Maytree Conversations

(with notes from Bonnie Mah)

We know that immigrants overwhelmingly choose to settle in cities and metropolitan areas. This is confirmed by the latest Statistics Canada numbers. Between July 2011 and 2012, census metropolitan areas (CMA) received 92% of immigrants to Canada.

The numbers also tell of a different trend. While Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver MTV continue to be the main magnets for immigrants (in 2011-2012, approximately 60% of all immigrants to Canada settled in one of these CMAs), immigration has become increasingly important for smaller cities. Yes, the number of immigrants settling in smaller cities is still relatively small, but the proportion of immigrants going to smaller cities has increased from 5% in 2001-2002 to 8% in 2011-2012.

This trend towards smaller cities is even more prevalent in many small CMAs in western Canada and the prairies (e.g.Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Calgary and Edmonton) which are attracting a large proportion of immigrants. In fact, between 2001-2002 and 2011-2012, the share of immigrants settling in these five CMAs nearly tripled, from 7% to 20%.

This trend to smaller cities isn’t entirely surprising. We’ve seen reports about immigrants moving out of Toronto, for example, to smaller centres.

Not all regions are experiencing the same trend. Economic regions in Western Canada (especially Alberta and Saskatchewan) are experiencing the highest population growth, while Atlantic Canada recorded the lowest growth. According to the latest numbers, immigration is the main driver of population growth in more than one-third of economic regions – e.g. Montreal, Winnipeg, Toronto, Saskatoon-Biggar, Regina-Moose Mountain, Vancouver, and Halifax.

What does this mean for cities?

This confirms that cities are critical integration actors. It means that all cities, small and large, need to take a look at how they attract, welcome and include newcomers. In Ontario, small and large municipalities have been creating immigration portals to ensure that newcomers find, choose and stay in their cities.

Cities of all sizes need to understand the importance of attracting, welcoming and have immigrants grow roots in their communities. And we can help.

Our Cities of Migration site focuses on sharing good ideas about integrating immigrants in cities. We’ve just completed a series of publications, Good Ideas from Successful Cities: Municipal Leadership in Immigrant Integration, that all cities should read.

The series highlights more than 70 promising practices from cities in Europe, North America,Australia and New Zealand. Some of the featured cities are old hands at integration – such as Toronto, London, and New York. Others you may find more surprising – such as Newport News, Richmond Hill, Valongo. The final publication applies a policy lens, looking at what good practices can tell us about the role of local governments in immigrant integration. Four international experts have contributed analysis and policy insights on the range of municipal levers available to promote both immigrants and city success.

It’s also practical. We’ve made specific recommendations for local governments and community partners. We think you’ll find them useful.

Related:

• Good Ideas from Successful Cities: Municipal Leadership in Immigrant Integration
• Practice to Policy: Lessons from Local Leadership on Immigrant Integration (full report, PDF)
• Good Ideas from Successful Cities: Municipal Leadership in Immigrant Integration (PDF)
• Taking It to the Streets: A Municipal Role in Immigrant Integration
• Recommendations for Local Governments and Community Partners
• From Practice to Policy

Statistics Canada glossary notes:

What is a CMA? A CMA must have a total population of at least 100,000 of which 50,000 or more must live in the core. Slightly more than two-thirds of the Canadian population live in CMAs.

What is an economic region? An economic region is a group of census divisions (counties and their equivalents) that are grouped together to analyze their regional economic activity.

(originally posted on the Intercultural Innovation Award site)

On the occasion of International Migrants Day, it is important to remember that 214 million migrants from all corners of the globe are in search of a better life, safety and security. And just as they did in the last century, they will look overwhelmingly to urban regions as the place to realize their dreams and aspirations. As they locate to cities in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa, they will bring with them energy, vibrancy and the will to survive and succeed, which, if successfully tapped, will release social, cultural and economic benefits for all.

Today, immigration, migration and integration are part of the language we use to describe a much larger story about the increasingly fluid movement of people, markets, culture and language across borders and time zones to large urban centers. In an era of globalization and unprecedented urban growth, that story can be about open, inclusive cities that are creating a palpable sense of excitement and opportunity. Or it can be a story of tension and alienation that can be passed along to the second and even third generation. When integration is done well, it fuels economic growth, spurs innovation and talent renewal, creates new knowledge and promotes an open, richer and more cohesive social fabric. When it is done poorly, the results are costly and far more complex.

Cities have a critical role to play in integrating newcomers, engaging their residents, and creating opportunities and a sustainable future for all. Regardless of national narratives or policy frameworks, the lived experience of integration is inherently local. The quality of the welcome experienced by migrants has a huge influence on their future success and, ultimately, on the prosperity of our cities.

Cities are where immigrants prefer to live, work, study, play and raise their families. Cities are where they experience integration or exclusion, with results that impact not just the migrant, but also the local community. Local actors and local institutions – such as city governments, local businesses, community and civil sector organizations, schools, libraries, and parks – can play a powerful and positive role in immigrant integration.

City governments especially have a critical role to play. As policy makers, democratic institutions, service providers, major employers and buyers of goods and services, local governments must set the standards for the private and civil sectors.

For example, in Dublin (Ireland), all residents, including non-citizens, have the right to vote in local elections. Noting the low voter participation in migrant communities, Dublin’s City Council’s Office for Integration launched the Migrant Voter’s Project, which has young leaders in immigrant communities deliver voter education to their peers.

In many communities, everyday activities like opening a bank account can be challenging for residents with irregular legal status. What’s more, they are more vulnerable to crime and less likely to approach the police due to their lack of identity documents. The City of New Haven (United States) created a municipal identity card for all residents, regardless of immigration status or age. With this universal identity card, the city increased community safety and made a clear statement that all residents are valued and full participants in city life.

Local governments around the world work to ensure that immigrant entrepreneurs have the opportunity to set up businesses that will contribute to the local economy. For example, in Helsinki (Finland), EnterpriseHelsinki is a free business counselling service for entrepreneurs whose client base is 35% immigrants – triple the share of their general population. In Vienna (Austria), the Mingo (“move in and grow”) Migrant Enterprises program offers multilingual services to ensure that immigrant entrepreneurs have the information and advice they need to succeed.

Fortunately, cities need not act alone. Local actors in cities around the world put out the welcome mat for immigrants, and recognize immigration as an asset, rather than as a problem to be solved. They are using innovative new ideas alongside tested, proven methods. These leaders encourage integration in many places – in workplaces, boardrooms, classrooms, parks and public offices.

For example, the DiverseCity onBoard program in Toronto (Canada) connects qualified, pre-screened candidates from visible minority and immigrant communities with the governance bodies of public agencies, boards and commissions, and civil sector organizations. The initiative is now being replicated in 20 cities around the world.

Local, neighbourhood level initiatives can have broad impact. The Walking School Bus in Auckland (New Zealand) brings together neighbours of all stripes for a common goal: get children to school. Like a motorized bus, the Walking School Bus travels at a set time, with set stops, and is supervised by an adult volunteer. This program provides parents – particularly new immigrant parents – with the opportunity to get to know each other, gives children a safe and healthy way to get to school, and reduces traffic congestion and pollution near schools. This good idea is being replicated in Waterloo (Canada) and Victoria (Australia).

These are just a few examples of the good work that local actors and local governments are doing to further immigrant integration in their cities.

As we look ahead to the new year, let us look to each other for inspiration. Learn what other cities are doing that could be adapted to or replicated in your city. Share what you’ve learned in your own city with others.

We have the power to make sure that immigrants are welcomed, protected and encouraged to succeed – we must resolve to use it.

Related:

• Cities of Migration
• DiverseCity onBoard
• It takes a city to integrate newcomers
• Alan Broadbent on cities and international collaboration
• Cities of Migration shares Toronto’s diversity experience with the world

(Photo credit: Stiftung Polytechnische Gesellschaft)

In early October, Toronto Community Foundation (TCF) released its yearly Vital Signs report. It provides a great snapshot of how our city is doing in a number of important measures of city livability.

How are we doing?

The answer from TCF’s President and CEO, Rahul K. Bhardwaj, is: not too bad. But, those living the most precariously among us are not faring well. There is still much to do to make our city a better place to live for all of us.

As TCF’s message states: “Knowing what we know, we must plan for what’s coming. We would be wise to reject simplistic solutions and short term fixes for our complex problems, and trade in short-term spending for long-term investment. We must move beyond old patterns and embrace new voices and new approaches for the challenges ahead. We have what it takes to be so much more than a city that is just ‘not too bad.’”

You can, of course, interpret the data for yourself. And you should.

View highlights of Rahul’s speech:

What is to be done?

Toronto’s low income neighbourhoods have increased, and we are experiencing a disappearing middle class and unbelievable inequality in the city. We’re looking at a city that has 43%, or 1 million people, living in low or very low income neighbourhoods. Two-thirds of them are visible minorities.

Rahul suggested that we need to change our idea of what success looks like.

Given that we’re not moving forward on issues of economic inequality, TCF is advocating we change our definitions of success. At the report release, Rahul suggested that we need to replace GDP as our only measure of success, and include livability and happiness indices. While economic progress is critical to alleviate poverty, he suggested that solely focusing on GDP is not helpful.

Using a predominantly economic lens hasn’t brought us happiness and equality. We need new models. We need a balance and need to move from a paradigm of “winner take all” to one that recognizes “we’re all in this together.”

Rahul recommended that we look at the idea of creating a livable city and borrow the model used in the World Happiness Report.

While we have much work to do, we also have much to celebrate and share with others. According to Rahul: “We’re at a turning point in history when many cities of the world are turning to us to provide the example of how they can become more livable. Now that the world is taking notice, I believe we’ve got an obligation to show them not only what we stand for, but what we are prepared to stand up for.”

Building a happy Toronto means a city that moves, works and lives

Moves

• Focus on transit and infrastructure, commuting and moving goods and services.
• We are moving others by our example – visiting experts want to know how we do it (we’re a “petri dish” for diversity).

Works

• Our productivity measures are positive, let’s also look an ingenuity.
• We need to work well and collaborate with each other. MaRS and Regent Park are emerging examples.

Lives

• We need to be committed to sustainability. The city has made environmental progress with green jobs, eco schools, etc. – we can’t let up.
• Having fun is important, with cultural events, parks, recreation, arts, etc.

We have to move quickly on our challenges, focused on the long-term. Too many are not sharing in Toronto’s prosperity. Too many of them are racialized and newcomers.

According to Rahul, we have the tools, talent and traits to be a top city. We need to adopt a new attitude towards each other and the city. And he left us with a to-do list. One that Maytree is already hard at work on:

• Celebrate our success and what we can learn from each other (DiverseCity onBoard, Cities of Migration).
• Inject long-term thinking into policy (our Policy Insights/Reports/Discussion Papers, Five Good Ideas, our support of the Caledon Institute, Tamarack Institute).
• Show we’re all in this together, changing our attitude, with happiness as a new measure of success (Building Blocks).

Rahul expanded on his ideas at the recent Yonge Talks panel:

Related:

• Read Vital Signs reports from cities across Canada

Or, rather, cities learning from each other.

As we welcome the world to Toronto next week for our DiverseCity onBoard Learning Exchange, we are also sharing Good Ideas in immigrant integration from around the world.

Maytree’s Cities of Migration staff are in Baltimore at the National Immigrant Integration Conference (NIIC). This year, they brought copies of our latest publication, Good Ideas from Successful Cities: Municipal Leadership in Immigrant Integration.

Compiling nearly 40 international good practices from cities across Canada, the US, Europe and Australasia, Good Ideas showcases why municipal leadership on integration matters.

We’re sharing these good ideas for a simple and compelling reason. They’re examples of integration done well. They help fuel economic growth, spur innovation and talent renewal, create new knowledge, and promote an open, richer and more inclusive social fabric. Through ideas such as these, new forms of social, economic, cultural and political capital create benefits for thriving urban communities globally.

As Alan Broadbent, Chairman of Maytree, writes:

“Cities know and feel both urbanization and immigration profoundly. At the national and sub-national levels, urbanization and immigration are policy issues. At worst, they become xenophobic political issues as politicians stir fear of immigrants. At the municipal level, though, they are primary lived experience. And at the city level is where we find the political and community voices that embrace immigrants, knowing they bring strength, vitality, and innovation. So at the municipal level, in our cities and urban regions, managing the settlement and inclusion of newcomers is vital.”

Ratna Omidvar has spoken frequently about the essential and unique role cities have to play in the welcoming and successful integration of newcomers. As she says, “Cities are uniquely positioned to learn from each other and to import, replicate, adapt ideas… Done well, integration creates great benefits.”

The city government that understands this will ensure local, regional and national prosperity.

Related:

• Good Ideas from Successful Cities: Municipal Leadership in Immigrant Integration
• Alan Broadbent on cities and international collaboration
• The Three I’s of Immigration Integration
• Cities of Migration shares Toronto’s diversity experience with the world

Alan Broadbent, Maytree’s Chair, recently presented at the Vancouver Urban Forum. Video and a text summary of his presentation are available below.

“Cities have been left with constitutional arrangements, with insufficient powers, with little fiscal resilience, and with weak governance structures… They rely on the kindness of strangers. But very often these strangers, which very often are the other two levels of government, the provinces and the federal government, have different agendas and they have different priorities and they have different pressures. And this really leaves cities in the state that they have no real control over their destinies… The new deal for cities has to not be about handouts, but about taking some control of our destiny and some responsibility for it… If not, Canada will continue to pay a high price for having governmental arrangements that are so comprehensively out of step with our future challenges.”

Watch the video and read the notes below for some of Alan’s ideas, solutions and what we can learn from other jurisdictions.

(Summary notes by Jennifer Giesbrecht & Michael Wallberg)

“Every time I’ve met him, my life has changed,” said host Sam Sullivan of the next speaker, Alan Broadbent. Founder of the Maytree Foundation and Caledon Institute of Social Policy, and author of the book “Urban Nation,” this longtime advocate for poverty and immigration challenged the VUF audience to re-conceptualize the modern Canadian city.

He began by reminding everyone that one hundred and forty-five years ago, Canada was 80 percent rural. Now it’s 80 percent urban. Unlike the old days, Canada’s metropolitan areas are now responsible for the wellbeing of sizeable and diverse demographic groups — a situation that no longer suits traditional government arrangements.

According to Broadbent, the strongest evidence that the current system is extremely out of date is the gross overrepresentation of rural areas in both the federal and provincial legislatures. With representation of certain rural areas reaching an alarming ratio of 50-1, Broadbent lamented that urban issues are frequently brushed aside in current political debates, even though they require some of the most urgent attention.

Broadbent also stressed that, due to the current constitutional arrangements, cities are much too over-reliant on property taxes, a relatively inflexible revenue source that leaves them prone to economic distortions.

Another imbalance Broadbent pointed out is that Canadian cities today carry great burdens in the areas of health care, education and immigration yet enjoy none of the associated decision-making power. Broadbent stressed that, to properly support the urban population, these arrangements must change.

Although Broadbent acknowledged that new powers would also come with new and difficult obligations such as increased municipal taxation, he also described a number of success stories in Europe and the U.S. where urban communities provided overwhelming support for municipal projects. While these stories were quite inspiring, however, Broadbent still warned that if Canada does not upgrade its constitutional arrangements, these may be the very cities that leave us in their dust.

Related links:

• Urban Nation: Why We Need to Give Power Back to the Cities to Make Canada Strong
• Promoting practical policies for a stronger Canada – insights from Alan Broadbent and Sherri Torjman
• Webinar recording: Urban Nation with Alan Broadbent
• City for Tomorrow

In September 2011, Alan Broadbent met with a number of civic leaders in New Zealand to talk about various urban issues.

He met with:

• Len Brown, the Mayor of Auckland, where they discussed transit funding;
• Bob Parker, the Mayor of Christchurch, where they talked about the rebuilding of the city following the devastating earthquakes (including funding for transit and housing);
• Roger Sutton, the CEO of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Agency, the national special purpose organization coordinating the response and recovery efforts; and
• Civic leaders from the Hawkes Bay Community Foundation, where they discussed a strategic approach to their work in the cities in the area.

Living legend Sam Strahan

Recently, we spoke to Alan about his trip.

Alan offers his insights and observations from his meetings, including the experience of being in Christchurch, as it starts to think strategically about rebuilding post-earthquake.

In addition to the above focus, Alan also spoke about Maytree’s relationship with New Zealand Tindall’s Foundation, ideas that have travelled from Canada to New Zealand (and some that might travel back), developing stronger urban voices and the importance of learning and sharing from other cities and countries.

Listen (21:29):

Related links:

• Living Legends – Rugby stars from the famous New Zealand “All Blacks” volunteering at local community projects (a good idea that could travel to Canada)
• Inspiring Communities – a New Zealand version of the Tamarack Institute’s Vibrant Communities project
• OMEGA – the TRIEC model travelled to New Zealand and was replicated locally as OMEGA
• Sustainable city development – the Stockholm example (PDF) – Alan mentions this example as something cities should look to for inspiration
• Cities of Migration’s Good Ideas in immigrant integration from New Zealand

(Living legend photo courtesy of Trevor Gray, Tindall Foundation)

By Sherri Torjman and Ken Battle. Sherri is vice-president and Ken is president of the Caledon Institute of Social Policy in Ottawa.

There is no excuse for the shocking violence taking place on the streets of London. The rioters and looters have destroyed the livelihoods of many innocent, hard-working people who must now — in their words — “start their lives from scratch.”

While there are no excuses, there certainly are explanations for these angry rampages.

For years, a burgeoning body of international literature has been warning about the potential unrest bubbling beneath the surface of so-called “prosperous” societies. Ironically, the roots of this work derive from a decades-old, landmark study of public servants in the U.K.

The pioneering British research concluded that the psychological and physical damage resulting from being at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder can be devastating. Civil servants in the junior ranks were three times more likely to die in a year than colleagues from senior ranks, with a sliding gradation from top to bottom. Life prospects were far better at the top.

The U.K. results have stood the test of time. Subsequent findings have shown that social status has a powerful effect on health and well-being. Exhaustive evidence from around the world leads to the same conclusion: extreme inequality is bad for both individuals and nations.

Societies marked by significant inequality sooner or later pay the price. Regardless of a nation’s wealth, it will be more dysfunctional, violent and unhealthy from both physical and emotional perspectives if the gap between income groups grows too wide.

Governments ignore this evidence at their peril. As the new safe harbour in the worldwide financial storm, Canadians risk complacency about the state of their own economic waters.

At last count in 2009, close to 3.2 million — one in 10 Canadians — lived on low incomes. This national average masks the fact that certain groups, including aboriginal people, recent immigrants and persons with disabilities, face an even greater risk of poverty. These are the households that spend a disproportionate amount of their limited income on the basics of food, clothing and shelter. Every day is a stressful struggle just to get by. They choose between feeding the kids and paying the rent.

Yet there is more to poverty than just being poor. Who gets how much is an equally crucial factor.

Recent numbers should be a wake-up call to all developed nations. Over the past quarter century, earnings of the wealthy in Canada grew by 16 per cent while those of the poor dropped by 21 per cent. The same pattern of widening divide has been seen throughout the industrialized world.

Governments have a crucial role to play in fighting the growing gap. Fortunately, there are several key levers at their disposal to tackle the problem.

Income security programs and a progressive income tax system narrow the gap between Canada’s poor and well-off by raising low incomes and counteracting the rising inequality rooted in employment earnings, private pensions and investments. The foundations to tackle poverty and inequality do not have to be built — just built upon.

But tackling poverty and inequality are not the only required responses. Implementing measures that target social exclusion is equally important. Social exclusion is a concept that gets very little airtime — except when it rears its ugly head in the form of violent riots.

A sense of exclusion derives from feelings of limited opportunity. There is nothing to gain — and nothing to lose. Those who write off social exclusion as a “woolly concept” of concern only to bleeding hearts must now pay attention — to the bleeding heads on the streets.

Confronting racism and systemic discrimination is a key step. Racialized Canadians, aboriginal people and persons with disabilities have been on the sidebars of society for far too long. Decent affordable housing is a long-acknowledged need. Jobs, recreational opportunities and a voice in local decisions all are vital remedies to tackling social exclusion.

And the solutions must go beyond governments to involve the private sector, voluntary organizations and citizens themselves. Entire communities must be engaged in combatting social exclusion. At the end of the day, bleeding heads are everyone’s business.

Originally published in the Toronto Star commentary section.

Download in PDF format from the Caledon website.

Related links:

• Caledon Institute of Social Policy
• Promoting practical policies for a stronger Canada – insights from Alan Broadbent and Sherri Torjman
• Imagining What’s Possible Where You Live
• The State of inclusion – what would Dr. King think?

We follow a lot of sources and send out links to many articles every day. But we know that your time is limited and you may not be able to follow them all. At the end of each week, we pull out some themes from the week’s headlines that are worth your time. If you’re interested in our daily news coverage (and more), follow us on Twitter.

Social cohesion, inclusion, diversity

The past week marked the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) and Wellesley Institute released a new report Canada’s Colour Coded Labour Market that found that “Despite an increasingly diverse population, a new report on Canada’s racialized income gap shows a colour code is still at work in Canada’s labour market.”

See the release from CCPA and Wellesley’s blog coverage.

The report received some media coverage, including the Toronto Star, Skin colour matters in access to good jobs: study, the Montreal Gazette, Discrimination to blame for prosperity gap: study and the Toronto Sun, ‘Colour code’ keeps Canadian workforce inequitable. A related opinion piece from the Hamilton Spectator, Oh, Canada: Diverse but not inclusive, wondered: “We are becoming more diverse as a society. But we need to ask the question: Are we more inclusive?”

During the week, the Regina Leader-Post asked: Racism: has it changed? and suggested that “Canadian institutions and organizations are now less likely to engage in overt discrimination on the grounds of race and ethnicity.” The Government of Canada, meanwhile, applauded talented youth working to build acceptance and fight racism.

The Toronto Sun wondered and rejected the notion that there are too many white people on city council.

It was perhaps timely that a review of Brokering Belonging: Chinese in Canada’s Exclusion Era should be published. “During the Exclusion Era (1885-1945), a series of increasingly draconian immigration laws limited Chinese immigration to Canada and the United States. Mar’s book illustrates the gaping holes in the immigration policy of the era and provides new insight into who filled those holes.”

In some ways, diversity and multiculturalism are, for many, still about markets and marketing. Who Are You? The Census Helps Demographers Know: “Some Canadians might balk at being thought of purely as consumers rather than citizens… [but] that’s how one of Canada’s most sophisticated geodemographic statistical systems, Environics Analytics PrizmC2, sorts all of us. We all fit into one of 66 neighbourhood-lifestyle clusters.”

In terms of neighbourhoods, Samuel Getachew’s big dream for a Little Ethiopia makes us ask, what is the tipping point when a neighbourhood officially becomes “little” something?

Supplier and employer diversity had some interesting coverage. As the Diversity Business Network discussed how Canada Needs Supplier Diversity Mentorship, word came of the 2011 Diversity Procurement Fair and that RBC Supports Diversity (OK, we totally knew that one already, but this story comes from Halifax, which is great!). As well, a diversity conference is being held in Burlington, ON and in British Columbia, Richmond celebrates businesses nominated for DIVERSEcity awards.

Also in BC, the Metropolis conference took place, which the Vancouver Sun told us was going to grapple with thorny immigration issues. “How can Canada stop immigrant groups from turning out religious radicals, with some bent on terrorism in the name of God? Given that many newcomers arrive from countries where homosexuality is illegal, how can Canada support immigrants who feel forced to hide that they are gay or lesbian? Are Canadians being too laissez-faire about whether fresh arrivals know English or French? Some believe the limited expectations Canada places upon new arrivals lead to ethnic enclaves. These are some of the long-disputed topics that will be debated at a massive Vancouver conference on immigration sponsored by Metropolis B.C., one of five Canadian think-tanks financed by governments to research and create dialogue on multicultural issues.” Woah, that’s a heavy load.

One of the first reports from the conference asked the provocative question: So just how valuable are our immigrants? According to the Vancouver Province, “UBC professor David Green said what few participants expected to hear. ‘The net economic impact of immigration is in fact zero,’ Green told the packed Grand Ballroom at the Sheraton Wall Centre on Thursday. ‘I’m very pro-immigration, but not for economic reasons. If you’re looking at it to be a major driver of economic growth, I think you’re looking in the wrong place.’ ”

We’re not entirely sure we’d agree, but this certainly brings the issue of nationhood more to the forefront, which we’ve certainly touched on before here: Building the nation – the value of family reunification and Build the City, Build the Nation – Part 1, Part 2.

Also from Vancouver came a piece suggesting that some immigrant and first-generation teens can’t define what it means to be Canadian. “They turn to buzzwords like multiculturalism, tolerance and acceptance. Some say it’s a passport or a card. Some say it’s ancestral. Others just don’t know. But while they can’t always express it, they live it.”

All of this raises an important discussion that isn’t happening enough. At what point do we start to see these not only as “thorny immigration issues” but also important inclusion issues? Definitely worth spending some time thinking on that.

An interesting question about inclusion came from the Canadian Education Association – Mandated Community Involvement: A Question of Equity: “A study involving 50 current and recently graduated Ontario secondary school students from widely divergent socio-economic settings found that, while students may donate equal amounts time, they do not have equal access to meaningful community involvement placements. Socio-economic status influences the time, resources and social networks available to students, and therefore the types of community involvement open to them.” And from across the pond, the Inequalities blog mused about social cohesion, diversity, and poverty, finding that “in deprived areas, diversity has no effect on trust among people that know lots of people in their neighbourhood. The largest effects are in non-deprived areas, for people that know no-one in their neighbourhood.”

Some great starting points for an important inclusion issue focus, don’t you think?

Immigrants, Innovation, Integration. Inclusion?

Some parts necessity, some parts inherent, innovation is always around us when we look at the newcomer story and experience. Mentoring new immigrants is important, we think that internships offer employers low risk with big return, employer-community partnerships can definitely help create innovation, but as is also always the case, immigrants create networks to help them help themselves. Really, why should our talented newcomers just wait for the Canadian system to move from “thorny immigration issues” to important inclusion issues? Supporting newcomer innovation and network-building is an important part of our leadership work.

Along the lines of innovative leadership, an age-old truth is confirmed again: Immigrants are on the digital vanguard, New Database Reveals Social Media Habits of Canadians. Download a PDF of the full survey findings. And, well-timed, a story about DiverseCity Voice Ray Cao, a local digital innovator, was featured in the Globe and Mail: Big name advisors championing start up businesses.

Finally, in a bit of a brain re-gain, CivicAction’s Emerging Leaders Network launched their Toronto Homecoming 2011 campaign to lure expat talent back to the GTA. It’s important to note that some of this talent is made up of people who immigrated to Canada, found a frustrating settlement and integration process, and took their globally valued skills elsewhere.

It’s great to see a project that can bring needed talent home, and re-welcome those who tried, but weren’t initially welcomed the first time around.

Successful economic integration of skilled immigrants requires leadership and innovation from our business community.

The business case for immigrant integration – Gordon Nixon, RBC

Each year, the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) recognizes companies and individuals through its Immigrant Success (IS) Awards. The awards recognize unique initiatives that break down employment barriers for skilled immigrants, showcasing leadership and innovation in both individuals and organizations. Over five years TRIEC has recognized 25 innovative employers and individuals.

This year’s winners

Toronto Foundation for Student Success – CBC Toronto Vision Award for Immigrant Inclusion. Internationally trained doctors – not yet pracitising medicine here in Canada – are employed to provide eyesight screening for kids in priority neighbourhoods.

Thales Canada, Transportation – RBC Immigrant Advantage Award. With 90 per cent of its business in the global marketplace, half the Toronto workforce is comprised of skilled immigrants to ensure its position as a leader in transportation systems worldwide.

Deloitte – Toronto Star Award for Excellence in Workplace Integration. Beginning on day one of employment, Deloitte administers a comprehensive suite of integration supports to connect newcomers to colleagues and professional development opportunities.

Nancy Steele, Director, American Express Canada – Canadian HR Reporter Individual Achievement Award. Nancy’s efforts have resulted in an unprecedented 11 hires in approximately two years and first-ever cross-cultural training for new hires and managers.

Related links:

• TRIEC’s IS Awards press room
• Toronto Star special online section – Immigration & Employment
• CBC Toronto hub (audio, video, text)
  

Tomorrow, February 9, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi will be speaking in Toronto. Are you excited? We’re excited.

Many of us won’t be able to join Mayor Nenshi as he shares his remarks at the Canadian Club (don’t worry, a video of his presentation will be out soon). We thought we’d put together some background information about Mayor Nenshi, so you can feel like you’ve had a chance to see him, in his own words.

On Saturday, the Globe and Mail wrote a story that’s a great read for you to get an overview of Naheed Nenshi’s challenge: Making Calgary a livable city. This section is key:

“Seldom has a Canadian mayor come to office with such a deep understanding of urban issues. Now, after years on the outside as a business professor, activist and newspaper columnist, he suddenly has a chance to put those ideas into action….

‘When did Jane Jacobs write the Death and Life of Great American Cities? We’re getting there, just 40 years later,’ says Mr. Nenshi. When a project called Imagine Calgary asked residents what they wanted from their city in the future, it found most wanted to live in a place where they could walk to the store, walk their kids to school, get by with only one car and be surrounded by different kinds of people. ‘If everyone wants that, why aren’t we building that?’ says the mayor. It’s a good question, and not just for Calgary. Cities across Canada are trying to reinvent themselves on denser, more modern lines. If Naheed Nenshi has his way, Calgary will show them how. “

Tomorrow, perhaps Mayor Nenshi will share some of this vision with Toronto.

Mayor Nenshi, his words and insights

TEDxCalgary – Naheed Nenshi – Calgary 3.0

Using insights drawn from his work in business, entrepreneurship and social change, as well as modern GIS data, Naheed Nenshi explores the challenges of how a modern city like Calgary grows, and what some of the implications are for creating inclusive communities.

Key to current discussions in Toronto is this campaign video – Better Idea #9 – Traffic, Transportation, and Transit and related video about making transit affordable for newcomers.

Interesting information

Mayor Nenshi was the lead author of Building Up: Making Canada’s Cities Magnets for Talent and Engines of Development. “Building Up” contributes to the national debate on cities by (1) encouraging dialogue; (2) suggesting policy directions to help Canadian cities become magnets for talent; and (3) identifying specific initiatives to translate talk into action.

Here are a couple of articles about what we can learn from his campaign:

• Lessons from Naheed
  “The real success of Nenshi’s social media campaign was that it broke free of the political echo chamber. To have a tangible impact, you need to reach the non-political crowd…the kind of people who will actually change their mind based on a news story or video they see online. So the Nenshi campaign reached out to the non-political, spreading their message to places like hockey forums and online discussion boards.”
• Congratulations to Naheed & other fabulous people
  “What really matters about Naheed is that he is smart, he is about ideas and he’s progressive. That he’s managed to capture the imagination of a place like Calgary speaks volumes both about how hard he campaigned and how cosmopolitan Canada’s urban centres are becoming.”

Background and bio

Bio - Naheed Nenshi is a passionate Calgarian, an accomplished business professional, and a community leader with a solid track record of getting things done.  He’s run a large nonprofit, he’s been a trusted advisor to corporate leaders in Canada and the US, and he literally wrote the book on Canadian cities.

As we know, Mayor Nenshi ran a great campaign, and a very web/social media savvy campaign. See for yourself:

• Website
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

Biography Overview

How do you say Naheed?