Determinants of Immigrant Integration in Canada: How Immigrant Group Structures Impact Social Experience

Date Presented:

February 7

Abstract:

How do immigrants come to participate in the social and political institutions of their adoptive communities? In the first part of my paper, I argue that participation in any organization or club can drastically improve an immigrant’s propensity to engage in the social and political life of the host community. Clubs provide an “access point” through which political candidates, government agencies, and other actors can access newcomers and facilitate their integration into community institutions. Surprisingly, social contacts made through club participation—and in particular, social contacts with native-born Canadians—are not nearly as important as exposure to efforts to mobilize immigrants.