Regionalization of Immigrant Settlement in Ontario : Exploring Experiences of Small and Medium Sized Reception Centres

Abstract

This paper explores the regionalization of immigrant settlement in Canada’s smaller cities which has not been sufficiently addressed in Canada’s largest province, Ontario. The paper investigates this through a comprehensive review of the existing Canadian literature and research into the changing volume of immigrant settlement and the social geography of Ontario’s smaller cities from 1996 to 2015. This research is conducted through the development of a categorization system which orders Ontario’s CMAs into tiers based on total immigrant population. Two tiers are then compared to reveal any general trends or anomalies which could contribute to the understanding of regionalization in Ontario. A lack of evidence for significant regionalization was found, however, growth in the visible minority populations of some CMAs suggested the development of new international migration pathways. The findings of this paper reaffirm the need for further research in immigrant settlement in smaller Canadian cities.

Immigration to smaller urban and rural communities: Challenges and opportunities.

“…Well-known places get the highest number of immigrants because immigrants go to places with which they are familiar (Bégin-Gillis, 2010). Smaller centers must therefore make themselves stand out, using platforms and methods that reach immigrant populations (Goodbrand, 2015). For example, websites and other marketing tools, such as overseas attraction fairs, can be used to provide immigrants with positive perceptions of smaller centers in a bid to attract them (Bégin-Gillis, 2010).…”

“…Immigrants living in smaller centers are less at risk of unemployment and low earnings than their counterparts living in large centers (Goodbrand, 2015). A survey conducted in regional and rural Australia found that immigrants in nonmetropolitan areas had positive labor market experiences, including a high rate of economic participation, a short time span to secure a first job, and few problems finding work (Krivokapic-Skoko & Collins, 2016).…”

“…Additionally, the settlement services that a community provides can be an important factor for integrating and subsequently retaining immigrants (Goodbrand, 2015;SCoA, 2016). When immigrants do not have family members or other immigrant ties to rely on, settlement agencies were found to lessen their feeling of isolation (George et al, 2017).…”