Immigration, Geographical Residential Patterns, and the Canadian Assimilation Debate, 1996-2005

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Immigration, Geographical Residential Patterns,
and the Canadian Assimilation Debate, 1996-2005

• Pablo Mendez,
• Department of Geography,
• University of British Columbia

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Up and out
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Up and out

• the underlying assumption of the so-called
  assimilation thesis

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Up and out

• the underlying assumption of the so-called
  assimilation thesis
• upon arrival, immigrants move into same-group
  neighbourhoods
• with time, they are able to convert their
  socio-economic achievements into a dispersed
  residential situation

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Voluntary ethno-cultural co-location can be a
beneficial practice if it maintains cultural
values, it strengthens social networks, and it
allows the passing of critical thresholds for the
support of institutions and shops. (Peach 1996)
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Rejection of the underclass thesis
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Rejection of the underclass thesis

• although the convergence of multiple indicators
  of deprivation affected more newcomers in 2001
  than in 1996
• (Smith 2004)

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The average member of the visible minority group
Chinese lives in a Chinesecensus tract but
only about half of the total Chinese population
for these three cities lived in such census
tracts(Hou 2004)
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The average member of the visible minority group
Chinese lives in a Chinesecensus tract but
only about half of the total Chinese population
for these three cities lived in such census
tracts(Hou 2004)
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A bifurcation of the model?

• a traditional version (continues to apply to most
  groups)
• a new version (would apply only to certain
  groups, in particular the Chinese)
• ( Haan 2005 )

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The well-documented residential concentration of
Chinese households implies a level of
geographical convergence that actually
overshadows the high degree of separateness
between some Chinese sub-groups, a phenomenon
that can only be measured if the Chinese
category is disaggregated by country of origin
(Lo Wang, 1997).
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Conclusion
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Census tracts in which at least 30 percent of the
population belonged to one of Montreals,
Torontos or Vancouvers top three visible
minority groups
Sources Hou Picot 2003, Hou 2004