UVic Centre Researching Immigration To Small Towns

The University of Victoria’s Centre for Studies in Religion and Society is part of a $2.5 million federally funded research network aimed at supporting the integration of immigrants into small and medium-sized communities across Canada.

Paul Bramadat, director of UVic’s Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, and Julie Drolet from the Faculty of Human, Social, and Educational Development at Thompson Rivers University will lead the British Columbia node of the project. The Pathways to Prosperity Partnership involves 50 universities and over 100 partner organizations across the five regional nodes that will research and support policy development on Canadian immigration.

“The vast majority of research on immigration has examined newcomers to major centres like Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver,” says Bramadat. “But there is a gap in our understanding about what happens when immigrants settle in smaller communities. This project addresses the urgent need to understand the social issues faced in these communities and we are pleased that we are able to play an important role in this kind of research initiative.”

In 2001, more than three-quarters of immigrants to Canada settled in these three major centres. A decade later, an ever-increasing number of newcomers are finding homes in smaller communities across the country. Read the news release from Western University.

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