Bridging, bonding, and trusting : Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration, Integration and Cultural Diversity

Bridging, Bonding, and Trusting: The Influence of Social Capital and Trust on Immigrants’ Sense of Belonging to Canada Patrick W. J. Pearce Dalhousie University – Citizenship, Justice and Security Domain Abstract/Résumé: Recent literature extols the virtues of social capital and trust on community attachment. [...] For example, Reitz and Banerjee (2007) use data from the Ethnic Diversity Survey (EDS) to explore the influences of visible minorities‘ sense of belonging to Canada and conclude that visible minorities in fact express a stronger sense of belonging to the country than whites (2007: 19). [...] As individuals‘ participation increases, they develop a sense of ownership of and attachment and belonging to a given community, which in turn leads to more engagement in it. [...] This model stresses the importance of the effects of length of residence in a community on sense of belonging. [...] Advocates of this model argue that there is a positive relationship between length of time in a community and sense of belonging to it.