Activities Report: CERIS Toronto

Metropolis First National Conference on Immigration
Edmonton, Canada: March 1997

Written by M. Beiser, K. Murphy-Kilbride, V. Preston, T. Richmond and A. Rummens

Contents

Development of Application: History 1
Research Teams and Programs Year One 2
Management Structure 4
Partnership and Community Stakeholders 5
Collaboration within/between Centres 6
International Linkages 7
Research Dissemination Plans 8
Self-Assessment 10

Appendix: Funded Research Projects

Activities Report: CERIS Toronto

In May 1995, researchers at Ryerson Polytechnic University, the University of Toronto and York University began meeting to discuss informally the call they knew to be forthcoming for proposals for a Centre of Excellence for research related to immigration and settlement. When the call was issued in June, there were already formal discussions under way among the three universities, and by mid-summer, the Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto, the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, and the United Way had all been contacted and agreed to participate. The three universities appointed teams of "negotiators" to chart their way in this unfamiliar consortium-based proposal, and the three community groups each assigned a representative to these meetings as well. A commitment to work through the Summer and Fall was a key ingredient to producing the final document.

Drafts of the research agenda for such a proposal were generated by the process of asking researchers at all three universities to indicate what lines of inquiry they would be willing to pursue, should the consortium be successful in its bid. The other portions of the proposal were divided up among members of the university teams. All drafts were circulated and revisions proposed at very frequent meetings. In the Fall, a group of researchers at the University of Western Ontario, interested in ethnic studies, sent a representative to a meeting, and were included in the proposal. Consultations were also held with a group of researchers at the City of Toronto, who had extensive research reports on issues relating to the well-being of immigrants in Toronto.

In all cases, the administration of the three universities, especially the offices of the appropriate Vice-Presidents, proved highly supportive, to the extent of meeting with the negotiating teams at one of their early morning meetings at a mid-town restaurant, half-way between the northern York campus and the downtown campuses of Toronto and Ryerson. It was agreed that each would provide release time for one representative to serve as Director or Associate Director, office space on each campus, and that the main office of the Centre would be located at the University of Toronto, which had a floor of newly renovated space to offer.

Through all of this, the distinctive role of the three community partners in helping to shape the proposal itself was obvious and well received. It was recognized by their full membership on the Management Board, and is reflected in the large role assigned to the community in the Centre’s operations.

Research Teams and Programs Year One

The CERIS research program focuses on three domains: Economic, Education and Community. The economic domain research concentrates on examining the conditions that promote successful integration of immigrants into urban economies and documenting the contributions of immigrants to Canada's economic growth and development. In the education domain, research that contributes to the development of "best practices" to promote the social and cultural integration of children and their families is a major focus. In addition to educational initiatives designed for immigrant children and their families such as English as a second language programs, the impact of other formal and informal activities will be considered for all age groups. The last domain concentrates on immigrants' experiences within the community. Research priorities range from assessing access to appropriate services and best practices for providing health and social services in culturally appropriate ways to issues of identity and social conflict and the nature and impact of residential segregation. Many of the most important issues for immigrants and the Canadian host society emerge where these domains overlap. For example, success in the labour market is linked to immigrants’ access to language and skills training and their educational attainments.

During the first research competition, CERIS received 59 applications. Proposals were assessed in terms of their scholarly merit, policy relevance, and evidence of community, interuniversity, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Each of the 12 projects selected for funding falls within one or more of the 3 CERIS domains. The research teams are described in detail in Funded Research Projects -- 1996 RFP Funding Competition (Appendix); here, we note only that every successful proposal involves meaningful collaboration between a university and one or more community partners. A majority of the 12 successful proposals also involves more than one faculty member, from different disciplines or from different institutions. To facilitate training and to attract a new generation of scholars, approximately 70 per cent of the total research budget is devoted to student support, with another 10 per cent set aside for community researchers.

In the economic domain, the Chinese ethnic economy is the topic of two independent projects. The first, entitled "Immigrants, Ethnic Economy and Integration: A Case Study of Chinese in the Greater Toronto Area," will delineate the economic activity patterns of Chinese immigrants, assess the degree of completeness of the Chinese economy, and measure its monetary contribution. A complementary project entitled "Chinese Ethnic Economy in Toronto" will evaluate the economic activities of Chinese immigrants through a questionnaire survey about current and past employment and the role of social networks in employment decisions. Immigrants working in the ethnic enclave will be compared with those working in the mainstream economy. The latter project will examine the extent to which family or independent class admission to Canada influences labour market location and the subsequent impact of labour adjustment policies on immigrant women in the garment industry.

Under the education domain, four projects evaluate "best practices". Recognizing the importance of parental involvement in children's education, the first project, entitled "Supporting Parental Involvement in Schools: An Ethnographic Study of the Toronto Latino Parent Support Group," will investigate the adaptation difficulties of Latinos in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), working with parents in their native language. The impact of educational attainments will be assessed in a pilot study of "Upward Mobility Among Second Generation Caribbean Men Living in Toronto." Using 1991 Census information, questionnaire data, and life-history interviews, the researchers will investigate the employment experiences of university-schooled second-generation Caribbean men in Toronto. Intervention strategies and support mechanisms intended to facilitate the educational participation of immigrant and refugee children will be evaluated in a project entitled "Opportunities and Possibilities: School Board/University Partnership as a Means of Enhancing the Educational Experiences of Immigrant and Refugee Students". Data from a unique twenty-year panel study on immigrant and Canadian-born youth will be analysed in " The Next Generation: Life Course Effects of Immigration and Educational Experiences on Adolescent Transitions to Adulthood", which will assess the impact of parental support and educational services on occupational status and educational attainment.

Research in the Community domain underscores the important roles of community partners in the Centre's activities. In " Link by Link: The Challenge of Building Community with Survivors of Torture ", a case study and network analysis of survivor/volunteer partnerships will be used to assess the community empowerment approach of the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture Befriending Program. Factors influencing the extent to which Tamil women engage in breast cancer screening behaviours are the subject of a study entitled "Identifying Barriers and Incentives to Breast Cancer Screening Behaviour in Tamil Immigrant/Refugee Women 50 Years Old and Over". The range of municipal services provided for immigrants will be compared among municipalities in a project entitled "Immigration, Urban Citizenship and Municipal Governance in the Greater Toronto Area". The impact on immigrant community activism and influence in local politics will be examined. In-depth interviews and focus groups will be used to explore the barriers faced by immigrants with disabilities, their awareness of services and their perceived needs for information and other supports in "Immigration and Settlement Issues for Ethno-Racial People with Disabilities: An Exploratory Study". The experiences of Chinese and Caribbean immigrants will be compared in a qualitative study of the meaning of respiratory health entitled "Towards Respiratory Health Among Immigrants in South East Toronto: Life Histories of Chinese and Caribbean Immigrants".

Management Structure

The founding members of CERIS created an academic research centre that departs from tradition in its focus on partnership between the community and university sectors of the Greater Toronto Area. The composition of the Management Board reflects this aim:

• three representatives from each of the three founding universities, Ryerson, Toronto, and York,
• one representative from the Ethnic Studies Group at the University of Western Ontario,
• one representative each from the three founding community organizations, the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, the Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto, and the United Way of Greater Toronto.

The Board has created three standing committees and three adjudication panels on which community partners are also represented. The standing committees are: Data, Communications, and Fundraising. The adjudication panels, one each on Community, Economics, and Education (the three research domains to which the Centre is committed), are formed annually; they meet for no more than two months to evaluate the research proposals submitted in the annual funding competition.

Partnership and Community Stakeholders

The Centre seeks community advice on setting research priorities as well as support in fulfilling its mandate. To enhance this participation, CERIS has created a Partnership Advisory Council (PAC). Partnership Advisory Council

The Partnership Advisory Council shares in the Centre's responsibility for the fulfilment of the its mandate. The Council will offer advice about the research agenda in each domain, and participate, either directly through its own Council members or indirectly through the recruitment of other community members, in the work of the three standing committees and the adjudication panels. Council member organizations may also choose to be involved as advisors, facilitators or participants in research projects to be undertaken in the name of the Centre.

The Partnership Advisory Council is structured so as to include consultation with and advice from groups that are actively involved in the provision and\or planning of services for immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area. The Council consists of a maximum of 24 members including: Voting representatives from the following sectors in the Greater Toronto Area:

• local and regional municipalities
• inter-agency networks and multi-service agencies that have a principal focus on serving immigrants, and local planning organizations
• education
• health

• Federal and provincial ministries

PAC responsibilities flow from the responsibilities of the Centre itself. At a minimum, the Council will meet four times per year; reporting to the Management Board semi-annually through its Chair and Vice Chair or Secretary. Members of the Council view as their principal responsibility that which is the heart of the Centre's mandate: research to inform and enhance Canadian policy on immigration and settlement. Each year as funding is allocated to successful proposals, and again as results are published, the Council should review accomplishments together with still unmet research needs.

Community Involvement in CERIS

Other important forms of involvement by community stakeholders include:

• participation in funded research projects
• assistance with dissemination of findings
• involvement in the adjudication process
• membership in CERIS Data, Communications and Fundraising Committees

Within the Centre, regular collaboration among academic and community participants has been promoted by the organizational structure, involvement in committees, and consultations. Other formal forms of collaboration occur through memberships on the three standing committees.

The Centre also promotes collaboration by frequent consultation with academic researchers and community partners. In June, 1996, more than 70 academic researchers attended a public meeting to discuss the Centre's activities and research priorities. Two weeks later, a like number of community representatives came to a meeting on the same topic. More than 70 persons attended the announcement of our 1996 Request for Proposals in September, 1996 and about that number attended a morning of presentations by Statistics Canada and CIC officials concerning available information about immigrants later that same month. The initial research awards from the Centre were announced publicly on February 4, 1997, at a meeting attended by 130 academic and community researchers, government funders, friends of CERIS, and the media. Currently we are initiating a seminar series for academic and community partners to discuss progress reports, data concerns, and policy issues.

The first research awards embody many of CERIS’ goals. Of the twelve funded research projects, ten include interdisciplinary and/or interuniversity teams. (Details in Appendix.)

Collaboration between Centres is still developing, largely through formal meetings arranged by CIC and other funders. Representatives from CERIS participated in the Health Domain Conference sponsored by Health Canada and CIC, in which CERIS Director Morton Beiser was a keynote speaker, and they will participate in upcoming domain conferences including the Justice conference in February, 1997. The Centre is represented on the Web site committee established by CIC. Collaboration was also facilitated by the coordinating meeting organized and funded by CIC where the administrative officers of the four Centres were able to meet and discuss common issues.

Informally, the Metropolis conference in Milan provided opportunities for participants from the four Canadian Centres of Excellence to discuss initial planning for this national conference. Informal collaboration will also be enhanced by interaction with scholars from the Montreal Centre who will spend parts of their sabbaticals at the Toronto Centre during the 1997/98 academic year. Several sessions focussing on the research from the Centres of Excellence will also take place at scholarly conferences this year, specifically, at the meetings of the Urban Affairs Association in Toronto between April 17 and 19, at sessions of the Learned Societies in Newfoundland in June dealing with education and immigration, and at the meetings of the Canadian Association of Geographers in St. John's, Newfoundland in August.

International Linkages

CERIS has sought to enhance its international linkages by participating in the Metropolis conference in Milan and by hosting visiting scholars. Four representatives of the Centre attended the Milan conference where Dr. Jeffrey Reitz participated as a panelist.

The Centre has also welcomed requests from visiting scholars. Dr. Christiane Harzig from the University of Bremen, who is well known for her historical studies of German immigration to North America, is currently visiting the Centre. In September, Dr. Joe Darden, Dean of Urban Affairs at Michigan State University will visit the Centre to complete his comparative study of racial segregation in American, British, and Canadian cities.

Future development of the Metropolis Web site on an international scale, supported by the four Canadian centres, will also facilitate international linkages.

Research Dissemination Plans

CERIS has identified the following principles for dissemination:

Research findings will be circulated as broadly as possible, to the variety of audiences who may benefit from and contribute to them. Dissemination methods will be designed to be inclusive of such groups as immigrant communities and their ethno-specific agencies, multi-service organizations, policy-makers and policy networks, practitioners, other interested groups and concerned citizens, in addition to researchers both inside and outside academe.

The final strategies for dissemination will be designed with input from researchers, community partners and other interested parties so as to ensure that they are most appropriate for, and specifically tailored to, effectively communicating research findings to the varied audiences mentioned above.

Reciprocity must exist between the dissemination of research findings and community input. Reaction from the community to the initial dissemination of findings will be used to help shape both the succeeding round of research activities and the way they will be circulated. This approach necessitates that research and its communication be interactive processes: research is not something that is conducted and then communicated downward by "experts", but rather involves an engagement in which all research activities are informed by, and shaped through the researchers' interaction with practitioners and communities on an ongoing basis. Similarly dissemination itself must be interactive, eliciting wide-ranging reaction and response to research findings.

Dissemination strategies will reflect the applied nature of the Centre’s agenda. This means that the presentation of research findings will emphasize the practical utility and/or policy relevance of the study.

The dissemination of findings in all its forms (e.g., academic papers, public presentations at workshops and conferences, electronic and other media communication, etc.) must acknowledge the contribution of all those involved in the research: academics, community partners and practitioners.

The plan for dissemination is based on utilizing a wide-ranging set of media. This diversity of modes of communication reflects the Centre's commitment to reach beyond the traditional scholarly community to encompass the interests and involvement of other relevant groups. The goal, in part, is to promote a dynamic interaction and dialogue among "experts", communities, policy networks and other stakeholders. In the process, understanding should be broadened, and opportunities for new synergies generated. This approach to dissemination reflects the applied focus of the Centre's research activities.

The modes of dissemination were identified as follows:

• Traditional scholarly journals and conferences
• Electronic means of communication: Web site, monitored discussion groups, etc.
• Journal of Research on Settlement and Integration
• Dissemination through community and professional newsletters, other publications
• Local events organized by the Centre
• Annual conferences on Immigration and Settlement
• Centre newsletter and reports
• Radio broadcasting and distribution of educational cassettes through a partnership with radio station CJRT
• Popular media

CERIS has accomplished several major tasks in its first year of existence. It has created its Management Board which met frequently in its early stage and, more recently, twice a semester. It has consulted extensively with the community, including the varieties of community partners described above. It has created a Partnership Advisory Council (PAC), on an innovative model of community participation that involves the community in the identification of priorities in its research agenda, the adjudication of proposals, and the dissemination of findings. It has awarded its first grants and issued its second Request for Proposals, and it has created three standing committees: Data, Fundraising, and Communication. Finally, it has issued its first newsletter.