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Enhancing Inclusive Communities: Collaborative Research in Kingston

The Welcoming Communities Initiative partners universities and communities to empower Ontario cities in integrating immigrants and minorities. Goals include strengthening municipal sectors, understanding social cohesion barriers, and sharing recommendations. The Kingston Context entails slow population growth, aging demographics, and established immigrant communities. Local organizations like ISKA, KEYS, and KEDCO support immigrant services and economic development in Kingston. Community consultations address job barriers, credentialism, and racism issues. Discussion focuses on academics' role, diversity celebration, and participatory democracy in creating inclusive communities.

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Enhancing Inclusive Communities: Collaborative Research in Kingston

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  1. Doing Collaborative Community Based Research: On the ground in Kingston Audrey Kobayashi Queen’s University

  2. The Welcoming Communities Initiative (WCI) A multidisciplinary project that brings universities and communities into a research partnership to enrich 2nd- and 3rd-tier (medium-sized and small) Ontario cities by equipping them to attract, retain, and integrate immigrants and visible minorities into an inclusive environment.

  3. WCI goals: • Strengthen the capacity of municipalities and the service and voluntary sectors to contribute to equitable and inclusive communities • Understand barriers to social cohesion, and test and implement strategies for creating and sustaining communities in which all members feel comfortable and valued. • Share findings and recommendations among community organizations, municipalities, policy-makers, academics, students, and the general public in Ontario, Canada, and internationally

  4. The Kingston Context: • Relatively slow population growth • Aging population • Immigration rate lower than overall population growth • Long established European immigrant communities • Recent, growing visible minority communities

  5. Demographic Overview for Kingston 2006

  6. Total population and immigrant population of Kingston 1991-2006

  7. Immigrant Services Kingston Area (ISKA) Kingston Employment Youth Services (KEYS) (includes LINC) Kingston Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO) LIP WCI – Queen’s Kingston Web Portal (City of Kingston) Local Immigrant Partnership (LIP) Kingston Immigrant Partnership (KIP)

  8. Community consultation themes: • Need for information on adapting to life in Kingston • Barriers to labour force integration • Lack of (appropriate) jobs • Credentialism • Lack of retraining opportunities • Misunderstanding/discrimination by employers • Discomfort/racism in the larger society (e.g., buses)

  9. Community consultation issues: • Disentangling service provider/newcomer opinions • Power relations in focus groups • Contradictions between immigrant attraction and removing barriers to integration • Uncritical perspectives on culture – whose culture is it and who defines it? • Reaching those who are not part of the conversation

  10. Discussion: • The role of the “academic” in facilitating critical understanding • “Celebrating diversity” as a tool for removing barriers • Participatory democracy, communicative competence, and politics of difference

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