Metropolis Conferences and Activities
Education Domain
CERIS representatives were active participants in Education
Domain activities during the past year, beginning with a conference on The Role of
Education in the Integration of Immigrants held at the Learned Societies' Conference
in St. John's, Newfoundland on June 13, 1997. Organized by Dr. Marie McAndrew, Director of
the Montreal Centre of the Metropolis Project, this meeting was one of a series of domain
conferences sponsored by the Metropolis Project, and brought together a large number of
academic researchers on education from each of the four Centres of Excellence established
across Canada, as well as some of their local, provincial, and national partners. The
purpose of the conference was to discover interests that researchers have in common across
the four Centres, so that efforts toward collaborative research could be strengthened.
At this conference Dr. Kenise Murphy Kilbride from CERIS and
Ryerson Polytechnic University and Dr. Guy Bourgeault from the University of Montreal
co-chaired the session on School/Community Relations in Pluriethnic Settings.
Participants were interested in exploring practices that would allow better communication
and partnerships between immigrant students and their families, and educational
institutions.
Those presenting their research and discussing related issues
included Dr. Carl James of CERIS and York University, Dr. Terrance Carson (University of
Alberta), and Dr. Barbara Burnaby (OISE/University of Toronto). Dr. James reported on a
project entitled Opportunity and Possibilities: School Board/University Partnership as
a Means of Enhancing the Educational Experiences of Immigrant and Refugee Students.
Dr. Kilbride reported on a project of Dr. Judith Bernhard from Ryerson Polytechnic
University entitled Supporting Parental Involvement in Schools: An Ethnographic Study
of the Toronto Latino Parent Support Group. Another CERIS representative presenting
was Partnership Advisory Council member Hugh McKeown of the North York Board of Education
and the Anti-racist Multicultural Educators' Network of Ontario. In addition to his
analysis as respondent to the morning plenary session, he pointed out that in their work
with the researchers on Dr. Bernhard's project, teachers should be at the same point as
the parents for a meaningful collaboration to develop at a future date; communication
should have as its goal an equal footing for all participants.
Part of the Education Domain activities at the June meetings
in Newfoundland were discussions specific to Citizenship Education. Dr. Yvonne Hebert,
Education Domain leader for the Prairie Centre, planned and chaired the conference that
addressed the issue of citizenship education offered to immigrants and citizenship
education designed for all Canadians. Dr. Alan Sears, one of Canada's leading writers in
this field has conducted reviews of citizenship education in English Canada in the 1980's
and '90's and shared some of his findings and views with the participants. This topic
interests a growing number of researchers, and represents one of the emerging areas of
collaboration across the four Metropolis Centres.
Throughout the year CERIS worked with other researchers in
the Education Domain to develop a national project. With support from Heritage Canada, and
the collaboration provided by CERIS Associate Director Dr. Kenise Murphy Kilbride, this
group held their first inter-centre meeting in Vancouver during the August, 1997
RIIM-sponsored conference. Followup meetings continued during the Second National
Metropolis Conference in Montreal in the fall of 1997, and in Alberta under the leadership
of Dr. Yvonne Hebert of the Prairie Centre in the spring of 1998. Work will continue
during the meetings of the Congress of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ottawa in
May-June, 1998.
Citizenship Domain
The Multiculturalism Program of the Department of Canadian
Heritage is creating a long term research agenda focussing on its three primary
objectives: civic participation, identity and social justice and is supporting three
Metropolis domain seminars which will help shape this agenda.
The first domain seminar, Immigrants and Civic
Participation, was held in conjunction with the Second National Metropolis Conference
on November 23, 1997 in Montreal. Participants reviewed three background papers and
discussed the national and international scope of the issues. A number of CERIS community
and academic researchers who were delegates to the Montreal conference participated in
these sessions, including Myer Siemiatycki from Ryerson Polytechnic University who
presented initial results of his CERIS-funded research (with Engin Isin) on immigrant
civic political participation.
The next seminar Immigrants and Identity, in which
CERIS researchers will be active, coincides with the Congress of Social Sciences and
Humanities in Ottawa May-June, 1998.
Vancouver Conference "APEC -- The People
Dimension"
In August, 1997 CERIS delegates attended a RIIM-sponsored
conference in Vancouver on Canada in the Asia-Pacific Economy: the People Dimension.
CERIS delegates included Board members Paul Anisef and Usha George, CERIS researcher and
Data Committee member Eric Fong, directors Morton Beiser, Kenise Murphy Kilbride and
Valerie Preston, and Coordinators Ted Richmond and Anneke Rummens.
Discussions at the conference mixed journalists, community
and business representatives with academic researchers and examined the effects of
immigration on both receiving and sending countries. CERIS delegates appreciated the
opportunity to learn more about the research program, policy concerns and public
participation at the RIIM Centre.
Second Annual Metropolis Conference (Montreal)
On November 23-26, 1997, the Montreal Centre of Excellence,
Immigration et Métropoles, was host to the second annual National Metropolis Conference.
The theme of this year's conference was The Development of a Comparative Research
Agenda. The conference was designed to be a working conference, with researchers
gathering together by domain to discuss current projects and to search for possible
collaborative projects. In this it was highly successful.
The main conference activities involved ongoing discussions
organized by domain: Economy and Demography, Housing and Neighbourhoods, Education, Public
Services, Social and Linguistic Integration, and Citizenship and Culture. Also in the
activities were a special one-day invitational seminar organized by Canadian Heritage
entitled Immigrants and Civic Participation: Contemporary Policy and Research Issues
and a workshop on the measurement and meaning of ethnic and immigrant residential
segregation. The National Data and Website Committees met during the conference. Plenary
discussions addressed the topics of an international research agenda, the nature of
comparative research, and an initial review of the Metropolis project. The latter provoked
lively discussion concerning the relations between the various Metropolis partners and the
nature of "policy relevant" research. Other plenary topics included examples of
successful partnerships between the Centres and the public sector, private sector and
community organizations, and innovative strategies of disseminating research findings.
Toronto had a strong delegation at the conference. Ryerson
delegates included Kenise Murphy Kilbride, Associate Director of CERIS, and Judith
Bernhard, both from the School of Early Childhood Education; Marie Truelove from
Geography; Myer Siemiatycki and John Shields, Politics and Public Administration, May
Maskow, CJRT FM, Open College, and Enid Collins from Nursing. University of Toronto
delegates included Morton Beiser, Director of CERIS and Samuel Noh, both from the Clarke
Institute of Psychiatry; Carl Amrhein, Dean of Arts & Science; Eric Fong, Sociology;
Hesh Troper, OISE/UT; Adrienne Chambon, Faculty of Social Work; and David Hulchanski from
the Faculty of Social Work who participated in the Housing and Neighbourhood seminars.
Representatives from York were Valerie Preston, Associate Director of CERIS, Robert
Murdie, and Lucia Lo, all from the Department of Geography; Michael Lanphier, Centre for
Refugee Studies, Luin Goldring and Paul Anisef all from Sociology; and graduate students
Lynn Caruso and Said Hydaralli. CERIS coordinators Ted Richmond and Anneke Rummens
attended. Other delegates included Ryerson research assistant Fidelia Torres; Wendy Kwong,
Toronto Public Health Department;; and Ambrose Ma, from SEAS (South East Asian Services).
Also attending the conference was Khan Rahi, Access Action Council and PAC chair; from the
Anti-Racist Multicultural Educators Network of Ontario (AMENO) was Hugh McKeown; Teresa
Dremetsikas from the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture; and Simon Liston, City of
Toronto Housing Department. Other community participants included Mwarigha M.S., from the
Metro Social Planning Council; and Tim Rees Access and Equity Division, Metro Toronto. The
following delegates acted as domain leaders at the conference; Judith Bernhard
(Linguistics and Social Integration/Family), Michael Lanphier (Citizenship), Hugh HcKeown
(Education), Robert Murdie (Housing), Samuel Noh (Services, Health and Justice), and John
Shields (Economics).
Preparation for the second annual Metropolis conference in
Montreal included consultations about the agenda and delegation by research domain. Our
domain representatives for this conference were:
- Judith Bernhard, Early Childhood Education, Ryerson
(Linguistics and Social Integration /Family)
- Michael Lanphier, Sociology/Centre for Refugee Studies, York
(Citizenship)
- Hugh McKeown, Anti-Racist Multicultural Educators Network of
Ontario (Education)
- Robert Murdie, Geography Department, York (Housing)
- Samuel Noh, Clarke Institute of Psychiatry University of
Toronto (Services/Health/Justice)
- John Shields, Politics/Public Administration, Ryerson
(Economics)
In January, 1998 CERIS held a debriefing session for the
purpose of relaying and pooling information from CERIS' delegates to the Montreal
Conference, with a particular interest in the research initiatives undertaken within the
various research domains at the other three research centres. The goals of the session
were to increase our knowledge of research activities pursued by the other centres, to
stimulate inter-centre collaborative research initiatives, and to further solidify CERIS
research domain activities. Delegates agreed the conference was very successful, and made
various proposals to make future national conferences, including the one hosted by CERIS
in the year 2000, even more productive. As a result of the November conference,
researchers from the different domains organized follow-up meetings and established
information networks as steps toward a comparative research agenda.
Public Activities in the GTA
Refugee Housing Issues
"Community Services for Refugee Settlement -- Trends and
Issues in Metro Toronto" was the theme of a workshop on June 24, 1997 sponsored by
the City of Toronto Refugee Housing Task Group and the University of Toronto Centre for
Applied Social Research (CASR) as well as CERIS. About 40 participants including CERIS
Director Dr. Morton Beiser discussed the funding trends affecting services, how best to
meet emerging needs, the extent of homelessness among refugees, and identification of
research needs. Follow up meetings are continuing.
Municipal Governance and Immigrant Settlement
CERIS continues to be an active participant in the Advisory
Committee on Immigration and Refugee Issues in the City of Toronto, chaired by Toronto
Councillor David Miller. During the spring of 1997 Administrative Coordinator Ted Richmond
spoke on behalf of CERIS at several public consultations on the future of immigrant
services and equity and access programs under municipal integration and federal and
provincial devolution.
As a followup to these consultations, the Advisory Committee
on Immigration and Refugee Issues organized an Urban Forum on Immigration and Refugee
Issues on September 29-30, 1997. The goal of this Stakeholders' Forum was to share
information on the current challenges of meeting the settlement needs in Metro Toronto and
to address these issues in a collaborative and innovative manner.
The degree of public interest for the topic can be judged by
the fact that over four hundred persons participated. Among the presentations were a
report on the future of funding for immigrant services by (former) CERIS Board members
Mwarigha M.S. (Program Director, Social Planning Council of Metro Toronto) and Sharmini
Peries (Executive Director, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants), and a keynote
plenary presentation on Municipal Leadership on Immigration and Refugee Issues by CERIS
researcher Professor Myer Siemiatycki, Department of Politics and School of Public
Administration, Ryerson Polytechnic University. Administrative Coordinator Ted Richmond
participated in the planning and evaluation committees and facilitated the workshop on
Access to Trades and Professions. Other CERIS delegates included Associate Director Dr.
Valerie Preston and Research Assistant Dr. Sarah Wayland.
The full proceedings of the conference will be circulated in
the coming year.
Annual Chinese Immigrant Service Agencies Network
International (CISANI) Conference
The 18th CISANI Conference was held from September 22 to 24,
1997 in Toronto and was hosted by the Chinese Interagency Network of Greater Toronto, an
umbrella organization of twenty-nine social and health service agencies. . The conference,
Reinventing Human Services: 2000 and Beyond, was sponsored by the Canada Trust,
Chairman Alan Tonks, the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, Mayor Barbara Hall and the
City of Toronto. Eighty delegates included international representatives attended and
seventeen presentations were delivered by speakers from eight North American cities. A
display of services for Chinese newcomers was held concurrently. Visits to two local
agencies serving Chinese immigrants and a series of social and networking events also took
place. CERIS was represented by Administrative Coordinator Ted Richmond.
The following common challenges were identified at the
conference:
- Changing government policies and legislations which are
hostile to newcomers
- Funding cutbacks and increasing demands for accountability by
funders
- Negative social attitudes towards newcomers
- Changing profiles and needs of Chinese newcomers.
Suggestions to address the above challenges included:
- continued exchanges of experience and information on the above
challenges among CISANI members
- design and delivery of services to be consumer-driven
- strengthened collaboration with volunteers
- development of custom-built service delivery strategies
focussing on Chinese immigrants
- improved knowledge base for demonstrating accountability to
funders.
The proceedings of the conference will be published in the
coming year.
Citizenship in Diverse Societies: Theories and
Practice
In October, 1997 the Canadian Centre for Philosophy and
Public Policy (CCPPP) sponsored a two-day conference entitled Citizenship in Diverse
Societies: Theories and Practice at the University of Toronto. This conference was part of
a larger project on "Citizenship, Identity and Democracy in the Multiethnic
State" being conducted by the CCPPP at the University of Ottawa under the direction
of Prof. Will Kymlicka. The focus of this project is on identifying the challenges which
ethnocultural diversity raises for the underlying norms of a liberal democratic society
like Canada, including principles of democracy, justice, equality, freedom, rights and
citizenship.
CERIS was represented by Associate Director Dr. Kenise Murphy
Kilbride. Very thoughtful presentations were made by scholars, journalists, lawyers,
researchers, and government policy makers; their papers were collected and catalogued for
the CERIS Resource Centre.
CERIS at ISAP Conference
Dr. Samuel Noh, psychiatrist and researcher with the Clarke
Institute in Toronto and leader of the CERIS Health Domain, gave a lunch-time address to
the nearly five hundred immigrant settlement agency personnel and government
representatives attending the annual Ontario ISAP training conference in Toronto
November-December, 1997. Dr. Noh spoke on the links between unemployment and stress in the
context of immigrant settlement and adaptation.
Southeast Toronto Project
Dr. Carl Amrhein, CERIS Management Board Chair, is Board
Chair and Principal Investigator with the Southeast Toronto Project or SETO. SETO is
gathering respiratory health information from the southeast area of Toronto and compiling
it in the form of maps usable by the communities concerned. The project, directed Lorraine
Purdon, is a two-year project funded by NHRD now going into its second year.
Public Discussions of the Immigration Legislative
Review
During March, 1997 CERIS was active in monitoring and
facilitating public discussions of the Immigration Legislative Review. Director Dr. Morton
Beiser, Research Assistant Sarah Wayland and Administrative Coordinator Ted Richmond
attended the public Ministerial consultations in Toronto, at which a number of CERIS'
municipal and community partners made formal presentations. Our PAC Executive Chair Khan
Rahi and Board member John Shields (Ryerson) facilitated discussions of the Review with a
wide range of representatives of ethnocultural organizations organized by Elinor Caplan
and other Toronto-area Members of Parliament.
Other Public Events
CERIS Director Dr. Morton Beiser and Administrative
Coordinator Ted Richmond attended on March 18, 1998, at the invitation of Mayor Mel
Lastman and the Members of Toronto City Council, a public ceremony featuring Toronto's
finalists in the "Stop Racism National Video Competition". The featured speaker
was the Honourable Dr. Hedy Fry, Secretary of State (Multiculturalism) (Status of Women).
This event was part of the anti-racist education activities promoted by the Department of
Canadian Heritage, Multiculturalism Program for March 21 the International Day for the
Elimination of Racism.
On March 23, 1998 Director Dr. Morton Beiser represented
CERIS at the New Pioneers Awards, a fundraising and public education event presented by
Skills for Change to create wider community awareness about the achievements and
contributions of new Canadians.
Administrative Coordinator Ted Richmond represented CERIS at
the March 27, 1998 Communities Take Action forum with mental health care
providers and representatives of ethnocultural communities on culturally-appropriate
intervention and prevention approaches to alcohol-related problems.
Consultations with Community and Government Partners
Special Board Meeting with Community Partners
On June 24, 1997 the Management Board of CERIS met with the
Executive Directors and board members from the Social Planning Council of Metropolitan
Toronto (SPC) and the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) to discuss
community partnerships at the Management Board level and ways to facilitate community
participation in the work of the Centre.
The community representatives at the meeting, which was
called at their request, made a number of points concerning the difficulties for community
groups in establishing creative and satisfactory partnerships with academic institutions,
in their present circumstances of severe underfunding. Their concerns, and CERIS'
response, are detailed in the Appendices in Special Board Meeting with
Community Partners.
The meeting concluded with both groups expressing their
mutual conviction that the agencies providing services and planning for immigrant groups
in their settlement efforts are most valuable partners in research, as they can ground
such projects in the lived experiences of the communities they serve. For this reason the
Board, in its follow-up letter to community participants, expressed the hope that the
"partnerships be strong, equitable, and enduring."
July Retreat on Research Priorities
On July 22, 1997, CERIS held a year-end retreat at its main
offices in order to review its first year research activities and to provide the Board of
Directors with input regarding CERIS' research agenda and priorities for the 1997-1998
academic year. The retreat brought together 35 representatives from community agencies and
organizations, governmental departments and ministries, and universities.
A variety of themes emerged from the morning discussion
related to the CERIS research agenda. Community partners expressed concerns about issues
of racism, access, and equity, loss of funding, and immigration policies. Their concerns
were echoed by board members and researchers. Further discussion focussed on problems of
children and youth in immigrant families, mental health, support for integration, the need
for the empowerment of immigrants, and many education- and gender-related issues. The
morning of lively discussion was followed by an afternoon Management Board meeting to
begin planning the next round of research competition on the basis of the valuable
feedback from the retreat.
After further review by Partnership Advisory Council members
and the Management Board, the themes identified by this discussion were incorporated into
the 1998 research funding competition (see earlier in this report: Research Program
-- Research Competition 1998)
Taking part in the day's events were thirty-five people,
including CERIS directors Morton Beiser, Kenise Murphy Kilbride, and Valerie Preston, and
CERIS Administrative Coordinator Ted Richmond, and Academic Coordinator Anneke Rummens.
Present at the retreat from CERIS' Management Board were Carl Amrhein (U of T, board
chair), Usha George (U of T), John Shields (Ryerson), Sharmini Peries (OCASI), Jenny
Ratansi-Rodrigues (United Way), Michael Lanphier (York, former board chair), Hesh Troper
(OISE/UT), Mwarigha M.S. (Metro SPC), and Paul Anisef (York). Representatives from the PAC
included Kass Sunderji (Canadian Heritage), Wendy Kwong (Toronto Public Health
Department), Antoni Shelton (Urban Alliance on Race Relations), Karen Wishart (Health
Canada), Hugh McKeown (Antiracist Multicultural Educators Network of Ontario - AMENO),
Feli Villasin (INTERCEDE), and Mary Alberti (Family Services Association of Metropolitan
Toronto). Other community participants taking part in the retreat were Lisete Figueredo
(Doctor's Hospital) and Meconnen Desta (African Community Health Services). From
government agencies and departments were Korina Besednick (Statistics Canada), John Biles
and Ravi Pendakur (Canadian Heritage), Carol Silcoff (Health Canada), Elizabeth Gryte
(Citizenship & Immigration Canada), and Meyer Burstein (Metropolis). Also contributing
were researchers Lucia Lo (York), Joe Springer (Ryerson), Joseph Levy (York), Judith
Sandys (Ryerson), Cliff Jansen (York), and former board member Marie Truelove (Ryerson).
At the end of the day Dr. Beiser expressed gratitude to all those who took time out of
their busy schedules, and some from their holiday time, to participate in what he felt was
a very successful and worthwhile process.
Links with Toronto area Academics
In April, 1997 CERIS Director Dr. Morton Beiser took part in
the Canadian Ethnic Studies Conference Shaping Ethnicity -- Towards the Millennium
in his capacity as the David Crombie Professor of Cultural Pluralism and Health. The
conference provided an opportunity to share information about the Metropolis project among
the Canadian Ethnic Studies chairs. Throughout the year Dr. Beiser has continued his
involvement with the Ethnic Chairs and the School of Graduate Studies at the University of
Toronto to develop improved communications and provide support to various planned
initiatives to develop immigration-related conferences and programs for visiting scholars.
A proposal to the Rockefeller Foundation for support for
visiting scholars was developed by the University of Toronto Centre for Russian &
Eastern European Studies with collaboration from CERIS.
CERIS has joined the GTA Forum, organized by Professor
Frances Frisken, Senior Scholar, Urban Studies Program, York University; Professor Richard
Stren, Centre of Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto, and Professor Beth
Moore Milroy, Urban and Regional Planning, Ryerson Polytechnic University. Consistent with
the objectives of Metropolis, the goals of the GTA Forum are to:
- bring together academics and urban professionals in the public
and private sectors to discuss research and policy issues related to planning, economic
development, governance and social structure in the GTA and other Canadian urban regions
- increase awareness among academics, government and the general
public of the importance of cities and urban regions to the future of Canada and its
provinces
- compile related research findings and statistical information
CERIS has been active in publicizing Citizenship,
Democracy and Cities in a Global Age, an international symposium planned at York
University, Toronto, from June 26-28, 1998.
Support from Universities
The University of Toronto continues to provide extensive
material support to CERIS in the form of office space including utilities, telephone and
fax connections, Internet connectivity, and access to centralized automated financial
systems. In its second year of operations CERIS' main offices continued to be located in
the Faculty of Social Work building at the University of Toronto, with its recently
renovated offices, large and small meeting rooms, and splendid downtown location easily
accessible by subway.
Within the University of Toronto, the staff of the Faculty of
Social Work and the Department of Geography have continued to provide helpful advice and
support. University of Toronto Research Services facilitated the payments of research
grants and other inter-university transfers of funds. Our secretary received training on
the university's Financial Information Systems (FIS). Funds remaining from a startup grant
donated in the previous year by Dr. Heather Monroe-Blum, Vice-President Research and
International Relations, continue to pay for essential office expenses not included in
SSHRC funding such as photocopier rental. Laine Ruus, the University of Toronto data
librarian, has provided essential support to our Data Committee in making Metropolis
license data accessible to CERIS-affiliated researchers by cataloguing the data,
establishing a website and preparing the data for use.
York University continued to donate office space for the York
CERIS office, and provided a Graduate Assistant to staff the CERIS York office. The
Department of Urban Studies at York University provided a placement student working with
development of the CERIS Resource Centre during the past year. The university's
publications have given extensive coverage to CERIS research projects involving York
University researchers.
Ryerson Polytechnic University provides local office space
for CERIS' activities and an undergraduate assistant to support them. Ryerson's public
radio station CJRT-FM Open College has been extremely supportive in working with CERIS to
develop the broadcast series on immigration in Canada Strangers Becoming Us.
All the universities which were founding partners in the
CERIS project provide three members each to the CERIS Management Board. The Board was very
ably chaired this year by Dr. Carl Amrhein of the University of Toronto (formerly Chair of
the Department of Geography, Dr. Amrhein was appointed as Dean of Arts and Science during
the year).
The time of the three directors, donated by the three
universities, remains essential to the planning and coordination of our research program
and dissemination activities. The demands far exceed the one-half time contributions of
Dr. Beiser (University of Toronto) and the one-quarter time contributions of Dr. Kilbride
(Ryerson Polytechnic University) and Dr. Preston (York University).
Academics from all three founding universities also donate
their time and energies to CERIS projects and work groups including domain
responsibilities, adjudication, working committees and conference delegations. While the
contributions of the colleagues from Ryerson Polytechnic University remain outstanding in
this regard, active participation from York University and the University of Toronto has
increased substantially as well.
Back to Table of Contents
![[ Research & Policy ]](/graphics/but_rp.gif){kind=small}
