Jeffrey G. Reitz

Immigration remains a cornerstone of national policy, although it has undergone significant transformations across economic, family, and refugee admission streams in the past two decades. Reshaping the Mosaic offers an insightful exploration of Canada's immigration policy, ranging from its historical roots to contemporary developments. The book examines the growth in permanent and temporary immigration to Canada. It explores changes in selection criteria and evaluates their impact on key policy objectives: contributing to Canadian economic prosperity, facilitating family reunification, providing refuge for those fleeing persecution, and enabling the integration of immigrants and their descendants into Canadian society. The book sheds light on the legal, political, economic, and social paradoxes inherent in Canadian immigration policy, highlighting shifts in exclusion powers, deportation practices, settlement support, and citizenship rules, as well as their implications for Canadian ideals of multiculturalism, fairness, and integration. It documents the lack of transparency and informed public engagement in policy formation and the implications this lack may have on maintaining public confidence and ensuring that immigration policies align with the national interests. Driven by a conviction that the contemporary changes in immigration policy need to be examined in a comprehensive and inclusive way, Reshaping the Mosaic looks at recent shifts and their implications for society and offers invaluable insights for policymakers, scholars, and stakeholders, aiming to assist the development of a new immigration policy framework.

Immigration remains a cornerstone of national policy, although it has undergone significant transformations across economic, family, and refugee admission streams in the past two decades. Reshaping the Mosaic offers an insightful exploration of Canada's immigration policy, ranging from its historical roots to contemporary developments. The book examines the growth in permanent and temporary immigration to Canada. It explores changes in selection criteria and evaluates their impact on key policy objectives: contributing to Canadian economic prosperity, facilitating family reunification, providing refuge for those fleeing persecution, and enabling the integration of immigrants and their descendants into Canadian society. The book sheds light on the legal, political, economic, and social paradoxes inherent in Canadian immigration policy, highlighting shifts in exclusion powers, deportation practices, settlement support, and citizenship rules, as well as their implications for Canadian ideals of multiculturalism, fairness, and integration. It documents the lack of transparency and informed public engagement in policy formation and the implications this lack may have on maintaining public confidence and ensuring that immigration policies align with the national interests. Driven by a conviction that the contemporary changes in immigration policy need to be examined in a comprehensive and inclusive way, Reshaping the Mosaic looks at recent shifts and their implications for society and offers invaluable insights for policymakers, scholars, and stakeholders, aiming to assist the development of a new immigration policy framework.

This book examines how the economic performance of immigrants is shaped by national and urban social institutions. In the United States, particularly in the high-immigration cities, most immigrant-origin groups have significantly lower earnings than do their counterparts in Canadian or Australian cities. Immigration policy is not a factor, however;

Does multiculturalism ‘work’? Does multiculturalism policy create social cohesion, or undermine it? Multiculturalism was introduced in Canada in the 1970s and widely adopted internationally, but more recently has been hotly debated, amid new concerns about social, cultural, and political impacts of immigration. Advocates praise multiculturalism for its emphasis on special recognition for cultural minorities as facilitating their social integration, while opponents charge that multiculturalism threatens social cohesion by encouraging social isolation. Multiculturalism is thus rooted in a theory of human behaviour, and this book examines the empirical validity of some of its basic propositions, focusing on Canada as the country for which the most enthusiastic claims for multiculturalism have been made. The analysis draws on the massive national Ethnic Diversity Survey of over 41,000 Canadians in 2002, the most extensive survey yet conducted on this question. The analysis provides a new and more nuanced understanding of the complex relation between multiculturalism and social cohesion, challenging uncritically optimistic or pessimistic views. Ethnic community ties facilitate some aspects of social integration, while discouraging others. For racial minorities, relations within and outside minority communities are greatly complicated by more frequent experiences of discrimination and inequality, slowing processes of social integration. Implications for multicultural policies emphasize that race relations present important challenges across Quebec and the rest of Canada, including for the new religious minorities, and that ethnic community development requires more explicit support for social integration.

Does multiculturalism ‘work’? Does multiculturalism policy create social cohesion, or undermine it? Multiculturalism was introduced in Canada in the 1970s and widely adopted internationally, but more recently has been hotly debated, amid new concerns about social, cultural, and political impacts of immigration. Advocates praise multiculturalism for its emphasis on special recognition for cultural minorities as facilitating their social integration, while opponents charge that multiculturalism threatens social cohesion by encouraging social isolation. Multiculturalism is thus rooted in a theory of human behaviour, and this book examines the empirical validity of some of its basic propositions, focusing on Canada as the country for which the most enthusiastic claims for multiculturalism have been made. The analysis draws on the massive national Ethnic Diversity Survey of over 41,000 Canadians in 2002, the most extensive survey yet conducted on this question. The analysis provides a new and more nuanced understanding of the complex relation between multiculturalism and social cohesion, challenging uncritically optimistic or pessimistic views. Ethnic community ties facilitate some aspects of social integration, while discouraging others. For racial minorities, relations within and outside minority communities are greatly complicated by more frequent experiences of discrimination and inequality, slowing processes of social integration. Implications for multicultural policies emphasize that race relations present important challenges across Quebec and the rest of Canada, including for the new religious minorities, and that ethnic community development requires more explicit support for social integration.

An in-depth look at the changes in immigration policy since 9/11.

This book examines how the economic performance of immigrants is shaped by national and urban social institutions. In the United States, particularly in the high-immigration cities, most immigrant-origin groups have significantly lower earnings than do their counterparts in Canadian or Australian cities. Immigration policy is not a factor, however; in fact U.S. immigrants?in particular origin groups?are not less skilled. American institutions, including education, labor market structures, and social welfare, all reflect greater individualism and all contribute to the potential for inequality. Resulting higher poverty rates for America's immigrants explains their more extensive use of its weaker welfare system. Jeffrey Reitz's social institutional approach projects the impact of institutional restructuring?past and future?on the economic performance of immigrants in these countries.