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Diversity

Visible minorities

Canada Faces Growing Competition for Immigrants to Ease Skills Crisis
http://www.asiapacificbusiness.ca/apbn/pdfs/bulletin199.pdf
Over the past five years, Canada has brought in some 220,000 skilled workers from China, India and Pakistan - our top three suppliers of skilled immigrants worldwide. However, there has been an average annual decline of 6% and 14% for skilled immigrants from China and Pakistan, over the same period. Only the number from India has been rising (2005). Canada will have to be more nimble and more creative in finding foreign skilled workers, both permanent and temporary immigrants, if it is to keep up with its rivals in the global labour market.

The Visible Minority Population in Canada: A Review of Numbers, Growth and Labour Force Issues
http://www.canpopsoc.org/journal/CSPv33n2p241.pdf
In 2001, visible minorities numbered almost 4 million out of about 30 million Canadians, or 13.4% of the total population. Among visible minorities, seven out of ten are immigrants or foreign-born persons. The provinces and the territories vary as to the relative proportions of visible minorities who are immigrants or Canadian-born ... The impact of visible minorities in the socio-economic make-up of Canada has been significant in terms of population growth, labour force growth and productivity. Canadian Studies in Population, 2006

One Size Does Not Fit All: A Contingency Theory Approach to Policy-Making
http://www.cpsa-acsp.ca/paper-2003/bouchard.pdf
Immigration is much less visible, almost invisible… Unless they are involved with ESL, or some other aspect of immigration policy, the average Canadian would not be aware of it except when a high profile case hits the headlines. Many immigrant communities tend to keep to their own geographical boundaries, particularly those who have not yet integrated into our educational and economic system. In any event, there have been ‘visible minority’ immigrants coming to Canada from more than one hundred years and the absorption of 200,000 individuals in any given year does not constitute a visible issue.

The Spatial Concentration of Poverty in Canada
http://www.gov.mb.ca/ia/capreg/reports_docs/reports/recent/1999reviewpanel/
presentations/currie2.html
The radical changes of Canada's immigration law in late 1960s made Asia, Africa, and Latin America the leading sources of Canada's immigrant population. While for the previously dominated European newcomers, immigration meant a window to better and more satisfying living conditions, the Third World immigrants, in most cases, were escaping from extreme poverty and misery to normal lives. For many of them, immigration was a matter of life and death, rather than 'life' and 'better life'. The Third World immigrants to Canada, however, were not as lucky as their predecessors. They had major difficulties integrating into Canadian societies, both culturally and economically. The cultural differences, along with discriminatory views and actions pushed many of them towards the margins of Canadian society. The timing of their arrival further aggravated their unfortunate situation. The decade of the 70s, when they began to come to Canada in large numbers, was exactly the time that the fast economic growth and the accompanying expanding jab opportunities as well as welfare privileges began to slow down and shrink. One inevitable consequence of these developments was that the competition over scarce and shrinking resources intensified. As it is normal in such conditions, those unprivileged are the ones likely to suffer the most.

Toronto’s Growing Diversity Through Immigration
http://www.unitedwaytoronto.com/who_we_help/pdfs/turningpoint.pdf
Between 1991 and 1996, a total of 446,515 new immigrants arrived in the GTA, of which 315,470 or 71% settled in the City of Toronto… Approximately 20% of new immigrants arriving in Toronto are children. These children are unlikely to speak English and require additional educational supports such as English as a second language… Approximately 10% (roughly 8,000 people) of all new immigrants in Toronto arrive as refugees… Prior to 1961, 91% of immigrants arriving in Toronto originated from Europe. The proportion of immigrants from Asia has been on the rise since the 1970s, and during the 1990s accounts for 60% of new immigrants…

Workers of Colour Within a Global Economy
http://canadianlabour.ca/index.php/Manuals/Workers_of_Colour_Wi
Discussion Document on “WORKERS OF COLOUR WITHIN A GLOBAL ECONOMY”
http://canadianlabour.ca/updir/research.pdf
There is an increasing number of non-citizen workers, primarily people of colour from the global south, participating in the Canadian workforce in conditions below the standards that the labour movement has fought hard to gain for Canadian workers. They work as documented and undocumented farm workers, live-in caregivers, construction workers, adult entertainers, textile workers and a growing number of workers in the manufacturing and service industries… The Canadian government’s policy towards low-skilled and high-skilled migrant workers is quite different. While high-skilled migrants are recruited for immigration through the High-Skilled Foreign Worker Permanent Resident Program and the Spousal Program (which provides work visas to the spouses of high-skilled foreign workers), low-skilled workers do not qualify for permanent residence and cannot bring their families with them… Migrant workers in substandard work situations represent an underclass of workers in Canada… Foreign workers are used to decrease the cost and increase the productivity of labour in Canada.

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Canada's visible minority population in 2017
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050322/d050322b.htm
Roughly one out of every five people in Canada, or between 19% and 23% of the nation's population, could be a member of a visible minority by 2017 when Canada celebrates its 150th anniversary, according to new ethno-cultural population projections… Under the scenarios considered for these projections, Canada would have between 6.3 million and 8.5 million visible minorities 12 years from now… Depending on the growth scenario, this would be an increase ranging from 56% to 111% from 2001, when their number was estimated at about 4.0 million. In contrast, the projected increase for the rest of the population was estimated at between only 1% and 7% between 2001 and 2017… In 2001, 13% of the population identified themselves as belonging to a visible minority group as defined in the Employment Equity Act… Data from past censuses showed that the visible minority population is growing much faster than the total population. Between 1996 and 2001, the total population increased 4% while the visible minority population rose 25% or six times faster… The same would be true for Canada's populations of immigrants, allophones and non-Christian religious denominations. Statistics Canada, The Daily

One in seven women is a visible minority
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060307/d060307a.htm
More than two million women, or 14% of the total female population, are members of a visible minority. They are centered largely in Toronto and Vancouver. More than one-quarter (26%) of women who reported that they were in a visible minority were Chinese, while 22% were South Asian and 17% were Black, according to the 2001 Census. Three out of every four women who were members of a visible minority lived in either Ontario or British Columbia. Women in a visible minority made up 22% of the overall female population of British Columbia, and 19% in Ontario.
The female visible minority population is relatively well educated. In 2001, 21% of visible minority woman aged 15 or older had a university degree, compared with 14% of other women. But while visible minority women are better educated on average than other Canadian women, they are somewhat less likely to be employed. In addition, visible minority women generally earn less at their jobs than do other women.

Visible Minorities in Canada's Workplaces--A Perspective on the 2017 Projection
http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/multi/canada2017/3_e.cfm
Employment Equity, What are Visible Minorities?, Visible Minorities in 2017, Identity, Integration

Social Inclusion of Visible Minorities and Newcomers: The Articulation of “Race” and “Racial” Difference in Canadian Society
http://www.ccsd.ca/events/inclusion/papers/peter_li.pdf
Despite the legal framework of liberal democracy, “race” is articulated in Canadian society in the normative construction of “racial” differences, in the public discourse of “diversity”, and in unequal life chances associated with “racial” origins. Such articulation reifies “race”, reinforces its social import, and hampers social inclusion of racialized minorities in Canadian society. 

Ethno-Racial Groups in Toronto, 1971-2001: A Demographic and Socio-Economic Profile
http://www.yorku.ca/isr/download/Ornstein--Ethno-Racial_Groups_in_Toronto_1971-2001.pdf
Detailed description of the demographic and socio-economic conditions of more than one hundred ethno-racial groups in Canada’s largest metropolitan area. Expanding the traditional conceptualization of ethnicity in Canada, in terms of the national origins of European settlers and their descendants in Canada, the Report provides analysis of differences within the majority and major “visible minority” communities in Toronto.

Canadian Diversity Database
 http://www.acs-aec.ca/English/diversity_database.htm
Offers information on Canadian institutions, organizations and departments dedicated to issues facing Aboriginal peoples, religion, visible minorities, ethnicity and official languages in Canada. Regularly updated.

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Employment equity

Visible minorities in the labour force: 20 years of change
http://www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=11-008-X20040016874
This article examines employment and unemployment rates of visible and non-visible minority groups, compares Canadian-born and foreign-born visible minorities with their non-visible minority counterparts and examines employment and unemployment rates separately by gender. Statistics Canada, The Daily - Abstract.

Good Practices for Visible Minorities in Canadian Workplaces
http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/asp/gateway.asp?hr=/en/lp/lo/lswe/we/special_projects/RacismFreeInitiative/
GoodPractices.shtml&hs=wzp
Selected studies empirically assessing racial discrimination in the labour market in Canada… legal cases to examine racial discrimination in employment in Canada… The overall evidence from previous studies indicates that racial discrimination is responsible for at least part of the disparity in achievements between various racial minorities and whites in the Canadian labour market. The more important and compelling question now is not whether racial discrimination exists but rather what are the causes and possible solutions for this problem? We need to know more about the types of situations, behaviours, and interactions that lead to discrimination. In other words, we need more studies that look "inside the box" and provide direct empirical evidence on the specific behaviours and attitudes that affect the employment relationship in a way that leads to discriminatory treatment…

Unequal Access: A Canadian Profile of Racial Differences in Education, Employment and Income
http://www.stchrishouse.org/modules/ImageAV/lib/getImage.php?koId=13039
Racism is still persistent at the individual and systemic levels although overt forms of racism are generally seen as socially unacceptable.  

Immigrant and Visible Minority Women in the Non-Profit Sector as Volunteers and Paid Workers
http://www.ucalgary.ca/gender/Women%20in%20nonprofit.pdf
There is a perception that when jobs open at the managers’ level that external Canadian workers are preferred to internal immigrant and visible minority workers. Some considerable concern was expressed about the fact that the Boards of the agencies are mainstream while staff and clients are not. Diversity on Boards seems to be lacking in general. Some executive directors indicated that they felt their agencies are moving toward a corporate model of operation but clients would be better served by a non-profit NGO model.

Canada Immigrant Job Issues
http://www.canadaimmigrants.com/
Race continues to be a major factor in the distribution of opportunities in the Canadian labour market and by extension in determining the life chances of racialized peoples and immigrants in Canada.

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Employment Equity Policy in Canada: An Interprovincial Comparison
http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection/SW21-46-1999E.pdf
Equity policies in Canada’s 10 provinces and the federal government…  Contradictions among the objectives of different players within Canada’s public services create frustrations, fears and bottlenecks that need to be addressed by political rather than policy initiatives. Differences at the provincial level express regional identities, and indicate a need to develop employment equity strategies for particular populations and circumstances... Persons in a visible minority have achieved the lowest level of representation of all the designated groups, vis-à-vis their availability in the work force. In 1998, they represented 5.1 percent of the public service, compared to 10.4 percent of the work force.  In terms of their public service distribution, they are strongly underrepresented in the executive category (2.8 percent), somewhat overrepresented in administrative support (5.3 percent) and operational (5.1 percent) categories, and strongly overrepresented in the scientific and professional category (10.1 percent). Recent Canadian Human Rights Commission Tribunal finding... persons in a visible minority at Health Canada are not being promoted at a rate that is commensurate with qualifications and experience. 

Immigrants and Employment: A Comparison of Montreal and Toronto (1981-1996)
http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/CJRS/Spring-Summer99/Preston.pdf
Three employment patterns are evident in both metropolitan areas. Immigrant men from the United Kingdom have employment patterns most similar to those of Canadian-born men. With large proportions of jobs in construction and manufacturing, Italian immigrants are distinguished from the Canadian-born and recent immigrant groups represented by Central and South American, African, and Asian immigrants. Employed in different industries than earlier waves of post-war immigrants such as the Italians and British, immigrants from Asia, Africa, and Central and South America have diverse employment patterns. While Central and South American immigrants seem to face the most obstacles, additional research is needed to determine the implications of persistent stratification. While it seems reasonable to assert that employment in the accommodation, beverage and foods sector is less desirable than employment in health and producer services, the wide range of occupations in service industries and their diverse working conditions mean the effects of the shift to employment in services must be explored in future research.

National Policies and Legal Rights: From the Disability and Multicultural Perspectives
http://www.dpi.org/en/events/north_america/11-28-03_acdca.htm
In Manitoba the rate of unemployment in the general population is 5%, the unemployment rate is about 45% for the mainstream disability community, but as much as 90%, approximately, for the ethnocultural disability community…

Immigration, Ethnicity and Unionization: Recent Evidence for Canada
http://ceris.metropolis.net/Virtual%20Library/economic/Reitz_verma1/reitz_verma.html
There is considerable evidence indicating that non-white immigrant minorities experience significantly lower success in the labour market, compared to immigrants from Europe, and compared to the native-born workforce. Racial minorities in Canada, particularly men, have somewhat lower rates of unionization, defined as union membership and/or coverage by a collective agreement… Two reasons: First, immigrant men, among whom racial minorities are prominent, have assimilated slowly into unionization, more slowly than immigrant women. Second, among persons born in Canada, racial minorities, particularly men, have lower rates of unionization. A further analysis of wages and earnings suggests that lower unionization rates for immigrant men appears to slow their wage assimilation, but does not appear to affect racial minority immigrants in other ways. For racial minorities born in Canada, lower unionization rates for native-born racial minority men may directly affect their earnings. The fact that union wage and earnings premiums are similar across racial groups suggests that in Canada, collective bargaining processes have neither positive nor negative effects on the extent of any discriminatory disadvantage facing racial minorities. Implications for Canadian unions in addressing issues of diversity are discussed. (2000)

Immigrants face racism and lack of opportunity
http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20040421130750254
“ In spite of all he's been through, he thinks Canada is a beautiful country… The Pakistani lawyer wishes he'd never come here. He'll warn other professionals in his homeland not to expect a warm welcome in Canada. He'll return to Peshawar this summer, chastened and hurt… But he refuses to make harsh generalizations. "I don't think badly of all Canadians or of Canada in general. It is a beautiful place. I met some wonderful people. But as an immigrant, you knock at every door and you're always turned away." Ali and his wife agreed to tell their story to make other newcomers feel less alone and to persuade Canadian immigration authorities to stop deceiving foreign professionals about the life that awaits them here.”

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Too few jobs for minorities: Federal public service in hot seat over record
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/485477.html
"The public service of Canada is in trouble, it is not doing enough to advance visible minorities. The current plans are not working. The time for talk is over. The time for action is now… Leaders in the federal public service must tear down the substantive barriers that stand in the way of people of colour… Most of all, they must recognize that racism - an ugly, stubborn and damaging brand of racism - remains a fundamental problem within the public service of Canada today… The intricate and difficult problems of racism in the public service will not go away and cannot be mitigated until white senior managers are willing to acknowledge that racism exists." Senator Don Oliver, Atlantic Forum of the National Council of Visible Minorities in the Federal Public Service. Chronicle Herald, February 21, 2006

National Policies and Legal Rights: From the Disability and Multicultural Perspectives
http://www.tacdca.com/ConferenceAnnouncement2004.htm
The fact that a very large percentage of the disabled ethnocultural community is unemployed and lives on social assistance warrants attention and scrutiny. Indeed, even the unconscionably high rate of unemployment within the mainstream disability community pales in comparison with the situation of the disabled ethnocultural community: When in Manitoba, for instance, the rate of unemployment in the general population is 5%, the unemployment rate is about 45% for the mainstream disability community, but as much as 90%, approximately, for the ethnocultural disability community. - African Canadian Disability Community Association (INC)

Not All Visible Minorities Face Labour Market Discrimination
http://www.irpp.org/po/archive/dec00/hum.pdf
The most popular way of determining whether Canada’s visible minorities face discrimination in the labour market is simply to compare their average wages and annual earnings with those of white Canadians. This is naive in two ways: It does not distinguish among different visible minorities and it does not control for other possible differences between visible minorities and white Canadians—in education or experience, for instance. A statistical explanation of the wage gap finds that among native-born Canadians only blacks face a statistically significant wage gap once other variables are controlled for. Among immigrants, however, an unexplained wage gap is common. This suggests policy should focus less on employment or wage equity and more on helping immigrants integrate into Canadian society.

South Asians in Canada: Unity through diversity
http://www.statcan.ca/english/studies/11-008/feature/11-008-XIE20050028455.pdf
Numbering 917,000 in 2001, South Asians were the second largest visible minority group in Canada, just behind the Chinese at slightly over one million people. The South Asian community is one of the most diverse visible minority groups, consisting of a range of ethnic, religious and linguistic groups whose ancestries, immigration histories and personal experiences are quite varied. And yet, the South Asian community is one of the most unified when it comes to the value they attach to family interaction, the maintenance of social networks within their cultural group, and the preservation of ethnic customs, traditions and heritage languages.

Paths into the Economy: Structural Barriers and the Job Hunt for Skilled PRC Migrants in Canada.
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~agreve/IJHRM13-3-Salaff-Greve-Xu.pdf
Well-educated and trained Chinese professionals immigrating to Canada face barriers in finding jobs. To understand this wastage of human capital, we see entry to the professions as mediated by frameworks. The social construction of careers influences the demand for labor. Human capital is a social construct defined by certification procedures in Canada and by the way Canadian employers perceive appropriate matches of jobs and job applicants. Their demand for people with "Canadian experience" blocks entry into higher level jobs. We interviewed 32 couples in 1999-2001 using qualitative methods to learn about their experiences finding jobs in Toronto. - Abstract.

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The perspective from small business and ethnic entrepreneurship theory
http://artsci-ccwin.concordia.ca/geog/course_notes/bmigration.htm
The development of Canada's Business Immigration Program demonstrates the Government's clear ideological shift in immigration policy to explicitly encouraging, and proactively seeking Capital Linked Migration rather than other forms of migration... Discrimination and racial barriers in a host society produce unfavourable labor market conditions for ethnic minorities, who, as an alternative, seek economic refuge in the ethnic business sector to avoid competition and hostility from the dominant group... The growth of Chinese business in recent decades seems to be directly related to population increase and to the encouragement of the Canadian policy towards investor immigrants... In emphasizing major business investments as a condition of immigration, these amendments have facilitated offshore capital to move into Canada, and hastened the development of capital-intensive ethnic enterprises... Clear relationships exist between ethnic origin and business type, and between enterprise type and location... Without the magnetic pull of large, institutionally complete ethnic communities supporting well-developed ethnic subeconomies similar to the Chinese, immigrant entrepreneurs of other ethnic groups are... inclined to venture into fields created by vacuums in specific parts of the mainstream competitive sector created by the abandonment of majority group entrepreneurs... The data suggest that the Business Immigration Program does not support growth in female self-employment - a business activity that is seen as, and argued to be, an important factor in the country's future economic development.

Employment Rights - Elderly Canadian Immigrants
http://www.lcc.gc.ca/pdf/grant.pdf
When the immigrant population is examined according to place of birth, significant variation emerges. In particular, immigrant men from Asia display a greater reliance upon government transfer payments and current employment/self-employment earnings than on income from previous savings… Elderly women, and elderly immigrant women in particular, display a greater reliance on government transfer payments…  Immigrant women from South and Southeast Asia: dependence on government transfer payments is much higher (reaching 75% among women from Vietnam) and in many cases, income from current employment represents a much more significant share of total income (as high as 12.3% among immigrant women from the Philippines).

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Diversity and discrimination

Visible Minority Workers are at Greater Economic Risk
http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/multi/evidence/series2_e.cfm
Several studies of ethnic and racial discrimination in labour markets have been conducted in Canada. One common finding of these econometric studies is that a significant proportion of the existing wage gap between white and non-white workers is not directly attributable to demographic, educational or occupational characteristics of workers. It may be the product of racial discrimination practised by employers in the hiring and promotion of their workers.

Discrimination, Minorities and Disadvantaged Groups Issues
http://www.cdp-hrc.uottawa.ca/links/discriminationcan_e.html
Discrimination in Employment; Employment Equity; Minorities, Multiculturalism; Racial Discrimination & Hate Propaganda; Refugees and Immigration

Canada s Creeping Economic Apartheid
http://www.socialjustice.org/pdfs/economicapartheid.pdf
Growing racialisation of the gap between the rich and poor, which is proceeding with minimal public and policy attention, despite the dire implications for Canadian society. The report challenges some common myths about the economic performance of Canada s racialised communities, myths used to deflect public concern and to mask the growing social crisis. It points to the role of historical patterns of systemic racial discrimination as key to understanding the persistent overrepresentation of racialised groups in low paying occupations and low income sectors, their higher unemployment, and their poverty and social marginalisation. Historical patterns of differential treatment and occupational segregation in the labour market, and discriminatory governmental and institutional policies and practices, have led to the reproduction of racial inequality in other areas of Canadian life. - CSJ Foundation

Racial Status and Employment Outcomes
http://canadianlabour.ca/updir/racialstatusEn.pdf
It is reasonable to conclude that racial discrimination in employment is a significant factor in the poor labour market outcomes of workers of colour. With the young Canadian-born worker of colour population now entering the workforce in large numbers, and the ever increasing migration of people of colour to Canada (skilled and under-skilled), the reality of racism must be confronted from all sectors of society, rather than denied.

Visible minority neighbourhoods in Toronto, Montréal, and Vancouver
http://www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=11-008-X20030046803
This article examines the expansion of visible minority neighbourhoods in Canada's three largest census metropolitan areas (CMAs) and explores how visible minority neighbourhoods were formed. Abstract, The Daily.

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Landlords continuing to discriminate against visible minorities
http://www.ontariotenants.ca/social-justice.phtml#discrimination
List of articles:
Poor? Coloured? Then it's no vacancy
Accommodation on the Basis of Age and Race: 1996 Census Results
High-rise Ghettos
Illegal Rent Requests - Immigrants can pay a year's rent
Forum hears of discrimination in housing, Would-be tenants say they were victims of racism.

Anti-Black Racism in Canada
http://www.aclc.net/antiba_historicalp.htm
Peoples of African descent have resided in Canada for centuries. According to the 1996 Census, Statistics Canada reports that there are approximately 570,000 who self-identified as being of African descent. As such, this community is the third largest of all racialized groups in Canada, following respectively the Asian and Southeast Asian communities… No other settler community has experienced this kind of discrimination for such a long and continuous period of time and at such extremes of the economic, cultural and political levers of power and use of state sanctioned physical force. This has had a rather significant and unique impact on African Canadians, one that is connected to the treatment of African Diasporic peoples and cannot be claimed by other racial minority communities.

Racism, Immigrant Women's Rights
http://www.fafia-afai.org/Bplus5/altrepf4_e.htm#race
Access to opportunities and income equality is restricted for many Canadian women because of their race. Human rights laws have not, so far, been effective at addressing and eliminating systemic racism, which results in underrepresentation of women of colour in political office, academia, senior management positions, and media…

Colonialism, Capitalism and the Making of the Apartheid System of Migration in Canada
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=9850
Contract agricultural labour continues today under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP). Approximately 18,000 migrant farm workers from the Caribbean and Mexico arrive in Canada to work the fields, orchards and greenhouses every year, typically for periods of 3 to 10 months. Temporary migrant workers are separated from their families performing rigorous rural labour that few Canadians choose to do. The low wages of migrant workers has contributed to the multi-million dollar agricultural industry, while the structure of the SAWP- particularly the lack of secure work and status- silences the struggles of the workers.

Workers of Colour Within a Global Economy
http://canadianlabour.ca/index.php/Manuals/Workers_of_Colour_Wi
There is an increasing number of non-citizen workers, primarily people of colour from the global south, participating in the Canadian workforce in conditions below the standards that the labour movement has fought hard to gain for Canadian workers... Between 15,000 to 18,000 seasonal agricultural workers come to Canada every year under Canada’s Commonwealth Caribbean and Mexican Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP). Two thousand caregivers enter Canada under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) every year. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) states that the number of undocumented migrants in Canada is rising. The STATUS Coalition estimates the number at anywhere from 20,000 to 200,000 people... In 2002, Canada initiated the Foreign Worker Pilot Program to issue temporary visas to foreign workers in any occupation with a labour shortage. Under this Program, employers must prove they are unable to fill their demand for workers in their local labour markets… but low-skilled workers do not qualify for permanent residence and cannot bring their families with them. The jobs that they take in Canada often do not meet minimum employment or occupational health and safety standards. These jobs are the worst paid, most dangerous jobs where the workers are most vulnerable to their employers. They cannot easily switch jobs without their employers’ co-operation because visas are employer-specific.

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Collective and Individual Perceptions of Discrimination in Canada
http://www.acs-aec.ca/Polls/collective.pdf
For some time concerns have been expressed by various ethnic, racial, aboriginal, religious and minority language groups over the degree of discrimination to which they are subjected. As our demographic realities evolve and international conditions change so too is the degree to which we feel certain groups are more vulnerable to discrimination. In that which follows we will look at the extent to which Canadians believe that some groups are more often the object of discrimination than others. Also to be analyzed is the degree to which affirmative action programs are regarded as a remedy for problems of discrimination faced by various communities.

Class
http://www.mun.ca/cassw-ar/themes/diversity/class/
It is the hierarchial ranking of society into groups. Some people are from the privileged class while others fit into levels with those who have similar status. People strive to improve their class at the expense of others who have fewer opportunities for mobility… Race, class, gender related studies.

The Silent Debate: Asian Immigration and Racism in Canada 
http://www.iar.ubc.ca/publications/publications.html
Asian immigration to Canada, particularly to Vancouver and Toronto, and its socio-economic and political impact on Canadian society. It analyses why Canadians are reticent to address the issues of Asian immigration and racism even though public opinion polls indicate their serious concern over immigration levels and their oppotition to the great number of non-white immigrants accepted into the country. It examines these issues from the receiving as well as the sending countries points of view. In addition, it compares the Canadian experience with those of other countries with a large Asian population such as the United States, Australia and New Zealand.  Book review ISBN O-88865-167-8.

Hate Crime Concerns and Victims of Discrimination
http://www.acs-aec.ca/Polls/Hate%20Crime%20and%20Discrimination.pdf
Analysis of data on concerns over hate crimes and the extent to immigrants, language groups and racial and religious minorities have been the objects of discrimination.

Canadian Diversity Database
 http://www.acs-aec.ca/English/diversity_database.htm
Offers information on Canadian institutions, organizations and departments dedicated to issues facing Aboriginal peoples, religion, visible minorities, ethnicity and official languages in Canada. It is an on-going initiative that will be regularly updated. Groups: Ethnicity, Visible Minorities, Religion, Aboriginal, Official Languages.

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Aspects and challenges

Immigrants' integration challenges, by major immigration category, 2001
http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/89-614-XIE/2005001/tables/tabled.htm
Statistical data on the integration challenges of immigrants.

Aiming High: Educational Aspirations of Visible Minority Immigrant Youth
http://www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=11-008-X20050038966
Abstract. Studies of the postsecondary attainment of young adults are informative, but it is also useful to examine the educational aspirations of teenagers. Such studies profile the value placed on different types of formal education by youth as well as perceived opportunities for upward occupational mobility. This article explores the educational aspirations of 15-year-old visible minority immigrant students and compares them with those of Canadian-born youth who are not part of a visible minority group. It then identifies the most important factors that explain the large ethnocultural differences in university aspirations. Statistics Canada, The Daily

Perspectives on Social Inclusion – Working Paper Series
http://www.ccsd.ca/subsites/inclusion/post/list.pdf
List of publications. Laidlaw Foundation, 2002

Race Relations Tensions – Minority Youth
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/english/consultations/race-policy-dialogue-paper-js.shtml
Accreditation blockage imposed on foreign-trained professionals has another deleterious effect on minority youth whose parents were trained abroad: “it sets limits to the likelihood that minority professionals could serve as effective role models for succeeding generations”.

Social Inclusion as a Determinant of Health
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ph-sp/phdd/pdf/overview_implications/03_inclusion_e.pdf
Increasingly, research has begun to confirm the links between the minority status of ethnic, immigrant and racialized groups and low health status… Racialized group members are overrepresented in low income jobs and low-end occupations… Children whose health is most at risk tend to live in low-income families, single families, or among racialized group populations, including immigrant and refugee families and Aboriginal families. Among youth, the psychosocial stress of discrimination contributes to such health problems as hypertension, mental health concerns and substance abuse…

Mixed unions (1991-2001)
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/040608/d040608b.htm
People in mixed unions tend to be younger and foreign-born, live in large urban areas and have a higher education… In 2001, some 452,000 individuals were in a couple comprising one visible minority and one non-visible minority, or members of two different visible minority groups… This was a 35% increase from 1991, more than three times the increase of 10% for all people living in a couple… Japanese were the most likely visible minority group to marry or live common-law with a non-Japanese person. The second and third most common groups were Latin Americans and Blacks. Among the least likely to form a partnership outside their group were South Asians and Chinese. The Daily.

South Asians in Canada: Unity through Diversity
http://www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=11-008-X20050028455
Abstract. Numbering 917,000 in 2001, South Asians were the second largest visible minority group in Canada, just behind the Chinese at slightly over one million people. The South Asian community is one of the most diverse visible minority groups, consisting of a range of ethnic, religious and linguistic groups whose ancestries, immigration histories and personal experiences are quite varied. Using data from the 2002 Ethnic Diversity Survey (EDS) and the 2001 Census of Population, this article examines the diversity of the South Asian population in Canada, traces their history in this country and looks at how their ethnic and cultural backgrounds are reflected in their everyday lives. Statistics Canada, The Daily

Resource Centre on the African Diaspora
http://www.yorku.ca/nhp/intro.htm
The Harriet Tubman Resource Centre is a digitalized research facility that focuses on the history of the African diaspora and the movement of Africans to various parts of the world, particularly the Americas and the Islamic lands of North Africa and the Middle East. The Tubman Centre is part of the Department of History, York University, and includes a digital library and repository as well as facilities for the digitalization of materials... Its research agenda and teaching program are described elsewhere on this website... The Resource Centre is named in honour of Harriet Tubman (1821-1913), feminist and political activist associated with the Underground Railroad that moved thousands of Black refugees from the United State to Canada before the American Civil War. Harriet Tubman escaped from Dorchester County, Maryland, in 1849, and personally assisted at least 200 people in their flight from slavery.

Caribbean immigrants: a socio­demographic profile
http://canada.metropolis.net/research-policy/litreviews/bjot_bib/bjot_bib-04a.html
The author "synthesizes and interprets a wealth of data on Caribbean immigrants to Canada, providing us with the first comprehensive study of a group that has contributed more than 350,000 people to the Canadian mosaic since 1945. The author presents invaluable data on the socio­historical background to Caribbean immigration, as well as on the social and demographic characteristics of Caribbeans in Canada." Abstract, Metropolis 1993

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Chinese Canadians: enriching the cultural mosaic
http://www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=11-008-X20040047778
Chinese in Canada now comprise the country's largest visible minority group, surpassing one million for the first time, following successive waves of immigration. They are a diverse group, reporting a variety of countries of birth, mother tongues, home languages and religious affiliation. But they are linked by a common ethnicity. And while earlier Chinese immigrants came as manual labourers, recent arrivals tend to come with education and human capital. This article examines the history of the Chinese in Canada, its diverse population and its contribution to the nation's rich multicultural mosaic. Abstract, The Daily - Statistics Canada

Political participation by ethno-cultural groups and visible minorities
http://policyresearch.gc.ca/page.asp?pagenm=v5n2_art_05
While there continues to be a deplorable lack of specialized studies into political participation by ethno-cultural communities and visible minorities, there is an increase in the literature concerning their participation in electoral policy and their representation in decision-making and parliamentary bodies.
In this article, we will look at some current trends in studies of political participation by ethnocultural communities and visible minorities, point out the most obvious gaps in these studies, and highlight some promising areas of research. This overview concerns formal political participation only.

Communication - Seniors from Ethnocultural Groups
http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection/H88-3-28-1999E.pdf
Approximately 4.5% of all seniors speak neither English nor French, compared to 1.7% of the population aged 15 to 64. Communication difficulties can lead to inappropriate health care, such as deficient treatment, unnecessary testing and premature discharge. Interpretation services, both linguistic and cultural, are often required to ensure effective care.

Aging Amongst Immigrant in Canada: Policy and Planning Implications
http://www.ccsd.ca/cswp/2005/durst.pdf
To achieve independent living, immigrant seniors many need economic security and access to support services. They may need services that are culturally appropriate. Overall, the ethno-cultural seniors need to be recognized and valued for their diversity. They need to have more decision making powers regarding policies, economics, health and social issues that affect them, and to have better knowledge about the services and programs that are available. Our diverse multicultural nation is facing new challenges with our aging population, making Canada an exciting place to live.

Identity
http://canada.metropolis.net/events/ethnocultural/Proceedings/
Identity%20Seminar%20-Evolume%201.pdf
In terms of the debate about the effect of ethnic identity on social mobility, the present analysis only suggests that minority language identity, as an aspect of ethnic minority identity, jeopardizes economic performance in the Canadian labour market. However, until more is known about ethnic identity as a multidimensional concept and about how different dimensions influence market outcomes, claims regarding whether ethnic identity helps or hurts social mobility can only be partial and tentative.

Entrepreneurship and Social Resources in a Strange Land - Professionals from China
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~agreve/SalaffGreveWongAPMR.pdf
New skilled immigrants have a hard time getting jobs. Local employees do not value their foreign earned credentials. Some urge professional and technical immigrants to give up efforts to break into the local work force and start a business. How they can do so is a big question. We study educated PRC immigrants to Canada and ask can these men and women, so talented and in demand in China avoid under employment by setting up their own businesses. We find that many brought entrepreneurial backgrounds to foreign shores. But their entrepreneurial experience was linked to their human capital. Further, their human capital was dynamically interrelated with the organizational needs of large complex bureaucracies back home. Once in Canada, where their social relations are impoverished, few could reestablish enterprises. Without these supporting relations, skilled immigrants are not prime candidates for entrepreneurship. Abstract.

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Support organizations and services

abcGTA Initiative
http://www.abcgta.ca/index2.asp
abcGTA is an initiative of The Maytree Foundation, it addresses the current imbalance between the proportion of immigrants and visible minorities in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and their relative lack of representation on the boards of public agencies, boards and commissions (abc).  Our work primarily focuses on boards of public institutions in the GTA: a) Agencies, boards and commissions of various municipalities b) Provincial agencies, boards and commissions based in the GTA c) Other large public institutions such as hospitals, universities and community colleges, boards of trade, etc.  We have recruited more than 100 candidates from visible minority, immigrant and aboriginal communities to be included in our first candidate directory. Our candidates come from a variety of sectors but all share a commitment to serving the public good. If you are interested in joining the roster of abcGTA candidates, please contact us. We also welcome board or vacancy announcements from public agencies and organizations to be posted on our website.

Canadian Ethnocultural Council (CEC)
http://www.ethnocultural.ca/about_cec.html
Children, Constitution, Future of Canada, Culture, Demography, Economy, Education, Equality Rights, Foreign Policy, Healthy Immigration, Integration / Employment, Multiculturalism, Social Security
Newsletter of the CEC: Ethno Canada

National Antiracism Council of Canada
http://www.narcc.ca/about/index.html
NARCC is committed to being a national, community-based, member-driven network that provides a strong, recognized, effective and influential national voice against racism, racialization and all other forms of related discrimination in Canada. We strive to effectively address racism, racialization and all other forms of related discrimination by sharing and developing information and resources; by building, supporting and helping to coordinate local, regional, national as well as international initiatives, strategies and relationships; and by responding to issues & events in a timely and effective manner.

The National Reference Group on Visible Minorities
http://www.vsi-isbc.ca/eng/about/vis_min_research.cfm
A serious lack of developmental financial support undermines the ability of visible minority voluntary organizations… Immigration patterns and sources, particularly since the 1980s have resulted in visible minorities almost doubling in numbers - from 6% of the total Canadian population in 1986 to 11% in 1996. There are projections that this number will increase to 20% within the early years of this century.
The largest groups within the larger visible minority population are Chinese, South Asian and Black communities, the majority of whom live in three main urban centres - Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal… Demographic characteristics differ among the multiple sub-groups within the larger visible minority population. For example, the Black community has a larger number of younger members, higher numbers of women than men, and lower numbers of older age groups in comparison to the other groups... Deepening of poverty across visible minority communities has been accelerated… systemic and structural racism through educational, labour market, justice and service delivery systems creates barriers, prevents visible minority communities from fully developing their potential and participating equitably in Canadian society. Voluntary Sector Initiative, Final Report, 2001

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)
http://www.psac-afpc.org/issues/globalization/humanrights-e.shtml
Systemic discrimination in public services has remained unchecked. In particular, racially visible persons and persons with disabilities are still under-represented in the Federal Public sector, while women and Aboriginal Persons are in occupational clusters.

Funders’ Network on Racism and Poverty
http://triec.ca/
Presents a compendium of resources on vital issues related to racism and poverty in Canada and internationally. Contributors include academic, government and independent researchers, journalists, foundations and other private organizations. Also included are various foundations around the world that fund towards the elimination of racialized poverty in their respective communities. These resources provide insight to the frequency, the impact, and the complex construct of racism and poverty worldwide.

Strategic Framework for Action: A Strategy to Stimulate Joint Action on Multiculturalism and the Elimination of Racism in British Columbia
http://www.ag.gov.bc.ca/sam/framework/pdf/framework.pdf
Environmental Scan: Increasing Cultural Diversity, Racism and Hate Activity. Stimulating Action: Modelling Promising Practices. Taking Action: What can the private sector, municipalities, non-government organizations, the media, the education sector and the provincial government do.

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