BackgroundSense of belonging is recognized as an important determinant of psychological and physical well-being. Research in Canada has shown that sense of belonging has increased in recent years although important variations exist between regions and among certain ethnic groups.MethodsThe objective of this paper is to examine differences in sense of belonging to local community between Canadian-born and immigrant residents in three small-to-medium sized urban areas using primary data collected in: 1) Charlottetown, PEI; 2) Hamilton, Ontario, and 3) Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. A mixed method approach is used in the analysis. First, a household telephone survey (n = 1529) asked respondents to rate their sense of belonging. This data was analyzed by way of summary statistics and ordered logistic regression. Second, a series of focus groups with immigrants in the three cities included questions on belonging and well-being (n = 11).ResultsThe research found that sense of belonging is very high in the overall sample and in the three study sites, particularly in Charlottetown, and that there are no significant differences in levels of belonging between Canadian-born and immigrant respondents. However, among immigrants, sense of belonging was significantly lower for those living in Canada for 5 years or less. Consistent with the literature, positive mental health was found to be strongly associated with a positive sense of belonging for both Canadian-born and immigrant respondents. For immigrants, positive sense of belonging was associated with full-time work and home-ownership, two factors not associated with the Canadian-born population. The paper also revealed that immigrants placed greater importance on knowing their neighbours on a first name basis and generally trusting people as determinants of a positive sense of belonging. Finally, the focus groups revealed that in addition to displaying a sense of belonging to their city of residence, immigrants also maintain strong feelings of belonging to their ethnic group.ConclusionsThe paper concludes by offering several public health recommendations on how belonging can be enhanced among recent immigrants in smaller Canadian cities; these include improved coordination of services in order to contribute to a less overwhelming settlement process for immigrants.

The majority of immigrants in Canada live in the country's largest cities; however, many immigrants are choosing to reside in smaller centres, suggesting the need for further research regarding the immigrant experience in second-and third-tier Canadian cities.This study found that immigrants have lower perceptions of quality of life than Canadian-born individuals, a finding that echoes research in first-tier cities.Issues of employment, income, and language barriers contribute to lower quality of life amongst immigrants.There has been a call for further research regarding immigrant experience in second-and third-tier Canadian cities. This study examines perceptions of immigrant quality of life (QOL) in three smaller urban areas: 1) Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; 2) Hamilton, Ontario; and, 3) Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The underlying objective is to further our knowledge of immigrants' perceptions of QOL in these smaller centres and, in so doing, contribute to the understanding of immigrant integration and adaptation. This article employed a mixed-methods approach consisting of a household-based telephone survey (n¼1,529) and a series of focus groups (n¼11). Four components of QOL were examined: 1) overall perceptions of QOL, 2) the direction in which research respondents feel their city is headed, 3) perceptions of the quality of schools and recreation programs in the research respondent's neighbourhood, and 4) cultural integration. The research found that immigrants have lower perceptions of QOL than Canadian-born individuals, a finding that echoes research into immigrant QOL in the country's largest urban centres.

Research on environmental health risks suggests that public perceptions of risk may be greater than quantitative health risk assessments, especially amongst vulnerable groups such as women and immigrants. This study uses the environmental stress and coping framework to examine individual perceptions of air quality amongst Canadian-born and immigrant women in Northeast Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Furthermore, the study aims to determine the influence of sense of place on local environmental perceptions. Quantitative survey results suggest that Canadian-born residents have a higher absolute value of sense of place than immigrants. Qualitative focus group discussions suggest that, compared to immigrant women, Canadian-born women may be more aware, knowledgeable and concerned about larger-scale air quality issues; however, the tension between economic and environmental needs hinders their sense of control. Bringing the quantitative and qualitative data together suggests that sense of place may inform environmental perceptions.

Past research in Hamilton, Ontario has found that age and longevity of residence are positively associated with evaluations of sense of place (SoP); further, evaluations of SoP between immigrants and Canadian-born individuals have shown no clear pattern (Williams et al. 2010; Williams and Kitchen 2012). This paper builds on this work by further examining evaluations of SoP among both immigrants and Canadian-born residents and across gender in Hamilton, while expanding the study to two other small-to-medium sized cities: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. This paper has two objectives: (1) to establish measures of SoP across immigrant status and gender in Hamilton, Saskatoon, and Charlottetown; and, (2) to determine how SoP varies according to immigrant status, length of residence in Canada, age, income, and neighbourhood length of residence across the three city sites. Telephone survey data (n = 1,132) was used to compare evaluations of SoP across various groups and to construct an ordered logistic regression model for SoP. Results suggest that immigrants tended to rate their SoP lower than their Canadian-born counterparts. Hamilton residents were found to rate their SoP lowest, followed by Saskatoon residents and, finally, Charlottetown residents. Younger individuals, those with lower income levels, and those with shorter neighbourhood residency in the cities concerned were more likely to have lower evaluations of SoP. This research suggests that greater attention is needed to nurture immigrants’ connection with their new home.