Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
53 percent expressed a sense of belonging to Canada (just below the average
for all ethnic groups), while 40.5 percent had a sense of Canadian identity
(above other visible minorities, but below whites). Once the data were stand-
ardized for immigrant status, recent Chinese immigrants landing in the ten
years prior to the survey displayed a relatively high level of citizenship and
Canadian identity, but a relatively low level of civic participation and sense
of belonging, and a still weaker level of life satisfaction (Reitz and Banerjee
2007). Unfortunately these scores are not explained, but most of the traits do
show improvement with length of residence in Canada.
22
A
Ming Pao
survey
reveals the same steady incorporation of Canadian identity over time, with the
respondents describing themselves as Canadian or Chinese-Canadian rising
from 29 percent for those resident five years or less to 43 percent among those
resident more than ten years, with an equivalent decline in the numbers self-
identifying as Chinese or Canadian-Chinese (
Ming Pao
1997b).
A final data base that bears on these questions brings us back to the ques-
tion of business immigration and how that status intersects with the tenden-
cies we have noted toward integration in Canadian society marked by
participation, citizenship, belonging and identity. A large survey demarcated
the extent and characteristics of transnational activities among immigrants in
metropolitan Vancouver (Hiebert and Ley 2006). Respondents who had
entered Canada through the business immigration streams showed the high-
est level of transnational activity on six out of eight indicators, including a job
that required overseas travel and an active business in their home country.
Respondents scoring highly on these attributes were disproportionately from
East Asia and recent arrivals, with ten years or less residence in Canada.
Importantly, this transnational business group were also less likely to hold
Canadian citizenship and much more likely to have a feeling of Canadian
identity only occasionally, or never. Other research has shown that high school
youth from Hong Kong in astronaut families whose fathers are primarily in
East Asia have a weaker sense of belonging in Canada (Chow 2007). The
evidence suggests that regular movement through the expanded social field
that stretches across the Pacific Ocean delays, and for some impedes, both a
formal and an expressive relationship with Canada. In establishing a cosmo-
politan transnational outlook, there is the characteristic neglect of locality, in
this case the locality that comprises the immigrant destination. Plying tran-
snational routes apparently disrupts establishing Canadian roots.
23
Conclusion
As immigrants climb the ladder of integration, a final rung may be reached
by the small number who receive honorific status for themselves and by
extension for the communities in which they are leaders. The exceptional
