Search

While the “situatedness” of occupation in the context of migration has been explored using various approaches, there remains a need for a holistic and dynamic understanding of the concept of space and the spatiality of occupation. Adopting Lefebvre’s theory of the production of space and taking a transactional approach to occupation, we examined the role of immigrants’ occupational engagement in the production of Francophone minority community spaces in Metro Vancouver, Canada. We completed a critical ethnography and focus on findings from participant observations and in-depth and go-along interviews with French-speaking immigrants. Findings shed light on the influence of immigrants’ occupational engagement on the production of minority spaces. To study the spatiality of occupation comprehensively, we need to move beyond an examination of the immediate environment to address other components of the production of space as well as the interrelation of spaces through occupation.

The interaction of occupation and space has long been studied in occupational science. Increasingly, occupational scientists take a transactional approach to examine the spatial nature of occupatio...

How do refugee youth use social media and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)? Is ICT use relevant to refugee health and well-being? We conducted a systematic scoping review to identify current social media use behaviors. We examined impacts of social media and information sharing applications on health, well-being, inclusion, and integration of refugees into host countries. Review findings reveal that refugee youth commonly use ICTs for social networking, presentation of self, health information consumption, and political rights. Studies suggest that uptake of social media through personal mobile devices, such as smartphones, positively enhanced interactions of newly arrived refugees. Our review identifies policy opportunities to enable social media to facilitate delivery of resettlement and health information, to foster integration for refugees, and to improve their health.

It is well established in the occupation-based literature that people’s engagement in meaningful occupations is reciprocally connected both to their identities and to the environments within which such occupations occur. However, less is known about how access to or exclusion from certain environments may shape the performance of identities by enabling or constraining opportunities for occupational engagement. We examined the role of minority community spaces (e.g. schools, places of worship, community centres) for supporting participation in occupations among French-speaking immigrants and refugees in Canada who settled in two Anglophone dominant cities. Fifty six people from diverse countries participated in eight focus groups (four in each city) conducted as part of a larger, four stage comparative case study. An intersectional lens was adopted for the theoretical analysis of verbatim transcripts. We present findings according to three themes. First we discuss the implications for occupation of...

Multicultural media serve as important sources of information for immigrant settlement. However, little is known about the role of multicultural media in the process of immigrant settlement. Our aim was to address this gap and to advance understanding of multicultural media use and immigrant settlement through a detailed empirical study involving four ethnocultural and immigrant communities (EICs)—the Chinese, Spanish-speaking Latin American, Somali, and South Asian—in Ottawa, Canada. Using a conceptual framework combining notions of immigrant contexts of reception, and immigrant settlement and information seeking, we present and analyze the findings of a large survey data set (N = 1212) comparing types of multicultural print, broadcast, and digital media use by immigration category, length of stay, and yearly household income. Based on our findings, we argue that variations exist in the use of multicultural media both within and across the four participating EICs; while factors such as availability of multicultural media as well as length of stay in Canada and, to some extent, household income play a role, immigration category is less significant. Furthermore, we advance that although EICs do use various types of multicultural media, they tend to favor digital media. These findings contribute to improved understanding of the role of multicultural media use in the everyday lives of EICs and provide directions for future research and for the development of relevant policies and practices to address immigrant information needs and facilitate their settlement process.

The role of international borders in the formation of national identities and processes of inclusion is well established. The aim of this paper is to examine immigrants' narratives of their everyday experiences in Ottawa-Gatineau, paying particular attention to relations between place, culture and identity in order to reflect, on processes of inclusion and belonging in a subnational border context. Canada's National Capital Region is unique in that it is located on the most politically and symbolically charged interprovincial border within the country: between Ontario and Quebec. Although this border has little impact on individuals' everyday lives, major differences in culture, language, service provision, and policies shape residents' experiences and sense of place. Immigrants' narratives of their representations of and daily interactions with the two dominant groups--Anglophones in Ottawa (ON) and Francophones in Gatineau (QC)--reveal contrasting, asymmetrical processes of inclusion across the border. These different experiences suggest that distinct dynamics animate the relationship between place, culture, belonging and identity formation in Ottawa compared to Gatineau. These differences are examined through a comparative analysis of the narratives of two immigrant groups--Spanish-speaking Latin American and French-speaking sub-Saharan African immigrants--which serve to highlight the role of language/ linguistic affinity and ethnicity/race in these processes. The paper contributes to recent research and debates on (1) processes of belonging and identity formation in transborder contexts, and (2) immigrant experiences of inclusion, belonging and identity formation in Canadian society and in relation to Canada's two dominant groups. Resume Le role des frontieres internationales dans la formation des identites nationales et dans les processus d'inclusion a la nation est bien etabli. Le but de cet article est de reflechir sur les processus d'inclusion et d'appartenance dans un contexte transfrontalier a l'echelle sub-nationale en examinant les recits de personnes immigrantes sur leurs experiences quotidiennes a Ottawa-Gatineau et en accordant une attention particuliere aux relations entre le lieu, la culture et l'identite. La region de la capitale nationale du Canada est unique en ce qu'elle se trouve a la frontiere avec la plus forte charge politique et symbolique au le pays: entre l'Ontario et le Quebec. Bien que cette frontiere ait peu d'impact sur la vie quotidienne des individus, d'importantes differences dans la culture, la langue, les politiques et la prestation de services influencent les experiences et les sentiments d'appartenance des residents. Les recits des immigrants au sujet de leurs representations et de leurs interactions quotidiennes avec les deux groupes dominants--les anglophones a Ottawa (ON) et les francophones a Gatineau (QC)--revelent des processus d'inclusion contrastes et asymetriques de part et d'autre de la frontiere. Ces experiences distinctes indiquent l'existence de dynamiques particulieres animant la relation entre le lieu, la culture, l'appartenance et la formation identitaire a Ottawa et a Gatineau. Nous examinons ces differences a travers une analyse comparative des recits de deux groupes d'immigrants--des hispanophones d'Amerique latine et des francophones d'Afrique sub-saharienne--qui serf a mettre en lumiere le role de la langue/de l'affinite linguistique et de l'ethnicite/de la race dans ces processus. L'article contribue a avancer la recherche et les debats sur (1) les processus d'appartenance et de formation identitaire dans les contextes transfrontaliers et (2) les experiences d'inclusion, d'appartenance et de formation identitaire des immigrants dans la societe canadienne et par rapport aux deux groupes dominants au Canada. Introduction The role of international borders in the formation of national identities and processes of inclusion is well established (Mountz 2009; Prokkola 2009). …

This paper presents the findings of a systematic review of scholarly publications that report empirical findings from studies of environmentally-related international migration. There exists a small, but growing accumulation of empirical studies that consider environmentally-linked migration that spans international borders. These studies provide useful evidence for scholars and policymakers in understanding how environmental factors interact with political, economic and social factors to influence migration behavior and outcomes that are specific to international movements of people, in highlighting promising future research directions, and in raising important considerations for international policymaking. Our review identifies countries of migrant origin and destination that have so far been the subject of empirical research, the environmental factors believed to have influenced these migrations, the interactions of environmental and non-environmental factors as well as the role of context in influencing migration behavior, and the types of methods used by researchers. In reporting our findings, we identify the strengths and challenges associated with the main empirical approaches, highlight significant gaps and future opportunities for empirical work, and contribute to advancing understanding of environmental influences on international migration more generally. Specifically, we propose an exploratory framework to take into account the role of context in shaping environmental migration across borders, including the dynamic and complex interactions between environmental and non-environmental factors at a range of scales. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11111-014-0210-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Issues of immigrant political incorporation and transnational politics have drawn increased interest among migration scholars. This paper contributes to debates in this field by examining the role of networks, partnerships and collaborations of immigrant community organizations as mechanisms for immigrant political participation both locally and transnationally. These issues are addressed through an ethnographic study of the Hispanic Development Council, an umbrella advocacy organization representing settlement agencies serving Latin American immigrants in Toronto, Canada. Analysis of HDC’s three sets of networks (at the community, city and transnational levels) from a geographic and relational approach demonstrates the potentials and limits of nonprofit sector partnerships as mechanisms and concrete spaces for immigrant mobilization, empowerment, and social action in a context of neoliberal governance. It is argued that a combination of partnerships with a range of both state and non-state actors and at multiple scales can be significant in enabling nonprofit organizations to advance the interests of immigrant, minority and disadvantaged communities.

This paper examines the challenges migrant groups that are new and internally diverse face to participate and build community in host societies today. Qualitative research findings on Latin American migrants' experiences in Toronto, Canada, reveal that the group's participation is the result of a complexity of social and spatial processes. The paper contributes to current debates on the study of immigrant integration in three ways: (1) by focusing on immigrants' collective forms of organising, (2) by responding to ongoing calls for a closer examination of intra-group diversity, and (3) by drawing on transnationalism research to avoid the use of essentialising categories in the study of immigrant groups that are internally diverse.

In this paper we argue that nonprofit, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) constitute crucial sites at which welfare state restructuring and neoliberalism are enacted and materialised in everyday life practices. This paper responds to recent calls from geographers to move to finer scales of analysis that enrich our understanding about the geographies of welfare state restructuring and neoliberalism. Our response is based on case-study research of NGOs that provide social services to migrants in Minneapolis-St Paul, USA, and Toronto, Canada. We draw on the concept of ‘translation’ to show the agency of NGOs in articulating macroscale programmes of governance into concrete regulations that govern the conduct of everyday life. The case studies demonstrate the usefulness of seeing NGOs as translation mechanisms to current debates about the role of NGOs amidst welfare state restructuring and the rise of neoliberalism.

This paper contributes to debates on the empirical and conceptual potentials of anti-essentializing notions such as ‘thirdspace’ with the aim to open new epistemological and political grounds. Based on the findings of ethnographic research, I critically examine two spatial strategies (the deliberate creation of an ethnic neighbourhood, and the securing of a community centre) that Latin American immigrants in Toronto, Canada, developed to appropriate urban space and lay claims to equal rights. The case of Latin Americans' struggle for belonging in Toronto serves to reflect on how and why new immigrant groups today (re)construct collective identity spatially. I argue that immigrants strategically essentialize their identities in and through place in order to make themselves visible and their voices heard. Ethnic places represent sites of resistance and creation where immigrants construct their own subjectivities while also redefining dominant notions of inclusion and citizenship. Although locally grounded, ...

In this paper I explore immigrants' notions and practices of citizenship, and how these contribute to the citizenship debate. In order to achieve this, I examine Latin American immigrants' struggle for belonging in Toronto by looking at the Canadian Hispanic Day Parade. This multicultural celebration of ethnic diversity takes place in a marginalized suburban neighbourhood of the city, and I argue that Latin Americans use it to affirm the existence of a Latin American identity and community in Toronto. But, while the parade serves to contest dominant representations of immigrants, visible minorities, and the disadvantaged, it also reveals how forms of community mobilization can internalize neoliberal social relations and even promote a neoliberal agenda. The aim of the paper is to reflect upon the political potential of ethnic celebrations, as well as the constraints and complexities of immigrant citizenship practice within the contemporary context of Canadian multiculturalism and neoliberalism.

There is limited empirical evidence of how environmental conditions in the Global South may influence long-distance international migration to the Global North. This research note reports findings from seven focus groups held in Ottawa-Gatineau, Canada, with recent migrants from the Horn of Africa and francophone sub-Saharan Africa, where the role of environment in migration decision-making was discussed. Participants stated that those most affected by environmental challenges in their home countries lack the financial wherewithal to migrate to Canada. Participants also suggested that internal rural–urban migration patterns generated by environmental challenges in their home countries underlay socioeconomic factors that contributed to their own migration. In other words, environment is a second- or third-order contributor in a complex chain of interactions in the migrant source country that may lead to long-distance international migration by skilled and educated urbanites. These findings have informed the scope and detail of a larger, ongoing empirical study of environmental influences on immigration to Canada. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11111-014-0214-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.