Selected symposium theme: LPReN #3: Social Justice, Hegemony, and Complicity in Language Policy
The socio-economic integration of immigrants, especially skilled workers in the economic class, is one of the top priorities of Canada (GC, 2020). However, a disconnect can be observed between the top-down policies informing the current integration model that mandates the use of one of Canada's official languages (English or French) for settlement, and the social multilingualism where multiple languages are spoken by various indigenous peoples and immigrant populations (Lopez, 2007; Raza & Chua, 2022).
Building upon existing research on the effects of Canadian official bilingualism (English and French) on immigrant languages in Canada (e.g., Ricento, 2013; 2021), and drawing on findings from a study of Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi skilled immigrants, we conclude that the current integration policy seems to be problematic in three ways. First, the requirement for proficiency in one of the two official languages of Canada as a pre-requisite to integrate into the Canadian society and economy undervalues proficiency in other languages and the human capital developed in those languages (Raza & Chua, 2022; Ricento, 2021). Secondly, since newcomers, especially those who do not possess sufficient proficiency in English (in Alberta and most other Canadian provinces) rely upon help from ethnic communities to integrate into Canadian society, such reliance seems to create, reinforce and strengthen ethnic enclaves in provinces like Alberta, fostering over-representation of selective ethnicities in different economic sectors, isolation from the mainstream Albertan community, and creation of isolated ethnic and political groups. Finally, government-supported language programs (e.g., the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program) are woefully inadequate in their instructional design, curricula, and pedagogy to achieve meaningful linguistic or cultural integration into Canadian society. Unless and until these language programs recognize, value, and utilize the acquired linguistic, social and cultural capital of immigrants through fundamental changes in curricula and pedagogy, large numbers of newcomers will continue to be ghettoized in low-skilled jobs, with substantial reduction in wages and opportunities for upward socio-economic mobility, with negative consequences for the Canadian economy and political stability.
References
Government of Canada. (2020). 2020 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration. Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/annual-report-parliament-immigration-2020.html
Lopez, E. (2007). The Canadian point system and its discontents: Integration of immigrants into the labour market into the 21st century. [Unpublished master's dissertation]. Ryerson University.
Raza, K., & Chua, C. (2022). Linguistic outcomes of language accountability and points-based system for multilingual skilled immigrants: A critical language-in-immigration policy analysis. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2060242
Ricento, T. (2021). Refugees in Canada: On the loss of social and cultural capital. Palgrave Macmillan.
Ricento, T. (2013). The consequences of official bilingualism on the status and perception of
non-official languages in Canada. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 34(5): 475-489.
