Pathways to Prosperity: Canada

P2P Annual National Conference

Pathways to Prosperity 2018 National Conference Aimed to Inform, Engage, and Support Those Working in the Area of Immigration

On November 22-23, the Pathways to Prosperity held its Sixth Annual Conference – Borders, Welcoming Communities, and the Politicization of Immigration: Challenges and Opportunities Surrounding the Dynamic Movement of People. On November 21, Pathways to Prosperity also supported a Preconference of Local Immigration Partnerships – Paving the Way for our Future: A Conference for LIP Engagement and Sustainability. The conference attracted 450 attendees and the preconference 165, with registration sold out well in advance. As we continue to grow, we thank all those who support the Pathways to Prosperity and participate in our activities.

Click here for PowerPoint Presentations

The first day of the conference began with opening remarks by Vicky Boldo of the Montreal Urban Aboriginal Community Strategy Network, and by Éric Gervais of the Ministry of Immigration, Diversity and Inclusion, Quebec. This set the tone of respect for our presence in Montreal on the unceded Indigenous lands of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation. The second day of the conference kicked off with an engaging special keynote address by Sharon Bala, author of The Boat People, reminding us of the importance of story-telling in influencing public attitudes toward immigrants and immigration. The conference also included four plenary sessions on current issues, including The Politicization of Immigration, The Role of Immigration in Canada’s Labour Market, Strategizing around Refugee Claimants, and Settlement Challenges in Traditional and Non-Traditional Receiving Communities. In between, there were 29 workshops and presentations of 33 posters. Judging by the enthusiasm of participants and comments received to date, all the events were a tremendous success, featuring high quality presentations and engaging those in attendance.

The preconference focused on how we can expand the LIP partnerships to include non-traditional partners, how we can work to sustain and ensure the continuity of the LIPs, how LIPs can continue to do good work on anti-discrimination and promoting welcoming communities, and, finally, on the possibility of coming together to establish a national LIP secretariat. P2P also continued the tradition of preparing a PowerPoint presentation and booklet of LIP achievements. Informal comments and feedback received to date indicate that the preconference was a great success and P2P was encouraged to continue this excellent meeting for the LIPs. In addition, the FCFA has indicated that the Réseaux en immigration francophone will rejoin the preconference next year and contribute their additional expertise and connections.

We would like to thank all presenters and chairs who worked so hard to ensure that the conference and preconferences were a success. We also thank all of the exhibitors, and the sponsors for their support – World Education Services; Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada; the 2019 International Metropolis Conference; and the Intercultural Competency Advantage Program of the Cross Cultural Learner Centre. In addition, this conference would not have been possible without the generous support of our main funder, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Powerpoint presentations from the plenary sessions of the P2P 2018 National Conference and the Preconference of LIPs are available in the library section of this website.

PowerPoint presentations from the concurrent workshops are also available in the library section of this website. PDFs of the Poster Presentations are also available.

Video recordings of presentations will be available soon.