Retraite AMA Retreat 2004: Background discussion papers (i)	Français
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18-19 June 2004
Atlantic Baptist University
Moncton

You will find here comments, questions and points of view that were solicited in order to foster more fruitful discussions during the workshops. Each workshop will be preceded by a general session where various participants will comment the theme to be discussed; it is hoped that this will insure more open and inclusive workshops.

Theme 1: Intersectoral, interprovincial and intercommunity cooperation

An NGO Perspective

The purpose of this presentation is to focus on the importance of collaboration among stakeholders in the Atlantic Metropolis Centre of Excellence. The framework for this presentation, which emphasizes non-governmental organizations (NGOs), is the mission of the Atlantic Metropolis Atlantique (AMA), and its unique personnalité or distinctive characteristics.

This presentation takes into consideration the issues related to immigration, integration, population migration, and cultural diversity, while reflecting on bridging the gaps between Canada’s official languages and the languages of diverse indigenous and ethnocultural communities, rural and urban centres, and over fifteen universities in four provinces across a wide geographical area. This presentation concentrates on two main areas:

1. building partnerships with three levels of government (federal, provincial, and municipal), universities and colleges, and the three sectors of NGO and ethnocultural community organizations; and
2. strengthening the capacity of NGOs to work across provinces, sectors, and communities.

It is essential for NGOs to develop strong partnerships among themselves, as well as with research communities and the three levels of government because the outcomes of research and government policies affect the populations served by NGOs and community organizations. By partnering with universities and colleges, NGOs can assist researchers in identifying the problems and issues facing their communities. In addition, NGOs are often knowledgeable about the issues and can recommend potential research participants. Partnership with NGOs would involve recognizing and utilizing the knowledge, academic background, skills, and experiences which NGOs bring to the research agenda.

NGOs have worked with key stakeholders in the formation and establishment of the AMA; and their continued partnership with researchers, and the three levels of government would enrich the collection and analysis of research data, the dissemination of research findings, and the subsequent development of relevant policies. With this partnership, government policies and services would be better informed on the issues affecting the diverse multicultural and immigrant communities in the Atlantic region.

The AMA’s governance structure includes NGOs on its Board of Directors and all committees and research domains. This has made it possible for representation from the four Atlantic provinces. Each provincial representative can coordinate NGOs in his or her own province, and share information gathered as a result of this coordination with the other provinces. This model has been used effectively in existing Atlantic regional organizations. An Internet listserve of NGO stakeholders, and regular updates on NGO involvement in research activities would keep a continual flow of communication among NGOs in each of the four provinces. AMA’s domain leaders have started the process of identifying and contacting key stakeholders from the various sectors throughout the Atlantic region. This gives NGOs the opportunity to be involved in the initial stages of the decision-making process. In addition, conference calls and face-to-face meetings and conferences would strengthen this collaborative process. Considering that AMA is in its initial stages of establishment, it would be valuable to integrate a mechanism to monitor and evaluate this process, which would enrich its overall goals.

The principal purpose of the AMA is to produce policy-relevant research related to immigration, population migration, and cultural diversity. Partnership with the AMA would provide opportunities for NGOs to strengthen their capacity and capability to influence relevant government policies, programs and services affecting their diverse communities. The availability of documented evidence of research data on issues facing immigrants, refugees, indigenous and diverse communities gives the leverage NGO leaders need to advocate for policy changes or implementation of new government policies. By working together with researchers and government leaders, NGOs can ensure that diversity is reflected in all policies, programs, and services in Atlantic Canada.

Research on immigration issues tends to focus on large cities. National surveys generally leave out the Atlantic region, particularly Newfoundland and Labrador. Recently I requested some information on immigrant and refugee youth in Newfoundland and Labrador from one of the researchers of a National Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada. I was told that the number of participants in St. John’s was too small to produce reliable estimates. Collaboration between NGOs and ethnocultural communities, government and universities would ensure that issues affecting diverse and immigrant populations in small communities and rural areas in the Atlantic region are on the research agenda.

NGOs and ethnocultural communities in Newfoundland and Labrador are concerned about attracting and retaining immigrants and refugees, and issues related to out-migration and secondary migration, health care, employment, education, and strategies for enhancing business opportunities, and how to stimulate economic growth in rural areas. These issues are similar across the Atlantic region. The full participation of NGOs as equal partners with universities and governments would assist in bridging the gaps between the four Atlantic provinces, as well as other sectors.
(Lloydetta Quaicoe, NGO Representative, Program and Dissemination Committee, and Education Domain)

Questions for the workshop

Theme 2: Knowledge Mobilization

Few universities see knowledge transfer as an integral part of their core mission. They have come to emphasize it in the natural sciences because there is money to be made from commercializing research and because the federal government has tied its funding for indirect costs to commercialization performance. But thus far nothing equivalent has emerged for the human sciences, except perhaps in Québec. The widespread impression is that today's mass media, particularly English language publications other than the Globe and Mail, do not routinely look to academics to prepare articles that clarify the complexities of an issue or provide background information putting the issue into broader context. Compared to the US, Canada has fewer think tanks and knowledge based foundations to mine, integrate and move knowledge out when needed. […]

What will force this knowledge "mobilization" to happen more and more is the information revolution. What has changed most radically in the world of research over the last decade are the technologies of dissemination and access. It is now possible to collect, process, stock and disseminate enormous quantities of data in ways hitherto unimaginable. Although there are still issues around cross national data standards and protocols, the fact is we can link existing databases in many fields in different countries and carry out large scale, integrated, comparative analyses. We can create virtual laboratories that link up large numbers of research teams on a worldwide network, such as the experiment the NSF is undertaking on violence, linking up people from psychology, criminology, economics, statistics, biology and literature. And, above all, we can build communities of practice and not just share knowledge but get it to evolve more rapidly.
(Marc Renaud, “Universities: Change is Mandatory; Survival is Optional; Choose Wisely,” Fred A. Aldrich Lecture, February 24, 2004)

Theme 3 : Research: Linking the Regional, National and Transnational Perspectives

Given the concern to attract and retain immigrants to Atlantic Canada and because of the multiple perspectives and transnational influences in immigrants lives, it becomes imperative to consider how immigrants and potential immigrants understand, evaluate and commit to Canada and its regions, and what their evaluations are based on. We have very little research knowledge about how Canada figures in the imaginations of potential immigrants to Canada and whether immigrants consider multiple destinations in Canada before settling into their communities of residence. There is some evidence in existing research that immigrants draw upon social networks, kin and community based, as they negotiate the migration process and identify potential destinations for settlement. But much of this research has been completed after immigrants have settled in major urban centres with concentrated immigrant populations and takes for granted that immigrants are drawn to such centres because of the economic and cultural opportunities made possible in such diverse contexts. There is little in this research that questions the im/migrants decision making process in a transnational comparative light, seeking to understanding what other factors are at play in the migration decision making process through a deeper time line.

Relevant questions include:
• How are different regions and associated identities in the Canadian landscape represented and compared in the communication processes that potential immigrants and newcomers engage with?
• What role do various agents familial and institutional play in guiding immigrants' settlement decisions prior to and after arrival in Canada?
• Are diasporic and/or transnational networks important in this process?
• What is the significance for contemporary immigrants of the presence of previous generations of immigrants from the same regions of the world?
• Do differing groups of immigrants (broken down not just by national origin but also by class, occupation, gender, etc.) seek different economic, social, and cultural features in their Canadian destinations?
• What roles do immigrants' families and their expectations play in immigrant decision making?
• How important are perceptions about the retention of immigrant cultural identities relative to other considerations (economic, social, political)?
• Do immigrants perceive some communities to be hostile and others more receptive to immigrants?
• Why do some immigrants stay in Atlantic communities while others move on?

Theme 4: Gender

The gender/immigrant women research domain provides a unique entry point to identify issues of particular relevance to immigrant women that might otherwise be overlooked. The objective is to provide a regional and national focus and a clearing-house for gender-based analysis of immigration and diversity. The domain engages in gender-based analysis of research questions emerging from the 12 federal priorities for policy-oriented research on immigration and integration and aims at ensuring that such questions take into account gender and immigrant women’s experiences.

Workshops questions include:
• What is “gender ”¹?
• What is gender-based analysis?
• Economics without gender?
• How central gender is in the migration process?
• The government’s position on gender – based analysis in research and policy (government guidelines, international agreements)
• Showcasing diverse research centres’ and organizations’ treatment of gender in migration
• The centrality of gender in refugee research
• Discussion of proposed Atlantic Metropolis Centre general and cross-cutting principle: “All research should be non-discriminatory. The policies and concepts developed from projects should work equally well for women as for men.”

1. “gender refers to the socio-cultural construction of roles and relationships between men and women. In describing socio-cultural construction, gender analysis considers other social structures such as race, ethnicity, class and caste. Gender roles and relationships are the assigned activities and relative position in society of men and women. These help to determine access to opportunities and resources based on local cultural perceptions of masculinity and femininity. […]These roles are constructed through forces such as culture, tradition, politics, and need, varying from culture to culture, and often from one social group to another within the same culture (according to characteristics such as class, ethnicity, race, age, caste, and marital status). Recognizing that relationships are gendered allows for the issue of power to be addressed.” (http://archive.idrc.ca/gender/tool.html)

Theme 5 : Diversity

The concept of diversity is a key element of the questioning around matters relating to immigration and integration in the context of globalization. The importance of the notion of diversity and related questions is the focal point of Metropolis’ mandate : “Metropolis promotes academic research on diversity and migration related topics and its effective use by policy makers in the development of strategies for managing those issues […]”(http://canada.metropolis.net)

Although the concept of diversity is often thought of in cultural terms, it refers first of all to the notion of multiplicity : cultural and linguistic multiplicity of course, but also multiple origins, mentalities as well as social and economic complexities. The concept then brings us its corollaries, such as specificity (personal, community, national, etc.), identity of Self and Other, and interaction between different milieux, be they cultural, linguistic, social, etc. The study of diversity, synchronic or diachronic, reminds us also that society, culture and the economy are dynamic realities that change and evolve over time. Research on diversity should therefore examine processes of change, and the factors that favour or impede change.

More specifically, the Language, Culture and Diversity Domain has identified three objectives that can also serve as food for thought during the workshop :

1. the cultural and linguistic contact and interaction between the communauté d’accueil* and immigrants can be studied in order to identify potential for developing creative thinking and positive integration as well as reciprocal cultural transfers
2. the diverse representations of the Other in literature, art, school programs and manuals, etc.. can be studies in order to better understand the factors that affect these representations, and thus facilitate the processus d’accueil** of immigrants
3. research in this domain also focuses on the conditions d’accueil of immigrants within a francophone minority group – the Acadians - with a strong ethnic sense of identity, a group whose capacity for accueil* and integration can seem limited by the absence of an “identity citoyenne” linked to the existence of a clear political structure and a territory. This research seeks to better understand the contribution migration and immigration can bring to the necessary evolution of Acadian identity.

(Hélène Destrempes, Language, Culture and Identity)

Background discussion papers (ii): THE METROPOLIS PROJECT: An Overview