When asked which factors facilitate integration into the mainstream community, providers from all centres agreed that English language skills are crucial. The consequences of not having English are serious. A provider from Calgary gave the following example: "What often happens is that parents' language skills are so poor, the kids end up having to do a lot of the business for their parents because they have the language skills. They are involved in stuff that a 12-to-14-year-old should not have any care or concern for, and what that does is ostracize the parents further from being mainstreamed into the community because they don't have the language skills, money or economic power." On the other hand, some providers felt that children play a role in the integration of the whole family. One respondent in Grande Prairie stated, "Children help their parents to integrate into the larger community as they are involved in activities." Another respondent (a former refugee) stated, "I had no choice. I had to integrate into the community and go to the school and volunteer and see who is teaching my kids and who is sitting with my kids."
Most respondents commented that age is an important variable; children are integrated through school-related activities and younger adults appear to have an easier time adjusting than older ones do. Settlement workers in Calgary and Edmonton suggested that seniors should not be sent to smaller centres; the respondents said that older people require the support of a compatriot community.
Employment was also cited by providers in most centres as an important contributer to integration. For instance, a Grande Prairie provider noted "for employment they integrate, but to socialize, they stay to themselves." Respondents from Calgary and Edmonton generally agreed that refugees start out in low paying jobs. Women often find jobs in cleaning companies while men find blue collar jobs such as work in manufacturing, meat processing plants, and driving taxis. A provider from Calgary stated that women might find it easier to get work. "For women there is more opportunity, not necessarily a high paying job, but maybe women are more flexible." The entry level jobs obtained by newcomers reflected some aspects of the demographics of the cities involved. Medicine Hat, for instance, which is an older community, has jobs for women in nursing homes, while the other locations have more positions in daycare.
In smaller centres the emphasis tends to be on getting one's ticket (e.g. improving language proficiency in order to obtain a ticket). Respondents cited the need for people who could fill skilled labour positions, noting that there are not as many opportunities to upgrade (for example, Medicine Hat doesn't have a university). Respondents from all cities agree that professionals have a hard time initially. They are not able to reenter their professions quickly and yet they generally have high expectations on arrival.
Providers from Calgary, Ft. McMurray, Medicine Hat and Red Deer all mentioned gender roles as affecting integration. "I remember with the Lebanese community, the mums were not allowed to drive, they had to be dressed in ethnic attire, and the dad had to do all of the negotiating with the schools and everything. And then he left the family and she did not have a clue where to begin. That becomes a difficulty." A respondent from Medicine Hat stated, "The stay-at-home mums really do stay at home. They don't get out much, or have much contact with other people. They get into a rut."
Providers from all the centres mentioned the role of religion in integration, but only when the refugees shared a religion with people already established in the city. A Calgary respondent stated: "We have people that come here as Christians and they get involved with the churches that help them." One Fort McMurray provider noted: "Hispanics integrate to a greater extent; partly because of the Catholic faith, you will find them in church settings. One Hispanic group will bring up a Spanish speaking pastor once a month from Edmonton and we conduct services here in homes and they will invite non-Hispanic people to their services." The availability of religious facilities not usually associated with the Canadian mainstream (e.g., mosques, Buddhist temples) was not identified specifically as having a role in integration by the service providers.
A common theme was the role the compatriot community plays in the integration of the individual. This can be either a negative or a positive influence. For instance one respondent in Grande Prairie stated, " I see the Vietnamese community staying together and this is a multigenerational situation by now. There is no need for integration." On the positive side, a respondent from Lethbridge commented, "At the beginning, they tend to be more together with their ethnic group. Later on, the more they know English, they gradually get Canadian friends and fit into the mainstream, but still they have some ethnic community in the background as a basic support." Unlike the providers from the smaller cities, those from Edmonton and Calgary suggested the ethno-cultural community should be sufficiently large to provide support and role models. It was felt that this is especially important at the beginning of the settlement period. Despite their general support for large ethnic communities, participants in Edmonton and Calgary indicated that some people prefer to associate with Canadians rather than their compatriots. As a settlement provider explained, "I don't want to be involved with my ethnic group and deal with the old issues and problems that we had in our old country." This sentiment did not arise in the other cities, where ethno-cultural groups are relatively small.
The role respondents attributed to education levels was inconsistent, although most agreed education would have an effect on integration. Some felt that those with higher education would achieve greater integration as a result of higher language proficiency and more open attitudes. Others felt that people with lower levels of education would integrate better (i.e., these people would better satisfied with lower status jobs and would have lower expectations. One respondent compared education to the amount of baggage a refugee brings with him/her. According to this individual, there is an inverse relationship between the amount a person brings and final level of integration).
Providers in smaller communities mentioned that the attitude of the host community was important. Many of the respondents reported that men tend to integrate better because of opportunities to interact with Canadians at work and because there are not the same social restrictions on men as women. On the other hand, a respondent from Medicine Hat stated, "The Iraqi men stick together. People in Medicine Hat are afraid of them. They look fairly fearsome. You get a group of 8 - 10 bearded, dark skinned men and people are afraid of them. If people get to know them individually, it might be different. They also have their own religion and their own social rules."
When asked whether there are any characteristics of the refugees who choose to stay in a community that are common across nationalities, respondents from Calgary tended to mention personal factors such as expectations, commitment and conservative values, whereas Edmontonians focussed on jobs and cost of living issues. The smaller centres listed a wide variety of factors: possessing a strong work ethic, desiring to be part of the community, having access to good jobs, liking the life of a small town, buying a home, and being a risk taker.
Table 5 indicates the degree to which respondents felt refugees were participating in integrated recreational activities. Calgary and Edmonton interviewees suggested that adult recreation and leisure activities tend to be related to the refugees' own cultural group. Representatives from the smaller communities reported that there was more mixing of groups, in part because "there is no group big enough to organize anything like that" and "because we are a smaller community, I think they blend in more. I've seen them out at hockey games, you know yelling and rooting for our players" (Grande Prairie). "We try to drag them out" (Medicine Hat).
Table 6 indicates the leisure activities that interviewees thought were most favoured by refugees. Most of the responses included sports, especially soccer. Social activities such as picnics were mentioned often, and various forms of gambling were noted in five cities. There didn't appear to be significant differences in the types of recreational activities chosen by refugees across communities.
Representatives from all of the cities indicated that refugees have some problems accessing recreational activities, including lack of money and time. Interviewees from the two larger centres and three smaller centres all mention that drinking is a problem for some refugees. In Lethbridge, for instance, "young men do the bar scene and they get into trouble with Canadian women."