Reading Notes class 7 on Introduction: Integration And Inclusion of Newcomers and Minorities Across Canada

After reading the articles that were assigned for class 7 there was one that stood out to me. I really felt the authors did a good job of showing why this study mattered. That’s why I chose the article by Errin Tolley, John Biles, Robert Vineberg, Meyer Burstein, and James Frideres titled Introduction: Integration And Inclusion of Newcomers and Minorities Across Canada.

When looking at this reading you can see that it is the introduction to a volume that they wrote. This reading includes reasoning as to why they thought they should write this study, as well as a summary of what was to be included in the volume, and their findings. Throughout they are really pushing the idea of multi-level government involvement in the immigration and integration into Canadian society and why it is so important right now.

Tolley et al. show us why this is important to study by pointing out many different things. Firstly by informing us Canada already sees the benefits of immigration and the “potential mechanism to facilitate economic development and adjustment” and that there is a “growing awareness that integration does not happen spontaneously but requires government action and community cooperation”. They go on to show us how important it is to link immigration, integration and inclusion to other policy agendas, and how it has been happening for quite some time (constitution act 1867 states federal-provincial jurisdiction). To continue showing us why they should be doing this study, Tolley et al. describe a changed immigration landscape in the last fifteen years not only in policy agenda but also “in terms of the available resources, program delivery models, and community involvement”. They go on to describe how important immigration is to Canada by giving out stats such as “immigrants comprise 19.8% of the population” and 55% “of the immigrants now residents in Canada arrived in the past 15 years”. They argue that Canada needs to stand out from the rest of the countries to attract the highly skilled immigrants.

Tolley et al. then give a short summary of the chapters and go into what their findings were.  1) That immigration is a key component to Canada, but work has to happen by facilitating newcomer integration. 2) The interest of federal, provincial, and territory in immigration, integration and inclusion is evolving and “as a result the policy landscape is variegated and fluid”. 3) There is a change happening in the demographics in newcomers, where they are choosing to settle, and their status.     4) We have a need for a sub national lens when looking at immigration, integration and inclusion. 5) While there is a need for provincial and territorial involvement to attract and retain newcomers, a lot of the necessities for success are controlled by municipalities.

I found there were a few strengths in this article that stood out. First, as mentioned in the text, based on when this study was being done, it was “particularly timely in a period in which multiculturalism has apparently fallen somewhat out of favor”. Another strength was that the authors brought up two different points of interest in the article. They discuss immigration and integration(which is obviously important), but they also talk about how profitable it can be for the government. This is important information to bring up seeing as most people wouldn’t think of that right away when discussing this topic. The last strength I found personally intriguing was the amount of rational that was given for the study. So many different reasons were pointed out as to why this study would be important and how it could help Canadian society. All the reasoning not only made me realize how significant this topic was, but it also made me see how beneficial immigration and integration can be on a municipal, provincial, and federal level.

I found this article to have some practical use for teachers. After reading this, teachers should be more aware of the importance of immigration and integration in this country. By knowing of this importance, they should be able to reflect it in their practice. Trying to help with the integration process of new immigrants as best they can into their classrooms and their communities. A question that I came up with was how much can a government control the integration part of immigration before it becomes assimilation? Wouldn’t trying to integrate immigrants who are not interested in being integrated again be us trying to push what we feel is best for immigrants?