Abstract: Black communities experience a higher exposure to health risks in general, and to COVID-19 in particular. The emergence of this type of vulnerability may be rooted in systemic influences tracing back to the colonial period. This article addresses this systemic vulnerability by introducing and highlighting the role of the "colonial overstory" – that is, the overarching narrative and institutionalized collective assumptions of the colonial project that play out today. The effects of the colonial overstory operate in the background. As such, today these effects may often be taken-for-granted and tacit, yet they may nevertheless influence and shape the experience of life in Black communities in significant ways. Elements of the colonial overstory that I selectively focus upon in this analysis of the pandemic experience include: spatial segregation by race within urban centres, the spatial distribution of COVID-19 risk, medical distrust, vaccine hesitancy, intergenerational trauma, the rise of vaccine nationalism, and colonial discourses based on racism and "othering". Résumé: Les communautés noires sont davantage exposées aux risques sanitaires et à la COVID-19 en particulier. L'émergence de cette vulnérabilité trouve ses racines dans la période coloniale. Cet article aborde cette vulnérabilité systémique en soulignant le rôle du « récit colonial » –un narratif de l'empire qui perdure avec des présuppositions souvent invisibles parce qu'elles font parties des normes et des institutions. Les effets de ce récit colonial sont importants mais sous-estimés. Ils sont souvent implicites, alors qu'ils influencent et façonnent de manière significative le vécu des communautés noires. Parmi les éléments du récit colonial sur lesquels je me concentre dans cette analyse de l'expérience noire de la pandémie, on peut citer : la ségrégation spatiale raciale au sein des centres urbains, la répartition spatiale du risque de COVID-19, la méfiance envers le système médical, l'hésitation vaccinale, les traumatismes intergénérationnels, la montée du nationalisme vaccinal et les discours coloniaux fondés sur le racisme et l'altérisation.
Abstract: The complexities of the labour market and related practices continue to hinder the employment integration of skilled racialized immigrants, especially women. This systematic review examines the deskilling experiences of skilled racialized immigrants through a gender and intersectional lens. It follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. Six databases were searched for peer-reviewed literature on the employment experiences of skilled racialized immigrants in Canada. Eighteen articles meeting the inclusion criteria were included in the final analysis. Content and thematic analyses of these articles showed that skilled racialized immigrants face multiple layers of deskilling that obstruct their integration into the Canadian labour market. Intersecting factors, such as the gendered division of labour at home and in the workplace, further complicate the deskilling experiences of racialized women. The findings also emphasize how limited access to family and care support influences labour market participation, particularly for women. Capitalism and racialization in the Canadian labour market further contribute to the devaluation of foreign credentials and work experience. Evidence from this review indicates that deskilling and racialization adversely affect immigrants' physical and mental health. Our review provides employers, policymakers, and service providers with intersectional insights into the post-migration deskilling experiences of racialized immigrants. Decision-makers should consider this strong evidence, alongside the ongoing othering of racialized immigrants, when creating inclusive labour market policies. Healthcare practitioners can leverage this evidence to develop targeted programs that support the mental and physical well-being of newcomers to Canada. Résumé: La complexité du marché du travail et les pratiques que cela engendre continuent de freiner l'intégration à l'emploi des immigrés qualifiés et racisés, en particulier les femmes. Cette revue de littérature systématique examine les expériences de déqualification des immigrants qualifiés et racisés à travers un prisme intersectionnel et genré. Elle suit les lignes directrices PRISMA (acronyme de Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis ). Six bases de données ont été consultées pour identifier la littérature évaluée par des pairs sur les expériences d'emploi des immigrants qualifiés et racisés au Canada. Dix-huit articles répondant aux critères d'inclusion ont été inclus dans l'analyse finale. Le contenu et l'analyse thématique de ces articles ont montré que les immigrants qualifiés et racisés font face à plusieurs couches de déqualification qui entravent leur intégration sur le marché du travail canadien. Des facteurs croisés, tels que la division genrée du travail dans les sphères familiales et professionnelles, compliquent encore davantage les expériences de déqualification des femmes racialisées. Les résultats soulignent également comment l'accès limité au soutien familial et aux soins influence la participation au marché du travail, en particulier pour les femmes. Le capitalisme et la racialisation sur le marché du travail canadien contribuent en outre à la dévaluation des diplômes et des expériences professionnelles étrangères. Les preuves issues de cette revue démontrent que la déqualification et la racialisation affectent négativement la santé physique et mentale des immigrés. Notre analyse offre aux employeurs, aux décideurs politiques et aux prestataires de services des perspectives intersectionnelles sur les expériences de déqualification post-migration des immigrés racisés. Les décideurs devraient prendre en compte ces preuves solides, ainsi que la marginalisation continue des minorités raciales, lorsqu'ils élaborent des politiques inclusives sur le marché du travail. Les professionnels de santé peuvent en tirer parti pour développer des programmes ciblés qui soutiennent le bien-être mental et physique des nouveaux arrivants au Canada.
Abstract: This article investigates how admission category and geographic location shape the utilization of language training and employment-related settlement services among immigrants in Canada. Using administrative data from the Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) linked with the Immigration Contribution Agreement Reporting Environment (ICARE), we analyze a cohort of 250,785 immigrants aged 25 to 64 who landed in Canada between 2013 and 2019. Logistic regression models with interaction terms assess how the relationship between admission category and service utilization varies across geographic contexts during the first year after arrival. Results reveal significant geographic disparities: immigrants settling outside major urban centres are consistently less likely to use both language training and employment-related services, reflecting limited service availability in smaller communities. Refugees – particularly Government-Assisted Refugees (GARs) – exhibit the highest rates of language training utilization, with markedly higher usage outside major urban centres, where limited linguistic infrastructure intensifies their reliance on formal programs. Privately Sponsored Refugees (PSRs) exhibit more muted geographic variation, suggesting that sponsor networks may mitigate locational disadvantages. For employment-related services, skilled economic immigrants demonstrate substantially higher utilization in large cities, where specialized employment supports are concentrated, while utilization declines sharply in non-metropolitan areas. These findings reveal how settlement service utilization is jointly shaped by admission category and geographic location, with implications for the design of policies intended to promote more equitable settlement across Canada. Résumé: Cet article examine comment la catégorie d'admission et la situation géographique influencent l'utilisation des services de formation linguistique et des services d'établissement liés à l'emploi chez les immigrants au Canada. À l'aide de données administratives tirées de la Base de données longitudinales sur l'immigration (BDIM) couplée au Système de déclaration des ententes sur les contributions en immigration (ICARE), nous analysons une cohorte de 250 785 immigrants âgés de 25 à 64 ans qui se sont installés au Canada entre 2013 et 2019. Des modèles de régression logistique avec termes d'interaction évaluent comment la relation entre la catégorie d'admission et l'utilisation des services varie selon les contextes géographiques au cours de la première année suivant l'arrivée. Les résultats révèlent d'importantes disparités géographiques: les immigrants qui s'installent en dehors des grands centres urbains sont systématiquement moins susceptibles d'utiliser à la fois les services de formation linguistique et les services liés à l'emploi, ce qui reflète une disponibilité limitée des services dans les petites collectivités. Les réfugiés – en particulier les réfugiés pris en charge par le gouvernement (RPG) – présentent les taux d'utilisation les plus élevés des services de formation linguistique, avec une utilisation nettement plus importante à l'extérieur des grands centres urbains, où le manque d'infrastructures linguistiques accentue leur dépendance aux programmes formels. Les réfugiés parrainés par le secteur privé (RSP) affichent une variation géographique plus modérée, ce qui suggère que les réseaux de parrainage peuvent atténuer les désavantages liés au lieu de résidence. En ce qui concerne les services liés à l'emploi, les immigrants économiques qualifiés présentent une utilisation considérablement plus élevée dans les grandes villes, où les soutiens spécialisés à l'emploi sont concentrés, tandis que leur utilisation diminue fortement dans les zones non métropolitaines. Ces résultats montrent comment l'utilisation des services d'établissement est façonnée à la fois par la catégorie d'admission et la situation géographique, ce qui a des implications pour la conception de politiques visant à promouvoir un établissement plus équitable à travers le Canada.
Abstract: Almost 60,000 Syrians resettled in Canada between 2015 and 2018, many of whom are Muslim. To aid adaptation of mental health care to Muslim refugees' beliefs and practices, we explored the role of faith in how Syrian Muslim refugees deal with the financial stress of settlement. We conducted four focus groups with 37 Muslim Syrian refugees in Toronto about financial stress as well as sources of support. We analyzed data using researcher reflexivity in the transcription process and thematic analysis. The main themes included financial threat, expectations versus reality and the role of faith and the mosque in coping. Stressors included language barriers, foreign experience, and psychological suffering. Sources of support included personal faith and support from the mosque, but the role of the mosque and the meaning of employment differed by gender. These findings deepen our understanding of the importance of faith in the resettlement process and can be used to create culturally sensitive models of therapy for refugees. Résumé: Près de 60 000 Syriens se sont réinstallés au Canada entre 2015 et 2018, dont beaucoup sont musulmans. Pour faciliter l'adaptation des soins de santé mentale aux croyances et pratiques des réfugiés musulmans, nous avons étudié le rôle de la foi dans la manière dont les réfugiés syriens musulmans gèrent le stress financier lié à l'établissement. Nous avons organisé quatre groupes de discussion avec 37 réfugiés syriens musulmans à Toronto sur le stress financier et les sources de soutien. Nous avons analysé les données en utilisant la réflexivité du chercheur dans le processus de transcription et l'analyse thématique. Les principaux thèmes abordés sont la menace financière, les attentes par rapport à la réalité et le rôle de la foi et de la mosquée dans l'adaptation. Les facteurs de stress comprenaient les barrières linguistiques, l'expérience à l'étranger et la souffrance psychologique. Les sources de soutien comprenaient la foi personnelle et le soutien de la mosquée, mais le rôle de la mosquée et la signification de l'emploi différaient selon le sexe. Ces résultats nous permettent de mieux comprendre l'importance de la foi dans le processus de réinstallation et peuvent être utilisés pour créer des modèles de thérapie adaptés à la culture des réfugiés.
Abstract: This study examines how newcomers from traditionally patriarchal societies, particularly Syria and Afghanistan, navigate employment-related inequalities in Canada. Focusing on experiences of deskilling and the devaluation of foreign credentials, it explores gendered differences in how these challenges are interpreted and negotiated. Drawing on narrative interviews and ethnographic field-notes with eight participants—four men and four women between the ages of 28 and 55—the analysis shows that although men and women encountered similar structural barriers, they often responded in different ways. Male participants more often framed deskilling as injustice, demanding correction, expressing frustration and resistance. Female participants, in contrast, more frequently described these challenges as part of the migration process, demonstrating greater adaptability and resilience. In this study, both resistance and resilience are understood as contextually shaped responses to structural inequality. Of the two, this article analyzes resilience, conceptualizing it as a form of agency that emerges through navigating constraints within broader sociocultural and institutional contexts. Informed by a poststructural feminist lens, these patterns are reviewed within the patriarchal gender norms and social relations that shaped the participants' pre-migration lives. The findings show how these experiences continue to influence the ways inequality is interpreted and navigated after migration, shaping not only access to work but also how unequal conditions are engaged and responded to, particularly in ways that contribute to resilience in women. Finally, it cautions against celebratory readings of women's resilience, since such accounts risk obscuring the structural inequalities, constrained choices, and repeated injustices that make such resilience necessary in the first place. Résumé: Cette étude examine comment les nouveaux arrivants issus de sociétés traditionnellement patriarcales, notamment de Syrie et d'Afghanistan, font face aux inégalités liées à l'emploi au Canada. En se basant sur les expériences de déqualification et de dévalorisation des diplômes étrangers, elle explore les différences liées au genre dans la manière dont ces défis sont interprétés et gérés. S'appuyant sur des entretiens narratifs et des notes de terrain ethnographiques recueillies auprès de huit participants – quatre hommes et quatre femmes âgés de 28 à 55 ans –, l'analyse montre que, bien que les hommes et les femmes aient rencontré des obstacles structurels similaires, ils y ont maintes fois réagi de manière différente. Les participants masculins ont plus souvent présenté la déqualification comme une injustice, exigeant qu'elle soit corrigée, et exprimant leur frustration et leur résistance. Les participantes, en revanche, ont plus fréquemment décrit ces défis comme faisant partie du processus de migration, faisant preuve d'une plus grande capacité d'adaptation et de résilience. Dans cette étude, la résistance et la résilience sont toutes deux considérées comme des réponses façonnées par le contexte face aux inégalités structurelles. Parmi ces deux notions, cet article analyse la résilience, en la conceptualisant comme une forme d'autonomie qui émerge à travers la gestion des contraintes au sein de contextes socioculturels et institutionnels plus larges. À travers un prisme féministe poststructuraliste, ces dynamiques sont examinées à la lumière des normes de genre patriarcales et des relations sociales qui ont façonné la vie des participantes avant leur migration. Les résultats montrent comment ces expériences continuent d'influencer la manière dont les inégalités sont interprétées et gérées après la migration, façonnant non seulement l'accès au travail, mais aussi la manière dont les conditions inégales sont abordées et auxquelles on réagit, en particulier de manière à favoriser la résilience chez les femmes. En somme, l'étude met en garde contre les interprétations trop optimistes de la résilience des femmes, car de tels récits risquent d'occulter les inégalités structurelles, les choix limités et les injustices répétées qui rendent cette résilience nécessaire préalablement.
Migrants, including those with higher education credentials, face challenges while navigating immigration policies and labour market in host countries, including Canada. During the migration and settlement process, accessing credible information is essential to maintain migrants' sense of control and direction. Drawing on 18 semi-structured interviews (2022-2023) with highly skilled migrants (HSMs) on varied temporary work permits in Canada, this article examines how they navigate information through trustcraft (i.e., the strategic, emotional work of deciding which information and what source to believe) and the formation of trustweb (i.e., a dynamic network of varied information sources, or trust points, that assemble over time). Importantly, these two processes are relational and mutually constitutive. What makes the trustcraft-trustweb dyad unique is not only its content but the ongoing negotiation of (dis)trust across information sources. The information searching process is inherently uneven and shaped by HSMs' geopolitical background and access to resources (e.g., financial means), which in turn shape one's vulnerability to risk and emotional strain. Hence, migration information seeking should be understood as a stratified, relational practice rather than a neutral, purely cognitive task.
Indigenous feminism is a vital theory, analytic, and practice for anyone concerned with settler colonialism, racism, and heteropatriarchy in Canada. Reflecting on the development of Making Space for Indigenous Feminism, 3rd ed. (Fernwood Publishing 2024), this article explores the contemporary contributions of Indigenous feminism relative to decolonial and anti-racist scholarship and practice, with particular emphasis on interventions in the new edition that advance relational orientations to transformation. The creation of a new, 3rd edition of Making Space provides an important juncture to reflect on the Indigenous feminist movement's progress and to engage critical dialogue around its gains, potential limitations, and its ongoing and future objectives. What is the Indigenous feminist movement concerned with today, and how are we conceptualizing the future directions and parameters of the movement? With the movement's foundations and parameters now established, and with a range of applications across scholarly and community contexts in recent decades, this edition of Making Space aims to attend to the parameters of the movement and their associated implications. How do Indigenous feminism's central concepts and orientations impact those we move in relation to? In what ways might fluidity and expansion stand to advance the intellectual and activist tradition of Indigenous feminism, without sacrificing meaning and precision in our analyses and critiques? What forms of association or convergence are limited or enabled by the ways in which we understand the boundaries of the movement and its degree of porosity relative to other movements and actors? The following discussion provides an overview of contemporary Indigenous feminist works that shed light on these questions, with a specific focus on interventions in Making Space 3 that critically engage the possibilities and challenges of relational approaches to decolonization and transformation in Canada and other contexts of settler colonialism.
Experiments have emerged as key tools to assess how identity markers influence attitudes and behaviours, either by cuing particular considerations or activating pre-existing biases. Vignettes and conjoint designs are especially popular, enabling researchers to isolate the effects of racial, ethnic, or migration cues. Yet these experiments rarely interrogate what respondents assume absent identity cues-that is, the "control conditions" in their minds. Using data from a nationally representative survey in Canada (N=861), we explore how open-ended survey responses illuminate underlying mental schema. We analyse qualitative interpretations of baseline vignettes, without identity information, describing a person experiencing hunger or being repeatedly stopped by police. The analysis reveals how people ascribe race, class, age, parental status, and other attributes, even absent cues. The findings offer insight into the mental templates that shape perception and judgment. Incorporating open-ended questions into survey design, we argue, enriches analysis of prejudice and clarifies interpretive baselines. The technique can complement experimental methods, nuance interpretation of control conditions, and point to new identity markers for future studies. It is also scalable, increasingly feasible with online surveys and large-language modelling. This helps bridge divides between experimental and qualitative research traditions in the study of race, ethnicity, and migration.
In 2017, Canada became the first country to advance a national artificial intelligence (AI) strategy. In a now global race to adopt this technology, various stakeholders, including researchers and civil society organizations, have questioned its fairness in immigration, highlighting colonial legacies disguised as efficiency. These debates are particularly intense in the context of immigration decision-making due to the ethical and human rights implications, such as life-altering consequences for migrants and refugees. This article critically examines partisan discourse on AI and the immigration decisions on visa applications in Canada by analyzing parliamentary discussions. Specifically, extracting House of Commons Debates (Hansard) between 2014 and 2024, we analyze this data using Critical Discourse Analysis with the help of computational text analysis tools, including Voyant. We argue that while partisan differences exist in how AI is framed in Canada's legislative debates on immigration, these debates overall fail to systematically engage with the full range of ethical and human rights implications, and continuing colonial legacies, embedded in the concerns raised by many researchers and stakeholders about immigration and artificial intelligence. Beyond the main argument, we observe that although some parties, like the Conservative Party, engaged in criticism, their interventions resembled protest more than a policy response of a "government-in-waiting" prepared to govern.
Academic literature validates the beneficial relationship between immigration and innovation activities. Immigrants in Canada can contribute to innovation due to their high levels of education and socio-cultural diversity. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of immigration on research and development (R&D) input at firm level since the 2000s. The analysis is based on the Canadian Employer-Employee Dynamics Database. The main findings are as follows. (i) Mixed firms with a mixture of native and immigrant ownership have a greater probability of participating in R&D and a higher R&D input intensity than other firms. (ii) Ethnocultural diversity of immigrant owners significantly favors R&D activities in firms. (iii) Immigrants' human capital has a positive impact on R&D. (iv) International graduate students have the strongest positive effect on innovation capacity.
The purpose of this study was to examine Black teachers' perspectives of the practices that affect Black students' trajectory through high school and to highlight their responses to these practices. Our theoretical framework is based on anti-Blackness and anti-Black racism and coloniality in education. We gathered data from nine teachers in the Greater Montreal Arear GMA) using semi-structured open-ended interviews. We analyzed the data thematically using the constant comparison method. We identified three practices: (1) Orchestrating Black Students' Failure, (2) Warehousing of Black Children, and (3) Failing to commit to changes to the system. Black teachers respond by trying to make a difference while not rattling the cage. The major implication from the research is that there needs to be greater accountability for the school success of Black students within the education system in the GMA. We conclude that Abolition is necessary for Black youth to be treated justly in schools. Abolition here refers to the refusal of the inescapability of the present condition of Walcott (2021).
Historically, in the healthcare sector, racialized immigrants are concentrated in low-skilled and low-paying jobs like personal support workers (PSWs), with their contributions often being undervalued. They find themselves in these jobs largely because of structural factors such as the colour-coded labour market, proletarianization, and the stratification of care work. The COVID-19 pandemic had a substantial impact on the healthcare system, with healthcare workers (HCWs) facing several unprecedented challenges. Within the health workforce in Canada, PSWs play an integral role, notably in providing care for vulnerable populations such as the elderly and differently-abled people. This study examines the role that racialized PSWs with multiple intersectional identities (e.g. race, gender, and class) play in providing care during COVID-19 pandemic in Southwestern Ontario. Drawing data from in-depth interviews (n=25), the findings demonstrate that racialized immigrant PSWs faced challenges, which included financial concerns due to lockdown and restrictions, concern for immediate and extended family, challenges related to personal safety, and food insecurity. Overall, we conclude that racialized immigrant PSWs faced disproportionate disadvantages in times of crisis because of poor income and systemic inequalities. Therefore, there is a need for policies to better prepare racialized immigrant PSWs for future pandemics.
