Picturing Settlement Experiences: Immigrant Women’s Senses of Comfortable and Uncomfortable Places in a Small Urban Center in Canada
Abstract
Small cities tend to have modest immigrant settlement services and cultural amenities, engendering a distinct sense of place among immigrants and impacting their wellbeing differently from large cities. This research examines the sense of place among immigrant women through their attribution of meanings to places of comfort and discomfort as they settled in a small city in Canada. Immigrant women took photographs of places that they considered to be either comfortable or uncomfortable. Findings indicated that these women appreciated the warmth and support extended to them by settlement services provider organizations, libraries, and faith-based organizations, attesting to the relational nature of the place. Nevertheless, immigrant women dreaded harsh winter conditions and felt unsafe in downtown areas. Immigrant women sought comfort in locales that this paper terms “restorative space,” showing their creative use of private and public spaces for relaxation. The findings from this study call for settlement policies that attend to distinct characteristics of local places to better serve the settlement needs of immigrants.
Notes
Gaps identified
Lack of consideration for gender-specific support services
Community organizations
Central Alberta Immigrant Women’s Association (CAIWA)
Key recommendations
Policymakers need to pay closer attention to differences between settlement locations and how they impact the different gender groups;
Transportation support to attend medical and school appointments is “a large need for some clients” (IRCC, 2017, p. 41)
Location
Red Deer, Alberta
Key findings
Immigrant women in Red Deer appreciated the warmth and support extended to them by settlement services provider organizations, libraries, and faith-based organizations, attesting to the relational nature of the place. Nevertheless, immigrant women dreaded harsh winter conditions and felt unsafe in downtown areas.
Key populations
Immigrant women
Integration timeline
At what point during the integration process the study was conducted?
Participants were limited to recent immigrant women who immigrated to Canada less than 10 years ago
Open-access – No