The economic integration of immigrants in Metropolitan Vancouver

Table of ConTenTs InTroduCTIon 5 CanadIan ImmIgraTIon PolICy and Programs 8 analyTICal ConTexT: The eConomIC forTunes of ImmIgranTs In Canada 11 The loCal ConTexT: ImmIgraTIon and The ChangIng CulTural ComPosITIon of meTroPolITan VanCouVer 14 ImmIgraTIon and The VanCouVer eConomy: The general sTory 27 seTTlemenT and InTegraTIon Programs for newComers In VanCouVer 29 The longITudInal ImmIgraTIon da [...] The research was financially supported by a grant from MBC (held by the author) and the data for the project were supplied through the governmental organizations that provide funding to Metropolis, specifically, the Provincial Government of BC (IMDB) and Statistics Canada (Census materials). [...] It will corroborate the findings of the many studies of 8 MBC: The Economic Integration of Immigrants in Metro Vancouver Canadian immigration that paint a bleak picture of integration in the economic sphere. [...] The equivalent figure for the 1991 census (1986-91 arrivals) was 31.3 percent and for the 2001 census 35.8 percent, or 2.29 times the rate of the Canadian-born (Picot and Hou 2003).7 It is still too soon to expect a rich analysis of 2006 census data, but the first substantial study shows that the trend toward declining incomes for newcomers has continued into the present decade (Statistics Canada [...] The vast majority of early colonial settlers were from Britain and Europe, but the Gold Rush of the mid-nineteenth century and the construction of the continental railways in the 1860s and 1870s attracted individuals from other parts of the world, including those of Indian and, most notably, Chinese origin.