelerating as a result of these and other events, several European governments have pronounced multiculturalism a failure and opted for more aggressive means of integrating immigrants. The policy instruments selected to pursue this end have included mandatory integration courses, and citizenship tests formulated with an eye to determining whether individuals have sufficiently internalized prevailing values. Legislation constraining individuals’ ability to wear certain religious attire has also been introduced, in the name of upholding gender equality and minimizing the presence of religion in putatively secular public spheres. This presentation asks what we are to make of these trends. Are they contemporary manifestations of deeply rooted illiberal prejudice or do they reflect a novel shift in liberal-democratic states’ approaches to nation building? |
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Friday
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Topic: Immigrant Women's Opportunities and Barriers to Learning English Moderator: Dr. John Shields, CERIS Director, Ryerson University
Presenters: This presentation is based on a recent study of women who spoke Cantonese, Mandarin, Punjabi and Urdu as their first language, and learned English upon their arrival in Canada. We will address the following questions: What did we learn from the literature about immigrant women's access to English as a Second Language (ESL)? How did the women in our study learn about ESL provisions? Which opportunities worked best for them? What were some of their challenges, and how could they be addressed? We will also briefly include the perspectives of service providers who work with women in each of these four language groups. Finally, we will demonstrate a new web site dedicated to providing information about women's access to ESL. |
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April 17th and 18th, 2008 *PLEASE NOTE LOCATION*
Junior Common Room -
#014,
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CERIS - The
Ontario
Metropolis Centre Rethinking the Mosaic: Immigration, Settlement, and the Lived Experience This event offers graduate students across all disciplines the opportunity to present and discuss their research ideas with fellow students in a professional and intellectually vibrant, professional and supportive forum.
The theme for this
year's conference is Rethinking the Mosaic: Immigration, Settlement,
and the Lived Experience. The theme accommodates a wide range of
discussions around such issues as:
***** |
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Monday |
1:00 – 2:00pm (Room 730) Management Committee/Domain 2:00 – 4:00pm (Room 730) Management Committee meeting |
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Friday 12:00 – 2:00pm 246 Bloor St. West, Room 418, 4th Floor |
Topic: Minority Language Students' and Teacher's Perceptions of Multiculturalism, Democratic Values and Citizenship Presenter: Dr. Shiva Sadeghi, SSHRC Research Fellow, Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, Modern Language Centre, OISE – University of Toronto The presentation explored minority language children's awareness and understandings of bilingualism, perceptions of citizenship, and views towards diversity and multiculturalism within the context of five public school classrooms (K-9) in Ontario, Canada. The primary objective of this study is to add a new dimension to the scholarship on biliteracy and the development of cultural identity through integration of multicultural perspectives and citizenship discourses. Based on approximately 60 interviews with students, teachers, parents and principals, the data analysis to-date points to the significant role of heritage language and culture on bilingual children's psychosocial development. The study also provides an ethnographic analysis of heritage language textbooks and suggests ways of incorporating global and citizenship education into the curriculum. |
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Friday
246 Bloor St. West,
Room 548, 5th Floor |
Topic: “Provincial” Immigrants: the social, economic and transnational experiences of the Filipino Community in three of Ontario’s second-tier cities Presenter: Tom Lusis, PhD candidate, Department of Geography, University of Guelph Moderator: Dr. Philip Kelly, CERIS Domain Leader, Economic and Labour Market Integration This seminar highlights findings from a research project that looked at the immigration experiences of the Filipino community in Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo and Niagara Falls. This seminar will examine themes such as immigrant experiences in a second-tier city, perceptions of Toronto and the Filipino community in Toronto, the importance of the Internet in contemporary transnationalism, and the lack of knowledge about immigration to second-tier cities at discursive and institutional scales in the Philippines. |
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Wednesday *PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF LOCATION*
Health,
Nursing and Environmental Studies Building (HNES), Room B17,
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Topic: Immigrants and Disability Panelists: Dr. Tanya Basok, Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology & Director, Centre for Studies in Social Justice, University of Windsor; Valentina Capurri, PhD Candidate, Department of History, York University; and Anna MacQuarrie, Director of Government Relations and Public Policy, Canadian Association for Community Living. Moderator: Dr. Patricia K. Wood, CERIS Domain Leader, Citizenship and Social, Cultural and Civic Integration This seminar explores the relationships between immigration and disability from various perspectives and at several levels of policy, practice, and lived experience. Presentations will cover the connections (and disconnects) between disability and federal immigration screening policies, the Hilewitz and De Jong cases (which successfully challenged the medical inadmissibility provisions in the 2002 Immigrant and Refugee Protection Act), and the findings of a CERIS-funded project carried out with community organizations in Windsor, Ontario, that examined access to services for newcomers with physical and mental disabilities. |
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Friday
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10:00 – 11:00am (Room 730) Management Committee/Domain
Leader/Data meeting |
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Friday
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Pathways and Adherence to Behavioural Services Among Immigrant Children and Families Presenter: Dr. Hayley Hamilton, Research Scientist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto Moderator: Dr. Mehrunnisa Ali, CERIS Domain Leader, Family, Children and Youth The presentation will outline the results of a small pilot study examining pathways and adherence to service. Discussion will focus on the experiences of immigrants who access behavioural services, the experiences of service providers, and policy and research implications. Further details to be announced. Refreshments will be served. |
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Friday 246 Bloor St. West, Room 548, 5th Floor
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Educating for Employment Integration in Ontario Presenter: Dr. Lillie Lum, Associate Professor, School of Nursing and School of Health Policy and Management, Faculty of Health, York University
Moderator:
Dr.
Philip Kelly,
CERIS Domain Leader, Economic and Labour Market Integration |
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Friday |
9:30 – 12:00pm (Room 702) RFP Adjudication meeting 2:00 – 4:00pm (Room 702) Governance Board meeting |
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Monday,
OISE/UT, |
Embracing Diversity in Principle Without Equality in Fact is a Hollow Prize: The Failure of the United States and Implications for Toronto Speaker: Dr. Joseph Darden, Professor of Geography, Michigan State University This presentation highlights the racial hierarchy and racial inequality in the United States, why racial equality is difficult to achieve, recent trends and concludes by examining the questions “Is Toronto moving in the direction of the United States in the area of race relations?” “What are the prospects for future racial conflict?” |
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DATE |
PAST EVENTS - 2007 |
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Friday Dec 7, 2007 |
CERIS Governance Board Meeting |
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Friday, November 30, 2007
SYMPOSIUM
OPEN HOUSE
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CERIS Policy Research Symposium and Open House 11:30 – 12:00 Registration / Luncheon
12:00 – 12:10 Welcome from the CERIS Directors
12:10 – 1:45 Welcoming Communities – Housing, Services and
Vulnerabilities
1) Services and Suburbs
2) Housing, Youth and
Race Open Discussion
1:45 – 2:05 Break
Policing, Security & Justice - Dr. Scot Wortley (University of
Toronto) Open Discussion
3:35 - 3:45 Closing Remarks
3:45 - 4:00 Next Steps
***** |
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Friday, |
CERIS – The Ontario Metropolis Centre Seminar Multiculturalism and Successful Integration: The Role of Ethnocultural/Immigrant Organizations Presenter: Dr. Agnes Meinhard, Director, Centre for Voluntary Sector Studies, Ryerson University Moderator: Dr. John Shields, CERIS Director, Ryerson University Multiculturalism has been a cornerstone of Canada’s immigration policy since the 1960s. Recently, some scholars have been questioning the effectiveness of this policy with respect to the integration of immigrants. This research will: investigate the implications of Canada’s policy of multiculturalism on the social acculturation and economic success of immigrant groups; and examine the role of immigrant associations in creating connections to Canadian society (bridging), or strengthening within-group ties (bonding), and how this affects successful integration. |
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Friday,
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CERIS – The Ontario Metropolis Centre Seminar Exploring the Links between Universities, Immigration and Immigrant Settlement in Kitchener-Waterloo Presenter: Dr. Margaret Walton-Roberts, Dept. of Geography and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University Moderator: Dr. Philip Kelly, CERIS Domain Leader, Economic and Labour Market Integration Qualitative research on immigrant settlement in the Waterloo region has revealed the important role played by the region's universities in both attracting immigrants, but also in creating the feeling of a safe and welcoming space for settlement. This presentation explores these findings in light of recent scholarship on the links between social diversity, the creative community and economic development. |
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Wednesday, November
14, 2007 |
Diaspora Nationalism – A Case Study of Sikhs
Presenter:
Harpreet Kaur,
CERIS Visiting Scholar, PhD Candidate Diaspora is a contested term. It has gained international currency as the terms of its usage have become more exclusive. Diaspora nationalism is one of the sensitive subtopics of the broader discourse on Diaspora. Sikhs have been living in Canada for more than a century now. The seminar will look at the concept of diaspora, formation of Sikh Diaspora and its nationalism in Canada. |
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Friday, October 26, 2007 1:00 – 3:30 pm
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CERIS – The Ontario Metropolis Centre and The Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter “Learning to be Good Citizens: The Experiences of Professional Chinese Immigrant Women in Toronto”
Presenters: |
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Friday, Sept 7, 2007 |
CERIS Governance Board Meeting |
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Thursday July 12, 2007 At Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), Room 2214 (2nd Floor), 252 Bloor St. W.
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CERIS – The Ontario Metropolis Centre
“Alay sa Kabataang
Pilipino”
“Filipinos in
Canada:
Economic Dimensions of Immigration and Settlement,”
(Working Paper Series No. 48) By Dr. Philip Kelly |
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Friday June 8, 2007 |
CERIS Governance Board Meeting |
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Wednesday May 9,
2007 |
HOW STRANGERS BECOME NEIGHBOURS: Integrating Immigrants Through Community Development
A
Metropolis-Sponsored Half-Day Workshop
Presenters: This workshop will begin with the screening of the award winning 50 minute documentary film, Where Strangers Become Neighbours: the Story of the Collingwood Neighbourhood House (CNH) and the integration of immigrants in Vancouver. Working from a community development approach, CNH has succeeded in building a community where none previously existed, and helping newcomers to become citizens, in the fullest sense. Join us for a stimulating film and discussion of the role community-based organizations can play promoting immigrant integration and civic inclusion. |
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Friday |
“Tell Me
Something about Yourself”: Language Culture and Job Interviews Presenter: Huamei Han, OISE/UT English language proficiency is seen as a major barrier to immigrants’ labour market integration. Research on various kinds of gatekeeping interviews shows that interviewees who share linguistic and sociocultural knowledge with their interviewers are more likely to succeed. This seminar conceptualizes linguistic and sociocultural knowledge as habitus that is formed in lived socio-economic experiences, and describes the complex and difficult processes for immigrants to gain this knowledge. Drawing on a three-year ethnography of skilled immigrants from Mainland China in Toronto, I analyze a set of failed job interviews experienced by one young woman seeking junior level accounting jobs. I supplement this analysis with backstage and longitudinal data, and contrast her failed interviews with those that later landed her short- and long-term employment. I challenge the assumption that learning how to manage interviews is solely immigrants’ responsibility and discuss the implications for settlement policies and practices. |
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Friday |
CERIS Governance Board Meeting |
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Thursday, March 1st |
Exploring Canada’s
Diversity, Today and Tomorrow |
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Friday |
CERIS Governance Board Meeting |
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DATE |
PAST EVENTS - 2006 |
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Friday **PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF LOCATION** Room
418, |
Access Not Fear: When Non-Status People Make Claims on City Services
Moderator:
Presenters: Non-status people are increasingly making their social needs and political issues known in Canada’s major cities, including Toronto. This growing social and political visibility forms the crucial background to our research. While the Canadian government has recently made it clear that it will not introduce a programme to regularize the status of undocumented and non-status immigrants, organizing by those directly affected by the state production of illegality continues. This presentation will discuss our community-based research study, a project based on discussions with non-status immigrants from different communities in Toronto about their experiences and difficulties in accessing city services, such as social housing and shelters, emergency services, health care, schools, social assistance, and food banks. It is informed by our prior research project on the history of regularization schemes in Canada. We will also consider prospects for Toronto's Don't Ask, Don't Tell campaign and examine directions for a research agenda for undocumented people. |
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Friday |
CERIS Governance Board
Meeting |
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Friday **PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF LOCATION** Room
418,
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How “earlier” skilled immigrants from Mainland China experience acculturation, employment challenges, and mental health issues
Presenters: This study focuses on the experiences of “earlier” Mainland Chinese skilled immigrants who have been in Canada for 4 to 10 years. In a qualitative study using grounded theory, Mainland Chinese skilled immigrants articulated their experiences of difficulty finding professional employment, language barrier, pressures to acculturate, feelings of “luocha” (falling down), and subsequent mental health issues. A representative from the community partner agency (Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter) will contextualize the psychosocial issues in the larger structural aspect of immigration and settlement, specifically focusing on the barriers to successful employment, foreign credentials and skills recognition. Some of the successful practices in addressing the issues as well as the recommendations for social services and social policy will be discussed. |
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Friday
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Transition without Status: The Experience of Youth Leaving Care without Citizenship
Presenter: Canadian child welfare authorities are responsible for supporting separated or unaccompanied children who arrive in Canada as immigrants or refugees, and ultimately facilitating their transition from care. Indicators of a successful transition would be that the youth is able to pursue his or her education, obtain employment and receive health care, tasks which are immeasurably more complicated if the youth has not obtained Canadian citizenship by the time transition from care occurs. It is precisely at the point of transition from care that these youth are most vulnerable. The youth themselves and staff who provide services to them were interviewed in an attempt to understand the dimensions of this issue and the ways in which youth, service providers and others have been working to minimize the number of youth who leave care without having obtained citizenship. |
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Friday
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Newcomer parents and their children's teachers: What and how do they communicate [or not]?
Presenters: Parents from six linguistic communities (Arabic, Somali, Russian, Urdu, Mandarin, and Caribbean English) and teachers from four schools were interviewed for this study. A video and power point presentation about what they expected from each other, what they appreciated, and what they wished was different will be presented. |
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Friday |
Examining Individual and Systemic Barriers Experienced by Visible Minority Social Workers in Mainstream Agencies Moderator: Dr. Philip Kelly, CERIS Economics Domain Leader and Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, York University.
Presenters:
This exploratory research and community based initiative is led by Access Alliance in partnership with Ryerson University and was funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and the Faculty of Community Services, Ryerson University. The impetus for the study emerged from a series of discussions involving concerned stakeholders from the social services sector who wanted to find ways to create better access to employment of visible minority social workers (both internationally trained and Canadian trained) in the field. The systemic nature of the problem raised a need for stakeholders to explore how to implement a broad-based anti-racism strategy to address the barriers both within their agencies and among the sector, particularly in mainstream agencies where visible minorities were underrepresented. |
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Friday |
Vertical Neighbourhoods as Spaces of Hope and Despair: A Case Study of Recent Bangladeshi Immigrants in Toronto
Moderator:
Dr. Joanna (Anneke)
Rummens, CERIS Director,
University of
Toronto. Since the days of the Chicago School social scientists have investigated various functional and social aspects of residential neighbourhoods. In the context of immigrant and refugee settlements in North America and Europe, residential neighbourhoods are deemed as horizontal geographical places, where social capital is mobilised, expediting the migrants’ social and economic integration into the new society. In many parts of Toronto’s inner city area and in the inner and outer suburbs, residential blocks are comprised of high rise private and public rental buildings and ownership condominiums. Upon arrival, many immigrant and refugee households reside in these structures. Even though high rises have become an integral part of Toronto's built form, little is known about the impact of these places on the lives of the residents, and vice versa. By drawing upon the experiences of Bangladeshis in Toronto, Dr. Ghosh demonstrates the transformations of vertical stacks of brick and mortar into not only functional places, but also as spaces of hope and despair. |
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Thursday
Best Institute, 112
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Multiculturalism, Public Discourse and Security: Where is Canada going? Moderator: Dr. Patricia Wood, CERIS Citizenship, Religion and Culture Domain Leader, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Geography, York University Speakers: Sunil Johal, Senior Policy Analyst, Heritage Canada; Dr. Tariq Amin-Khan, Assistant Professor, Politics and Public Administration, Ryerson University. Multiculturalism in Canada means many different things to many different people. Existing tensions over its definition have been exacerbated by new security measures and a concurrent shift in public discourse about immigration, diversity and citizenship. Over the last five years, policies related to dual citizenship, multiculturalism, integration, refugee claims, border regulation, and travel abroad have all come under new scrutiny. The debate in Canada has also been influenced by similar debates elsewhere, Europe in particular. This seminar will explore and encourage discussion around these questions. |
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Friday |
“Unsettled” - -
Identifying Legal and Policy Barriers to Settlement in
Canada Moderator: Dr. Joanna (Anneke) Rummens, CERIS Director Presenter: Dr. Sarah Wayland This seminar focused on legal and policy barriers that inhibit the settlement of newcomers. Specifically, it showcased the findings of recently-concluded research that identifies a range of federal and provincial legal and policy barriers to the settlement of immigrants, refugees, and refugee claimants across Canada. These include barriers to employment, health care, housing, settlement services and language education as well as barriers found in immigration policy. Dr. Wayland also identified initiatives and programs that are working to overcome these barriers and propose legal reforms and policy and program changes in key areas impacting newcomer settlement. The research presented was based on the “Unsettled” report released in July 2006 and funded by the Law Commission of Canada and the Community Foundations of Canada. The report can be downloaded from the website of Community Foundations of Canada (http://www.cfc-fcc.ca/doc/LegalPolicyBarriers.pdf). |
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Friday, September 15, 2006 |
CERIS Governance Board Meeting |
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Tuesday |
A Sociological Analysis
of Social Trust Among Iranian Migrants in Canada (Case Study: Toronto) |
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Wednesday |
Integrative Antiracism:
South Asians in Canadian Academe This presentation will examine the educational experiences of South Asian students and faculty members from the perspective of ‘integrative antiracism’ – the study of how the dynamics of social difference are mediated in people’s daily lives. Specifically, Samuel analyses perceptions of and responses to racism in four critical areas: faculty-student relationships, peer group interactions, curriculum and the psychosocial dimension. |
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Friday, June 9, 2006 |
CERIS Governance Board Meeting (Note new date) |
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Friday
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CERIS Research
Domain Planning Workshop – A New Research Domain in the Area of
“Citizenship, Religion and Culture” CERIS has a new research domain in the area of “Citizenship, Religion and Culture”. One of the envisioned tasks of this domain to bridge practical concerns of how such issues (i.e., issues of immigrant identity, belonging and civic engagement in relation to themes of social inclusion and exclusion) are managed in Ontario alongside larger theoretical questions. Naturally, the exact roadmap of the domain’s activities will be determined by its participants, and our first endeavor sets out to accomplish just this. |
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Friday, May 26, 2006 12:00 – 2:00 p.m. |
Homelessness Among Immigrants in Toronto: How Does This Happen and How Does It Affect New Canadian Families? Speakers: Representatives of a team that included Steven Webber, Kenise Murphy Kilbride, Etta Baichman-Anisef, Sabin Mukkoth, Robert Freeman, Cecilia Wong, and Nelson Amaral. Team members will report on outcomes from a study of 60 in-depth interviews of immigrants in Toronto, and will include some comparisons with data from another 40 interviews in Peel Region and Hamilton. Presenters will focus on the principal causes of the interviewees' homelessness, its impact on immigrant families, and the lack of appropriate strategies for addressing it. |
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Monday,
May 8, 2006 |
CERIS Open House 246 Bloor St. West, 3rd Fl., Toronto |
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Friday |
Post-Migration Changes in Gender Relations in the Ethiopian Community in Toronto – Phase II
Speakers:
Hiwot Teffera, MA, Research Assistant, Centre for Research in Women’s Health, Toronto Girma Mekonnen Tizazu, MD, Research Assistant, Centre for Research in Women’s Health, Toronto The main objective of this community-based study was to understand risk factors associated with marital conflict and intimate partner violence (IPV) in newcomer immigrant communities. Many studies suggest that post-migration changes in gender relations affect the power dynamics between men and women, and increase the risk of marital conflict and IPV. In the first phase of the project, individual interviews and focus groups were conducted with eight Ethiopian couples who had been married in Ethiopia and migrated to Toronto. Phase II explored post-migration changes in gender relations and marital conflict among nine Ethiopians who were separated or divorced. Findings suggested that although sources of conflict were similar for Phase I and II study participants, there were clear differences in the strategies used to resolve conflict. The latter group adopted more discordant patterns of resolving conflict and was less likely to successfully negotiate new roles and responsibilities. Problems in communication emerged as a central issue for the majority of separated/divorced study participants. Recommendations to improve marital stability and prevent marital conflict and IPV in the Ethiopian community will be discussed. |
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Friday |
The ‘Housing Situations’ of Immigrants and Refugees in a Border City
Speakers:
Colleen Mitchell, BSW, RSW, Community-based researcher and project consultant, and acting Program Director of the Glengarry project This seminar presented findings from a community-university research partnership that focused on the 'housing situations' of immigrants and refugees in Windsor-Essex County, an area that Census Canada Data (2001) names as the second fastest growing community in Ontario after Toronto (this population growth is mainly due to immigration not birth). Windsor-Essex also has Canada’s fourth largest proportion of foreign-born population after Toronto, Vancouver and Hamilton. Drawing from analysis of 2001 Census data and in-depth interviews, the research project explored the interconnectedness of adequate and affordable housing, neighborhood and community in the settlement and well-being of new immigrants and refugees. The implications of the findings for an effective community response that delineates policies and practices that better meet the housing needs of newcomers will be discussed. |
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Friday, March 31, 2006 |
CERIS Governance Board Meeting |
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Thursday
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Unions, Race, Immigrants and Earnings: A Longitudinal Examination of the Effect of Union Membership on the Income Progression of Immigrants to Canada
Speakers:
Jeffrey Reitz, Harney Professor of Ethnic, Immigration & Pluralism Studies, Department of Sociology, University of Toronto Rupa Banerjee, PhD Candidate, Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources, University of Toronto |
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Friday |
ESL IN ONTARIO
- Supporting English
Learners in Ontario Schools: Challenges for the Future? |
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Friday |
A multi-stakeholder
driven employment strategy for immigrants with engineering backgrounds –
From ‘Canadian First’ to ‘Canada First’
to compete globally in the 21st Century Speaker: Dr. Gurmeet Bambrah, Coordinator, Council for Access to the Profession of Engineering (CAPE) |