Integration and Retention of Refugees in Smaller Communities
| Author | Halina Sapeha,Tony Fang,Kerri Neil |
| Published date | 01 December 2018 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12517 |
| Date | 01 December 2018 |
Integration and Retention of Refugees in
Smaller Communities
Tony Fang* , Halina Sapeha** and Kerri Neil**
ABSTRACT
While advanced economies attempt to pursue a regionalized immigration policy, which aims at
shifting migration flows away from the most popular urban centre destinations to smaller communi-
ties, the experiences of immigrants settling in such locations remains underexplored. This research
provides timely knowledge of refugee labour market integration in smaller communities, using
Newfoundland and Labrador’s provincial capital, St. John’s, as an example of such communities.
The article examines the resettlement and labour market integration of refugees in a medium-sized
city with particular attention to factors that enhance refugee labour market integration and factors
that negatively impact refugee integration and their retention in the receiving community. The study
finds that the negative perception of employment opportunities is a significant factor in refugee’s
decision to move. Securing employment of refugees is facilitated by strong English language skills,
social connections and is hampered by discrimination in the labour market.
INTRODUCTION
Many developed countries receive a steady stream of immigrants; however, the general picture
hides regional disparities within countries. Over the past few decades, most immigrants have tended
to settle in the largest cities of the immigrant receiving countries. One of the important shifts in
immigration policy is towards regionalization, which aims at diverting migration flows away from
the most popular urban destinations to the smaller communities.
Immigrants have been found to have a positive effect on economic growth in Canada, although
this effect is smaller in regions with smaller immigrant populations (Dungan et al., 2013; Akbari
and Haider, 2018). Canada’s Atlantic Provinces are experiencing population decline, aging, out-
migration, and labour and skills shortages. The importance of recruitment and retention of newcom-
ers has been recognized in numerous policy documents over the years, such as Newfoundland and
Labrador’s Population Growth Strategy 2015-2025 and Immigration Action Plan 2017, Nova Sco-
tia’s 2014 Immigration Strategy, P.E.I.’s Annual Investment Report 2014-2015, and New Bruns-
wick’s Population Growth Strategy 2013-2018. In 2016, the Canadian federal government launched
the Atlantic Growth Strategy and Atlantic Immigration Pilot programme to spur economic growth
in the Atlantic region through immigration, trade, innovation, and investment.
Canada’s regionalization of refugee resettlement can be a source of population growth for the
Atlantic Provinces (Devoretz et al., 2004; Jackson and Bauder, 2014). The challenge appears to be
keeping them in smaller communities where economies are stagnant or struggling. Bringing in refu-
gees will yield no benefit to the province if they choose to leave. In this case, neither would they
* Memorial University of Newfoundland, University of Toronto, St. John’s
** Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s
doi: 10.1111/imig.12517
©2018 The Authors
International Migration ©2018 IOM
International Migration Vol. 56 (6) 2018
ISSN 0020-7985Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
join the provincial workforce, nor would they contribute to stabilizing or increasing the population
of the province. In Canada, Newfoundland, and Labrador has the lowest retention rate of refugees
(Gien and Law, 2009; IRCC, 2014; Statistics Canada, 2015). A Goss Gilroy study (2005) high-
lighted that 35 per cent of the 144 refugees who arrived from January to October 2004 left the pro-
vince within 10 months of arrival (and one-third of them left within 1 month after their arrival).
Ten years later and there has been little change in the retention rate of refugees in the province,
which remains the lowest in Canada at 36 per cent in 2015 (Figure 1).
Refugees face great challenges during and after their arrival, ranging from limited employment
opportunities to social isolation, in addition to the potential effects of language barriers, and social
and economic discrimination (Griffiths et al., 2010; Jackson and Bauder, 2014). This research pro-
vides important and timely knowledge of refugee retention and labour market integration in smaller
communities, using Newfoundland and Labrador’s provincial capital, St. John’s, as an example of
such communities. While St. John’s may not have all of the multicultural amenities and services
offered in a larger metropolis, the smaller immigrant population may reduce competition in the
labour market for newcomers (Di Biase and Bauder, 2005).
Determining possible factors affecting refugee settlement and labour market integration would
benefit both refugees and receiving communities, given refugees’potential social, cultural, and eco-
nomic contributions to the smaller communities in the long-term. Basing this analysis in St. John’s
is particularly interesting because of the lack of studies based on immigration in Newfoundland
and Labrador, which is not a traditionally popular immigration destination. Given the relatively lim-
ited number of refugees that have settled in the province, the sample size of interviewed refugees
(83 as well as 16 stakeholder interviews) is a major strength of the study. While the findings lar-
gely corroborate what is already known about refugee populations from other settings, it is useful
to have this confirmed in the Newfoundland and Labrador’s setting and especially important to hear
the voices of refugees and stakeholders from St. John’s.
LABOUR MARKET INTEGRATION AND RETENTION
This study builds on Lee’s (1966) “push–pull theory”to explain the relationship between welcoming com-
munities and employment opportunities (pull) or social isolation and discrimination (push) and migration.
FIGURE 1
RETENTION RATE 5 YEARS AFTER ADMISSION OF THE 2010 COHORT OF REFUGEES (SOURCE:
LONGITUDINAL IMMIGRATION DATABASE, 2015)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
NL PEI NS NB QC ON MB SK AB BC
5 Year Retention Rate of Refugees in Canada
84 Fang, Sapeha and Neil
©2018 The Authors. International Migration ©2018 IOM
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