1999/2000 PCERII Funded Research Abstract

In an ideal multicultural society, citizens possess strong national and cultural identities. However, Social Identity theory suggests that it is necessary to understand the nature of these identities and how they are intertwined in order to be able to predict when an immigrant will embrace multiculturalism and become integrated into Canadian society. Recently, a few European studies have investigated the nature of such identities as social representations. This innovative approach was used to design and conduct 1) a qualitative interview study with 25 first generation immigrant leaders, 2) a questionnaire study involving over 400 first generation immigrants mostly from Asia and Africa, and 3) a smaller but parallel questionnaire study of almost 80 second generation immigrants. An important set of results from these studies show the complex nature of immigrants' emergent Canadian identity and suggest that discriminatory barriers to integration into Canadian society and perceived cultural incompatibilities tend to weaken this identification and to delay acculturation into Canadian society. Language barriers and recognition of foreign credentials are two discriminatory barriers that were considered particularly importance. These results, which have considerable policy relevance, suggest that immigrants will find it hard to feel truly Canadian unless they receive adequate language training and recognition of their qualifications and work experience.