Bill Walters Executive Director Immigrant Integration Branch

1. Welcoming and Inclusive Communities and Workplaces:The role of immigration in community and regional economic development Bill WaltersExecutive DirectorImmigrant Integration Branch Thompson/Okanagan/Kootenay Region Kelowna, June 23, 2009

2. Overview of the Presentation • WelcomeBC Overview • Welcoming and Inclusive Communities and Workplaces Program (WICWP) • Creating a Common Vision • Stages of the Journey • Survey Results • WICWP Program Elements and Initiatives • Conceptual Frameworks • Conclusions

3. *WelcomeBC: a Strategic Framework Vision British Columbia is home to welcoming and inclusive communities where: • newcomers choose to settle and can achieve their full potential; • multiculturalism is valued and celebrated; and • racism is eliminated. *Launched in June 2007

4. WelcomeBC Principles • BC is committed to providing the best settlement and integration services possible • Integration is a two-way process, which involves commitment on the part of newcomers to adapt to life in Canada and on the part of Canadians to welcome and adapt to new people and cultures • Newcomers should become economically self-sufficient and be able to participate in the social dimensions of life in BC • The ability of newcomers to communicate in one of Canada’s official languages is key to integration • Communities in BC are essential to ensuring that newcomers have opportunities to participate in and contribute to the economic and social life of BC • Newcomers and communities should share the principles, traditions and values that are inherent in Canadian society, such as freedom, equality and participatory democracy

5. WelcomeBC Goals (and objectives) Building a strong foundation for immigrant success • Using English in daily life and in the labour market • Participating in the labour market • Participating in community life Creating welcoming and inclusive communities • Welcoming and supporting newcomers • Supporting multiculturalism and addressing racism

6. WelcomeBC Programs BC Settlement and Adaptation Program • The primary goal of BCSAP is to support the successful settlement and adaptation of new immigrants and refugees to British Columbia Welcoming and Inclusive Communities and Workplaces Program • Inclusive, welcoming and vibrant communities in British Columbia where immigrants can realize their full potential, racism is eliminated and cultural diversity is valued and celebrated

7. Family is the reason why many come and quality of life is why many remain • Top reasons for staying permanently • Quality of life • Positive future prospects for family • To be close to family and friends • Top reasons for choosing to come to Canada • Improve future for family • Join family or close friends • Education opportunity 4 years later… Source: Stats Canada Longitudinal Survey of Immigrant to Canada, Wave 1

8. Family, friends and job prospects equally important reasons behind settlement in smaller areas Three most important reasons of settlement choice for economic class principal applicants • Vancouver: • Family and friends 41.3% • Climate 20.0% • Lifestyle 11.7% • Montreal: • Family and friends 31.3% • Language 18.5% • Job prospects 15.8% • Toronto: • Family and friends 49.7% • Job prospects 23.4% • Lifestyle 4.9% • All other CMAs and non-CMAs • Family and friends 35.6% • Job prospects 32.3% • Education prospects 12.1% Source: Longitudinal Survey of Immigrant to Canada, Wave 1

9. Immigrant Integration Branch WICWP Logic Model

10. Long Term Outcomes of WICWP • Ultimate outcomes a program desires to achieve or the most removed benefits that the program can reasonably expect to influence • An enriched and strengthened cultural and social fabric of Canadian society where there is support for the equality of all Canadians in the economic, social, cultural and political life of Canada • Communities and workplaces are vibrant and inclusive • Immigrant newcomers view all BC communities as being welcoming destinations • Community adopts integration as a two-way process, which involves commitment on the part of newcomers to adapt to life in Canada and on the part of Canadians to welcome and adapt to new people and cultures • Public institutions and workplaces reflect the diversity of the population

11. Creating a Common Vision (with appealing benefits) Sample of suggestions from a community forum held in Metro Vancouver (June 2008) • A safe, friendly community • Ready access to housing, food, shelter for all • Everyone’s assets and skills are welcomed and used • People living together and supporting each other at an individual and community level • Shared community spaces that allow for interaction – e.g., community gardens, healing centres, welcoming centres, block parties • Removing not just the physical walls that separate people, but also the emotional, social and psychological walls • Respect for who immigrants are and vice versa • Intercultural representation on government and community bodies and institutions Summary of emerging dimensions: personal, public space, systemic From “Creating Welcoming & Inclusive Communities: What Will it Take?”

12. Stages of the Journey and Key Activities *From “WelcomeBC.ca Project Customer Segmentation Final Report” (not published)

13. Survey Results by Stage (n=452) *From “WelcomeBC.ca Project Customer Segmentation Final Report” (not published)

14. Survey Results by Segment (n=452) *From “WelcomeBC.ca Project Customer Segmentation Final Report” (not published)

15. WICWP Program Elements

16. Current Community Engagement in WICWP • 30 B.C. communities engaged; between 5 and 30 organizations per community depending on population size • 52 organizations providing leadership • 29 organizations in community partnership development • 38 organizations qualified for knowledge development and exchange • 37 organizations qualified for public education • 38 organizations qualified for demonstration projects

17. Current Community Engagement in WICWP • Lower Mainland/Greater Vancouver/Sunshine Coast = 27 organizations • Vancouver Island = 6 organizations • Central Interior = 10 organizations • North = 5 organizations • Province-wide initiatives = 3 organizations

18. Examples of WICWP Projects and Initiatives • Building Welcoming and Inclusive Neighbourhoods (13 Neighbourhood Houses) • Safe Harbour (28 communities and 540 safe harbour locations) • Community Dialogues (10 communities) • Multicultural Health Fairs • Research/Surveys of perceptions and attitudes

19. Placing WICWP Within an Appropriate Conceptual Framework 1.Urban Social Sustainability Sample definitions: • Development that is compatible with the harmonious evolution of civil society, fostering an environment conducive to the compatible cohabitationof culturally and socially diverse groups while at the same time encouraging social inclusion, with improvements in the quality of lifefor all segments of the population ( Polese and Stren, 2000) • Cities achieve social sustainability when citizens’ basic needs are met, when they have equal access to opportunities, when people live together in harmony and when everyone is able and welcome to participate fully in the economic, social and political life of the community. A sustainable city is a city that is fully inclusive. ... Inclusion means that each person’s participation and contributions are welcomed, recognized, and valued ( Orloff, 2005) From WICWP Research Framework (Wachtel, 2008)

20. Placing WICWP Within an Appropriate Conceptual Framework 2. Workplace Employee Engagement • Various models aimed at improving organizational productivity and/or profitability • Often uses survey methodology • Follow up actions can include: working through the results; using the results to start conversations; making changes strategically; supporting each other through the change

21. Conclusions • Requires a common vision with appealing benefit statements • Common elements along the journey • Stakeholders may be at different points of the journey • Range of elements: from the personal to the systemic • Comparative frameworks: Urban Social Sustainability, Workplace Engagement • Welcoming and inclusive communities are for everybody, not just the newly arrived

22. Thank you! Bill Walters Immigrant Integration Branch Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development 5th Floor, 605 Robson Street Vancouver, B.C. V6B 5J3 Telephone: (604) 660-2203 Fax: (604) 775-0670 E-mail: ALMD.IIB@gov.bc.ca Website: www.WelcomeBC.ca