May 14, 2012
Photo credit: Luther Caverly

Building stronger communities for new Canadians

Canada prides itself on opening its doors to newcomers. But once immigrants land on our shores and settle in our big cities, are there adequate services to support them?

That’s the question a Carleton research team set out to answer. The result is an innovative, interactive atlas of Canada’s large urban centres, which allows users to hone in on specific neighbourhoods to expose the availability and variety of immigrant-focused services in those areas.

Dr. Adnan Türegün is the Executive Director at Carleton’s Centre for International Migration and Settlement Studies (CIMSS) and the principal investigator for the project, dubbed the Community-SPO Atlas of Canada’s Large Urban Centres. An expert in immigrant integration, Türegün knew there was a need to identify imbalances within the country’s urban geography.
“We know that Canada’s immigrants are not dispersed proportionately,” says Türegün. “If you go to any big city, you’ll find there’s a concentration of newcomers in certain neighbourhoods, and not in others. Our job was to find out if the services were following the people into those areas.”

Türegün started his quest by analyzing Statistics Canada’s 2006 census data for 48 large urban centres to determine immigrant settlement patterns and characteristics (e.g., ethnicity, mother tongue, citizenship, employment, and income). Added to that was data from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, which funded the project, detailing the types of immigrant-focused services available — everything from help with daily life, to language training and employment assistance.

Our job was to find out if the services were following the people

With so much information involved, transforming it all into an accessible and useful tool proved to be a challenge for the collaborative team, which included Dr. Colleen Lundy, a professor in Carleton’s School of Social Work and the Academic Director of CIMSS, and several grad students.

“The conceptual phase of the project took a long time,” explains Türegün. “We knew a traditional analysis would involve lots of paper, and we wanted something more interactive. A project of this scope really wouldn’t be possible without technology.”

Indeed, the project marks the first time GIS (geographic information system) technology was used for an immigration-related study of this scale, says Türegün. The sophisticated software allows for the comparative analysis of demographic and service data, as well as for generating detailed reports.

“The striking visual components of the atlas really give data life,” says Lundy. “It’s accessible and it offers one-stop shopping for users who want to search their own neighbourhood, or the entire group of 48 large urban centres where 93 per cent of the immigrant population live.”

With the ability to look closely at specific pockets of urban geography, Türegün found some unexpected patterns.

We’ve created a policy tool that can highlight gaps in services.

“When I looked at certain neighbourhoods here in Ottawa, I was surprised to see patches of heavy immigration, and no services. Without the visual aid of the atlas, it would have been impossible to know and understand the impact of this imbalance,” he says.

Türegün and Lundy estimate that the research will be used by a diverse audience of professors, students, service providers and policy makers at all levels of government who are looking to allocate resources effectively.

“Governments and social planning agencies make huge investments into communities across Canada, and yet they don’t know how these services are reaching people,” says Türegün. “We’ve created a policy tool that can highlight gaps in services.”

The atlas launched publicly at the end of March and a more formal launch is planned for the fall of 2012. Türegün and Lundy say they’re keen to hear feedback on the project, noting that some user suggestions may be incorporated down the line.

“I hope this program will make a difference in the way policy is made in this country and the way service is provided,” says Türegün. “We want to change immigrant outreach. That’s the ultimate hope.”

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