Findings

Pre-migration and arrival in Canada
The first six months
Choosing where to live and finding a home
Adapting to a new linguistic environment
Maintaining health
Building on education and training
Finding employment
Making ends meet
Settling in a new country
Challenges to integration

Pre-migration and arrival in Canada

Immigrants have different reasons for leaving their homeland and as a result, arrive in Canada with different resources. They bring with them their individual sets of skills, experiences, and backgrounds – their personal resources – that we can loosely classify as their human capital (i.e. education, employment skills, and language ability); social networks (i.e. friends or relatives in Canada); and financial capital that they have brought with them or left behind. More >>

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The first six months

During their first few years in Canada , immigrants set about the process of integration: adapting and settling into a new environment, and finding housing, employment, health care, and schools for themselves or their children. Newcomers face many challenges as they engage in their settlement and integration activities. These include learning or becoming more fluent in one or both of Canada 's official languages; having their previous education and skills accredited and recognized; accessing education and training opportunities. More >>

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Choosing where to live and finding a home

Finding suitable housing is an important settlement requirement. Securing accommodation allows immigrants to focus on other key settlement activities such as finding employment, education or training, or fulfilling other ambitions. While family and friends may influence where immigrants choose to settle, vacancy rates and housing costs may determine the type of accommodation in which immigrants will live. More >>

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Adapting to a new linguistic environment

For new immigrants to Canada , knowledge of one or both official languages is closely tied to their economic and social success. Immigrants who are able to converse in one of Canada 's official languages have higher employment rates and better incomes.

Conversely, lack of linguistic knowledge can be a major obstacle to such things as accessing education, employment and health care services. Many factors influence an immigrant's knowledge of either English or French upon arrival including: country of last permanent residence, mother tongue, immigration category, age and education. More >>

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Maintaining health

Good physical and emotional health is important and may impact how new immigrants handle the many challenges of moving to a new country, such as looking for a job, finding a place to live, etc.

Conversely, the settlement process is stressful and may affect the health of new immigrants and thus their integration into Canadian society. In this chapter, different aspects of health will be examined, such as health status, prevalence of health problems, use of health care and access to health care services. More >>

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Building on education and training

The literature suggests a strong relationship between pre-migration level of education and immigrant integration after landing. The broad conclusions are that the more educated eventually fare better in terms of labour force participation, employment and earnings than those with less education. More >>

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Finding employment

Participation in the labour force is an important indicator of settlement. It is associated with economic integration, financial independence and with social integration. It is regarded by most immigrants of working age as central to their successful settlement. The Canadian public often expresses strong expectations with respect to newcomers' labour force achievements. More >>

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Making ends meet

A new immigrant's overall financial situation is determined by several factors including savings brought to Canada , personal and family income sources (e.g., employment earnings, government transfers) and assets. Within this chapter, savings brought to Canada , personal and family income, loans, and the newcomers' self-assessment of their financial situation after six months in Canada are briefly explored. More >>

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Settling in a new country

Immigrants face a variety of challenges when they move to a new country. Their initial experiences may impact their decisions to settle permanently. As such, successful integration is mutually beneficial for both the immigrant and the host country. Through this process, immigrants become more self-sufficient, productive and are more readily able to contribute to Canadian society. More >>

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Challenges to integration

The previous chapters have outlined characteristics of the immigrants from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC) and some of their experiences since arrival. This chapter examines problems or difficulties immigrants encountered during the initial six months, looking specifically at finding accommodations, finding a job, accessing health care and accessing education or training. More >>