Vast majority of immigrants feel strong sense of belonging, says Statistics Canada study

[Otiwaa Asante-Boakye (left), from Ghana, takes the Oath of Citizenship, along with more than 2,000 people, on Canada Day in 2000. Stats Can research shows the vast majority of immigrants feel a “strong sense of belonging. Aaron Harris/The Canadian Press]

As Canadians are asked whether “minorities should do more to fit in” and consider testing potential immigrants for “anti-Canadian values,” a new research paper says most immigrants are patriotic.

A Statistics Canada paper released Tuesday found that 93 per cent of immigrants who landed in Canada between 1980 and 2012 “had a very strong or a strong sense of belonging to Canada.”

That number is not a typical poll: it’s the result of research from the data agency’s Analytical Studies Branch. The paper used a nationally representative sample of 7,003 immigrants from 182 countries and pulled data from the agency’s 2013 General Social Survey.

The 93 per cent figure breaks down into two categories: roughly 69 per cent of immigrants who feel a strong sense of belonging to both Canada and their source country, and 24 per cent who feel a strong sense of belonging to just Canada.

On the flip side, the paper found that just three per cent of immigrants felt a strong sense of belonging to their source country but not to Canada, while four per cent felt neither.

“These immigrants came from all over the world, with diverse cultural and ethno-racial backgrounds,” reads the paper’s conclusion.

“They were selected and admitted for various purposes…and were equipped with different levels of human capital and socioeconomic resources. Despite this vast diversity, 93 per cent of them had very strong or strong sense of belonging to Canada.”

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The paper comes as debate continues to swirl around Conservative MP Kellie Leitch’s idea of “screening potential immigrants for anti-Canadian values.” Leitch doubled down on the idea in an Oct. 15 speech launching her campaign for her party’s leadership.

“How can you even ask questions about equality of women, of freedom of religion about equality for all under the law,” she stated at the launch last weekend, “without face-to-face interviews or personal interactions with trained immigration officers?”

Yahoo Canada News was able to reach the Leitch campaign for comment on the Statistics Canada paper’s findings, but the campaign could not offer a response by publication.

The Quebec bureau chief for Maclean’s, writing in the New York Times today, also raised Leitch’s idea of a values test for immigrants in the context of the results of a recent Angus Reid Institute-CBC News poll.

The poll found that 68 per cent of Canadian respondents agreed that “minorities should do more to fit in with mainstream society rather than keep their own customs and languages.”

That poll was the subject of an interview of a Globe and Mail editor by a Vancouver radio host, that Canadaland reported has resulted in the host’s being “taken off the air.”

Discrimination ‘discourages the sense of belonging’

The data agency said it examined four sets of determinants: socioeconomic and cultural background, entry status, experience in Canada, and demographics.

It found that attributes carried over from the source country, like attitudes and behaviour, were as important as an immigrant’s status and experience in Canada in affecting their sense of belonging.

The four categories of an immigrant’s sense of belonging (a strong sense for both Canada and their source country, a strong sense for just one of those, a strong sense for just the other, and a strong sense for neither) also share similar characteristics, the paper states.

Those who strongly felt a belonging just to Canada were more likely to have come from countries with “lower levels of civil liberty and life satisfaction” according to an index developed by Freedom House and the World Values Survey.

They also tended to have more “exposure to Canadian society,” immigrated at a younger age, lived in Canada longer, and spoke English or French at home.

Conversely, for the three per cent who didn’t feel a belonging in Canada but still felt attached to their home country, they tended to have perceived discrimination. They also felt satisfied in their source country, immigrated to Canada at an older age and lived in Canada for a shorter time.

“The effect of discrimination is consistent with the hypothesis that perceived unfair treatment discourages the sense of belonging to the receiving society,” the paper states.

Immigrants who came to join their relatives in Canada, and those who were unemployed, unmarried or poor tended to have a weak attachment to both Canada and their source country.