Description:
As the 2001 Census results demonstrate, the faces of Canada’s cities are changing rapidly. While the vast majority of immigrants and refugees settle in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver (MTV), second tier cities like Ottawa and Calgary are increasingly becoming poles of attraction for newcomers. All three levels of government and the non-governmental sector must be alert to these changes and develop new programs and policies or modify existing ones as needs arise.

While these changes affect policies across the board, several key areas stand out as requiring immediate attention. These include:

Employment: Statistics Canada data suggests that newcomers to Canada are not faring as well as earlier cohorts. Issues include language, accreditation, access to education, and discrimination in the workplace.

Housing: Housing markets across the country are tight and access to affordable housing is an important issue. Increasing incidence of homelessness among vulnerable populations is a serious concern.

Policing and Justice: Policing and justice issues are very top-of-mind for many minorities in Canada. Hate and bias activity continues to threaten communities; racial profiling and concerns around the balance of public safety and equality of citizenship persist; racism and discrimination remain at the forefront of concern for many communities.

Social Services: Access to services for an ever-changing diverse population remains a challenge for policymakers at all levels of government.

Civic Participation: Ensuring that decision-making tables and processes involve members of newcomer and minority communities is critical to the legitimacy and efficacy of policy and program decisions.

This discussion will address each of these areas in turn. An interlocutor will introduce each topic focused on the needs of diverse communities in Ottawa for no more than 5 minutes and a general discussion will ensue for 20 minutes. These discussion periods will be guided by two questions: 1) What evidence do we have? and 2) What remains to be done?

Participants will be provided with a demographic overview of Ottawa, a one pager for each area laying out needs, and a few selected short readings in advance of the discussion.



Readings:

“Building the Ottawa Mosaic” Summary Report of Conference on Issues Regarding Ethno-cultural Minorities in Ottawa April 25, 2002.

“Ethnic Diversity Survey: Portrait of a Multicultural Society”

For More Information Contact :
Raj Rasalingam
President
Pearson-Shoyama Institute
(613)230-8284
raj@pearson-shoyama.ca