Canadian Perspectives on Immigration in Small Cities

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxv

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Glenda Tibe Bonifacio, Julie L. Drolet

   Pages 1-13

3. Partnerships, Resources, and Capacities

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15

      PDF

   2. Welcoming and Inclusive Communities and Workplaces Program (WICWP): The Case in Thompson-Nicola Region, British Columbia

      • Julie L. Drolet

      Pages 17-33

   3. Working Together: Collaborative Response to Welcoming Newcomers in Brandon, Manitoba

      • Ryan Gibson, Jill Bucklaschuk, Robert C. Annis

      Pages 35-53

   4. Local Immigration Partnerships: How Is Peterborough Engaged with Immigrant Integration?

      • Michael C. K. Ma

      Pages 55-74

4. Identities, Belonging, and Social Networks

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 75-75

      PDF

   2. (Mis)Givings in a Prairie City? Identity and Belonging of Filipina (Im)Migrants in Lethbridge, Alberta

      • Glenda Tibe Bonifacio

      Pages 77-98

   3. Conflict and Negotiation: Transnational Ties and Competing Identities of Chinese Immigrants in Kamloops, British Columbia

      • Yaying Zhang

      Pages 99-118

   4. Sense of Place Amongst Immigrant and Refugee Women in Kingston and Peterborough, Ontario

      • Cheryl Sutherland

      Pages 119-140

   5. Why Networks Matter and How They Work? The Role of Social Networks in Attracting and Retaining Immigrants in Small Cities

      • Swarna Weerasinghe, Alexandra Dobrowolsky, Nicole Gallant, Evangelia Tastsoglou, Ather H. Akbari, Pauline Gardiner Barber et al.

      Pages 141-169

5. Health, Politics, and Diversity

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 171-171

      PDF

   2. Health and Social Inequities of Visible Minority Immigrant Women in St. John’s: A Critical Population Health Perspective

      • Sylvia Reitmanova, Diana L. Gustafson

      Pages 173-194

   3. Immigration in the Niagara Region: Youth Perspectives of the Small City

      • Jennifer Ajandi, Melenie Neamtz

      Pages 195-209

   4. Dilemmas and Challenges of Democratic Participation of Immigrants in Small Atlantic Canadian Communities

      • Ottilia Chareka

      Pages 211-232

6. Francophone Communities

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 233-233

      PDF

   2. Relationship Between School and Immigrant Families in French-Language Minority Communities in Moncton, New Brunswick: Parents’ Perceptions of Their Children’s Integration

      • Aïcha Benimmas, Fadila Boutouchent, Lamine Kamano

      Pages 235-253

   3. Challenges of Francophone Immigration in Northern Ontario Communities: The Cases of Hearst, Timmins, and Kapuskasing

      • Aurélie Lacassagne

      Pages 255-269

   4. The “Regionalization” of Immigration in Quebec: Shaping Experiences of Newcomers in Small Cities and Towns

      • Jill Hanley

      Pages 271-285

7. Back Matter

   Pages 287-291

   PDF

This book examines immigration to small cities throughout Canada. It explores the distinct challenges brought about by the influx of people to urban communities which typically have less than 100,000 residents. 

The essays are organized into four main sections: partnerships, resources, and capacities; identities, belonging, and social networks; health, politics, and diversity, and Francophone minority communities. Taken together, they provide a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary perspective on the contemporary realities of immigration to small urban locations.

Readers will discover how different groups of migrants, immigrants, and Francophone minorities confront systemic discrimination; how settlement agencies and organizations develop unique strategies for negotiating limited resources and embracing opportunities brought about by changing demographics; and how small cities work hard to develop inclusive communities and respond to social exclusions.

In addition, each essay includes a case study that highlights the topic under discussion in a particular city or region, from Brandon, Manitoba to the Thompson-Nicola Region in British Columbia, from Peterborough, Ontario to the Niagara Region.

As a complement to metropolitan-based works on immigration in Canada, this collection offers an important dimension in migration studies that will be of interest to academics, researchers, as well as policymakers and practitioners working on immigrant integration and settlement.

• Francophone minorities
• Immigration to small cities in Canada
• Inequities and social exclusion
• Migration and integration
• Systematic discrimination
• landscape/regional and urban planning

• Department of Women and Gender Studies, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Canada

  Glenda Tibe Bonifacio

• Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, Edmonton, Canada

  Julie L. Drolet

Glenda Tibe Bonifacio is an associate professor in women’s studies at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta. She is a research affiliate of the Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy and with the defunct Prairie Metropolis Centre. Her research interests include gender, migration and citizenship; education, development and youth; and temporary foreign workers. Glenda is the author of Pinay on the Prairies: Filipino Women and Transnational Identities (UBC Press 2013); editor of Gender and Rural Migration: Realities, Conflict and Change (Routledge 2014) and Feminism and Migration: Cross-cultural Engagements (Springer 2012); and co-editor of Migrant Domestic Workers and Family Life: International Perspectives (Palgrave 2015) and Gender, Religion and Migration: Pathways of Integration (Lexington Books 2010).

Julie Drolet is an associate professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary’s Central and Northern Alberta region in Edmonton. She was previously a faculty member at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia. She is actively engaged in research in the field of international social work, community development, and Canadian immigration funded by SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council). She is a co-investigator in the Pathways to Prosperity Research Partnership and former domain leader in settlement, integration, and welcoming communities with Metropolis BC. Julie is co-editor of International Social Development: Social Work Experiences and Perspectives (Fernwood Publishing 2012) and Shifting Sites of Practice: Field Education in Canada (Pearson 2012). She is the author of Women and Micro Credit: Women’s Experiences in Cairo, Egypt (VDM Verlag 2008) and Social Protection and Social Development: International Initiatives (Springer forthcoming). 

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