The graduate students from CERIS who attended the 6th National Metropolis Conference, held in Edmonton from March 21 - 24, 2003, have written summaries of their experiences at the conference. We felt that they give a very good overview of the conference content, and have therefore posted them here.

Thanks to the students for their contributions.

Baha Abu-Laban and Tracey Derwing
Centre Co-Directors, PCERII

The conference theme was "Immigration and Diversity: Research, Policy and Practice in an Era of Globalization". The CERIS delegation numbered about 20 people, including members of the Executive Committee, Management Board and Partnership Advisory Committee, and Domain Leaders and the graduate students who work with them on research projects.

The graduate students wrote reports on the conference and the workshops they attended, focussing mainly on the domain pertinent to their work. Presented below are the six reports.

Community Domain Report | Economics Domain Report | Education Domain Report |

Health Domain Report | Housing and Neighbourhoods Domain Report |

Justice and Law Domain Report

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Community Domain Report

By Rachael Zacharias Bezanson, Master of Arts student, Department of Geography, University of Waterloo

"Our policy is not about building walls… We’re generous. We’re not naïve."

Beginning the conference with this reassurance that Canadian immigration levels would remain at current levels, despite recent concerns about national security, Mr. Coderre quickly shifted the focus off numbers, introducing what would be a main theme of this year’s conference - regionalization. The minister is very interested in adopting a "regional approach" encouraging newcomers to settle in places other than the (debatably) overburdened traditional immigrant receiving cities of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

Several workshops provided evidence that indeed smaller centres are interested in attracting newcomers. Representatives of small cities in Nova Scotia, interior British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario described the settlement experiences of their newcomers. Key concerns were the recognition of foreign credentials, job and educational opportunities, and affordable housing availability. They also shared creative ways of addressing the challenges inherent in both attracting newcomers to smaller cities and retaining them there. Quebec City, for example, advertizes its considerable settlement assistance programs both at overseas immigration desks, and in Montreal at special meetings aimed at connecting with immigrants who no longer want to live there. Edmonton’s Mennonite Centre for Newcomers, in partnership with local technical institutes and professional bodies, has dealt with the problem of (unrecognized) foreign credentials by designing a 10-month internship program for foreign-trained engineers and technologists, the graduates of which land jobs in their chosen field, and see a 200% increase in their yearly income.

The words "partnerships" and "collaboration" were often heard in plenary sessions, workshops and during breaks. Cities want to partner with CIC to select their own immigrants, in the same way several provinces do under provincial nominee programs. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and settlement providing organizations (SPOs) spoke of creative collaborations with other organizations, both settlement and mainstream, which allow them to do what they do better. At the Millwood Welcome Centre for example, the Mennonite Centre for Newcomers, the South Asian Community Association, and the Catholic Immigration Society together are able to deliver settlement and integration services right in the neighbourhood of Millwood, an area of immigrant concentration in Edmonton.

Immigrant integration is a new area of interest for the Policy Research Institute (PRI), as it plans a conference in the fall on the topic of social capital. PRI chaired a well attended brainstorming workshop aimed at discussing the role social capital should play in integration policy and programs. They divide social capital into three types: bonding, bridging and linking, each associated with an increasing level of integration. Discussion was wide-ranging and touched on the benefits and drawbacks of social capital, the role of technology in creating new ways of linking, and the need for a conceptual framework to organize analysis. SPO staff in the room reminded the researchers that smaller centres, because they lack large co-ethnic populations, have a wealth of experience in bridging and linking forms of social capital.

The back seat that SPOs and immigrants are often forced to take in research was discussed at another workshop. Delegates crowded in to listen to the experiences of action research projects in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. First Contact, for example, a research/assistance program helping refugee claimants access services in Toronto, enjoyed success because it grew out of a problem identified by refugee claimants themselves, who remain in control of the entire research process. Researchers in Vancouver have partnered with SPOs to develop a research agenda driven by SPOs themselves: key areas of interest include access to ESL, employment issues, homelessness, and professionalization of the sector.

Conducting research designed and driven by the populations it intends to assist is one way of accomplishing a key goal of this conference: knowledge mobilization. Immigration and integration research can make a difference in the communities it studies and in our national community only if it can leave papers and conferences and become action, a great example being the Toolbox of ideas for attracting and retaining immigrants that the Voluntary Sector Initiative advisory group is designing for use by smaller centres.

In summary, whether we be researchers, policy analysts, SPOs, governments or immigrants, as Jim Gurnett (Executive Director of the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers) so aptly put it, "it is important to listen to each other to look for the ways of using the best each of us has to offer."

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Economics Domain Report

By Lu Wang, Ph. D. candidate, Department of Geography, York University

The 6^th National Metropolis Conference in Edmonton successfully brought together academics, policy makers and NGO’s interested in immigration issues. It was a timely event when immigration within Canada is facing regional concentration, immigration worldwide is embedded within accelerating globalization, and immigration itself has created controversy regarding public security. The conference touched upon all these themes, in addition to considering immigrant economic integration, immigration and health care, immigration and housing, and immigrants and schooling. It well met its overall theme "Immigration and Diversity: Research and Policy in an Era of Globalization."

This report summarizes sessions relevant to the Economic Domain. The economic impact of immigration on Canadian society has always been the central focus of immigration research and policy making, and in this conference, considerable attention was paid to economic integration and labour market issues, both in the paid and self-employed sectors.

In most cases, the minimization of earning gaps between immigrants and Canadian-born and the catch-up rates of immigrants are considered measures of successful economic integration. Empirical evidence indicates a clear earning gap between almost every immigrant group and the Canadian-born population (Paul Anisef, Samuel Laryea, Peter Li, Derek Hum, Lori Wilkinson), and a larger proportion of low-income among the immigrant population (Mary Grant). Earnings vary by age, arrival time, gender, race, education, and work experience. Younger immigrants are easier to integrate than their elder counterparts. Highly educated immigrant women are the most disadvantaged group (Paul Anisef). Human capital theory is inadequate to account for the earning gap between immigrants and native-born. Possible explanations are non-recognition of credentials, no/little return for foreign experiences, harder impacts of economic downward cycles on immigrants, and discrimination against immigrants or people of colour (Polo Diaz & Paul Gingrich).

Peter Li reveals that despite the initial earning gap, many immigrants manage to catch up after a few years and sometimes surpass the earnings of the average Canadian tax filer. However, immigrants who landed after 1989 generally take a longer period than those who landed before 1989 to improve their earnings. Immigrants with more human capital catch up sooner. Findings seem to indicate a certain degree of erosion of human capital especially during their initial adjustment in Canada.

Another measure of immigrants’ economic impact is the degree of consumption in social welfare. Mary Grant found a declining trend in welfare reliance (one relies on welfare if more than 1/3 of the income comes from social welfare) among immigrants between 1996 and 1999, and Peter Li found that immigrants, over their life course, pay more taxes than they receive social assistance. In this sense, immigrants as a whole integrate successfully.

With respect to immigrant businesses, Lucia Lo distinguishes individual success from group success in the process of economic integration. Individual success may mean surviving through difficult periods especially at the beginning phase of a business, not engaged in traditional immigrant businesses, and not hiring co-ethnic workers at a rate higher than its population share. Group success emphasizes a diversified industrial structure. Post-settlement language training, aid from financial institutions, and mentorship programs are suggested as possible economic integration policies.

School-to-work transition is another important aspect in the economic integration of immigrant youth and visible minority youth. Knowing foreign credentials face devaluation in Canada, many immigrants choose to re-enter university. However, the unemployment rate of visible minority university graduates is still higher than non-visible minority counterparts (Katerina Maximova). Within the immigrant group, visible minorities still suffer a lower probability of going through a successful school-to-work transition compared to non-visible minority immigrants (Lori Wilkinson). Here a question arises: if double credentials with one obtained from a Canadian educational institution does not foster success of immigrant economic performance and labour market outcomes, then what does? It appears that more research needs to be done in this area of school-to-work transition and its relationship to immigration.

The data issue is a big problem in research on immigrant economic integration. Many studies are based on surveys that often have a small sample size. Often there is not enough information to differentiate the labour market outcomes between Canadian born visible minorities and immigrant visible minorities. Studies looking at immigrant earnings are often based on PUMF and IMDB data that are neither timely nor detailed enough. This brings attention to the need for the construction of a more comprehensive and suitable database. The on-going Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada will offer some light in this direction.

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Education Domain Report

By Svitlana Taraban, Ph. D. Candidate, Faculty of Education,

York University

One of the strengths of the 6^th National Metropolis Conference was, in my opinion, the ability of the organizers to bring into dialogue diverse, often opposing, views and perspectives on immigration-related topics. I found the morning plenary sessions that featured well-known Canadian scholars and policy-makers very informative and thought-provoking. Although the sessions were seldom followed by the general discussions and questions from the audience due to time constrains, the issues they raised are crucial for understanding the larger context of immigration to Canada. The session on Regionalization and Immigration emphasized the importance of balanced geographical distribution of immigrants across Canadian provinces. The existing patterns of settlement, according to the speakers, leave little opportunities for small- and medium-sized Canadian towns to receive much needed immigrant populations. Such strategies as provincial nominee programs, retention of international students and temporary workers, economic incentives for foreign professionals and conditional permanent residency status were discussed as possible policy solutions to ensure an even geographical distribution of immigrants across Canada. Echoing some earlier criticisms as to the legality of some of the proposed measures (i.e., immigrant ability to choose destinations in Canada and the right of internal mobility), some presenters emphasized the importance of developing and promoting economic and social opportunities for newcomers in smaller communities. Admittedly, the challenges associated with regionalization are exemplified by the fact that there is little international experience that Canada can draw upon while developing its immigration policies.

The plenary session on Canada’s immigration policy was an interesting snapshot of a larger debate on the nature and outcomes of Canadian immigration policy. Some well-known critics of the Canadian model of immigration, such as Daniel Stoffman, questioned the large-scale immigration approach and pointed to the economic and social cost of this approach. Stoffman was rather sceptical towards government attempts aimed at redistribution of newcomer populations and what he called "forced settlement". Instead, he proposed a shift to "moderate rates of migration". His main argument, elaborated in length in his book, Who gets in: What’s wrong with Canada’s immigration program – and how to fix it, is that current Canadian immigration policy can’t be a solution to demographic and economic challenges facing Canadian society. "Immigration," writes Stoffman, "…can do next to nothing to reduce the average age of the population. … it cannot indefinitely provide population growth in the face of below-replacement fertility" (180)¹. According to Stoffman, high levels of immigration pose a threat to national security, drive down wages and create poverty pockets in large Canadian cities.

On the opposite side of the spectrum of the Canadian immigration debate was another conference speaker and vocal supporter of Canadian immigration policy, sociologist Peter Li. He argued that although immigration does involve short-term costs on the part of the receiving country, the long-term benefits of large influx of foreign-trained professionals significantly outweigh the initial expenses. Li disagreed with the portrayal of immigrants as economically unprofitable individuals that pose an array of challenges to the social welfare and absorptive capacity of the Canadian society. The skills and expertise that immigrants bring into the country, stated Li, are important for its economic prosperity and social development.

Overall, this session stands out as one of the most interesting moments of the conference as it offers a glimpse into the variety of standpoints and views on current immigration approach within different groups in Canadian society. The following questions that are at the heart of current debates on the Canadian approach to immigration appear to emerge throughout the conference sessions: What should be the annual number of immigrants to Canada? What should be the primary factors (i.e., labour market needs, social, demographic, humanitarian) that determine the numbers and types/categories of immigrant populations? What are the short and long-term economic, social and demographic costs and benefits of immigration?

The session on immigration, security and terrorism raised very important questions pertinent to the intersection of immigration policies and a perceived threat to national security. Several presenters argued against the "tough" immigration approach as the vehicle against terrorism. As one of the presenters asked, Can stopping people from entering Canada or expelling them while they are in Canada solve the terrorism problem? The issues of criminalization of immigrants and the concomitant representations of immigrants from certain cultural backgrounds as potentially dangerous were also addressed at several conference workshops. The questions of citizenship and belonging were discussed in light of recent numerous cases of mistreatment of Canadian citizens abroad. The workshop on "segmented" citizenship offered a serious critique of the emerging construction of Canadian citizenship that ascribes hierarchy based on race, religion, and ethnicity. The presenters noted that differential treatment and profiling of people holding Canadian passports on the basis of perceived race, ethnicity and place of birth undermines the existing egalitarian concept of citizenship.

Other interesting readings of the citizenship construct were offered by presenters who looked into feminist conceptualisation of citizenship (the case study of multiracial women constructing their own articulation of citizenship and belonging) and transnational models of citizenship that emphasize ties and affinities to different countries among immigrant communities and individuals. Overall, the sessions on citizenship underscored the complex and multi-layered meaning of Canadian citizenship in the present socio-political and cultural context and point to tensions at several levels: between formal and subjective citizenship, between construction of citizenship inside and outside the nation-state, and finally, between official and grassroot models of citizenship.

One of the issues that in my view was not given adequate attention at the conference was the new Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) that was implemented on June 28, 2002. Clearly, the new legislation that introduced significant changes to the Canadian immigration policy led to new developments in the realm of policy and practice. During the CERIS-organized seminar on contemporary Ukrainian immigration to Canada, one of the presenters noted that tight selection criteria imposed by the new policy drastically reduced the number of applicants to Canada from Ukraine. Although the large-scale effects of the new policy will not be evident for the next few years, the arguments as to the changing nature of immigration to Canada have been recently voiced by different stakeholders but unfortunately were not addressed in conference discussions.

To summarize, the plenary sessions offered a useful frame for understanding the current challenges and dilemmas facing the Canadian immigration model and offered different analytical scenarios as to the development of the Canadian immigration system.

Given that the workshops on education-related topics were the primary focus of my attention during the conference, I want to outline their thematic range and discuss some of the questions that they raised. The issues addressed in education workshops focused on schooling and social mobility, ESL policies and practice, international perspectives on education and diversity, and teacher training for diversity.

The session on schooling and social mobility is notable for its attempt to understand how specific characteristics of educational system impact educational attainment of immigrant students. Drawing on the example of second generation Turkish immigrants in several European countries, the researchers demonstrated the differences in educational experiences of students of Turkish origin in France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. They found that in Germany the majority of these students go into vocational rather than academic stream. This has to do with the selectivity of German secondary education that places students into either academic or vocational stream as early as the age of 10. Since immigrant children require more time and support to succeed at school, they are more likely to end up in the vocational route than their native born peers. At the same time, the school drop out rates among Turkish students in Germany are low as they are able to complete secondary education in a skill-oriented environment. As a result of early educational stratification, few Turkish students are able to enter post-secondary education. In spite of the fact that they are able to secure jobs in the German labour market after the completion of secondary education, Turkish immigrant students tend to occupy low niches in the socio-economic structure of German society.

Unlike the German educational system, the French one offers more opportunities for immigrant Turkish students to pursue post-secondary education and move into well-paid jobs. However, many of the Turkish students who do no not succeed in French schools are more likely to drop out completely than their peers in Germany who undergo apprenticeship training and secure stable employment after graduation.

The findings of this project can be potentially used in future research by Canadian scholars who recently developed the proposal for a pan-Canadian project on school performance and the mobility of youth of immigrant origin. (The discussion of the prospective study took place during two sessions of the Metropolis workshop). Clearly, the topic is of interest to an international research community and the cross-national comparative analysis can help developing mechanisms that would assist the educational careers of immigrant students.

Among several conference presentations that dealt with the issues of language learning and teaching, the one by OISE researchers was particularly important as it raised the issue of ESL student experiences in Ontario. The fragments of video where students narrate their initial experiences of schooling with particular reference to language concerns and anxieties points to the complexity and diversity of experiences that are hidden behind the formal institutional signifier "ESL student". Moreover, student narratives challenge the underpinning belief that children/adolescents experience linguistic transition with relative ease, learn a new language quickly and have an easier time than adults in terms of socialization and integration into the new environment. This study clearly shows that immigrant children face various challenges and experience many internal struggles that, albeit of different nature than those of adults, require awareness and attention on the part of educators. Otherwise, the students might have negative experience of isolation, loss and misunderstanding that can be detrimental not only to their learning of English but also to their identity formation, self-esteem, and academic performance.

The workshop on preparing Canadian pre-service teachers for working in ethnically-diverse classrooms provided an update on the state of affairs in this important area of teacher preparation. The conclusion of the research studies was that while there are variations in the extent to which the issues of diversity and anti-racism are addressed by different teacher training institutions, most pre-service teachers feel that they lack skills and knowledge to address these issues. Although most pre-service teachers were exposed to some of the ideas of anti-racist and multicultural pedagogy in their courses, they felt that they needed more thorough and extensive conversation in order to be able to implement these ideas in their classrooms.

Overall, I found the conference very helpful as it opened up to me new lines of research and new ways of conceptualising immigration-related issues. In addition, it helped me to better understand the link between research and policy-making and the ways in which the two shape the Canadian framework for reception and integration of immigrant populations.

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Health Domain Report

By Sepali Guruge, Ph. D. candidate, Faculty of Nursing,

University of Toronto

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Housing and Neighbourhoods Domain Report

By Sutama Ghosh, Ph. D. candidate, Department of Geography,

York University

‘A Place in the Sun for Everybody?’

The 6^th National Metropolis Conference clearly demonstrated three emerging and interrelated themes of public discourse in Canada concerning immigrants and refugees: the proposed regional immigration policy, the impact of non-accreditation of foreign qualifications on immigrant and refugee resettlement, and the importance of ‘partnerships’ between government, non-government and academic organizations and agencies, towards achieving a common public good.

In the inaugural session, Denis Coderre, Minister for Citizenship and Immigration, eloquently presented the plan for immigrant dispersal in Canada with a catchy slogan that defined his ministry’s goal--‘a place in the sun for everybody’. Ironically, in the two workshops on housing, titled, ‘Housing Issues and Immigrants: Perspectives from Community-Based Organisations Part I and II’, organised by Tom Carter of the University of Winnipeg, the presenters foresaw a similar future for many of Canada’s immigrants and refugees, as well as other marginalized segments of the general population, who are positioned precariously on the verge of homelessness. Listening to the community workers’ grim findings about the diminishing chances of these people gaining access to ‘affordable, adequate and suitable’ housing in Canadian cities, I shared an eerie feeling with my colleagues--if nothing miraculous happens, that day is not far away, when the most precariously housed will find themselves out on the streets, without a roof over their head--‘a place in the sun’?

The presenters and participants in the housing workshop reiterated stories, many of which have become a common refrain. Their research showed that whatever the size or location of the city (be it Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver, Canada’s three major immigrant gateway centres, or smaller metropolitan areas such as Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Kitchener-Waterloo), and the proportion of immigrants and refugees in them, the prospect of acquiring ‘affordable, adequate, and suitable’ housing remains the same--almost unachievable. The barriers towards attaining this ‘right’ were identified as similar and numerous. They included no new construction of social housing, scarcity of low cost rental housing, lack of rent control, low vacancy rates, and racial profiling and systemic discrimination. The cumulative effect of these barriers is an increasing number of immigrants and refugees (particularly visible minorities) in poor quality, older housing stock, and in shelters and hostels. Using statistical evidence and their own experiences the presenters demonstrated that the shortage of affordable housing is a growing concern in most urban areas of Canada, a concern that demands immediate attention by all three levels of government—federal, provincial, and municipal. Given this situation, I am compelled to ask whether the proposed regional immigration policy may be comparable to placing ‘the cart before the horse’. If attracting more immigrants to specific regions is an answer to Canada’s uneven regional development, but the ‘regions’ are not adequately equipped to accommodate newcomers, what will be the result of implementing the proposed dispersal policy? Will this not exacerbate outstanding problems, rather than preventing them from occurring?

Probable solutions to the immigrant and refugee housing and resettlement problems were presented in the workshop titled, ‘Collaborative Perspectives on Action Research and Service Delivery for Immigrants and Refugees’, organised by Robert Murdie of York University. The presenters in this workshop demonstrated the importance of building collaborative partnerships between government departments (e.g. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the federal Homelessness Secretariat, the City of Toronto), non-government agencies (e.g. Red Cross), academic institutions (e.g. York University) and research agencies (e.g. SSHRC) in order to facilitate ‘participatory research’ and ‘action’. This includes the production of specialised knowledge, increased awareness among the most vulnerable groups about their respective ‘rights’ and speedy attention to impending housing and settlement issues.

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Justice and Law Domain Report

By Andrea McCalla, Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto

The 6^th National Metropolis Conference in Edmonton enabled government representatives, NGO’s and academics to meet, share concerns and highlight research needs with respect to immigration and settlement issues in Canada. This brief report summarizes the two workshops and one plenary session that were particularly relevant to the Justice and Law Domain. These sessions clearly showed that many visible minority groups are still very concerned with issues of bias within the Canadian criminal justice system and that interactions with the police, the courts and immigration officials have a profound impact on the integration experiences of many immigrants. Although progress has been made, further research is needed to monitor changes and provide supporting evidence for the creation of effective programs.

Workshop 1: After 9/11: Combatting Hate, Bias and Fear

This session documented the apparent increase in hate-crime activity in Canada following the events of 9/11 and how various government and community groups responded to this phenomenon. Highlights included Riad Saloojee’s (Executive Director – CAIR-CAN) discussion of how 9/11 resulted in Canada’s Islamic community being subjected to a double burden. On the one hand, they suffered from increased incidents of hate-crime victimization. On the other hand, they also became the target of severe forms of racial profiling by the police, immigration officials and both Canadian and US Customs. Mr. Saloojee discussed the efforts that CAIR-CAN has made to educate the Muslim community about their legal rights and how they have formed alliances with local police forces and governments in order to fight this problem. Valerie Pruegger (Research Social Planner – City of Calgary) focussed on the response of the Calgary community to the increased targeting – post 9/11 – of people perceived to be of Muslim or Middle-Eastern descent. She highlighted a number of effective community responses including public rallies in support of the Muslim community and the development of a hate-crime reporting system. Many of Calgary’s initiatives involved all segments of the community, including the Mayor, the Chief of Police and religious leaders from all faiths. Cst. Doug Jones from the Calgary Police Service expanded on this theme by describing the specific efforts made by the Calgary Police Service. Special attention was given to a number of youth programs designed to facilitate the development of an anti-racist and anti-discrimination perspective. Finally, Professor Harvey Krahn (Department of Sociology, University of Alberta) compared the results of two Alberta surveys – one conducted in 1998 and the other conducted in 2003 – to estimate the impact that 9/11 has had on public attitudes towards immigration. Contrary to expectations, preliminary findings suggest that attitudes towards immigrants have actually improved slightly over the five year period. Prof. Krahn argues that this trend might be the result of effective education and outreach programs – like those discussed above – that have emerged in the aftermath of the September 11^th terrorist attacks.

Workshop 2: Immigrants and the Canadian Justice System: Are Perceptions Changing?

In this workshop, panellists discussed immigrant attitudes towards the criminal justice system and programs that might improve relations between the police and various ethnic minority communities. The focus was on the immigrant experience in large urban centres like Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton. Research conducted by Scot Wortley and Andrea McCalla (CERIS representatives from the Centre of Criminology, U of T) revealed that it is important to distinguish between immigrant evaluations of system effectiveness and their perceptions of discrimination. For example, although most black Toronto residents believe that the police are doing a good job fighting crime, the majority also believe that the police treat black people much worse than they treat whites. Interestingly, perceptions of bias are less pronounced among recent immigrants than those who have lived in Canada for many years. This finding challenges the hypothesis that immigrant perceptions of police discrimination are based on their experiences in their home countries. Additional research by Wortley and McCalla reveals that, despite a proliferation of race-relations training programs over the past decade, perceptions of criminal injustice are still widespread. For example, surveys conducted in 1994 and 2002 reveal little change with respect to the widespread belief that the police engage in racial profiling and are more likely to use force against minority citizens.

The police perspective on these issues was then provided by Constables Doug Jones and Cameron Stewart from the Calgary Police Service and Constables Dave Huggens and Stephen Camp from the Edmonton Police Service. All addressed the issue of why some communities have negative perceptions of the police. Problems include a lack of trust in the police (which often leads to a reluctance to report crimes), fears about racial profiling and the difficulty of recruiting police officers from specific minority groups. In order to develop trust and work effectively within immigrant communities, both the Calgary and Edmonton Police Services have taken a proactive "community policing" approach to the problem. Under this system, designated constables act as liaisons between the police service and different ethnic communities. Constables Camp and Huggens outlined their efforts to establish a special Hate-Crime Unit in Edmonton. They hope to model their unit on the Hate/Bias and Diversity Unit which has already been established in Calgary. Constables Jones and Stewart, in turn, provided a detailed description of their activities with the Calgary unit. They described the work of officers who attend community events, sit on committees, assist with the aftermath of victimization and essentially work to build strong relationships with community members. The Calgary Police Service also offers training programs and videos in order to educate both police officers and community members. These programs are designed to increase officer sensitivity towards minorities, teach immigrant communities about Canadian law and the operation of the criminal justice system and encourage minorities to consider a career in law enforcement. Fernando Matta (Justice Canada) eloquently summarized the general theme of the workshop by stating that more money is required to implement innovative programs and to fund evaluation research. Pan-Canadian research is particularly important. As it stands, there is no Canadian research that can highlight the criminal justice concerns of immigrants in different regions of the country.

Plenary Session: Immigration, Security and Terrorism: Spuriously Connected?

Panel members discussed the unrealistic demands being placed on immigration policies to control terrorism and provide national security. Tightening immigration "loopholes" gives the false hope that something effective is being done to prevent terrorists from entering Canada. The reality is that most policies cannot control the many avenues in which motivated, well-funded terrorists can enter the country. For example, while the security focus has been on those trying to enter the country as landed immigrants or refugees, less attention has been given to foreign citizens who enter Canada as either tourists or students. Furthermore, tighter security practices may be hurting legitimate refugee claimants and alienating recent arrivals. As such, Professor Cynthia Mahmood (Notre Dame University) suggests that effective immigration laws and policies have to be based on "thick" descriptions and an awareness of peoples’ lived experiences (including their reasons for immigrating and their experiences with security policies). Audrey Macklin (Faculty of Law, University of Toronto) demonstrated the limits of migration control in securing Canada from terrorism and cautioned against initiatives that are marketed solely as security programs. Professor Macklin further claims that we have to think about what it means to deflect potential immigrants from Canada through security legislation – such as the Third Party Agreement. What is the harm of such policies? What is the impact on minority populations? To what extent do such policies actually prevent terrorism? Other panellists made it clear that the psychology of the nation has been radically affected by new forms of terrorism. Professor Howard Adelman (York University) made the point that most security initiatives begin with the false premise that terrorists arrive in Canada as motivated offenders. He cautions that many individuals may, in fact, only become motivated to engage in terrorism after they have experienced racism and oppression in the western context. He maintains, therefore, that effective settlement policies may go further with respect to preventing terrorism than tighter border controls. Finally, Professor Christopher Murphy (Dalhousie University) stated that, to date, security programs have been developed in a research vacuum. He maintains that policies have not been based on empirical data, nor have research protocols been established to evaluate the potential benefits and consequences of the security policies that have already been implemented. He concludes that much more research is needed to investigate the intersections of security and immigration so that rational decisions can be made about laws and reforms. In conclusion, the panel reached a consensus that the national response to terrorism is an extremely important area of study. Indeed, security issues may shape immigration policy and hence the very character of our nation for decades to come.

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