1999/2000 PCERII Funded Research Abstract

Research Title: The Changing Colour of Poverty: A Study of Immigrants’ Poverty in Canadian Cities

Research Team: Shiva Halli University of Manitoba - Principal Investigator

Research Domain(s): Social & Cultural

In a previous study of immigrants’ poverty in Canadian cities funded by the Prairie Centre, we found some unusually high levels of poverty among immigrants, using the 1991 census data. Immigrants had poverty rates higher than those of non-immigrants in every city, except for a few small and middle-size cities with very low immigrant populations. The Quebec and Prairie cities were ranked high, in terms of the differences between poverty levels of immigrants and non-immigrants. Also, among the larger CMAs, the three Prairie CMAs of Winnipeg, Calgary, and Edmonton ranked high in terms of the magnitude of immigrants’ poverty, next only to Montreal and Quebec City. The examination of poverty rates of immigrants by ethnic origin showed that certain groups such as Vietnamese, Spanish, West Asian, Chinese, Jewish and Arab immigrants were the worst off, either in terms of the general poverty or neighbourhood poverty. It was also found that the second generation of immigrants, surprisingly enough, are not any better off than the generation of their parents, when it comes to poverty. Searching for the causes, we found that factors such as education, age, and language skills do not have the same extent of positive impact on alleviating the poverty status of immigrants. Such findings were against the predictions implied in the immigration literature. This pointed to the necessity of updating as well as expanding the study. In the present research, the previous study will be given a longitudinal dimension, by repeating it for the census years 1981, 1986, and 1996. In addition to identifying poverty status of immigrants, the severity of their poverty will be examined through a comparison of immigrants’ family income with poverty lines in each city. Also, the results will be cross-checked using alternative data sets such as SLID and IMDB.