Canadian Social Issue: Poverty in Immigrant Community - Coursework Example

CANADIAN SOCIAL ISSUE (POVERTY IN IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY) Introduction In the present day, Canada, poverty is a real phenomenon, irrespective of the fact that Canada has one of the most extensive living standards among all other industrialized countries. Similarly, irrespective of being voted, in various instances, in current years by UN as the leading nation in the globe in which to reside, researches confirm that poverty in Canada is prevalent. The level of prevalence and the seriousness of poverty challenge in Canada is a controversial issue that has been extensively discussed for the past few years. Experts agree the most affected communities are the rural communities, single parent families and immigrant communities. This paper will investigate the issue of poverty in Toronto immigrant community and the most affect group, as well as the social, cultural, political and economic forces leading to the social issue. Discussion If one truly thinks of poverty, he must acknowledge the fact that poverty and race are inseparable social conditions. The emergency of Canadian poverty during the 1990s increased the possibility that Canadian immigrants, and mostly those of certain racial backgrounds, may disproportionally fall victims of the condition. This concern was mostly unique to groups of immigrant populations as well as other minority groups affected by poverty in Canada. The most affected groups among the immigrant population include the aging population, children, women, single parents and disabled. Surprisingly, research reveals that little attention, by government, media and advocacy groups, is given to address the poverty challenge among the immigrant community, (Lochhead & Canadian Labour, 2003). Among the immigrant communities, women and children suffer the highest level of poverty. Immigrant workers are found in employment opportunities and workplaces with poor, working environments, worst wages and depressing workstations. Similarly, most of the few available jobs for immigrants are temporary and increasingly insecure, and various labor laws hardly apply to these opportunities. This enhances the likelihood of unsecure and poor, working environments, low wages and poverty among immigrants. Temporary immigrant employees are unable to create labour unions to raise their labor challenges and issues because of disunity and short employment periods. Immigrants’ communities are excessively affected by poverty and one in every five immigrant live, in poverty. Most of their living conditions are poor, substandard and overcrowded compared to Canadian citizen residences or communities. Programs and services funding are capped and low, and this heightens immigrants’ community poverty levels, (Picot & Statistics Canada, 2004). Similarly, social facilities and amenities such as churches, houses, hospitals, schools and recreational centers are underdeveloped and poor, and most people have limited access to insurance and quality services The issue is also complex because of the fact that, increasing rates of national poverty among immigrant community may combine with some racial and ethnic attributes of immigrants and create complex intractable and distinct conditions. The rates of poverty among Canadian immigrant communities, mostly recent marginalized immigrant community, are extensively high - over fifty percent of certain groups, including recent black, immigrant communities are living in poverty. The primary factors contributing to poverty involve obstacles to equal participation in employment opportunities and unequal or inadequate access to permanent, white color, skilled and well-paying opportunities. Racism is also a crucial contributing factor to the poverty rate among immigrants, (Fluery & Canada, 2007). The increase in number of precarious employment opportunities and the reductions to social programs in Canada have resulted in increased rates of poverty and extensive, long-term poverty for various susceptible Canadian groups. Moreover, current marginalized immigrants have experienced certain obstacles that are partly connectable to ethnicity. Therefore, Canada must address the challenges as a distinct and unique policy concern because if Canada fails to address the poverty reality linked to racism among immigrants, there is a possibility of producing United States style racially defined and marginalized underclass community. Recent Canadian census revealed that the overall rate of poverty in Canada is about 22% and for marginalized immigrant community, the rate of poverty are about 39%. The largest numbers of the current immigrants are marginalized people, with a high percentage of blacks, East and south Asians contributing to each successive immigrant cohort. Poverty among the immigrant communities is increasingly high in Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto and Canadian urban centers belonging to marginalized immigrant groups. While Canada has yet reproduced the United State style barrios, slums and ghettoes, rates of poverty in Canada is becoming highly prevalent in distressed proximities, (Hoeppner & Canada, 2010). Increased differences in socio-economic status because of increased gap in income and employment is a primary cause of poverty among the immigrant communities. Historically, immigrants fell to average income of Canada within 10 to 16 years of arrival to the country, but there was a large change in trends during the 1980s. Canadian immigrants chosen for their economic expertise earned an average salary or more, but even for immigrants, earning reduced to fifteen percent lower than average during the 1990s. Similarly, family class immigrants, expatriates and other immigrant categories currently earn approximately less than half the average income of Canadian a year after arriving; therefore, reducing further below the earning status back in 1980s. Current research, therefore, has revealed that reduced income earnings among certain minority racial groups such as South Asians and blacks influence high poverty levels among modern immigrant communities. The large numbers of immigrant working are seriously seeking employment, and main reasons for their increased rates of poverty are the challenges they experience in finding stable and reasonably well paying employments, (Fluery & Canada, 2007). The main challenge is not lack of skills because these immigrants are highly educated than Canadian workers among all age categories. For instance, approximately thirty-five percent of Canadian immigrants aged between 25 and 35 years have a college or university qualification, compared to average of about twenty-six percent working age in Canada, and high school rates of completion are equal. However, rates of unemployment for immigrants are increasing higher today that the 1995 average rate and the employment gaps are extensive among the highly educated categories. Marginalized immigrant communities are able to find employment but are overrepresented in sales, manual labor and low wage earning and service jobs. Similarly, they are deeply underrepresented, not in managerial opportunities or professional employments, but rather in technical employments and intermediate expertise manual jobs. This increased occupational isolation results in increasingly large earning discrepancies and enormous poverty rates among immigrants. Additionally, immigrants employed in full-time jobs earn low income compared to Canadian average, and this comparison disregards high employment levels and qualifications in precarious opportunities and employment period over the year. Experts agree that vital explanation of increased poverty rates and the extensive and increasing income differentials among marginalized Toronto immigrant group undoubtedly lies in the crucial cyclical factors. For instance, due to increased employment, the previous years were an adverse period for all immigrants to the employment market. Therefore, it is hard to refute nearly a decade of detrimental news as merely cyclical. Similarly, it is increasingly accurate to argue that certain crucial and adverse structural transformations including the increasing number of precarious employment have mainly had an effect on immigrant poverty. In fact, it is clear that differences in expertise and education are true, and these have a significant effect on earning and poverty, (Fleury & Canada, 2007). Similarly, highly advanced methodology that manage for these disparities suggest a crucial and unexplained income discrepancy that is rationally attributable to the racism effect. The poor Canadian immigrant believes that racism is the main factor in the employment sector and the entire society, hence the origin of their poverty. Racism is the attitudes and the consequent actions that act to marginalize certain category of people. These actions may be overt – or, in most cases, covert – are tend to be highly common when public effort to a certain thing as job equality in the fairness of process of hiring and promotions are in retreat. Acknowledgement of immigrant credential is a key technical concern, but the crucial underlying concern is whether government, organizations and employers are willing to pursue an unbiased and just experience and expertise appraisal of immigrant applicants when hiring people or considering promotions, (Hoeppner & Canada, 2010). Inadequate procedural justice is indisputably a cruel aspect in the immigrants’ overrepresentation in low-skilled and paying jobs, and workstation obstacles of a different nature aid explain restricted progress up the professional ladder and widespread poverty. The poverty culture amid the Canadian immigrant is another element heightening poverty rates. The culture of poverty is crucial adaptive mechanism, an ideology that enables marginalized groups to cope with the feeling of hopelessness and despair that emerge because of their remote chances of socioeconomic achievement. The disparity between the main culture and such subculture nurtured among socially and physically isolated immigrants is mainly meant to restrict and maintain immigrant in poor places. The ideology limits economic, social, educations and political progress of Canadian immigrants forcing them to pathetic social and political situations. Rampant poverty among immigrant community has attracted significant political and state attention. Currently, private organizations, government, media and advocacy groups have consolidated their attention in devising strategies and mechanism to help alleviate poverty among immigrant community and Canadian state as a whole, (Picot & Statistics Canada, 2004). Recent campaigns continue to seek for sustainable, extensively financed and long-term strategies to alleviate immigrant poverty and child poverty. These includes federal funding that has increased from five billion dollars yearly from 2010 (compared previous years) to enhance national systems of education, affordable housing, improved working conditions and better social facilities to improve immigrants living conditions and status. Similarly, labour market policies and strategies have been implemented to ensure additional improved and better employment opportunities for immigrants, as well as enhance integration of expert immigrants in job market. Immigrant labour unions have been in the forefront advocating for fairness in the hiring process in most jobs. Labor unions have also pressured the government to extend labour laws to immigrants and other marginalized communities and improve the working conditions. Recent government policies and media coverage have pressured employers and private sector to recognize and acknowledge immigrant expertise and skills and invest in their training. In addition, current advocacy groups, labour unions and government attention concentrates on implementing policies and laws that realize immigrant need and requirement and undertake poverty reduction efforts, (Lochhead & Canadian Labour, 2003). These policies should enhance procedural justice in hiring processes and promotion practices. Similarly, given the legislative stalemate in various communities, the effective way forward for managers and labour unions to create and enforce their own workstation job equity strategies. These plans, strategies and many other future strategies will be crucial in alleviating poverty and fixing living conditions for Canadian immigrant community. Conclusion Poverty rate may reflect a temporary and inexorable aspect of resettlement for current immigrant communities. For permanent stay immigrants and receiving families in the community, however, poverty undoubtedly is not an aspect of unfolding procedure; rather, it is the basis of disadvantage cycle. Similarly, with effective strategies and mechanism immigrant community poverty is preventable. References Fleury, D., & Canada. (2007). A study of poverty and working poverty among recent immigrants to Canada: Final report. Ottawa, Ont.: Human Resources and Social Development Canada. Hoeppner, C., & Canada. (2010). Federal poverty reduction plan: Working in partnership towards reducing poverty in Canada : report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilties. Ottawa, Ont: Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities. Lochhead, C., & Canadian Labour and Business Centre. (2003). The transition penalty: Unemployment among recent immigrants to Canada : CLBC commentary. Ottawa: Canadian Labour and Business Centre. Picot, W. G., & Statistics Canada. (2004). The deteriorating economic welfare of immigrants and possible causes. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch. Read More