Research on Legal and Economic Barriers to Immigrant Integration

Earlier this month, the Crown corporation Canadian Race Relations Foundation, in conjunction with the Centre for Scoial Justice, released the report Working Precariously.

The report concludes that immigrants and minorities suffer lower employment rates and income regardless of educational level, often because of discrimination as well as regulatory policies such as those that exclude foreign-trained professionals from their profession because of the non-recognition of their credentials in Canada.

In connection with this, another Crown agency, the Law Commission of Canada, today requested "proposals from interested individuals or teams to engage in community-based research to canvass the legal and policy barriers that might be impeding successful immigrant settlement and to identify the relevant program and policy implications, including the need for law reform".

Among the research questions the research project seeks to address are:

1. What are some of the legal barriers, lacunae, and/or impediments that are hindering the best efforts of community organizations to help immigrants settle and integrate into Canadian society?
2. What efforts are being made to address these issues?
3. Are there examples of effective ways in which the law and government policies enable, facilitate and support programs and organizations for immigrant settlement?
4. What changes are needed in both the law and social policy to assist immigrants to achieve prosperity in Canada?