Project Team

This project is a partnership between Saint Mary's University and the Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement Association (MISA). Community outreach is one of the cornerstones of the Academic Plan of Saint Mary's University.  According to the SMU Academic Plan, the University sees itself as "uniquely committed to service to the local, regional, national and international communities, a commitment which it realizes through outreach activities, community-based research programs, and contributions to life-long learning." Specifically, the University seeks to develop community-based research partnerships, such as this project, and strengthen university-community collaboration.

The Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement Association (MISA) is a community- based organization in Halifax which welcomes newcomers and recognizes their essential role in Canada. Founded in 1980, MISA is the primary immigrant- serving agency in the Atlantic and offers a full range of programs for all categories of immigrants. These services include settlement and orientation support, language assessment, business and employment counselling, workshops and seminars. In addition to direct services for newcomers, MISA is also involved in community outreach including cross-cultural orientation, community development, and advocacy work with the public and private sectors.

Because this research is predicated on linkages with community partners, the project began with the establishment of important structures to facilitate university-community collaboration. Five groups made up the Project Team: (1) The (central) Research Team; (2) the Management Committee which included the Project Co-ordinator for the integrated project (that is the SWC and the Canadian Heritage components of the project); (3) Six Local Co-ordinators (one in each of the project's six sites) as heads of the local research teams; (4) Six Local Reference Groups (LRGs), mainly local research and advisory teams in the six cities consisting of the Local Co-ordinator (LC), a focus group facilitator, an interviewer and a number of other members up to a total of six paid members and a number of government representatives as volunteers; (5) an 18-member Regional Advisory Committee.