Perspectives from groups disproportionately affected by poverty: Newcomer’s proposals

25 in 5 Leadership Forum
May 18, 2010, Toronto
(MNLCT- Newcomer Advocacy Committee's Presentation)

Good morning. Thank you for inviting us to this leadership forum.

Canada has much to gain from greater inclusion of newcomers. We bring with us knowledge and skills that are extremely valuable to a globalized economy: technical skills and professional expertise; international work experience under a broad range of cultural and geographic conditions; cross-cultural communication abilities and contacts.

Nevertheless, statistics show that new immigrants are taking longer to ”catch up” to the income and standard of living of the general population than did immigrants in past generations, despite our higher levels of education.

In 2009, the Mennonite New Life Centre carried out a Participatory Action Research project on newcomer employment. Reflecting together on why we are not able to access to fair and meaningful work in Canada, we began to ask critical questions about the whole notion of “Canadian Experience:” Is the real issue the immigrant job applicant’s lack of “Canadian experience,” or does this way of stating the problem mask underlying practices of exclusion? In other words, is the problem the immigrant or the system?

Our Participatory Action Research used focus groups to analyze the structural barriers underlying the problem of “Canadian experience” and to build policy recommendations to improve access to fair and meaningful employment for internationally trained workers. In total, 45 newcomers participated in the focus groups. Unfortunately, our research shows that Canada is not living up to its promise for new immigrants: 25 out of 45 participants reported that their situation had “deteriorated” since arrival in Canada. 37% were currently unemployed, and 60% were NOT “working in their field of study”. An alarming 53% reported annual incomes below $20 000.

From this research, and a collective process of analysis and prioritization, we have identified two key systemic barriers faced by newcomers in their efforts to find fair and meaningful employment:


- Lack of transparency and due process in hiring practices
- Lack of understanding of the skills and contributions of internationally trained workers, or employer incentives to diversify the work force.

Our research led us to prioritize two key policy recommendations, which are the focus for advocacy efforts this year:

1. Bring back employment equity legislation in Ontario.

There is a need for legislation to address systemic hiring barriers and ensure equitable representation of diverse groups in the work place. While the full promise of the Employment Equity Act 1993 was never realized, its framework remains strong and relevant to the challenges of today. We believe that now is the time to return to this framework, and to proactively include newcomers and other disadvantaged groups in public consultations to give shape to new employment equity legislation for Ontario.

2. Creation of a comprehensive program of paid internships for newcomers to give them a first job in their field of expertise.

Both internships and student placements have proven highly effective as labour market integration strategies. We believe that the next step is to create an internship program specially targeted to the needs and skills of internationally trained workers. With Bridge Training programs gaining strength and opening doors for newcomers in Ontario, we believe that now is the time to engage employers in offering paid internship opportunities to newcomers.

When you ask us what 25 in 5 could do better to engage and build significant and collaborative partnership with us, the newcomer community, we hope that first of all you embrace these two proposals and include them in your advocacy priorities.

As newcomers, we are eager to contribute and share our experiences, but often we struggle to understand the technical jargon and assumed political knowledge that are part of meetings like this one. We may need you to back up and help us to grasp the Canadian political and policy context. We may need your help to see the impact of policy discussions on our own struggles to find fair and meaningful work. 25 in 5 could promote understanding among newcomers of unfamiliar laws and political structures, translate its advocacy materials to several languages and help connect newcomers with other advocates and stakeholders.

Effective advocacy to overcome poverty requires us to link community initiatives in order to increase our impact. We truly believe that only through collective action will we be able to voice our priorities and proposals, and make a difference for our communities.

Thanks again for inviting us to this event and we look forward to continued partnership in the work of poverty reduction.

REFUSING TO SETTLE FOR LESS:

Building public policy recommendations to increase access to fair and meaningful employment for newcomers.

Our own Participatory Action Research (PAR)!

Click here to get the PAR final report

From June to August 2009, the New Life Centre and the Newcomer Advocacy Committed conducted a series of seven focus groups with newcomers as part of a participatory action research project carefully designed to promote collective analysis on employment barriers and public policy recommendations to improve access to fair and meaningful work.

Newcomer voice and leadership were central to the research process. Using Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology, the project “embraced principles of participation and reflection, and empowerment and emancipation of groups seeking to improve their social situation” (Huges 2000).

We argue PAR can be a powerful community organizing strategy, naming and mobilizing newcomer assets, while documenting a collective voice and vision. Already, this research project has been a place for mutual learning and transformation, with participants exposed to a variety of perspectives and experiences due to the multi sectoral and multi cultural context of this project.

We trust that it will continue to inspire fruitful dialogue and debate, engaging newcomers, anti‐poverty allies, employers and policy makers in the search for innovative solutions to labour market integration, to the benefit of newcomers, and the benefit of our city.

Antecedents

In 2008, the “Newcomer Skills at Work” project launched a series of focus groups to explore the employment experiences of newcomers and settlement workers and discuss proposals for change. In total, seven staff and forty newcomers participated in the focus groups. The newcomer participants, drawn from the Chinese and Latin American communities, had all arrived in Canada within the last five years. In each focus group, participants shared ideas and debated concepts through individual and group exercises.

Participants defined the notion of “immigrant success” and analyzed the barriers to achieving that success. For the most part, the notion of success was closely linked to the ideas of community and employment. In particular, participants highlighted the importance of job security and the opportunity to work in their field of expertise.

From the focus groups, it was apparent that different cultural communities experience similar barriers with regards to labour market integration. In particular, participants in all focus groups talked about employer expectations of “Canadian experience” as one of the major barriers to securing fair and meaningful employment. This was especially prominent for internationally trained professionals.

As we reflected further on the notion of “Canadian experience,” we began to ask new questions. Is the real issue the immigrant job applicant’s lack of “Canadian experience,” or does this way of stating the problem mask underlying practices of discrimination and exclusion. In other words, is the problem the immigrant or the system? Individual deficit or structural exclusion? Much employment programming focuses on helping newcomers fill gaps in knowledge or skills to prepare themselves for the Canadian job market. Yet the income gap between racialized and non‐racialized workers continues to grow. Do we need better programs or better policies? Or maybe both?

Focus group participants clearly stated that government had a strong responsibility and could play an important role in designing public policies to improve newcomer access to fair and meaningful employment. Participants also suggested that settlement agencies are well placed to engage newcomers on program and policy issues. Doing so would allow organizations to improve programs, formulate policy recommendations and put forward creative solutions to systemic injustices faced by newcomers. Collective problem solving would help guarantee that all members of the community are treated fairly and that, over the long term, future newcomers have more possibilities for success.

Building on the results of these focus groups, we designed a new participatory action research process to address the following questions:

• What are the structural barriers underlying the problem of “Canadian experience”?
• What program and policy recommendations could address these structural barriers and improve equitable access to fair and meaningful employment?

The process and results of asking and answering these questions.

In keeping with the activist nature of PAR, participant recruitment for this research project was aligned with our community organizing work. The spring of 2009 was dedicated to strengthening and replicating our employment mentoring groups and newcomer advocacy committees.

By June 2009, we were ready to begin our focus groups. Focus groups were conducted with four sector specific mentoring groups – psychologists, community service workers, journalists and engineers – and two newcomer advocacy committees. A seventh focus groups was conducted with settlement staff, most of whom were first generation immigrants serving fellow newcomers. In total, 45 participants were actively involved in the focus groups.

Quantitative data about participants’ demographic backgrounds, as well as qualitative information about their experience of settlement and integration, were documented in a self‐administered survey distributed by the facilitators at the beginning of each focus group. Specifically, the survey included questions related to participants’ immigration status, career trajectory and annual income since their arrival in Canada, together with self‐assessment of English language ability, and improvement or deterioration of their standard of living due to migration.

Of note, 25 out of 45 participants reported that their situation had “deteriorated” since arrival in Canada. 37% were currently unemployed, and 60% were NOT “working in their field of study.” 53% reported annual incomes below $20 000. Unfortunately, our research confirms the widely held perception that Canada is not living up to its promise for new immigrants.

In order to further explore root causes and solutions to this problem, popular education techniques were used to elicit qualitative data through three group exercises: Identifying Assets, Analyzing Barriers, and Proposing Recommendationsor Action Plans.

In the first exercise, the facilitators asked participants to identify four categories of “assets” that were relevant to the integration process: individual assets, job‐related assets, community assets, and cultural assets.

In the next exercise, the facilitators introduced the “Iceberg Model”, as a visual tool for participants to use in exploring their experience of systemic barriers underlying the commonly cited obstacle of “Canadian experience.” The facilitators separated participants into groups to analyze one of four categories of access barriers: socio/cultural barriers, educational barriers, economic barriers, and “others.” A representative of each group reported back on key barriers and their impact on settlement and labour market integration for newcomers.

After the collective analysis of barriers, the research facilitators guided participants through a process of prioritizing the most salient barriers. Using “dotmocracy,” the group arrived at agreement on two or three key barriers for further analysis during the final step of proposing practical solutions.

Through group reflection and discussion, newcomers generated policy recommendations and action plans to address systemic barriers to achieving fair and meaningful employment. In the pages that follow, we summarize the key barriers and policy recommendations emerging from the participatory action research process.

Participant Profile: Highlights

- Median age: 40
- 25 female, 20 male
- 10 different countries of origin
- 56% Latin‐American and 40% Chinese.
- 73% had attended university in their home country; 38% had pursued higher education in Canada.
- 37% were currently unemployed.
- 60% were NOT “working in their field of study”.
- 25 of 45 participants reported that their situation had “deteriorated” since arrival in Canada
- 53% of the participants reported annual incomes between CAD 10,000 and 20,000.

*Surveys were self‐administered and answered in the participants’ first language. We assume credible responses to each item, and a minimal level of misunderstanding due to language factors.