Overview

As Canada takes stock of its immigration programs, the factors that promote successful settlement have taken centre stage – for researchers, service providers, policymakers, and for the migrants themselves. Social Resilience and the Urban Migrant Experience explores the conditions and supports that help international migrants thrive, not just survive. Focusing on resilience, chapters examine how immigration status and family dynamics shape migrants’ agency and their responses to the inevitable challenges of building new lives. They draw attention to the issues created by societal constructs, while highlighting the resources from social institutions of all types: governmental, professional, educational, and faith-based. Emphasizing the experiences of structurally oppressed migrant groups, contributors note the varied ways that capitalism, as well as class, gender, and race, can contribute to inequality in settlement practices. Directed at a wide audience of community and government practitioners, policy experts, academics, and civil society activists, Social Resilience and the Urban Migrant Experience illuminates both the impediments to newcomer integration and the ability of newcomers to engage successfully in adaption and resistance.

Full Product Details

Author:   Valerie Preston ,  John Shields ,  Tara Bedard
Publisher:   McGill-Queen's University Press
Imprint:   McGill-Queen's University Press
ISBN:  

9780228026075

ISBN 10:   0228026075
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   16 December 2025
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Not yet available  
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.

Table of Contents

Figures and Tables vii Acknowledgments xi 1 International Migrants, Resistance, and Social Resilience: An Introduction 3 Tara Bedard, John Shields, and Valerie Preston Part One Precarious Status 21 2 Municipal “Sanctuary” Policies in Canada: A View from Immigrant-Serving Organizations 27 Mireille Paquet, John Shields, Idil Atak, Meghan Joy, and Graham Hudson 3 The Importance of Language Skills and Francization to Asylum Seekers in Quebec: A Holistic Integration Understanding 42 Nicole Ives, Jill Hanley, Janet Cleveland, and Manuel Salamanca Cardona 4 Information Access and Resilience for Newcomer Groups: Yazidi and Turkish-Speaking Newcomers in York Region 63 Michaela Hynie, Gulay Kilicaslan, Cansu Ekmekcioglu, Rubiyat Karim, Palmer Taylor, and Trisha Scantlebury Part Two Temporary Status 81 5 Supporting International Student Resilience Throughout the Migrant Journey 86 Christina Gabriel, Sutama Ghosh, Francine Schlosser, Luisa Veronis, and Margaret Walton-Roberts 6 “Hearing the Untold”: Insights from Research about International Students 111 Raymond Garrison, Sutama Ghosh, Sohail Shahidnia, and Saad El Hakmi Part Three Permanent Status 129 7 Families and Resilience: Immigrant Integration in Metropolitan Toronto 133 Nancy Mandell, Janice Phonepraseuth, Jana Borras, Larry Lam, Amber Gazso, and Guida Man 8 Immigrant Families’ Capacity to Weather a Financial Storm: Racial Disparities in Economic Resilience 148 Nahid Sultana, Jill Hanley, and Francine Schlosser 9 Family Reunification: A Social Resilience Approach to Integration 167 Stéfanie Morris and Patti Tamara Lenard Part Four: Integration and Gender 181 10 Gender, Immigration, Essential Work, and Resilience 185 Valerie Preston and Marshia Akbar 11 Immigrant Women’s Civic Engagement as a Response to Exclusion from Wage Labour 203 Alexandra Charette 12 Transformative Resilience Through Migrant-Led Collective Action 216 Rupaleem Bhuyan, Tenzin Chime, Alisha Alam, Andrea Bobadilla, Rinchen Dolma, Sultana Jahangir, and Youdon Tenzin Khangsar Part Five: Conclusion 237 13 Building Resilience Through Policy: The Example of Gender-Responsive “Inclusive” Integration 240 Allison J. Petrozziello and Jenna L. Hennebry References 259 Contributors 315 Index 323

Reviews

“This volume will be welcomed by scholars and students in migration studies, ranging from political and legal studies, social work, and religious studies to social geography and urban planning.” – Miu Chung Yan, School of Social Work, University of British Columbia “A valuable and timely resource for policymakers and settlement service providers, particularly as communities wrestle with the concept of resilience in the context of increasing migrant flows nationally and globally.” – Sarah Zell, Urban and Inner-City Studies, University of Winnipeg

Author Information

Valerie Preston is professor emerita and senior scholar in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University. John Shields is professor emeritus in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Toronto Metropolitan University. Tara Bedard is executive director at the Waterloo Region Immigration Partnership.

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