With funding support from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the Region of Peel in 2008 commissioned a series of discussion papers on key issues related to immigration. The completion of these papers was one of several key deliverables under the Region’s Immigration project. The others include the Peel Immigration Labour Market Survey and the development of ImmigrationPeel.ca, Peel’s immigration web portal.
The overarching purpose of the immigration project is to ensure that that Peel will be a welcoming community for current and future generations of newcomers so that they are able to live, work and feel part of an inclusive and prosperous community. Specifically, the Immigration project aims at creating a process to ensure the needs of newcomers are addressed in decisions about service delivery, advocacy and partnerships in Peel, including newcomers’ employment needs and the need of the local economy.
The titles of the papers along with a very brief description follow:
* Social Cohesion, Social Exclusion, Social Capital - addresses the dynamics of social interaction among people of different ethnic or racial groups, socioeconomic status and influence, and suggests strategies for effective inclusion.
* Meeting the Needs of Immigrants Throughout the Life Cycle - addresses the needs of immigrants and their families at different stages of their lives, and includes implications for child care and long-term care services.
* From Generation to Generation: Utilizing the Human Capital of Newcomer Parents to Benefit Families - looks at how we can build on the education and skills of parents to better ensure the successful integration of immigrant children and youth.
* Neighbourhood Patterns and Housing Choices of Immigrants - addresses the housing needs of immigrants, the factors that determine where they live and how ethnic enclaves affect, and are affected by, the fabric of neighbourhoods.
* Meeting the Human Service Needs of Immigrants - draws on the main findings of all the other papers to consider their implications for human service delivery in Peel. The paper looks at how existing services can be improved to better meet the needs of immigrants and puts forward specific recommendations that the Region may want to implement.
Each of these papers helps us to better understand the immigrant experience and offers a number of recommendations for how the Region of Peel, other sectors of society (public, private and non-profit) and individuals can help immigrants be successful in their new home and become fully integrated members of society. These recommendations have implications for all Regional services, the Region’s diversity strategy and all public services in Peel.
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