Settlement and Integration Research Synthesis 2009-2013

Synthesizing research into (im)migrant settlement and integration can be a daunting task since the area covers the entire domestic (receiving society) end of the migration process, including any public support extended to (im)migrants. Settlement and integration have economic, social, political, and cultural components, in addition to an interactional, residual core which is not reducible to any component. In the Canadian context, settlement and integration can be operationalized both in formal terms such as the acquisition of permanent residence and citizenship, and in substantive terms such as language acquisition, education and training, employment and self-employment, civic and political participation, sense of belonging, and social inclusion in general. Covering this range of topics coupled with the activities of public (government and civic) institutions to support newcomers in all their diversity can indeed be challenging.