This project built on and complemented our transversal project entitled “Analysis of governance structures and policy discourses shaping migration and resilience: an examination of Canada’s federal, provincial and municipal governments” by examining the resilience of the settlement sector in 3 Ontario cities: one gateway city (Toronto)& two second-tier cities (Ottawa & Kitchener-Waterloo). The project also built on a previous SSHRC-IRCC funded study on the role of LIPs during the Syrian refugee resettlement initiative (PI: Walton-Roberts; co-PI: Veronis; 2016-17). The 3 main objectives of the project were to:
- Undertake a discourse analysis of how the notion of resilience is used, mobilized, framed by settlement sector organizations/actors-Immigrant Settlement Agencies (ISAs) &umbrella organizations (LIPs, OCASI, potentially RIFs),
- Study the resilience of the settlement sector through examination of its practices in the face of changing immigration policies& emergency initiatives and ongoing restructuring related to neoliberal and austerity agendas(Shields; Lowe et al 2017; Trudeau& Veronis2009), and
- Examine and compare the role of local/urban context in shaping settlement sector approaches, practices & strategies to meet immigrant needs/integration and advance community interests.
What was our approach?
This project emerged from conversations among team members incl. at Strategy meeting in June 2017 and from findings of the transversal project. The findings were relevant to the Partnership’s examination and understanding of resilience in terms of institutional practices and experiences at various levels and as embedded within specific contexts. The focus here was on the settlement sector in Ontario through a comparative study of 3 distinct urban contexts, with an interest on the sector as a whole & various types of ISAs.
Research activities were planned for 18 months(Sep2018-Feb2020):
- Stage 1: Laying the foundation (Sep-Dec2018)
- Aim 1: Broad scan of literature on Canadian ISAs, LIPs, RIFs and impacts of state restructuring & immigration policy changes since 2000(eg Andrew, Fourot, Good, Paquet, Shields, Veronis, etc.)
- Aim 2: With community partners selected ISA case studies: 2 in K-W; 3 in Ottawa; 4 in Toronto(total=9ISAs)
- Aim 3: Developed methodology for discourse analysis (tools for data collection and analysis)for Stage 2 & Ethics application for Stage 3
- Stage 2: Discourse analysis (Jan-June2019)
- Aim 1: Identified retrieve & select ISA documents (website, annual reports, proposals, procurement, contracts, etc.)
- Aim 2: Critically analyzed how ‘resilience ‘is used in ISA documents
- Methods:
- Discourse analysis (Bhuyan & S-Carrier 2012) & as per transversal project approach Research questions Stage 2
- How is resilience used/framed in ISA documents? What ideas, meanings, and practices lie behind the term as employed in the sector? How do these relate to state policies/discourses& governance structures? How do these relate to migrant groups &their needs? What are the implications for communities & specific migrant groups (skilled workers, refugees, families, students, non-status, class, gender, ethnicity/race, youth, LGBTQ, etc.)?
- Stage 3: Interviews (April-Aug2019)
- Aim 1: With community partners select ISA case study reps, sector reps, & private sector reps (churches, group sponsors) for interviews
- Aim 2: Discussed and verified findings of ISA discourse analysis in Stage 2
- Aim 3: Discussed practices of ISAs & settlement sector resilience at interface between state restructuring & community needs
- Methods: Semi-structured in depth personal interviews
- Stage 4: Analysis dissemination (Jun/19-Feb/20)
- Aim 1: Analysis & triangulation of data Stages 2 & 3
- Aim 2: Community feedback sessions in each city network to discuss findings & draft recommendations.
- Networking activities:
- Regular meetings were held within city networks.
- Regular conference calls were held across city networks.
- We had 3 larger networking activities:
- Methodology workshop during October 2018; Steering Committee meeting developed the methodological approach and tools for secondary data collection and analysis.
- Writing retreats during Spring & Fall 2019; Steering Committee meetings for data analysis, draft summary reports & policy briefs, plan & prepare dissemination activities
Principal Investigators:
- Virginie Mesana, virginiemesana@gmail.com
- Luisa Veronis, lveronis@uottawa.ca
Co-investigators:
- Rupaleem Bhuyan (University of Toronto)
- John Shields (Ryerson University)
- Margaret Walton-Roberts (Wilfrid Laurier University)
Community Partners:
- Enrico del Castello, IRCC;
- Hindia Mohamoud, Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership (OLIP);
- OCASI
- Tara Bedard, Waterloo Region Local Immigration Partnership (WRLIP).
- Walton-Roberts, M. and Veronis, L. 2022. Comparative analysis of Canadian municipal policy discourses on immigration and resilience: Uncovering actually existing resilience(s) in context. Conference co-organized by MiReKoc and Metropolis International, Istanbul Turkey and webinar (hybrid), May 13.
