Canada is a land troubled by questions of race and space, whether we are speaking of First Nations land claims, Quebec nationalism, or the 'absented presence' of others. (Walcott 1997, 37)

Discomfort and discrimination experienced by racial minorities is of growing concern. Perceived racial discrimination and discomfort raise questions about social cohesion in pluralist democracies such as Canada and the United States, particularly in immigrant gateway cities that are increasingly heterogeneous. Little research has examined metropolitan variations in perceived discomfort or discrimination despite their distinct social, economic, and housing characteristics and varied histories of inter-group relations. Using the Ethnic Diversity Survey, a population survey that provides detailed information about individuals' experiences of racial discrimination and discomfort, we describe the frequency of racial discomfort and discrimination reported by Canadian-and foreignborn ethnic and racial minority groups living in major gateway cities. Using logistic regression, we investigate how social and demographic characteristics such as ethnoracial identity and behaviours such as involvement in ethnic organisations influence experiences of discrimination and discomfort in Montréal, Toronto, and

No abstract

Ces dernières années l'intéret s'est accru pour les expériences des immigrants après leur arrivée dans la societé nord‐américaine. Dans cet article, nous argumentons le fait que le logement, et plus spécifiquement le bail, est un sujet important bien que largement négligé en ce qui concerne la vie de l'immigrant dans la société canadienne. En utilisant des chiffres du recensement de 1986 et la structure des modèles log‐linéaires, nous examinons les baux des logements des immigrants dans les différentes régions du Canada. On argumente que les immigrants sont différenciés par la culture, le temps et l'espace en ce qui concerne le bail, avec des immigrants plus récents, particuliérement ceux qui arrivent des pays en voie de développement, qui ont des taux de propriété particulierement plus bas. In recent years interest has grown in the post‐arrival experiences of immigrants in North American society. In this paper we argue that housing, and more specifically tenure, is an important, though largely neglected, issue with respect to immigrant life in Canadian society. Using data from the 1986 census and a log‐linear modelling framework, we examine housing tenure among immigrants in the regions of Canada. It is argued that immigrants are a culturally, temporally and spatially differentiated sub‐population in regard to tenure, with more recent immigrants, especially those from the Developing World, having substantially lower rates of homeownership.

In recent years Richmond, British Columbia, a quintessential middle class suburb of Vancouver, has seen its Chinese immigrant population grow significantly; a change that has not gone uncontested by a largely ‘white’ European incumbent population. This long‐established suburban neighbourhood provides an opportunity to examine contested place imagery and a discourse of racism that is shaping spatial relations in ways that depart from earlier discussions of inner‐city Chinatowns. The paper has three principal objectives. The first is to develop a conceptual framework for interpreting the actual and imagined geographies of ethnic change and the tensions it can generate within local space. The second is to evaluate the social and physical changes brought about within Richmond by a relatively recent arrival of Chinese immigrants. Questions of scale are explored both at the community and neighbourhood levels, and we seek to determine whether the patterns of Chinese residential settlement represent a break from the past. Finally, we seek to employ the conceptual framework to evaluate local responses to ethnic change in Richmond given the spatial context within which ethnic change is being experienced.