Immigration and Poverty in Canada

History

Canada is known for its acceptance of diversity and multiculturalism all over the world. The abundance of resources, social welfare and opportunity are what many immigrants dream of having. However, the living conditions for many immigrants is much less than ideal because there is much less opportunity to gain good jobs and many immigrant face discrimination due to language and cultural barriers . From the mid 1990's socioeconomic opportunity greatly deteriorated for immigrants with many facing chronic unemployment, resulting in increased reliance on food banks and homeless shelters . The biggest Canadian cities of Toronto and Vancouver were focal points of immigration in the 1990's, and the significant increase of the low income population is a result of immigrant poverty. According to a study conducted in 2000, immigrants faced a poverty rate of 37 percent in Vancouver and 33 percent in Toronto . Immigrants faced marginalization and a rapid deterioration of entry level pay and pushing many below the poverty line. This was exemplified by Toronto where a significantly high number of immigrant Afghans, Ethiopians and Bangladeshis were living below the poverty line. The rise in poverty rates of immigrants were rising rapidly, especially among new immigrants, regardless of their level of skill and education . Researchers have found that in Canada, immigrants are 10 percent more likely to be poor and are over represented in the poor population . However, throughout the decades, social research has come up with many different conclusions and effects of immigrant, poverty and employment.

Recent Trends

There are contradicting academic theories surround immigration and poverty. The bulk of academic research on the economic experience of immigrants was influenced by the assimilation theory. Assimilation theorists argue that immigrants will adapt to the language and culture of the host country when they are there for a longer time, eventually removing these barriers and building their skills to enter the job market . Regardless of the beginning wage gap for new immigrants, assimilation theorists argue that the gap will equalize in 10 to 15 years and second generation immigrants will not face the same economic barriers . The premise is that immigrants have personal qualities such as hard working, motivated and ambitious . However, recent scholars argue against the assimilation theory because relative skill of second generation immigrants declined after the post war period and that immigrants are using more welfare programs, making negative fiscal impact. A study conducted by Yuri Ovstrosky found no evidence of rising reliance of EI and SA programs from 1993-2007 by both new immigrants and those that have lived in Canada for a long time.

A 2013 report from the Vancouver Sun highlighted the different views on immigration and poverty as The Bank of Montreal and The Canadian Council released their studies in the same month. The Bank of Montreal's survey found that second generation immigrants were had a high net worth in BC, whereas The Canadian Council found that the Canadian government allowed a high number of unskilled immigrants, which creates social tension. Older immigrants struggle in the job market compared to young immigrants and it is extremely difficult receiving social welfare, making most of them work past their retirement age. The report also indicates that the gap between the rich and the poor are widening but the gap has become even wider within the immigrant population.

Following this trend, a 2015 report by the Canadian Broadcasting Company said that new immigrants accepted into Canada for economic reasons made on average $42,000 whereas immigrants who were accepted as refugees made an average of $28,000. Many employers do not accept education and skill from many foreign countries, making it difficult for many to obtain jobs pertaining to their skill. Instead, they rely on low skill jobs that pay at or below minimum wage while being highly skilled. As a result of low unemployment and language and cultural differences, social cohesion diminishes as immigrants find it harder to participate in the community and gain opportunity for meaningful work.

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