Pathways to Prosperity: Canada

The Pathways to Prosperity Partnership held its first pan-Canadian conference at the Minto Suite Hotel in Ottawa on November 15-16, 2013. 

Presentations from the conference can be accessed by clicking the presentation title.

Friday, November 15

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Conference Chair: Victoria Esses – Principal Investigator, Pathways to Prosperity and Professor, University of Western Ontario (Video)

Measuring Progress: Local Immigration Partnerships, Réseaux, and Other Place-Based Initiatives

This session discusses strategies that the LIPs have used to evaluate their progress, with a series of case studies presented. A representative of the Réseaux reacts to the presentations and discusses their applicability to Francophone minority interests. This is followed by a description of work underway to develop measures of integration and ‘welcome-ability’ – community capacity to integrate immigrants.  A goal of the session was to discuss analytic practices and to encourage the sharing of instruments for measuring the progress of these place-based initiatives.

Moderator: Ümit Kiziltan – Director-General, Research and Evaluation, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (Video)

Case Studies: Measuring LIP Progress

• Hamilton Immigration Partnership: Linda Button – Project Manager, City of Hamilton (Video)
• York Region Local Immigration Partnership: Sutha Balasingham – Senior Program Analyst, Regional Municipality of York
• London and Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership: Huda Hussein – Coordinator, London and Middlesex LIP and Victoria Esses (Video)
  
• Questions and Analyses of Interest to the Réseaux: Marie Elise Lebon – Coordinator, Réseau de soutien à l’immigration francophone de l’Est de l’Ontario (Video)

Integration and “Welcome-ability” Indexes: Measures of Community Capacity to Integrate Immigrants: Zenaida Ravanera – Pathways to Prosperity and University of Western Ontario (Video)

Downstream Responses to Changing Selection Processes

This panel explores the institutional adaptations that are required – some already underway – to respond to profound policy shifts affecting the admission and selection of newcomers for economic purposes. The institutions include settlement organizations and academic institutes serving international students, including those who transition to permanent residency; employers and employment councils implicated in immigrant absorption and integration; and organizations involved in overseas accreditation and the management of new accreditation pathways.

Moderator: Michael Haan – Co-Investigator, Pathways to Prosperity and Professor, University of New Brunswick (Video)

Projected Policy Impacts on Numbers, Characteristics and Entry Pathways: Sandra Harder – Director-General, Strategic Policy and Planning, Citizenship and Immigration Canada

Implications for Newcomer Needs and the Capacities of Mediating Institutions

• Selection Category and Perceived Needs: Victoria Esses (Video)
  
• International Students: Chedly Belkhodja – Co-Investigator, Pathways to Prosperity and Professor, University of Moncton (Video)
• Employers: Julie Drolet – Co-Investigator, Pathways to Prosperity and Professor, University of Calgary (Video)
• Smaller Communities: Don Curry – Executive Director, North Bay and District Multicultural Centre (Video)
• Accreditation: Timothy Owen – Director, World Education Services (Video)

Quebec Charter of Values: Implications for Immigration  

This roundtable discussion, organized by the Quebec Node of Pathways to Prosperity, discusses the implications of the Québec Charter of Values debate for immigration and immigrants in Canada. Questions include: Is this a phenomenon unique to Québec or does it reflect perspectives in other parts of the country? What are its likely effects on prospective and current immigrants and on a range of policy options? What insights does research offer?

Discussion Co-Chairs: Bill Reimer – Co-Investigator, Pathways to Prosperity and Professor, Concordia University & Michèle Vatz Laaroussi – Co-Investigator, Pathways to Prosperity and Professor, University of Sherbrooke

Brief presentations to situate the discussion by:

• Magninin Koné – Rencontre Interculturelle des Familles de l’Estrie & Lorraine O’Donnell – Quebec English-Speaking Communities Research Network, Concordia University
• Richard Bourhis – Université du Québec à Montréal
• Chedly Belkhodja – Co-Investigator, Pathways to Prosperity and University of Moncton
• Celine Cooper – University of Toronto and Montreal Gazette

Saturday, November 16

Results of Settlement Outcomes Surveys

This panel examinees key results from recent settlement outcome surveys in Canada which provide important insights into the economic and social outcomes of recent immigrants, their settlement needs, and their utilization of services and information. The panel also includes a presentation on new linkages of Statistics Canada surveys and landing data that will prove useful for future analyses. Presenters were asked to focus on a subset of the following topics: (i) Limited users or non-users of services and the reasons for non-utilization; (ii) Desire for pre-arrival information; (iii) Use of the internet and social media; (iv) Civic engagement and belonging; (v) Economic trajectories; and (vi) Smaller versus larger communities.

Moderator: Martha Justus – Director, Strategic Research, Research and Evaluation, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (Video)

Presentations on Surveys

• Making Ontario Home Survey: Audrey Kobayashi – Pathways to Prosperity and Professor, Queen’s University (Video)
• Alberta Settlement Outcomes Survey: Victoria Esses (Video)
• Western Settlement Outcomes Survey: Leah Hamilton – Pathways to Prosperity and Professor, Mount Royal University (Video)
• Pan-Canadian Settlement Outcomes Survey: Alice Wong – Senior Manager, Immigrant Settlement and Language Programs, Human Services, Government of Alberta & Suresh Kumar – Manager, Integration-Foreign Credentials Referral Office, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (Video)
• Statistics Canada Surveys – Landing Data Linkages: Project Status and Future Potential: Xiaoyi Yan – Director, Knowledge Dissemination and External Relations, Citizenship and Immigration Canada & Lorna Jantzen – Policy and Research Analyst, Knowledge Dissemination and External Relations, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (Video)

Agency of the Future

This panel examines the key components of the Agency of the Future project, including the design and management of the proposed innovation cycle (co-led by the settlement sector and P2P) which is based on the analysis, adaptation, and dissemination of promising practices. Ideas from outside the settlement sector are introduced with respect to the development of new business lines as well as the use of new technologies.

Moderator: Carl Nicholson – Executive Director, Catholic Centre for Immigrants (Video)

Conceptual Building Blocks and Mechanics of an Innovation Cycle: Meyer Burstein – Director of Policy and Planning, Pathways to Prosperity (Video)

Identifying New Enterprise Opportunities: Presentation on the Business Model Canvas – A framework for helping organizations design and re-design their business model: Jon Worren – Entrepreneurship Programs, MaRS Discovery District (Video)

Technology – New Possibilities for Projecting Expertise and Services: Adnan Qayyum – Pathways to Prosperity and Professor, Pennsylvania State University (Video)

Research Discussion and Closing Remarks

This session features a discussion with conference participants on issues and ideas that arose during the conference and should be considered in the planning of the Pathways to Prosperity’s ongoing research agenda.

Discussion Co-Chairs: Victoria Esses & Meyer Burstein (Video)