This research explores the immigrant settlement & integration sector in Ontario and Quebec in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. The pandemic has had a profound impact on nonprofit migrant service providers straining their capacity to the limits, compelling a rapid shift to online service provision and the development of hybrid delivery models going forward, and reshaping relationships with government funders. There are many continuities and discontinuities between the experiences in the two provinces and many lessons to be learned. The embrace by the Federal Government of enhanced immigration levels as part of a post-pandemic economic recovery strategy has given additional importance to the settlement role of nonprofit migrant agencies. The Quebec Government’s decision to reduce immigration levels for the province but continue to provide comparatively high levels of funding support for integration services offers an important point of comparison. Quebec’s support for the extension of services for international students and temporary migrants also stands in contrast to IRCC’s limitation to service coverage for permanent resident immigrant newcomers.
A prime method used in this research to gather data has been through pandemic response surveys of managers and workers conducted with the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) and Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes (TCRI) covering the period of September 2020 to September 2021. The Technical Reports of the surveys are available on the BMRC website. While the focus of the research has been centred in Quebec and Ontario the findings have relevance for all parts of Canada and beyond. The settlement sector has demonstrated remarkable resilience through this period of crisis. As the immigrant settlement & integration sector evolves and shapeshifts into the future it is critical to better understand the dynamics and trajectory of this change. This research made an important contribution to this goal. It should be noted that this work was a continuation of previous BMRC studies including “ISAs: A Critical Review of the Literature through the Lens of Resilience” (Riley Bushell and John Shields) and “An Anatomy of Settlement Services in Canada: A Guide (Jessica Praznik and John Shields).
Principal Investigator:
- John Shields (Toronto Metropolitan University) jshields@torontomu.ca
Co-Investigators:
- Valerie Preston (York University)
- Jill Hanley (McGill School of Social Work)
- Jayesh D’Souza
- Moussa Seck (McGill University)
Research Assistant:
- Kelly Sung (Toronto Metropolitan University)
Community Partners:
- La Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes (TCRI)
- Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI)
- Preston, V., Shields, J., & D’Souza, J. (2024). Transforming settlement and integration services during a pandemic. International Migration, 62(2), 22-37.
- Preston, V. (2024). ‘Migrant Resilience, Advocacy, and the Settlement Sector: Lessons for the Future,’ with John Shields, Tara Bedard, Lisa Alfieri-Sladen, Henry Akanko, Mary Ellen Bernard, Noor Din, Vera Dodic, Prince Sibanda, and Stephan Reichhold, International Migration and Social Resilience in Canadian Cities: Policies, Places, and Institutions. With T. Bedard and J. Shields (Eds.), manuscript under review by McGill-Queens University Press.
- Shields, J. (2023). Collaboration and Advocacy During COVID-19: Facilitating the Digital Transformation in Ontario Agencies. Pathways to Prosperity (P2P) National Conference, Montreal, November 20-21, 2023.
- Research Report: Pandemic Response Survey Results OCASI Agency Management
- Research Report: Pandemic Response Survey Results OCASI Agency Frontline Workers
- Résultats de l’enquête sur la réponse à la pandémie – TCRI
- Résultats de l’enquête sur la réponse à la pandémie : Gestion de l’agence TCRI
- Shields, J. 2023. “Migrant resilience, advocacy and the settlement sector: Lessons for the future”, Session: Immigration Policy and Practice: Lessons from a Pandemic, 25th National Metropolis Conference – 25 Years of Conversation on Migration: Our Legacy, Our Future, March 16-18, 2023, Ottawa.
- Hanley, J. and Moussa Seck. 2023. “Immigrant-Serving Agencies Responding to COVID-19: A Comparison of Quebec and Ontario”. Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership (OLIP), Virtual Meeting, Friday, March 31, 2023.
- Video: Immigrant Serving Agencies Responding to COVID-19
- Hiba Shaath and Valerie Preston with John Shields, Debbie Douglas and Tara Bedard. 2022. The Future of the Immigrant-Serving Agencies in Ontario: Meeting the Challenges of Hybrid Service Delivery, BMRC Policy Preview, September, pg.7
- Shields, J. “Will settlement agencies in Canada survive the pandemic?”, Pandemic Borders, CERC and openDemocracy, Ryerson University, openDemocracy, July 8, 2020.
- Redefining Accountability to Promote Settlement Sector Resilience
- Redéfinir l’imputabilité pour favoriser la résilience du secteur de l’établissement
- John Shields and Omar Lujan, Immigrant Youth, Settlement and Resilience: A Qualitative Examination of Newcomer Youth and Settlement Service. Primary Research Report. IWYS – A Research and Knowledge Mobilization Project on the Settlement Outcomes–Services Nexus. Toronto: CERIS, October 2019, pg. 24.
- Riley Bushell and John Shields, Immigrant Settlement Agencies in Canada: A Critical Review of the Literature through the Lens of Resilience. A Paper of the Building Migrant Resilience in Cities (BMRC) Project. Toronto: York University, October 9, 2018, pg.70
