Posted on: May 16, 2025
Strategy, strategy, strategy. That's what you'll hear when you read any good social media or technology in human service article. It's an essential piece of getting started, doing it well, learning from your forays into technology use, and refining your approach.
Posted on: November 2, 2024
This research examines the potential impacts, both positive and negative, of Generative AI (GenAI) on Black communities in Canada. The study aims to provide business and policy leaders with guidance for creating an AI-powered future that mitigates potential negative impacts and creates inclusive opportunities for Black communities.
Posted on: September 6, 2024
This research explores the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to support and empower Newcomers during their settlement in Canada. It highlights the settlement sector as an underexplored area for AI applications that could directly benefit Newcomers.
Posted on: August 15, 2024
This research explores the potential risks and ethical concerns associated with the use of general-purpose large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT in the Newcomer-serving sector. It examines how these AI tools could impact immigrants and refugees if used without proper customization and safeguards.
Posted on: August 1, 2024
This qualitative study examined the experiences of patients from equity-deserving populations (EDPs) who received care from a Virtual Emergency Department (ED) in Toronto, Canada. The researchers wanted to understand how virtual care compared to in-person care for EDPs and what aspects promoted or hindered equitable access and experiences.
Posted on: August 1, 2024
This research examines the demand for digital skills in Canada's nonprofit sector compared to other sectors of the economy. It analyzes job postings data to understand skills demand trends within the nonprofit sector and compares them to jobs requiring similar education levels and tech jobs.
Posted on: August 1, 2024
This study explores the digital learning needs and preferences of Arabic-speaking older immigrants in Canada, focusing on their experiences with information and communication technologies (ICTs) and digital literacy programs.
Posted on: July 22, 2024
The research investigates how newcomers to Canada use Reddit to find settlement information, which is also available through formal settlement service providers. The study aims to understand the extent to which informal online conversations on Reddit align with formal settlement service categories and to explore the potential for using this information to improve settlement services.
Posted on: July 22, 2024
The research investigates how personal values influence the discourse on immigration, specifically regarding the closure of Roxham Road, an irregular border crossing between the United States and Canada. The study examines how the values of conservation (resistance to change) and self-transcendence (concern for others) are expressed in social media discussions, particularly on Twitter, and how these expressions correlate with sentiments about asylum seekers.
Posted on: June 24, 2024
This research examined how racialized newcomers experience information and communication technologies (ICTs) during their settlement journey in Canada, focusing on digital equity and systemic racism. The study aimed to explore the intersection of systemic racism and digital inequity and to identify policies and practices that can support racialized newcomers more effectively.
Posted on: June 24, 2024
This research is about developing targeted technology standards for language instructors, programs, and learners using the Avenue platform for adult newcomer language instruction in Canada. It focuses on creating standards specific to the Canadian settlement language sector rather than using broader existing standards.
Posted on: May 16, 2024
The research examines the phenomenon of digital nomadism, a movement where workers, often from developed countries, adopt a mobile lifestyle enabled by technology, allowing them to work remotely from various international locations. The study explores the characteristics, motivations, and implications of digital nomadism, particularly for migration scholars, the future of work, and the social contract between citizens and the nation-state.
Posted on: May 15, 2024
The research focused on understanding the needs and gaps in employment support services for skilled Newcomers in Canada. The study identified the needs and gaps in labour market integration supports for Newcomers and to determine which services are most effective in helping them secure employment that matches their skills and qualifications.
Posted on: May 15, 2024
This report explores how smartphones, viewed as essential lifeline devices, can be designed to better serve individuals in vulnerable, disadvantaged, or transitional contexts. It emphasizes the critical role smartphones play in providing access to resources, services, and vital communication, especially in precarious situations such as natural disasters, migration, and poverty.
Posted on: May 15, 2024
This research explores the integration and trends of technology in social work over three decades (1985-2018). It aims to identify how different technologies have been adopted in various social work domains by analyzing a large sample of scholarly literature. It aims to identify how technology has been adopted across various domains of social work practice and to pinpoint the specific types of technologies that have been utilized.
Posted on: May 15, 2024
This research investigates the role of multicultural media in the settlement process of immigrants in Ottawa, Canada. It focuses on four ethnocultural and immigrant communities (EICs): Chinese, Spanish-speaking Latin American, Somali, and South Asian. The study aims to understand how these communities use different types of multicultural media (print, broadcast, and digital) and how factors such as immigration category, length of stay, and household income influence media use.
Posted on: May 15, 2024
This research explores the role of technology in addressing the social and cultural needs of newcomer youth in Ontario, Canada. It examines how newcomer youth, aged 17-24, and settlement service staff perceive and use technology in the settlement process.
Posted on: May 14, 2024
This research is about the use of advanced digital technologies (ADTs) in migration management. It explores how these technologies are being implemented and employed by state and non-state actors to manage migration processes, the types of technologies being used, their purposes, and the implications for migrants' rights, particularly privacy.
Posted on: May 14, 2024
This report highlights the language limitations of most digital humanitarian services, leaving millions of crisis-affected individuals excluded. It demonstrates the demand to make services available in the language that people need. Researchers propose a collective approach to language technology development. Researchers analyzed the barriers to inclusion in digital humanitarian services and identified best practices and potential solutions.
Posted on: May 13, 2024
The Langley Local Immigrant Partnership Research project: Access to Settlement and Other Service Information took place from November 2021 to March 2022 and explored these two questions: What hinders new immigrants from accessing information about settlement and other services? How to improve immigrant access to information?
Posted on: April 24, 2024
This report explores key themes around the resettlement experiences of privately sponsored Syrian refugees in Ontario. It particularly focuses on the impact of online pre-arrival contact via digital communication platforms like Facebook, Skype, and WhatsApp between refugees and their private sponsors.
Posted on: April 20, 2024
Researchers provide a comprehensive Framework for Digital Health Equity, detailing key digital determinants of health (DDoH), to support the work of digital health tool creators in industry, health systems operations, and academia.
Posted on: April 20, 2024
Researchers examined refugee mothers’ access to virtual social support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their objective was to understand the provision of virtual social support for refugee mothers from the perspective of service providers and recently arrived refugee mothers to Canada.
Posted on: April 20, 2024
Drawn from a larger study on the information behavior of immigrants, this paper mainly reports the semi-structured interview findings on the pre-arrival information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants who used formal information sources with discussion on how that affected their post-arrival settlement into Canada.
Posted on: April 20, 2024
The authors recommend that a community-based knowledge engagement hub be established to facilitate reciprocal knowledge engagement across the cross-sectoral stakeholders in newcomer settlement.
Posted on: April 20, 2024
This toolkit is intended for anyone working on knowledge mobilization projects, especially for those who are in the initial planning stages of this work, and those working in the child and youth mental health and addictions sector.
Posted on: April 19, 2024
This paper is a compilation of findings from a literature review as well as key informant interviews with AI experts and humanitarians pushing the agenda for digital innovation in humanitarian action. It is presented as a think-brief in order to help start a conversation or help provide a concrete stepping stone for those interested in topics of Generative AI.
Posted on: April 19, 2024
Seniors’ adoption of emerging technologies is crucial to their social connectedness, well-being, and digital participation in society. This article presents a Canadian study on how immigrant seniors established and sustained social connections through their engagement with digital technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Posted on: April 19, 2024
This research paper explores the implications associated with deploying Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies in the domain of migration management for human rights in Canada. The research findings ultimately challenge pre-existing paradigms and contribute to a more balanced discourse, highlighting the intricate link between AI, migration, and human rights.
Posted on: April 19, 2024
This report provides essential insights about the intersecting obstacles that people seeking asylum face when accessing healthcare digitally. It explores the impacts of digital exclusion on both wellbeing and access to healthcare for people seeking asylum in England, and sets out solutions for how to address this.
Posted on: April 19, 2024
Settlement services are key to Canada's success in welcoming and integrating immigrants. Offered mainly in person prior to COVID-19 by non-governmental agencies reliant on and regulated by government funders, services were forced online and delivered by staff working remotely. The authors document this transition between September 2020 and September 2021 in Ontario, Canada and the conditions that influenced it.
Posted on: April 19, 2024
This study was commissioned by Ontario 211 to identify possibilities, challenges and next steps for using information collected by 211 organizations to support and enhance human services planning and management in Ontario.
Posted on: April 19, 2024
Technology is becoming a bigger part of how countries and organizations manage migration. This paper offers an early review of academic and gray literature on the use of advanced digital technologies (ADTs) in migration management processes. The primary focus of this review is literature that discusses migration management technologies - ADTs used by institutional actors (governments, NGOs, transnational institutions).
Posted on: November 7, 2023
In this report authors document the evidence on digital leisure in the forced displacement context, highlighting issues unique to it. They outline the main uses and potential benefits of digital leisure in refugee contexts.
Posted on: November 7, 2023
In this report authors document the evidence on digital leisure in the forced displacement context, highlighting issues unique to that context. This report is a continuation of the desk review, and provides evidence from fieldwork carried out in two refugee shelters in the city of Boa Vista, Brazil – Rondon III and September 13 – at the end of 2021. The report focuses on the main uses and potential benefits of digital leisure in refugee contexts.
Posted on: November 7, 2023
Standards for Technology in Social Work Practice was issued to address the intersections of professional social work practice and technology. While a U.S. document, it is very applicable to the Canadian context, including the work Immigrant and Refugee-serving organizations do.
Posted on: November 5, 2023
This study looked at whether greater human involvement boosts acceptance of AI in decision-making and associated perceptions of its fairness and if greater human involvement mitigates the negative impact of certain AI features, such as inaccuracy, high cost, or data sharing.
Posted on: November 4, 2023
This report aims to build an evidence base of how mobile technology and mobile network operators (MNOs) have an important role to play in the delivery of dignified aid to refugees. The report provides humanitarian organisations and MNOs with unique insights and direction on how to work together to digitise humanitarian assistance and ensure the benefits of mobile technology are shared equally by all.
Posted on: November 4, 2023
The purpose of this conceptual paper is to explore if a tool such as the Ethical OS (Operating System) that can be a steppingstone to increased imagination, understanding and fluency in some of the ethical issues that are likely to appear in the social work practice landscape, and/or if social workers themselves seek to develop or amplify use of technology in a specific way.
Posted on: November 4, 2023
This scoping review applies the (Levesque et al. in Int J Equity Health 12:18, 2013) Patient-Centred Access to Healthcare model in exploring the potential of increased access through virtual mental healthcare services VMHS for these populations by examining the affordability, availability/accommodation, and appropriateness and acceptability of virtual mental health interventions and assessments.
Posted on: November 4, 2023
The Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC) has released its initial evaluation of the CANN E-Link, a technology platform developed by S.U.C.C.E.S.S. as a part of its Community Airport Newcomers Network (CANN). CANN E-Link aims to tackle the challenge of newcomer awareness and engagement with free settlement services during their critical initial months in Canada.
Posted on: November 4, 2023
This paper is a compilation of findings from a literature review as well as key informant interviews with AI experts and humanitarians pushing the agenda for digital innovation in humanitarian action.
Posted on: August 28, 2023
This project sought to uncover the reported practices and attitudes towards published research of English language teachers who reported reading or being interested in research and research-oriented publications.
Posted on: July 11, 2023
This report focuses on global data talent in the social sector. The report reviews the current landscape and offers four pathways forward for building purpose-driven data professionals.
Posted on: July 11, 2023
The goal of the report is to offer guiding questions and considerations for humanitarian organizations deciding if a chatbot is an appropriate tool to address program and community needs. It also contains use cases highlighting the experiences of practitioners working in diverse geographic contexts and issue areas.
Posted on: May 27, 2023
In this study, the authors evaluate the performance of several widely-used GPT detectors using writing samples from native and non-native English writers. Their findings reveal that these detectors consistently misclassify non-native English writing samples as AI-generated, whereas native writing samples are accurately identified.
Posted on: May 26, 2023
This report outlines that, while multilingual language models show promise as a tool for content analysis, they also face key limitations. Language models in general, and multilingual language models in particular, may allow for the creation of exciting new technologies. An effort to increase access to online services in multiple languages will certainly be a step in the right direction. They may even help to open up different opportunities and access to information for people who speak one of the many languages that are currently rarely supported by online services.
Posted on: March 15, 2023
The articles in this edition of Canadian Diversity should provide you with some inspiration and ideas. You should want to learn more about the projects and research. Hopefully they will encourage you to share what you’re working on.
Posted on: March 14, 2023
The Digital Civil Society Lab at Stanford University initiated a research study to map these changing contours of civil society, to analyze current connection and collaboration between more traditional civil society and digital policy organizations, and to identify additional ways that the philanthropic and organizational community could better support civil society in the digital age.
Posted on: March 12, 2023
Using a systems approach, this paper presents a case study of immigrant employment in a mid-sized city in Ontario, Canada. Through a document review and stakeholder interviews, a systems map was developed, and local perspectives were analyzed.
Posted on: March 10, 2023
The Canadian Centre for Nonprofit Digital Resilience (CCNDR) has released their Building the Cybersecurity and Resilience of Canada’s Nonprofit Sector report.
Posted on: March 5, 2023
This paper contributes to the growing literature on the use of social media for digital knowledge mobilization, drawing particular attention to TikTok and its unique potential for collaborative knowledge mobilization with underserved communities who experience barriers to health care and health inequities (eg, equity-seeking groups).
Posted on: March 5, 2023
TESOL Technology Standards were developed for language teachers to better understand how to use technology appropriately. This article explores the following questions: (1) After 10 years since its publication, are the TESOL Technology Standards for Language Teachers (2011) still applicable to the current educational context? and (2) What potential updates are needed?
Posted on: February 27, 2023
Based on survey responses from 7500+ participants across 136 countries, this report provides the largest ever mapping of the digital barriers facing civil society organizations — and those faced by the communities they serve.
Posted on: February 26, 2023
This report presents a review of relevant literature and an analysis of 25 programmes selected from across the world that have used innovative information and communication technologies (ICTs) in literacy and education for refugees, migrants and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Posted on: February 5, 2023
This research explores newcomers' experiences in using information and communication technologies (ICTs) for settlement purposes. In particular, it focuses on their uses of Settlement.Org, a website that provides information and resources about settling in Ontario.
Posted on: February 3, 2023
This report provides an analysis of the inclusion of LGBTQ immigrants in 34 settlement organizations in Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador, and on the delivery of services by nine settlement organizations that self-described as LGBTQ-positive spaces.
Posted on: February 3, 2023
This report examines the settlement-related content in different types of mainstream and ethnic media in Ontario to identify gaps in the current delivery of settlement media content.
Posted on: February 3, 2023
This study establishes a Canada-wide baseline for online platform usage, effectiveness and inclusiveness during the pandemic, with a particular focus on social media platforms.
Posted on: January 23, 2023
This report examines outcomes in Canadian immigration decisions and in the Canadian immigration system that may systematically and unjustifiably disadvantage certain populations based on characteristics such as race and country of origin.
Posted on: January 23, 2023
This article argues that AI will only benefit refugees if it does not replicate the problems of the current system.
Posted on: December 12, 2022
This report chronicles the digitization of work over the last 15 years by examining the rise of digital skills through job classification frameworks.
Posted on: December 12, 2022
This report introduces a measurement framework to assist local coalitions in their efforts to grow and sustain healthy digital equity ecosystems.
Posted on: December 12, 2022
This paper sets out a framework of core components of digital inclusion - including access/use, quality of access/use, affordability, and digital skills - and briefly considers policy implications.
Posted on: December 1, 2022
The authors sought to answer two questions about mobile learning for refugees: What are the recently existing mobile learning apps for refugees? What are the characteristics of the recent mobile learning apps for refugees?
Posted on: November 30, 2022
This report highlights the various initiatives that both IOM and other organizations have taken, to provide resources and guidance for those looking to transition their activities online in the areas of migrant training, integration and social cohesion. It also presents some knowledge products and reports, and online campaigns that are particularly geared towards combatting hate speech towards migrants and misinformation on COVID-19.
Posted on: November 29, 2022
While funders may see addressing digital equity gaps as largely the responsibility of government or industry, there are roles for philanthropy to advance the social impacts they seek—and more funders are seeing these roles.
Posted on: November 28, 2022
The objective of the survey is to assess how has pandemic impacted access to services among newcomer who have limited access to technology and how digital literacy affect service accessibility.
Posted on: November 28, 2022
This report explored how the digital divide has impacted Canadian newcomers, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Posted on: September 26, 2022
As immigrants continue to seek information online, Immigrant service provider organizations (SPOs’) websites hold value in increasing the health literacy and health-wellness of immigrants. This research assessed the current state of immigrant SPOs’ websites as information infrastructures and reveals areas for improvement.
Posted on: September 25, 2022
This paper outlines the importance of digital equity, the urgent need for a digital equity strategy, and the actions stakeholders must take to realize digital inclusion across the province. Understanding the role that each level of government must play to accomplish this will help clarify our calls to action and formulate the needs communities and community‐based organizations must advocate for.
Posted on: September 19, 2022
This report discusses the rapid shift to online delivery of settlement services as COVID-19 took hold, outlining some of the major challenges during the first eighteen months of this transition in the Immigrant and Refugee-serving sector.
Posted on: September 5, 2022
This report provides a snapshot of the current wage and benefit situation within not-for-profit service providers receiving IRCC funding in 2018. The findings reflect significant wage and benefit variations for similar type positions in different size communities and regions funded by IRCC.
Posted on: August 22, 2022
This report examines the perspectives of front-line staff working within agencies in the newcomer-serving sector to better understand their employment experience, assess organizational strengths and challenges, as well as discern opportunities for growth.
Posted on: August 11, 2022
The Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) has incorporated data from IRCC's Settlement Program and Resettlement Assistance Program focusing on services accessed by recent immigrants up to April 2021. The current article examines the settlement services accessed by adult immigrants admitted from 2016 to 2020.
Posted on: August 11, 2022
The aim of this study is to describe perceived eHealth literacy and explore the extent to which it is associated with sociodemographic, health status, and technology use variables in a subset of South Asian Canadians.
Posted on: August 11, 2022
This open access book explores implications of the digital revolution for migration scholars’ methodological toolkit.
Posted on: August 8, 2022
When it comes to examining racism and discrimination within the Canadian immigration system as a whole, authors point to certain areas that need particular attention, one of which centers, as per the focus of this paper, on temporary migration. Indeed, on the subject of migrant workers, the literature is somewhat more tentative as to Canada’s successes.
Posted on: July 8, 2022
The purpose of this research report is to provide a framework for educational institutions to understand the different needs and behaviors of international Millennial student segments as a means of informing international student enrollment strategies.
Posted on: July 8, 2022
The Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) conducted this survey of 67 Canadian educational institutions and over 40,000 international students (approximately 12% of all post-secondary international students in Canada).
Posted on: June 29, 2022
In this report, the authors surveyed more than 1,500 people who have used programs staffed by Digital Navigators, and interviewed the leaders of more than 40 Digital Navigator programs to understand and evaluate the role impact Digital Navigators have had on addressing the digital divide.
Posted on: June 5, 2022
Immigrant Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship in the GTA explores whether self-employment and entrepreneurship is a viable option for lifting new Canadians out of poverty in the Greater Toronto Area.
Posted on: June 4, 2022
This community-based research project aims to document the experiences of adult immigrant single men and women who have used shelters and drop-in centres in Toronto, ON and to develop best practices based what was learned in this research phase of the project.
Posted on: June 4, 2022
This article suggests the Federal Court could enhance privacy interests in immigration and refugee proceedings without compromising the open court principle. It suggests that any measures taken to protect privacy should be crafted to avoid amplifying unfairness in access to legal materials. The Federal Court must avoid creating access regimes that asymmetrically block research and technological development that could advance the interests of refugees and other displaced people.
Posted on: June 4, 2022
This reports asks: Why and how have public attitudes towards immigration in Canada grown more positive in the last 20 years? Can the changes in attitudes be accounted for by changes in population characteristics, or in the change in the effect of these characteristics? Did the 2008-2010 financial crisis affect support for immigration?
Posted on: June 4, 2022
This thesis explores the recursive interaction among technology, human action and institutional properties in three networks of nonprofit organizations: Ontario Association of Youth Employment Centres, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, and Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies.
Posted on: June 4, 2022
This study explores the perspective of immigrant entrepreneurs in Ontario and the supports available to them. It aims to understand the factors that shape an immigrant entrepreneur’s decision in terms of where to locate their business.
Posted on: June 4, 2022
This book chapter explores eight urban ethnic enclaves in the inner city of Toronto based on existing studies and eight Chinese and South Asian retail clusters in Toronto’s suburbs through extensive field research and interviews and surveys with key informants.
Posted on: June 4, 2022
This report provides an overview of challenges faced by immigrant entrepreneurs and offers suggestions in four areas to help address them so that immigrant entrepreneurs can perform better and help advance Canada’s international trade agenda.
Posted on: June 4, 2022
This study explores entrepreneurship as an option for economic integration for newcomers living in the Greater Toronto Area.
Posted on: June 4, 2022
This study examines the settlement experiences and information practices of recently-arrived Afghan immigrant and refugee youth in Toronto. As part of this ethnographic study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven Afghan youth between the ages of 18 and 28 who had lived in Canada for less than 10 years.
Posted on: June 3, 2022
This article describes a study that investigated the pandemic-related work of community-based adult educators in the ethno-culturally diverse Canadian province of British Columbia.
Posted on: June 3, 2022
This paper examines the intersection of the increasing adoption of remote work in Canada and Canada's ambitious immigration targets aimed at tackling growing demographic and labour challenges.
Posted on: June 1, 2022
This report uses recommendations highlighted during the past two years to lay the groundwork for the sector to reimagine how services are designed and delivered in order to increase sector efficiency, capacity, flexibility and service delivery.
Posted on: May 28, 2022
Researchers looked at the landscape of technology solutions available to immigrant and refugee-serving agencies, focusing on Customer Relationships Management (CRM), Case Management, Non-profit Software, Database Information Management Systems (DIMS), and Digital Business Platforms.
Posted on: May 17, 2022
This paper outlines places where technology can provide or is providing innovative approaches in the skills and employment ecosystem. It also details the ways in which technology can address the skills gap, including its potential for enhancing skills development and helping organizations improve and adapt.
Posted on: May 17, 2022
This article highlights how the Sisyphean cycle of technology panics stymies psychology’s positive role in steering technological change and the pervasive need for improved research and policy approaches to new technologies.
Posted on: May 17, 2022
This paper addresses the role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in migration governance, support, and experience with particular attention to emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, social media, and virtual reality.
Posted on: May 17, 2022
The field of “Responsible Technology” has emerged, benefiting from the convergence of various movements—including ethical tech, responsible innovation, responsible AI, trust & safety, digital citizenship, and tech for good. The Responsible Tech ecosystem is fed by an underlying knowledge base of researchers, academics, and advocates who have done decades worth of foundational work.
Posted on: May 15, 2022
This report offers the beginning of a systemic analysis of migration management technologies, foregrounding the experiences of people on the move who are interacting with and thinking about surveillance, biometrics, and automated decision-making during the course of their migration journeys.
Posted on: May 5, 2022
The survey provides insights into the experience and reflections of managers in Ontario settlement agencies beyond the first wave of the pandemic.
Posted on: May 5, 2022
The survey provides insights into the experiences and reflections of frontline settlement workers in Ontario beyond the first wave of the pandemic that are critical to the sector itself and policymakers from all levels of government who are concerned with the integration of migrants.
Posted on: April 9, 2022
This research provides an up-to-date and detailed understanding of internet and device access in Toronto amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Posted on: April 9, 2022
Focusing on the youth (aged 13-18) in the Jane Finch neighbourhood. This project is part of a much larger, trans-university research project being run by The City of Toronto entitled Digital Access: Who is Undeserved and Why? The main priority in this research is to tell the stories of the youth in the area and translating these lived experiences on paper and collaborating together to present their own narratives. Through a series of interviews documenting participant’s lived realities the authors identify the impediments to their access to digital and internet spaces and broaden the conversation around the impacts this has in their daily lives.
Posted on: April 9, 2022
This report provides commentary and recommendations on how the City of Toronto’s digital inclusion and digital equity initiatives can align to help accelerate progress towards UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Posted on: April 9, 2022
This report offers insights on programs designed to increase digital inclusion, through a dual focus on digital literacy and on options to make services more affordable.
Posted on: April 9, 2022
This paper recommends ways to unlock the talent of internationally educated health professionals by addressing barriers related to three areas: immigration status, the registration (licensure) process, and employment opportunities.
Posted on: April 9, 2022
This paper provides evidence from the 2018 Canadian Internet Use Survey on the effect of social media usage, internet usage for employment search and internet usage for training purposes on the employment of immigrants relative to the Canadian-born.
Posted on: April 9, 2022
This research looks at what it takes to make immigration work in Canada’s small and rural communities. It examines the availability of settlement services in small and rural communities under the current settlement service agreements, which began in 2020–21, and the final year of the previous settlement service agreements, 2019–20. It studies the institutional barriers to meeting the settlement needs of immigrants in small and rural communities and the role that government and other stakeholders can play in addressing these barriers.
Posted on: April 9, 2022
The lived experiences of STEM-trained immigrant women in Canada are critically understudied; especially when examined through an overlapping economic and social lens at the intersections of gender, race, ability, language, health, housing, isolation, access to critical services and market-related information... this study aims to present a pan-Canadian snapshot of the workfinding journeys undertaken by STEM-trained women who immigrated to Canada in the past 15 years.
Posted on: April 9, 2022
The tinderbox of potential concerns on the part of immigrants from their lack of economic assimilation could turn into an inferno if it were also accompanied by negative reactions on the part of domestic-born Canadians if immigrants were having a negative impact on the labour market for domestic-born workers or on the macro-economy in general. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether there is such a negative effect.
Posted on: April 9, 2022
This report examines experiences of refugees that have settled in Newfoundland and Labrador and analyzes factors that can potentially enhance refugee integration and factors that can negatively impact their settlement experiences and retention in the province. The potential demographic and economic benefits of refugee settlement in the province cannot be realized if refugees come but then choose to leave.
Posted on: April 9, 2022
AAISA’s Health of the Newcomer-Serving Sector in the Prairies and Northern Territories (PNT) Region research project sought to examine the perspectives of front-line staff working within agencies in the newcomer-serving sector to better understand their employment experience, assess organizational strengths and challenges, as well as discern opportunities for growth.
Posted on: April 9, 2022
This Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) report provides insights on barriers to immigrant women’s employment and offers recommendations on how to better support their career entry and growth in the GTA.
Posted on: April 9, 2022
This report summarizes an IRCC-funded Service Delivery Improvement (SDI) project that focused on emerging technologies and helping clients transition to work through Occupation-specific Language Training (OSLT) and Formation linguistique axée sur les professions (FLAP). The report includes details about the activities undertaken by Colleges Ontario and the 12 participating colleges as well as what was learned and how it could be applied to ongoing OSLT/FLAP delivery. It also includes information about the guiding design principles developed during this SDI project – ideas that curriculum developers could consider when developing and planning the delivery of online language courses.
Posted on: March 17, 2022
This report looks at the extent to which Web 2.0 (interactive and social media tools) are being used in the Community Work Sector in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to advance, facilitate, and support non-profit and community services work. It examines Community Work Sector student digital capabilities and training. It is a useful, specific exploration of digital fluency skills, knowledge, and attitudes/values frontline community and social service workers should aspire to, within a social justice lens.
Posted on: November 29, 2021
This paper argues that recent changes brought about by COVID-19 highlight that computational advances need to incorporate human rights throughout design and development stages, extending well beyond technical feasibility. This also extends beyond tech company references to inclusivity and transparency and requires analysis of systemic risks to migration and mobility regimes arising from advances in AI and related technologies.
Posted on: November 27, 2021
Drawing on an extensive review of recent literature about resilience and integration, this paper evaluates a social resilience approach to the integration of newcomers in Canadian cities. The authors advocate a social resilience approach that acknowledges how institutions of all types play critical roles in newcomers’ efforts to establish their lives in new places, especially when faced with unanticipated events such as a global pandemic.
Posted on: November 27, 2021
This paper presents the current knowledge of how newcomers and migrants are being impacted by the pandemic, the responses of rural communities, and what this means for our understanding of rural immigration moving forward.
Posted on: November 27, 2021
In this paper the authors use social psychological and sociological theories to explore the anticipated effects on xenophobia and anti-immigrant attitudes worldwide. They discuss the implications for the spread of xenophobic and anti-immigration attitudes, and provide some recommendations for future research in this area.
Posted on: November 27, 2021
Based on research conducted between February 2020 and March 2021, this joint report by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International documents serious international human rights violations that immigration detainees, particularly persons with psychosocial disabilities, face in Canada.
Posted on: November 27, 2021
In this document, the authors address the need for all social work educators to have some basic understanding and competence in the use of technology and its impact on the field.
Posted on: November 27, 2021
This article examines trends in the admission and labour market outcomes of economic immigrant principal applicants who intended to work in skilled trades.
Posted on: November 27, 2021
This study focuses on the current state of funded ESL programming in Canada that interconnects with adult education for the economy and its relevance to supporting the integration and long-term settlement of adult Newcomers (Permanent Residents and Refugees).
Posted on: November 27, 2021
In this report the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) advocates for the development of a new legal framework for the protection of climate refugees that recognize climate-induced displacement and protects those displaced by weather-related hazards (estimated at over 21 million people per year).
Posted on: November 27, 2021
As part of a project to work with small and medium employers to help them understand the benefits of hiring Newcomer and Racialized workers, ACCES Employment surveyed past program participants with an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) survey about their thoughts, experiences and recommendations, particularly around employment issues pertaining to racial and gender discrimination.
Posted on: November 27, 2021
The Community Knowledge Program began as an initiative to build capacity for research and knowledge mobilization within immigrant and refugee-serving agencies in the GTA, in order to improve settlement services for newcomers to Canada. To this end, Wellesley Institute has conducted a needs assessment to understand current capacity and skills, as well as existing initiatives and any gaps in knowledge, in community-based research and knowledge mobilization in the sector.
Posted on: November 25, 2021
This scan provides a snapshot of the use of digital messaging in direct service delivery by Canadian Immigrant and Refugee-serving organizations.
Posted on: November 14, 2021
Canada’s economic immigration system focuses on highly educated immigrants, but this does not always correspond with the labour demand in essential sectors. This impact paper suggests several possible solutions.
Posted on: November 14, 2021
In this useful framework document, the Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health (the Centre) and Children’s Mental Health Ontario (CMHO) provide an approach to evaluate current virtual care (or digital, hybrid/blended service delivery).
Posted on: November 14, 2021
The Virtual Care Equity Matrix outlines key equity issues that must be addressed address in the delivery of virtual care. It highlights the conditions necessary for everyone to access high quality, timely, equitable, and person-centred virtual care.
Posted on: November 14, 2021
This 2020 NTEN guide provides a set of guidelines addressing the equitable use, creation, and funding of technology in the nonprofit sector.
Posted on: October 27, 2021
As part of the second phase of the ACS-WES project Envisioning the Future of the Immigrant-Serving Sector, four focus groups were conducted with experts in the settlement sector.
Posted on: October 13, 2021
Social media usage has been recognized as an integral part of immigrants’ acculturation experiences, yet research on social media is just emerging, and more detailed understanding is needed. In this report, researchers sought to understand how Chinese immigrants’ social media use influences their acculturation experiences. They looked at which social media platforms Chinese immigrants use and for what purposes, as well as what influence social media use has on their acculturation process in Canada. Their findings echo and reinforce what we have heard and know about newcomer use of social media and information practices, offering additional evidence and practical tips for immigrant and refugee-serving organizations.
Posted on: August 21, 2021
This series highlights digital divides across Canada, in hopes that by recognizing the interrelated issues of internet access, adoption and quality, a clearer path toward meaningful digital inclusion and equity can better shape our technology governance and digital policies.
Posted on: August 21, 2021
This report introduces the Engagement, Governance, Access, and Protection (EGAP) Framework, developed by Black health sector leaders and health equity experts in Ontario to guide the collection, management, analysis, and use of race-based data from Black communities in ways that advance health equity.
Posted on: August 21, 2021
This report reviews vaccine hesitancy among Indigenous Peoples, Black people, immigrant, and native-born populations in Canada and the U.S.
Posted on: August 21, 2021
This paper explores the COVID-19 crisis with a focus on immigration and migration in Canada using a political economy lens.
Posted on: August 20, 2021
This article explores the impact of social networking sites on social movements and collective action. Literature on the subject ranges from celebratory claims to critical stances. However, the more sophisticated approach conceptualizing “connective action” broadens the theoretical scope. The case of Migration Aid, a Hungarian Facebook-based grassroots relief group for refugees, is such an example.
Posted on: August 20, 2021
The goal of this report is to look at how the Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation (M4H) portfolio shifted or maintained services in humanitarian contexts using mobile technology, and how MNOs engaged in this process. It also explores current trends in digital humanitarian programming.
Posted on: August 20, 2021
This exploratory pilot study is the beginning of a project to evaluate, designe and reconfigure information sources and how they are delivered to facilitate essential information practices that aid the settlement process.
Posted on: August 20, 2021
Differential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have brought deeply rooted inequities to the forefront, where increasing evidence has shown that racialized immigrant and migrant (im/migrant) populations face a disproportionate burden of COVID-19. This commentary aims to highlight the need for public health and clinical training, research, and policy to thoughtfully prioritize im/migrant health equity during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
Posted on: August 20, 2021
This study looks at how executives can support middle management to be more inclusive – and what middle managers can do to pave the way for immigrant success in their teams.
Posted on: August 20, 2021
The authors developed a flexible data-driven algorithm that assigns refugees across resettlement locations to improve integration outcomes.The algorithm uses a combination of supervised machine learning and optimal matching to discover and leverage synergies between refugee characteristics and resettlement sites.
Posted on: August 20, 2021
The Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health (the Centre) has reviewed the latest evidence on the implementation and effectiveness of virtual group therapy for children and young people. Here, we share the specific questions and search strategy that guided this review and present a summary of our findings, practice considerations and areas for future work.
Posted on: August 20, 2021
The importance of immigration for Canada will continue to grow and be an integral component of the country’s post-COVID-19 recovery. To succeed, it is essential to take stock, to re-evaluate Canada’s immigration and integration policies and programs, and to expand Canada’s global leadership in this area.
Posted on: August 20, 2021
This paper proposes an analytical framework to study immobility that centres migrants’ lived experiences and aspirations, using a life-course approach. The author argues that, asking why migrants stay, as opposed to why they leave, allows migration researchers to better understand the nuanced ways in which migrants form decisions to move to, stay in, build their lives in specific cities over time, in destination countries.
Posted on: August 20, 2021
Based on research presented at the TESL Ontario Conference in November 2020, the authors examine here the challenges, innovations, solutions, and opportunities in education that have grown out of the sudden disruption and constraints due to COVID-19.
Posted on: August 20, 2021
The National Newcomer Navigation Network (N4) is a national network for the diversity of professionals who assist newcomers in navigating the complex Canadian health and social services system. To inform the development of its N4 Platform and online certificate program in newcomer navigation with Saint-Paul University, N4 undertook a pan-Canadian needs assessment of both sectors.
Posted on: August 19, 2021
The social inclusion of newly resettled refugees is a significant issue confronting both refugees and their host societies. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are increasingly viewed as a useful resource in programs that provide settlement services or promote participation in society. This paper moves beyond the conventional discussion on the digital divide to explore what people are actually able to do and achieve with ICTs.
Posted on: August 17, 2021
This research builds on PeaceGeeks' previous Settlement 2.0 project focused on innovation and technology adoption. In this phase, researchers sought to validate previous findings and explore new themes by taking a deeper dive into regional and small centre perspectives.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
This study focused on how immigrant artists and creative sector workers are integrated into Toronto’s creative economy – and the services that help them do so. The study has two principal components: 1. Documentation of the services and programs offered to immigrants to Canada who may desire to integrate into Toronto’s creative economy, and 2. An analysis of the entry points used by immigrants to access Toronto’s creative economy.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
Approximately one-fourth of Canada’s international students study in Toronto, and their presence adds to existing diversity on campuses and in communities. This report documents international student trends and to better understand their impact on Toronto’s economic, social and post-secondary educational infrastructure.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
This report summarizes the findings of a year-long study of promising, new or innovative initiatives that can help connect SMEs with the skilled immigrant labour pool.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
Settlement service organizations play an essential role in supporting newcomers to Canada; however, the processes that practitioners engage in when working with people navigating the refugee system remain understudied. This study explores the institutional ruling relations that regulate refugees’ settlement process in Toronto from the standpoint view of practitioners.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
This research describes the experiences of campers, parents and staff who were part of Camp Cosmos in the summer of 2018, highlighting their perspectives on the Camp’s strengths and key benefits as well as areas of improvement.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified pre-existing inequities in Canadian society and has highlighted the need for more granular data about the social impacts of COVID-19. This release provided an overview of discrimination experienced by Canadians over the course of the pandemic, as well as the relationship between experiences of discrimination and various measures of trust and sense of belonging.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
The Alberta Nonprofit Data Strategy was launched in 2018 to enhance the nonprofit and voluntary sector’s use of data. This project interviewed informants about the current state of data capacity, data sharing, and the access and use of open data in the nonprofit and voluntary sector, and what steps were required at organization and sector levels to appropriately meet the needs of the sector. Informants also considered how a data hub could support the sector’s use of data.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
This guide is intended to support those in charities and other social sector organizations to navigate the landscape of digital maturity frameworks and diagnostic tools.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
This report presents the background, procedures, main findings, and implications of the research project “Researching the Effects of Blended Learning in LINC” conducted by the LearnIT2Teach Project during September 2017 – June 2018. The purpose of the research project was to examine the effects of blended learning for learning and teaching in LINC (Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada), the language and settlement program for immigrants funded by Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
Posted on: August 12, 2021
To better understand the opportunities and challenges of blended learning uptake in LINC programs, the LearnIT2teach project conducted two surveys of LINC administrators and instructors (2012 and 2016-17) focused on the implementation of learning technologies in LINC programs undertaken in Ontario and across Canada.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
This report provides an evaluation of Learning Technology and Innovation Leadership courses delivered between 2015 and 2017.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
This is the evaluation report on the LearnIT2teach project to 31 March 2016. It reflects the experience of the project to March 2016, and the central role that evaluation plays in guiding development of the project’s products and assessing its impact on Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) programs.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
The purpose of this study was to examine how the distribution of resources within and outside an Enhanced Language Training Program (ELT) affected a group of newcomers’ access to Internet literacy development; and to discuss ensuing pedagogical and curricular implications for the ELT Program.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
The Digital Skills Survey provides insights on the digital health of the Canadian charitable sector. In February, 2021, CanadaHelps conducted an online survey of approximately 1,400 charities. 1,114 were from CanadaHelps’ database (users of CanadaHelps’ software) and 328 other charities from a list obtained from Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) (charities with no relationship to CanadaHelps).
Posted on: August 12, 2021
In the late 1980s, the Task Force on Access to the Professions and Trades in Ontario looked into the requirements for entry to Ontario's professions, occupation by occupation. The Task Force undertook a detailed review of the organizational structures of regulated occupations in Ontario, with a view to determining not only if such structures are giving rise to discriminatory practices but also whether they have the potential to do so, depending upon their use and application.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
This paper explores issues related to the problem of the non-accreditation of foreign-trained professionals in Canada. It touches on the major societal impacts of the problem plus the stages and barriers in the immigrant accreditation process. It also examines some policy initiatives presently being undertaken by the major stakeholders such as provincial and federal governments, post-secondary educational institutions, professional bodies and employers
Posted on: August 12, 2021
This literature review provides a snapshot of the various trends that existed in settlement sector with respect to how newcomers settle in Canada before the COVID-19 pandemic started, as well as examples of how the settlement sector has significantly changed in response to the pandemic.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
From 2018 to 2021, Allies for Refugee Integration (ARI) and its partners focused on creating more welcoming communities for privately sponsored refugees. This report outlines changes to policy and processes to improve settlement-sponsor collaboration for more successful integration of refugees.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
This study explored the perceptions that front-line workers hold regarding needs and experiences of newcomers settling in Calgary, to understand how systems that serve newcomers perceive, make sense of, and contribute to these experiences.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
The Highlights Report is a compilation of existing data and research that provides evidence on newcomer settlement outcomes that support integration within Canada, for both clients of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)’s Settlement Program and non-clients.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
This report defines several introductory concepts relating to artificial intelligence and machine learning and provides a review of existing literature that acknowledges efforts made to establish clarity on how the Canadian government uses artificial intelligence to manage migration to date.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
This article looks into ways in which existing studies address the possibilities and vulnerabilities of mobile communications, the social conditions, and the agency of refugees in engaging with mobile technologies in the different temporal and spatial dimensions of their migration trajectories.
Posted on: August 12, 2021
This report is based on results from two online surveys (one for service providers and one for newcomers) supplemented by phone interviews with newcomers who have been unable to access remote services. The report outlines the extent to which the transition to online service delivery has impacted newcomers, especially those in vulnerable situations in the Toronto area.
Posted on: July 3, 2021
This report looked at the opportunities and limitations of digital tools in the Organization for Migration (IOM) Canadian Orientation Abroad Programme's (COA) Pre-Departure Orientation Training for refugees coming to Canada.
Posted on: May 27, 2021
This report from the Settlement Sector and Technology Task Group presents findings, insights, and recommendations generated through a comprehensive exploration of hybrid service delivery over 6 months in the immigrant settlement sector in Canada. The report analyzes the unique experiment in digital service delivery created by the pandemic and reviews sector innovation and collaboration while providing a roadmap for the sector and its largest funder, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) towards a hybrid service delivery model.
Posted on: March 27, 2021
This survey provides a snapshot of the Canadian immigrant and refugee-serving sector at during the first month of working remotely as a result of COVID-19. It looks at what is working, sector challenges and concerns and sector successes and failures from both the front-line and management perspective.
Posted on: February 2, 2021
The Settlement Sector and Technology Task Group (coordinated by AMSSA, reporting to IRCC’s National Settlement and Integration Council (NSIC)) is working to discover, examine, and learn about the settlement sector’s needs to successfully implement digital and hybrid service delivery models.
Posted on: January 31, 2021
This primer is intended to provide basic information on the history and legacy of refugee resettlement in Canada and to highlight Ottawa’s role in these efforts. It contains basic facts about refugees and Canadian refugee policy, a brief timeline of refugee resettlement in Canada, highlights from Ottawa’s history of refugee resettlement, and a myth buster intended to dispel some of the misconceptions about refugees and refugee resettlement history in Canada.
Posted on: November 1, 2020
This research examines diversity on boards and in senior management of health care institutions in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
Posted on: November 1, 2020
In the spring of 2013 DiverseCity contracted Nanos Research to conduct a first-time public opinion poll of residents in municipalities across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) on the topic of diversity in leadership.
Posted on: October 24, 2020
This research examines whether, why and how organizations have embraced diversity in their purchasing and supply chain strategies, policies and practices.
Posted on: October 24, 2020
This research examines board diversity in the nonprofit sector, as well as the impact of this diversity.
Posted on: October 24, 2020
The focus of this paper is on the electoral participation of visible minorities as both candidates for public office and winners of such positions.
Posted on: October 18, 2020
DiverseCity Counts has measured the number of visible minorities in positions of leadership in the largest and most influential employment sectors in the GTA. In 2011 there was a gradual, but significant, increase (8%) in the diversity of GTA leaders over the last three years.
Posted on: October 18, 2020
DiverseCity Counts measures on an annual basis the number of visible minorities in leadership positions in elected office, the public sector, the corporate sector, agencies, boards, and commissions, the voluntary sector, and the education sector.
Posted on: October 18, 2020
The first annual research report measuring diversity among leaders in the GTA analyzed a total of 3,257 leaders in Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Markham and Richmond Hill including elected officials, public sector executives, members of agencies, boards and commissions, as well as a sample of the largest voluntary and business organizations as determined by revenue.
Posted on: September 29, 2020
This survey-based report explores diversity, inclusion and belonging (DIBs) in Toronto’s tech sector.
Posted on: September 28, 2020
This report examines the Canada–U.S. differences in the occupational skill utilization and earnings of STEM-educated immigrant workers.
Posted on: September 24, 2020
The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the settlement experiences of immigrants, such as their use and satisfaction with settlement services and how these services may influence integration into educational institutions, the labour market and the wider society and to examine common trends within five Canadian data sets.
Posted on: September 24, 2020
The researchers examined the nature of information in foreign-trained health professionals’ lives as they attempt to integrate into the North American labor market and the role that online discussion forums play in channeling the discussions.
Posted on: September 24, 2020
This report examines how and why immigrants to Canada make use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) as they move through the stages of immigration.
Posted on: September 21, 2020
The project identified challenges that affect temporary migrants because of their gender and status, focusing on both individual- and system-level resilience.
Posted on: September 21, 2020
The paper includes examples of how more advanced technologies could be used to improve integration outcomes in Intergovernmental Consultations on Migration, Asylum and Refugees (IGC) States.
Posted on: September 14, 2020
This study examines the empirical relationship between immigration and firm-level productivity in Canada.
Posted on: September 5, 2020
Using integrated data from the 2006 and 2016 censuses, this study examines persistent overqualification over time among immigrants and non-immigrants.
Posted on: August 25, 2020
This study is intended to inform Canadian policy and practice with respect to skilled immigrants, and to increase awareness among prospective immigrants of the factors that are associated with labour force success.
Posted on: August 25, 2020
This paper reports on a research project that explores a gap in exploring infrastructures of formal migration, and their entanglements with migrants’ own subjectivities by arguing for a new research agenda on migration infrastructure.
Posted on: August 25, 2020
This project aimed to uncover organizational practices and strategies to facilitate immigrant attraction, inclusion and retention.
Posted on: August 25, 2020
This report provides a descriptive analysis of the labour market outcomes of new immigrants to Canada from 2006 to 2019.
Posted on: August 25, 2020
This case study examines how the hackathon as an instrument can aid settlement sectors and governments in fostering non-profit innovation to rethinking the trajectory of taking solutions to scale.
Posted on: August 25, 2020
The intent of this report is to provide a strategy for a brighter future for the sector - a Settlement 2.0 - one that prioritizes empowering newcomers to be agents in their own settlement journey and which builds the overall capacity of the sector to embrace innovative mindsets and more sustainably support newcomers over time.
Posted on: August 24, 2020
This study found that recent immigrants were more likely than Canadian-born workers to move out of employment in March and April mainly because of their shorter job tenure and over-representation in lower-wage jobs.
Posted on: August 24, 2020
This report suggests that fair treatment of Canada’s agricultural workers requires several urgent and significant reforms at both the federal and provincial levels.
Posted on: August 24, 2020
The effectiveness of resettlement initiatives on refugee assimilation in Canada is assessed using the Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) to follow refugee income variations between 1982-2015.
Posted on: August 24, 2020
This study focuses on the economic immigrants who were selected under Canada's Express Entry system in 2015 and 2016. It compares the degree to which Canadian work experience before immigration and pre-arranged employment at the time of application predict the initial labour market outcomes of these economic immigrants.
Posted on: August 24, 2020
This article examines the role of two-step selection in explaining differences in the short-term and medium-term outcomes of economic immigrants in four major admission programs: FSWP, PNP, QSWP, and CEC.
Posted on: August 24, 2020
Immigrants are found to be healthier upon their arrival to Canada than the Canadian-born population—a phenomenon referred to as the healthy immigrant effect (HIE). Does self-reported mental health (SRMH) differ between Canadian-born and immigrant respondents?
Posted on: August 17, 2020
This article explores some of the most pressing gaps in Canadian immigration policy in inter-connected and fundamental issues facing newcomer youth in Canada.
Posted on: August 12, 2020
The question of how ICT can be deployed for refugees’ integration is difficult one to answer. This panel looked at how the knowledge accumulated by the IS community can be leveraged to design targeted technological solutions to tackle this crisis and avoid the potential risks associated with it.
Posted on: August 11, 2020
Many actors have different rolesin these processes of welcoming and integrating immigrants to Canada. This report attempts to describe the operation of this sector in the province of Québec.
Posted on: August 11, 2020
This pilot study explores how participation in recreational activities impacts refugee children’s sense of belonging. It documents experiences of children, parents and staff at Camp Cosmos summer camp in Montreal during a six-week program.
Posted on: August 9, 2020
This paper provides some context regarding the care crisis in LTC facilities, in particular its relationship with the type and skill mix of labour, including the degree to which immigrant workers are represented in this sector.
Posted on: August 9, 2020
In this article, the author explores why during the Corona Virus Pandemic that Canada suffers from a shortage of health care professionals, it cannot benefit from its own immigrant professionals who immigrated to Canada as skilled workers?
Posted on: July 30, 2020
In this article, the authors compare programs of public-private cooperation in Germany and Canada and examine the relationship between the state and civil society with regard to these active refugee reception policies.
Posted on: July 30, 2020
This report identifies, documents and assesses the many ways that the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been affecting migration, borders, immigrant populations, and Canada’s immigration and settlement system between March, 2020 and June, 2020.
Posted on: July 30, 2020
There are studies that look at specific aspects of this process, for instance in terms of interdisciplinarity, theoretical and methodological developments, but research with a holistic approach is lacking. Our research question, therefore, is how has migration studies institutionalised in the past four decades?
Posted on: June 17, 2020
This study found that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) owned by immigrants were more likely than similar enterprises owned by Canadian-born individuals to implement a product or process innovation (2020).
Posted on: May 27, 2020
When asylum seekers and refugees are displaced, how do they use communication technologies to maintain links with friends and family during flight and forced migration? When they are detained, what role does technology play in the ways asylum seekers communicate with the "outside"?
Posted on: May 26, 2020
In this study, the researcher sought to answer these questions: What motivates immigrants to use information and communication technology (ICT)? What are the factors that influence immigrants’ ICT behaviors?
Posted on: May 24, 2020
This report discusses the implications of adding messaging apps to the range of communications channels currently used by humanitarian organizations, which includes face-to-face communication, print materials, SMS messaging, social media, radio and television.
Posted on: May 23, 2020
The authors' intention is to shine a light on the emerging field of public interest technologists in government (2018).
Posted on: May 23, 2020
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) contracted Open North to conduct a small study to better understand the needs of existing and potential users of open data as released by IRCC on open.canada.ca, and to inform ongoing efforts to unlock the potential applications of open data to support newcomer settlement and integration in Canada.
Posted on: May 23, 2020
This paper presents findings from a qualitative interview study with Syrian refugees who settled in Vienna, Austria.
Posted on: May 9, 2020
This report examines the theory, research and measurement frameworks informing evaluation strategies in the nonprofit sector and considering their impact on resilience related to immigrant settlement in Canada (2020).
Posted on: May 5, 2020
This article analyzes the experiences of refugee claimants in Toronto’s everyday healthcare places, like walk-in clinics, doctor’s offices, and hospitals, in the aftermath of the 2012 Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) revisions (2019).
Posted on: May 5, 2020
This study explores the effect of human rights violations in countries of origin on migrants' mental health. Findings indicate that high levels of human rights violations in countries of origin have long-term effects on migrants’ mental health (2020).
Posted on: May 5, 2020
The evolution of the Canadian labour market threatens to aggravate the challenges facing resettled refugees. This report proposes six recommendations for the Government of Canada to better support Government Assisted Refugees (GARs) to succeed in the labour market (2020).
Posted on: February 22, 2020
This study sought to better understand the needs of existing and potential users of open data as released by IRCC on open.canada.ca, and to inform ongoing efforts to unlock the potential applications of open data to support newcomer settlement and integration in Canada.
Posted on: February 22, 2020
For anyone interested in innovating with LINC blended learning, the report has useful information about what LINC leaders are encountering as they try to put LINC blended learning to work in their institutions. The result is a summary of important lessons for the sector about learning technology innovation (2018).
Posted on: February 22, 2020
This article discusses social media use by asylum migrants prior to and during migration. This study is based on in-depth interviews with 54 Syrian asylum migrants who recently obtained refugee status in the Netherlands.
Posted on: February 22, 2020
Since 2014, millions of refugees and migrants have arrived at the borders of Europe. This article argues that, in making their way to safe spaces, refugees rely not only on a physical but increasingly also digital infrastructure of movement.
Posted on: February 22, 2020
This paper provides a small contribution to supporting the further development and delivery of programs for refugee youth prior to their arrival in Canada. How to leverage technology securely and safely to provide additional support for refugee youth coming to Canada, taking advantage of the pre-arrival time, and current and future partnerships with government agencies and other involved organizations.
Posted on: February 22, 2020
There are wide-ranging lessons that can be shared across sectors and regions on the challenges and opportunities of providing mobile connectivity and services to this segment of the population which will be explored in this report.
Posted on: February 22, 2020
This report is a synthesis of recent literature on how information can be used to address settlement and integration barriers experienced by newcomers to Canada.
Posted on: February 22, 2020
In this paper, the authors examine the role of social media in facilitating and building transcultural communication and connections for forced migrants in today’s contexts of resettlement. The authors' focus is on recently resettled Syrian refugee youth in Ottawa, who arrived in Canada as part of a federal government resettlement initiative in 2015-2016.
Posted on: February 22, 2020
Due to the unprecedented dependency of refugees on ICT, the authors investigate how e-learning can be used to support refugees in the integration process and contributes to their social inclusion into the host country.
Posted on: February 22, 2020
This paper argues that instead of trying to make ICTs fit with a linear conceptualisation of impacts and an often economistic view of development, the field of information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) should be used as a prime example of a development process which has to be analysed in a systemic and holistic way.
Posted on: February 22, 2020
The goal of this paper is to ensure that settlement agencies have the capacity to fully partner with governments in designing policies and programs to meet the emerging challenges facing newcomers and the communities in which they settle. This is not, presently, the case.
Posted on: February 22, 2020
By linking current research and relevant policy implications, this paper also provides a comprehensive picture of the potential role that technology (both existing and emerging) can have in improving child and youth mental health (CYMH) services in Ontario.
Posted on: February 6, 2020
This report focuses on the work undertaken by the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Committee of the Agency of the Future (AoF) Project. The AoF Project is a national initiative being developed collaboratively by the Pathways to Prosperity research consortium, settlement service providers and settlement umbrella associations.
Posted on: February 2, 2020
In this Research Snapshot, a couple of University of Victoria students looked at the use of mobile technology in Canadian social work.
Posted on: February 2, 2020
World Education Services (WES) conducted a survey-based study to examine predictors of skilled immigrants’ career success. They examined the demographic characteristics of skilled immigrants as well as their experience and education, and studied how these factors affect their labour market outcomes.
Posted on: February 2, 2020
Choices about post-secondary education (PSE) launch individuals onto their future educational and career paths. These decisions are vitally important to Canada’s economic prosperity as well to many individual and social outcomes. Against this backdrop, this joint LMIC-EPRI report provides extensive new evidence on the labour market earnings of PSE graduates.
Posted on: February 2, 2020
This study asks two sets of questions. First, are refugees more likely to leave their initial destination city than economic immigrants when group differences in sociodemographic and contextual characteristics are taken into account? Among refugees, are GARs more likely to leave their initial destination city than PSRs? Second, to what extent does the impact of unemployment on secondary migration vary by admission category? Among refugees, are GARs more likely than PSRs to leave their initial destination city when they experience unemployment?
Posted on: January 26, 2020
This research study examines what it means to be a multicultural counsellor, including their perception of challenges and outcome expectations in developing a multicultural framework to situate their practice, and cultivation of professional resilience in their work with diverse clients.
Posted on: January 26, 2020
The authors call for greater attention to this critical population and make nine recommendations that would contribute to solutions in each major issue area impacting the education of Canadian immigrant youth and their entry into the workforce.
Posted on: January 26, 2020
International education has become a policy sector of growing importance to Canada. With increased government regulations, disconnect is often observed between the intended policy outcomes and practice. This study aims to explain this disconnect by analyzing the heterogeneity among stakeholder interests.
Posted on: January 26, 2020
Examining the strengths and weaknesses of objective and subjective measures of language proficiency is crucial for good integration policy, as is understanding the relationship between these measures and earnings, a key indicator of economic integration.
Posted on: January 26, 2020
The inflow of refugees to Calgary fluctuates widely over time, and varies considerably by country of origin. Social agencies must adapt to a continuously shifting kaleidoscope of people, cultures, languages and needs.
Posted on: January 26, 2020
The report focuses on the dynamic relations between the two communities in the present context of Winnipeg. Following insights and stories gathered, we suggest several wise practices for the relationship-building process as recommended by participants. In so doing, the report seeks to inform a framework related to the development of an orientation toolkit for newcomers.
Posted on: January 26, 2020
This report, along with thematic reports on immigrant women, youth,and seniors, is an output of Phase 2(2018–2019) of a research and knowledge mobilization project that aims to document the settlement and service experiences of the three groups, as well as proposing new intervention strategies.
Posted on: January 4, 2020
This paper uses 2016 census data to paint a portrait of income inequality between racialized and non-racialized Canadians. It also looks at the labour market discrimination faced by racialized workers in 2006 and 2016. Racialized workers are more likely to be active in the workforce than non-racialized workers, either working or trying to find work, but this does not result in better employment outcomes for them. From 2006 to 2016, there was little change to the patterns of employment and earnings inequality along racial and gender lines in Canada.
Posted on: January 4, 2020
The rate of working poverty in Canada, Ontario, and the Toronto region is increasing. The growth in precarious employment and the gig economy have all come together to increase the number of people who are working for wages that cannot sustain them and drawing incomes too low to lift them out of poverty.
Posted on: December 18, 2019
This study highlights two main themes that illustrate the implicit and complex mechanisms that can structure migrant agricultural workers’ workplace climate, and ultimately, endanger their health and safety: (1) authorities that silence; and (2) ‘I will not leave my body here.’
Posted on: December 18, 2019
This MPI Europe policy brief takes stock of sponsorship programs worldwide - from the well-established Canadian private sponsorship program, to much newer and smaller-scale initiatives in countries such as Argentina, Germany, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom - and lays out a variety of ways private philanthropic actors can support these programs.
Posted on: December 18, 2019
This study proposes a cooperative strategy with the aim of sustaining a coherent border-migration compact between Canada and the United States.
Posted on: December 17, 2019
This study examines the importance of access to information about health and health-related services as an enabler of access to health care, in a highly multicultural setting.
Posted on: December 17, 2019
Jangles Productions was contracted by Citizenship and Immigration Canada Ontario Region in August of 2009 to conduct a print campaign to promote three settlement services.
Posted on: December 13, 2019
Based on the 2016 Census data, the study ‘Skill Utilization and Earnings of STEM-educated Immigrants in Canada: Differences by Degree Level and Field of Study’ compares the likelihood of immigrant and Canadian-born workers with a degree in a STEM field to be working in a STEM-related occupation.
Posted on: December 12, 2019
This Scoping Review discusses the effective use of the Internet for the provision of integral information to new immigrants.
Posted on: December 12, 2019
As a point-‐in-‐time snapshot, an environmental scan is intended to explore and capture current trends, successes and challenges at the immigrant sector’s system level, generate a coherent narrative supported by facts, and set the foundation for dialogue, strategic planning, and stakeholder influence.
Posted on: December 12, 2019
The authors examine factors that may influence technology use: asking if organizational culture is related to uptake in the professional context, and if self-reported individual resistance to innovation and change can explain voluntary adoption of ICT tools.
Posted on: December 3, 2019
Using comparable data and three measures of over-education, this study found that university-educated recent immigrants in Canada were much more likely to be over-educated than their U.S. peers.
Posted on: November 27, 2019
The primary focus of the project is to make available on-line the highly successful pre-employment workshops offered through MISA’s Employment Services Unit.
Posted on: November 27, 2019
This report focuses on the impacts of automated decision-making in Canada’s immigration and refugee system from a human rights perspective.
Posted on: November 27, 2019
The goal of the report is to explore promising practices based on programs and resources that have been successfully offered elsewhere in Canada. As such, the report offers a possible roadmap that may be considered by service providers working in Guelph-Wellington.
Posted on: November 26, 2019
OCASI’s MICE-2 project provided an opportunity for managers of CIC-funded agencies in Ontario to share their perspectives on technology in the sector through on-line discussions and at a conference in St. Catharines on June 12 and 13, 2002
Posted on: November 26, 2019
In 1997, Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s Ontario Administration of Settlement and Integration Services (OASIS) initiated a Computerization Project to build the capacity of funded agencies. This report provides an evaluation of options for future support.
Posted on: November 3, 2019
While empirical studies find that border and interior enforcement serve as deterrents to illegal immigration, immigration enforcement is costly and carries unintended consequences, such as a decrease in circular migration, an increase in smuggling, and higher prevalence of off-the-books employment and use of fraudulent and falsified documents.
Posted on: October 22, 2019
This pan-Canadian research report identifies eight critical competencies that could form the basis of training to help settlement counsellors be successful as the job is redefined and the range of work is extended.
Posted on: October 10, 2019
Mobilizing Global Knowledge brings together academics and practitioners to reflect on a global collaborative refugee research network.
Posted on: September 4, 2019
This report looks at income trends between 1980 and 2015, as well as the income gap between young people, immigrants, racialized groups and the rest of the population in Peel, Toronto and York regions. The findings paint a stark picture of who has access to the opportunities to succeed, and who is being left behind because of circumstances they can’t control.
Posted on: August 26, 2019
This research focuses on the role of Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs) in Syrian refugee resettlement through a case study of an official refugee reception centre in the Waterloo Region of Ontario and a series of interviews with key informants from multiple sectors involved in resettlement.
Posted on: August 26, 2019
The aim of this research initiative is to explore online client intake and service models of Canadian human service organizations to distil best practices to share across the sector.
Posted on: August 22, 2019
This report finds that many new tech tools for migrants have failed to live up to their promise, in part because of extensive duplication in the sector, limited understanding of refugees’ needs, and funding and organizational limitations.
Posted on: August 18, 2019
The Public Policy Forum, in partnership with Pathways to Prosperity, conducted research to determine how newcomer attraction and retention could be enhanced to contribute to the success of smaller centres and less densely populated regions across Canada.
Posted on: August 9, 2019
This chapter documents changes from 2006 to 2016 in the number of physicians, registered nurses (RNs) and practical nurses (PNs) in Canada. It identifies those working in each occupation as well as those reporting relevant educational credentials but not working in the occupation.
Posted on: August 3, 2019
Migration studies have developed rapidly as a research field over the past decades. This article provides an empirical analysis not only on the development in volume and the internationalization of the field, but also on the development in terms of topical focus within migration studies over the past three decades.
Posted on: July 29, 2019
We investigate how economic immigrants in Canada negotiate their identity in the process of “becoming Canadian” through an analysis of public texts. Drawing on the master narrative framework, we examine the interplay between individual and societal narratives as immigrants grapple with the tension between notions of “desirable” immigrants as those that are well integrated professionally and the reality of facing career related barriers.
Posted on: July 18, 2019
This report examines the varied forms start-up visas take and their role within national (and occasionally regional) immigration systems. Though many of these visa programs are only a few years old, the report offers early insights into whether they are meeting their aim of attracting immigrant entrepreneurs, as well as some lessons learned for policymakers—among them, the value of involving industry experts in evaluating visa applicants’ business ideas, of embedding start-up visas within broader innovation strategies, and of supporting risk-taking.
Posted on: July 8, 2019
Hiring temporary foreign workers has become a widespread practice to compensate for the lack of available labour in the agriculture sector. Statistics Canada studied the presence of these workers in the population, employed for agricultural operations in Canada, by cross-referencing and comparing data from the Temporary Foreign Worker Program with 2016 Census of Agriculture data.
Posted on: July 5, 2019
The IOM Glossary on Migration is the result of a lengthy process of consultation within the Organization and with external academic and partner organizations and institutions. It is meant to reflect the way IOM understands a wide range of terms relevant to migration and to clarify how migration-related terms are legally defined or commonly used.
Posted on: July 3, 2019
While a growing body of literature in HCI [human-computer interaction] is focusing on the initial needs of the refugees soon after their migration, most challenges associated with the long-term process of their integration with the host communities using technology have still remained understudied. This work builds on a 3 year-long fieldwork with the refugees in Canada, extended observations, and interviews with 26 participants (19 refugees, 4 refugee sponsors, and 3 refugee workers) to illustrate how refugees encounter various challenges in accessing necessary services in Canada through its computerized infrastructures.
Posted on: June 18, 2019
The Syrian Outcomes Report provides a thematic overview of the outcomes of the Syrians who were resettled in Canada between November 2015 and December 2016. This report provides a comprehensive overview of Syrian integration outcomes to date for this group of newcomers.
Posted on: June 17, 2019
Between January and May 2019, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration studied the current state of settlement services to determine how they could be improved. This report highlights actions the federal government can take to improve settlement services in the different communities across the country, including in rural areas, as well as some initiatives on the international scene.
Posted on: June 17, 2019
This paper provides a summary of the EMPP, the partners, and government branches involved in its implementation, and the lessons that have been observed thus far. It explores the policy dimensions and implications of merging two distinct, and traditionally separate worlds, and the innovative partnerships integral to the successful implementation of complementary labour pathways in the long term.
Posted on: June 17, 2019
This report provides a profile of immigration in Waterloo Region by presenting data on both recent and established immigrants as well as temporary residents. The purpose of the report is to increase the understanding of immigrant populations in Waterloo Region to ensure that as a region and community, appropriate services and strategies are planned to include the broader needs of this population.
Posted on: June 14, 2019
Migrants and refugees have important health needs and face inequalities in their health status. Health care delivery to this patient group has become a challenging public health focus in high income countries. This paper summarizes current knowledge on health care delivery to migrants and refugees in high-income countries from multiple perspectives.
Posted on: June 12, 2019
The report, published by FCJ Refugee Centre with support from Maytree, examines challenges faced by refugee claimants and precarious migrants in accessing shelter in Toronto in three distinct early phases of the settlement process.
Posted on: June 4, 2019
This report explores the implication of the changing world of work for immigrant selection systems, highlighting key challenges such as figuring out how to anticipate future labor-market needs, balance employer demand with human-capital considerations, and build an element of regional variation into selection processes.
Posted on: June 2, 2019
This narrative study, sponsored by the Edmonton Chamber of Voluntary Organizations, captures key milestones, representative stories and observations about a unique time in our history as a multicultural community, both to salute those involved and to glean insights that may inform our collective future.
Posted on: May 17, 2019
Immigration, Discrimination, and Trust: A Simply Complex Relationship
Posted on: April 17, 2019
The purpose of this report is to summarize the findings from ARI’s Environmental Scan, conducted between July 2018 and February 2019. The results of the scan will form our baseline understanding of the current settlement-sponsor relationship.
Posted on: March 25, 2019
While there is considerable literature on the settlement experiences of refugees, relatively little is known about the experiences of Syrian families, especially in rural Ontario. This brief engages with existing literature to consider the recent arrivals of thousands of Syrian refugees and particularly the roles and needs of Syrian women who have settled in rural Ontario.
Posted on: December 17, 2018
The objective of the report is to define the nature of front-line settlement work, the context in which it is carried out, and to review what research and work has been undertaken toward strengthening the capacity of front-line settlement practitioners.
Posted on: December 17, 2018
This article discusses social media use by asylum migrants prior to and during migration. This study is based on in-depth interviews with 54 Syrian asylum migrants who recently obtained refugee status in the Netherlands.
Posted on: March 2, 2018
This Environmental Scan research & report represents one component of a multi-year and multi-phased project: to foster development of an active online community of practice for settlement sector practitioners across Canada.
Posted on: November 24, 2017
This thesis investigates how refugees in Rome, Italy, use smartphones to improve their well-being and whether, according to the Capability Approach, smartphones can expand refugees’ capabilities, choices and freedoms.
Posted on: June 22, 2017
Based on the capability approach, study findings reveal dependencies between properties of ICTs and their use, ICT-enabled capabilities relevant for refugees, and the corresponding contribution of ICTs to the processes of social inclusion.
Posted on: May 30, 2017
This research project conducted for IRCC was designed to gain a deeper understanding of the digital capacity and needs of service provider organizations that serve newcomers in Canada and inform support recommendations for the sector.
Posted on: April 25, 2017
This analysis examines the role of agency policy and supervision in the decision-making of child welfare workers about their work-related social media use.
Posted on: December 22, 2016
With a challenge of integrating refugees into hosting societies comes the question about the role that ICTs could play in the ongoing integration efforts. Indeed, unprecedented reliance of refugees on technology, especially smartphones, is an important distinction of the current refugees’ crisis.
Posted on: August 2, 2016
This article reviews current social media policies and conceptualizes their key elements. A review of current social media policies is reported, pointing to the need for further policy development. Six domains of a social media policy are identified.
Posted on: June 22, 2012
This paper reportson a pan-Canadian study to examine innovative and promising practices by settlement service provider organizations.
Posted on: February 28, 2012
In order to assess the occupational integration of immigrants, this report asks whether immigrants and the Canadian-born have equal access to jobs that incorporate high levels of occupational skill.
Posted on: February 11, 2012
With cyber technology having permeated the ways in which individuals seek support for a wide range of issues, the purpose of this paper is to report on a study that examined practitioners’ experiences and views of whether and how online communication has entered their face-to-face practice and of the implication for the therapeutic work.
Posted on: March 28, 2010
What are the labour market outcomes – in this case defined as average hourly wages – for currently employed immigrants, based on the source of information used to find their job?
Posted on: March 31, 2009
This research report studies the feasibility of an e-matching/e-mentoring component for the Host Program Network of Ontario, and particularly its applicability as a pre-departure strategy.
Posted on: May 28, 2008
The purpose of this paper is to examine the social support networks of recent professional Chinese immigrant women with young children who have settled in London, Ontario.
Posted on: March 31, 2008
The purpose of this study is to examine the information needs, sources, and barriers to accessing information experienced by those who immigrate to Canada. In particular, we examine how both information needs and strategies for finding information change during the settlement process.
