Capítulo V: Resultados y Discusión
5.1 Datos Cuantitativos
5.1.1. Presentación y Análisis de los Resultados
Snapshot
In Canada, everyone, with the exception of First Nations and Inuit and their descendants is either a recent immigrant, a refugee claimant or a descendant of immigrants. From the first explorers, through to workers who built the Canadian Pacific Railway, to the recent past, Canada has built the country, its communities and institutions through sustained immigration. In more recent years, population growth has depended on immigrant and refugee populations as the fertility rate among Canadian-born women has been dropping.373
The Committee heard testimony that reminded us that barriers facing immigrants are barriers to the social and economic development of Canada as a whole:
These barriers that immigrants face impede their accession to being full and equal members of Canadian society. The barriers are costly, not only to newcomers themselves but also to the broader communities in which they live. Immigration has been and will continue to be a key component to the development of Canadian economic, social and political fabric. We are increasingly aware of the problems that newcomers face in this country, and these are documented in excruciating detail in the report. However, beyond the details, my point is these problems and barriers must be recognized as Canadian problems rather than immigrant problems. It is in our own interests that newcomers be able to utilize their skills and resources.
(Sarah Wayland, Research Associate, Ontario Metropolis Centre, Evidence, SAST, 2nd Session, 39th
Parliament, 13 March 2008)
Canada‘s immigration program welcomes three broad groups of people for permanent residency. It facilitates the entry of immigrants who can contribute to the labour market and economy through their skills or business experience, or through the capital they invest. It welcomes family class immigrants who are sponsored by close relatives. Finally, the immigration program maintains Canada‘s humanitarian tradition by resettling refugees from abroad and providing an opportunity for asylum seekers to find protection. In addition, temporary resident permits are issued each year for workers, visitors and students, and people whose refugee claims have not been determined. While the Committee‘s focus has been on permanent residents, impacts of programs on other groups of newcomers have been considered.
Poverty
Immigrants
As most immigrants and refugees still settle in Canada‘s three largest cities, their poverty is closely related with broader issues of urban poverty. Statistics Canada researchers point out, ―In the three major immigrant-receiving cities (Toronto, Vancouver, and Montréal), virtually all of the increase in the cities‘ low-income rate during the 1990s was concentrated among the immigrant population.‖374
Further, recent immigrants experienced their poverty in ways that the Canadian-born, at least in Toronto, did not. In particular, the specific immigrant experience included ―… spatial entrapment
373
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, Canadians in Context – Immigration,
http://www4.hrsdc.gc.ca/[email protected]?iid=38. Accessed 30 April 2009.
374
Garnett Picot, Feng Hou and Simon Coulombe, Chronic Low Income and Low-income Dynamics Among Recent Immigrants, Statistics Canada,2007, p. 10.
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and delayed mobility; poverty, deprivation plus isolation, desperation; stigmatization of immigrant status, poverty circumstance and place of residence; and hopelessness and regret.‖375
Although the Committee has heard testimony that economic outcomes for newcomers to Canada vary by the class of immigrant, their country of origin, their language skills and other factors,376 generally, the incidence of poverty among
immigrants makes them one of the most ―at-risk‖ populations in Canada.377
However, the risk of poverty among immigrants decreases
with the length of time spent in Canada, and reaches the same level as for the general population (Canadian-born and immigrants in Canada 10 years or more) after about three years.378 However,
comparing immigrants and Canadian-born with similar levels of education and skills, researchers find that the length of time for convergence of incomes is increasing; in fact, first-generation immigrants may never catch up entirely.379
[T]he number of low-income immigrants has risen over the past 25 years. Immigrants remain poor for longer and longer periods. The catch-up period, that is, the time needed for an immigrant professional to reach the same salary level as his or her Canadian counterparts, was 16 years then and is 19 to 20 years now. The catch-up period is lengthening and the proportion of low-income immigrants is increasing.
(Jean-Claude Icart, Evidence, SAST, 2nd Session, 39th Parliament, 13 March 2008)
At the same time, the education level of immigrants has increased significantly in the last 25 years. With a change in policy that favoured skilled and highly educated immigrants, the newcomer population now has a higher rate of university completion than among the Canadian-born.380 Yet the
rate of chronic poverty was reduced by only two percentage points for immigrants who arrived in 2000, compared to those who arrived in 1992.381
The different categories of immigrants experience different economic outcomes. One study from 2003 found that after 15 years in Canada, skilled workers earned on average almost double the
375
Heather Smith and David Ley, “The Immigrant Experience of Poverty in Toronto Neighbourhoods of Concentrated Disadvantage,” Vancouver Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Integration in the Metropolis (RIIM), presentation to 9th National Metropolis Conference, March 2007, p. 15.
376 See testimony from Evidence, Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Subcommittee on Cities, 2nd
Session, 40th Parliament, 6 June 2009.
377
Jeff Frank and Jean Lock Kunz, “New Approaches for Addressing Poverty and Exclusion,” Policy Research Initiative, Government of Canada, December 2004, p. 6,
https://policyresearch.gc.ca/doclib/DecConf/Frank_Kunz_E.pdf. Accessed 26 February 2008.
378
Picot et al.,2007, pp. 13, 16.
379
Sarah Wayland, Unsettled: Legal and Policy Barriers for Newcomers to Canada – Literature Review, Community Foundations of Canada and Law Commission of Canada, 2006, p. 72; Marc Frenette and René Morissette, Will they ever converge. Earnings of immigrant and Canadian-born workers over the last two decades, Statistics Canada, 2003, p. 8.
380
Cheryl Teelucksingh and Grace-Edward Galabuzi, “Impact of Race and Immigrants Status on Employment Opportunities and Outcomes in the Canadian Labour Market,” Policy Matters, No. 22, Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement, November 2005, p. 1.
381
Picot, et. Al, (2007), pp. 4, 8.
The experience of immigrants varies with their country of original and whether they are admitted to reunify a family or based on their own credentials.
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earnings of other immigrant categories, such as refugees and family class. They were also less reliant on social assistance and unemployment benefits.382
Also in recent years, the countries of origin of immigrants have changed significantly. A smaller proportion of immigrants are from Western or even Eastern European countries, while a larger proportion come from Asian and African countries.
As noted above, there are significant differences in the risks facing newcomers, based in part on their country of origin. A recent study by Statistics Canada found the following patterns according to country of origin:
Immigrants born in Southeast Asia, particularly those from the Philippines, had the strongest labour market performance of all immigrants to Canada in 2006, regardless of when they landed in the country;
Those born elsewhere in Asia (including the Middle East) as well as individuals born in Latin America, Europe and Africa all had higher unemployment rates and lower employment rates in 2006 than their Canadian-born counterparts;
Immigrants born in Africa experienced difficulties in the labour market, regardless of when they had landed. The estimated 70,000 very recent African-born immigrants had an unemployment rate of 20.8%, more than four times higher than that of the Canadian born.383
The figure below shows differences in unemployment rate, which highlight the impact of the intersection of race and period of immigration on risk of poverty.384
Figure 19 - Unemployment rate for male immigrants aged 25 to 54, by period of landing, 2006
382
Longitudinal Immigrant Data Base, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (IMDB).
383
Jason Gilmore, The Canadian Immigrant Labour Market in 2006: Analysis by Region or Country of Birth, The Immigrant Labour Force Analysis Series, Statistics Canada, Research paper, 2008, p. 19.
384
140
A witness summarized the situation:
[F]or the past 15 years, the vast majority of the people who come to settle in Canada, as immigrants or refugees, arrive from southern countries and belong to racially distinct communities. The influence of race on poverty, together with the systemic barriers encountered by new immigrants, is a factor in creating poverty and inadequate housing.
(Roberto Jovel, Evidence, SAST, 1st Session, 39th Parliament, 10 May 2007)
Refugee claimants
The main source countries for refugees resettled to Canada have remained fairly consistent over the last five years and include Afghanistan, Columbia, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mexico was the top source country for refugee protection claims in Canada during 2006–2007, followed by China, Haiti and Colombia.385
Since refugees are not selected for immigration to Canada on the basis of their labour market skills, their characteristics such as language ability, formal schooling, and work experience vary considerably. There is little research on the economic well-being of resettled refugees or refugee claimants. Data from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) indicate that refugees have a significantly higher incidence of social assistance use than other immigrants (especially initially) and that average employment earnings increase over time.386 Don DeVoretz found in his study that
employment was critical to moving refugees out of poverty. He wrote:
[E]conomic poverty was an endemic and growing problem for refugees. For those refugees who received social assistance, their total income level was extremely low or less than $12,000 (1992 dollars) per refugee. This weak performance occurred seven years after their arrival! Thus, whether a refugee fared well in Canada‘s labour market ultimately depended upon employment prospects.387
Housing
Immigrants are also over-represented among those with housing affordability problems. The Committee heard testimony that quantified the short-term affordability crisis that strikes newcomers:
According to the Longitudinal Study of Immigrants to Canada
(LSIC) survey data that we analyzed in our comparative project, six months after their arrival in Canada, at least half of new immigrant renters in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver were spending 50% or more of their income on housing. This 50% threshold is considered by specialists to be an indication of extreme vulnerability because other essentials in the household budget have to be cut to cover housing costs. There is an increased risk of eviction and homelessness if unexpected additional expenses mean that the rent goes unpaid.
(Damaris Rose, Evidence, Subcommittee on Cities, 2nd Session, 40th Parliament, 6 May 2009)
In 2001, 36% of immigrants were in core housing need, by CMHC‘s definition, compared to only 13% of non-immigrants.388 One researcher cited data from the LSIC, finding that ―close to four in
10 respondents reported difficulties finding housing during the first six months after becoming
385
Immigration and Refugee Board, 2006–2007 Departmental Performance Report, p. 14.
386
Longitudinal Immigrant Data Base, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (IMDB).
387
Don DeVoretz et al., “The Economic Experiences of Refugees in Canada,” Discussion paper no. 1088, Institute for the Study of Labor, March 2004, p. 30.
388
Wayland (2007), p. 4.
Almost three times as many immigrants as Canadian-born have housing affordability and housing security problems.
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permanent residents.‖389 The researcher also identified different kinds of barriers: some barriers are
intrinsic to the immigrants themselves, e.g., ethnicity and age, others are transient (like family size, or income level), and still others are outside the influence of the individuals completely, like the structure of the housing market and the availability of affordable housing or subsidies.390
Immigrant organizations have identified the importance of housing in addressing and alleviating poverty among newcomers. For example, the program co-ordinator for the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba identified an increase in the supply of affordable housing as the first policy change that would alleviate hardship for immigrants in that province.391 Yet the
Committee heard testimony that housing was not among the services funded through federal immigration settlement funding to civil-society organizations.392
Research in preparation for Calgary‘s 10-year plan to end homelessness also identified the possible need for larger housing units to accommodate larger families among the immigrant population.393
This need was echoed in a national context in testimony before the Committee:
[In] some national research on the housing needs of immigrants...everyone told us that they need larger units because families are cramped, or extended families want to live together so that one person can be the caregiver and the other people can go to work, and they cannot live together, because we do not have the housing stock for that.
(Barbara Wake Carrol, Evidence, Professor, Department of Political Science, McMaster University, SAST, 1st Session, 39th Parliament, 17 May 2007)
Recommendation 58
The Committee recommends that federal government work with provincial governments and social housing providers to take the necessary steps to provide larger housing units to larger families.
Homelessness
The experience of homelessness among immigrants, however, varies, even across major ―gateway‖ cities. Studies in both Vancouver and Calgary found that ethnocultural groups acted in ways that mitigated against absolute homelessness, even for newcomers with very low incomes.394 However, the authors concluded that many
389 Ibid. 390
Ibid., p. 5.
391
Abdikheir Ahmed, cited in “Head of Manitoba organization says immigrants struggling in poverty,” Canadian Press, 14 August 2008.
392 Dan Hiebert,, Evidence, Subcommittee on Cities, 2nd Session, 40th Parliament, 6 May 2009. 393
Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, Submission, Subcommittee on Cities, 2nd Session, 40th Parliament, 6 May 2009, p. 4; Sharon M. Stroick, “Homelessness: What Do We Know?,” Presentation for Community Summit on Calgary’s 10-year plan to end homelessness, City of Calgary, 23 April 2007, slide 51,
http://www.calgary.ca/docgallery/bu/cns/homelessness/homelessness_what_do_we_know.pdf. Accessed 30 April 2009.
394
Daniel Hiebert, et al., “The Profile of Absolute and Relative Homelessness Among Immigrants, Refugees, and Refugee Claimants in the GVRD: Final Report,” May 2005, p. vi; and City of Calgary, “Background Research for the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness in Calgary,” February 2007, p. 67,
Newcomers in need rely more on extended families and earlier arrivers from their country in times of housing crisis than on conventional services.
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newcomers were among the ―hidden homeless,‖ with no secure accommodations of their own.395
Yet a Toronto study two years earlier found that an increasing proportion of shelter users were in fact immigrants, and called for culturally and linguistically accessible shelters to accommodate what was anticipated to be a growing clientele.396
A more recent study in Toronto of homeless women with children found that women who had not achieved permanent resident status were particularly vulnerable to homelessness.397 Their use of the
shelter system was sufficient to warrant the suggestion that a housing program for women awaiting status resolution would better serve these women, and would free up spaces in family shelters intended for transitional housing.
This is consistent with the identification of groups at risk of homelessness by a York University geographer: people without status in Canada, refugee claimants, visible minorities, single parents, young people, and women leaving situations of family violence.398 This research also confirmed that
among some immigrant groups, reliance on informal supports from already-settled members of that group supplants reliance on more conventional services.399
Second generation
According to the 2001 Census, approximately one in eight Canadian-born residents has at least one parent who was not born in Canada.400 This makes children of immigrants
and refugees a significant portion of the population. There is evidence that their education and economic outcomes are
in the least no worse and in many ways better than those whose
parents were born in Canada. Second generation Canadians are less likely to lack high school credentials and more likely to have a university degree; their incidence of reliance on government transfer payments and rates of employment and unemployment are no different; and their average earnings are greater.401
Given that immigrant families tend to move out of low-income neighbourhoods within five years of their arrival in Canada,402 this suggests that many of the poverty problems associated with
immigration are not carried over from the arriving generation to the next.
http://www.calgary.ca/docgallery/bu/cns/homelessness/background_research_10_year_plan_end_homelessness. pdf. Accessed 30 April 2009. 395 Ibid., p. x. 396
Access Alliance, “Executive Summary: Best Practices for Working with Homeless Immigrants and Refugees,” March 2003, p. 4, http://www.settlement.org/downloads/BP_Executive_Summary.pdf. Accessed 30 April 2009.
397
Emily Paradis, et al., “Better Off in a Shelter? A Year of Homelessness & Housing among Status Immigrant, Non- Status Migrant, & Canadian-Born Families,” Centre for Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto, July 2008, p. iii, http://www.urbancentre.utoronto.ca/pdfs/ researchbulletins/ParadisetalBetterOffinaShelter7- 2008.pdf. Accessed 30 April 2009.
398
Robert Murdie, “Immigrants, Housing, & Homelessness: What Do We Know?.” Presentation, Slide 5,
http://www.urbancentre.utoronto.ca/pdfs/researchbulletins/ParadisetalBetterOffinaShelter7-2008.pdf. Accessed 30 April 2009.
399
Ibid., Slide 6.
400
Abdurrahman Aydemir, Wen-Hao Chen and Miles Corak, Intergenerational Earnings Mobility Among the Children of Canadian Immigrants, Statistics Canada, 2005, p. 19.
401
Ibid.
While immigrants can usually ―catch up‖ with the Canadian born, in terms of family income, it is taking them longer to do so than in past generations.
143
Data on men and women whose parents were immigrants to Canada show that their high-school completion rates were higher than those of children of Canadian-born parents, but their income comparisons depended on gender: women who were children of immigrants had higher incomes than women of Canadian-born parents; this was not true for men.403 Among men who were children
of immigrants, their income differential was even larger if they were also a visible minority.
Persistent problems
The Committee has learned of the particular challenges faced by most newcomers to Canada, especially in recent years as the source countries have shifted. We are particularly concerned at this time, because we are aware that the economic transition for immigrants is closely tied to the business cycle at the time of their arrival.404 This could mean
even greater challenges for newcomers arriving during this economic downturn.
The Committee also learned that there are three stages to the settlement process:
[F]irst, newcomers face immediate needs for assistance and reception services, including basic language instruction; second, intermediate needs such as access to the labour market, housing, health service, upgrades to education and such; and, third, long-term needs to become equal participants in Canadian economy and society….
(Sarah Wayland, Evidence, SAST, 2nd Session, 39th Parliament, 13 March 2008)
Of the three, the Committee has been advised by this witness that settlement organizations, with the support of federal funding, are providing for support at the first stage, but that the second stage is providing much more of a barrier to full integration. This is consistent with other testimony and submissions to the Committee.
While the Committee will address integration of immigrants in the next section of this study, we