Skilled Immigrants and the Negotiation of Family Relations During Settlement in Calgary, Alberta
Abstract
When re-establishing their lives in Canada, international migrants with dependent children regularly encounter dramatically different conditions for family life. The parents’ employment situation, the limited availability of extended kin to help with child rearing, and a multicultural and relatively more permissive social environment, all of these invite or even demand changes in newcomers’ family practices. Yet, more information is needed about the ways in which skilled immigrants negotiate the changed conditions for work and family life in this country, and the impact this has on family dynamics during settlement. This study explores how coming to Canada impacted participants’ situations of paid work, parenting practices, and familial gender relations. Findings suggest that strained economic and social resources often limited the extent to which mothers and fathers were able to maintain an organization of family life similar to what they had established in their country of origin. However, while in some cases, shifts in family formation caused heightened levels of stress and strain and further entrenched the doing of conventional gender roles, in others, changed conditions acted as a catalyst for positive change.
Notes
Open-access – Yes
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12134-015-0454-9.pdf
Location
Calgary, Alberta
Key recommendations
Supporting the needs of immigrant men through cultural and age-sensitive programs, as they experience a crisis of masculinity after migration; develop pre-migration courses that offer prospective skilled immigrants some knowledge on how to be better prepared to overcome the labour market struggles in Canada (e.g., Canadian standards for resume writing and interviewing, the importance employers place on Canadian work experience, and the difficulties of having foreign credentials recognized)
Key populations
Skilled immigrants
Key findings
This paper explores how coming to Canada impacted participants’ situations of paid work, parenting practices, and familial gender relations. Limitations in economic and social resources challenged mothers and fathers to maintain a conventional organization of family life as in their home countries. Some of the participants welcomed the need for change in their gender attitude as a strategy to help their partners succeed in integrating in Canadian society. Others, on the other hand, resisted to change and, hence, experienced some degree of stress and discomfort.
Gaps identified
NA
Community organizations
NA
Integration timeline
At what point during the integration process the study was conducted?
Men and women who had come to Canada as economic immigrants in the last 6 years