MITACS/CCIS Partnership Summary Report – A strategy for equity in research with newcomers
Abstract
Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS) identified several key challenges vis-à-vis the relationship between research and the immigrant serving sector:
1. Research conducted about newcomers in Alberta is generally not accessible to agencies. In other words, there are barriers to accessing relevant data, information and research about the clients that immigrant serving agencies serve.
2. Immigrant serving agencies, such as CCIS, rarely feel they are engaged as full partners in research projects led by academic researchers. In many cases, organizations do not feel they are equal stakeholders in research initiatives: The questions posed by academics are often not relevant to immigrant serving agencies or their clients and the outcomes of research are rarely meaningfully returned to agency partners.
3. Immigrant serving agencies and academic researchers operate in different contexts with different accountability mechanisms and reward structures, this leads to divergent ideas about what constitutes ‘ethical practice’ in research. There is a need for the sector to
more proactively develop its own ethical parameters for research with newcomers.
In order to better understand these challenges, CCIS undertook a comprehensive assessment of
the research landscape in the immigrant serving sector in Calgary/Alberta. The goal of this
assessment was to build an evidence base for promoting more equitable research relations in
the immigrant sector. This report proceeds in the following five parts:
1. Methods
2. Summary of research
3. Key take-aways
4. Recommendations for next steps
5. Appendices
Notes
Future research / gaps identified:
There is need to develop a strategy for enhancing equity in research with newcomers, built around 3 main pillars: Access, Ethics, and Capacity Building.
Key recommendations:
- Develop online database to share literature reviews
- Identify community/sector priorities for data
- Create plain-language summaries of research for community stakeholders
- Convene community conversations with past participants of research with the aim of developing research principles
- Engage partners and key stakeholders to discuss CB Ethics Board (university, CLIP, other SPOs, etc.)
- Develop cultural safety training for researchers
- Once Community Research Principles are developed, create training for researchers
- Develop training on research for SPOs including how to say “no” to researcher
Integration timeline:
N/A
Community organizations:
The Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS)
Key findings:
- There is a need for data stewardship in the immigrant serving sector in Alberta.
- Because research is not a priority for the immigrant serving sector, there is currently not a coordinated approach to how research is conducted.
- There are significant (organizational) cultural differences between academia and the non-profit/community sector
- Leadership in this area would benefits from a third party/umbrella organization that could serve as a convener.
- There are useful models to build on in the community such as the Jane Finch Community Research Partnership and the Downtown Eastside Research 101 Manifesto.
Location:
Alberta, Canada
Key populations:
Service providers, community partners, academics involved in the settlement sector and/or research
Open access:
Yes
