Since the liberalization of Canadian immigration policy in the late-1960s, a significant development has been the increase in the ethnic and racial diversity of Canada's population. Indeed, the visible minority status of many immigrants to Canada has powerfully shaped interpretations of social and physical change. In the context of substantial Asian immigration to Greater Vancouver, a number of commentators have argued that critical responses to change on the part of long-term Caucasian residents represent a 'reinvented', and often subtly expressed, racism. It is the contention of this author, however, that such conclusions are compromised by an uncritical assumption of what constitutes racism and a diminished empirical focus on sensationalized media accounts. Working from this premise, this thesis attempts to examine in greater depth two categories poorly examined in these accounts: racism and the long-term resident. It traces the emergence of the category of race, the analytical and political imperatives which gave rise to a shift in focus from race to racism, and how—under the rubric of social constructionism-—theories on racism have been deployed to understand contemporary social relations in Greater Vancouver. A critique of this literature provides the springboard for further analysis of long-term resident responses to change. Extended interviews conducted with fifty-four long-term residents of Richmond, BC—a Vancouver suburb that has received considerable numbers of Chinese immigrants over the past twelve years—strongly suggest that our understanding of social and physical change at the community level cannot be reduced to one dimension. Moreover, the complexity of these responses also demands that the analytical and political import of evaluative terms like racism be prised open and subjected to scrutiny and open debate. Perhaps most importantly, the diversity of long-term Richmond residents' responses cautions against the production of racialized stereotypes in immigration research, and points to the need to provide more nuanced and contextualized interpretations of immigration and its impact on society.

Over time, the Italian community has become an integral part of Canada's ethnic mosaic. However, to what 'ethnic' cost has this integration occurred? This thesis looks at issues of ethnic retention among successive generations of Italian families living in Montreal. Focus is placed on three fundamental questions: (a) How did the Italian community change through generations? (b) Are the young generations displaying signs of symbolic ethnicity? and (c) How can the ethnic identity of Italians in Montreal be defined in 2005? Drawing on Herbert Gans' symbolic ethnicity approach, the initial hypothesis suggests that socio-economic upgrade spurs an ethnic consciousness founded on cultural symbols rather than on cultural values. Through ethnographic-based interviews, data was collected on 60 individuals grouped into 20 Italian families. Based on in-depth intergenerational comparisons between grandparents, parents and youth, results seem to confirm that young Italians reflect a pattern of symbolic ethnicity.

Traditional indicators of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk may not be appropriate for Asian Indians. We designed a cross-sectional study of body fat distribution, apoB/apoA1 ratio and adipokines of Northern Indians compared to Caucasians to determine if there is a different relationship between these parameters. Indian (men: n = 54; women n = 28) and Caucasian (men: n= 32; women, n = 51) subjects were recruited who were between the ages of 20 and 60 years. Subjects were excluded if they had a history of CVD or were taking lipid lowering medications. Body fat percentage (BF%) was measured using bioelectrical impedance analysis. Indian subjects had a substantially higher waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) ratio than Caucasian subjects (men: 0.93 +/- 0.01 vs. 0.86 +/- 0.01, p < 0.001; women: 0.88 +/- 0.01 vs. 0.76 +/- 0.01, p < 0.0001). Interestingly, while WHR correlated strongly with BF% in Caucasians (men: r = 0.63 p = 0.0002; women: r = 0.74, p < 0.0001, respectively) there was no correlation in Indians (men: r = 0.22, ns; women: r = 0.23, ns). The regression lines for WHR vs. BF% of Indians compared to Caucasians was significantly different (men p = 0.02, women p = 0.002). A similar pattern of correlation was seen with WHR and BMI. In addition, Indian men and women had a higher apoB/A1 ratio than Caucasians: the most powerful lipoprotein measure of CVD risk (men: 0.84+/-0.04 vs. 0.66+/-0.04, p=0.001; women: 0.70+/-0.04 vs. 0.56+/-0.03, p = 0.003, respectively). Leptin levels were higher and adiponectin levels in lower in the Indian men and women. Hypothetically, these alterations in body composition, apoB/apoA1 and adipokines could be due to alterations in adipocyte number.

This study is an inquiry into cultural conflict experienced by adolescents of Vietnamese origin in Montreal. It examines the nature of the conflicts as they are experienced by the adolescents themselves, as they are perceived by the parents, and by the teachers, counsellors and principals at the secondary schools they attended. The study also examines the course of the conflicts and the kinds of solutions used to resolve them. Separate semi-structured interviews were conducted with six adolescents, five parents and seven school personnel in two public schools attended by the students. Analysis of the interviews showed that students, parents and school personnel tended to define the problems in different ways and to have very different perceptions of their causes. In those families in which the problems of cultural conflict manifested themselves most severely, parents and children tended to use behaviours leading to a deterioration of relations between them and employed a very limited range of alternatives for conflict resolution.

A growing body of both substantive and theoretical literature suggests that educational underachievement among certain ethnic groups is due to the cultural discontinuity between mainstream education and minority students. A pedagogy that both uses and reinforces the culture of ethnic minority students, implemented by ethnically similar teachers, is therefore thought to contribute to a more constructive school experience and strengthen the social and political status of the ethnic community as a whole. For this thesis, a group of Haitian educators working in Montreal area schools was interviewed to investigate the extent to which this approach is viewed as a potential solution to the low academic achievement of numerous Haitian students. Some evidence was found that culturally congruent education is, according to the experiences of some of the respondents, a potentially beneficial strategy to curtail educational inequality. In was generally argued, however, that this should be a limited, remedial strategy with little bearing on the communal survival of the Haitian community.

No description available.

During the language debates of the 1960s, Montreal's Italian community found itself in the middle of a conflict between Anglophones and Francophones. Forced to chose, the Italian community aligned itself with Anglophones. / The portrait which has been cast by numerous authors evokes the image of an Italian immigrant used as a pawn in a fight which generally was not his and which he could not understand. / An examination of the Italian press gives us a different image. St. Leonard represented more than a fight over the language issue. It was as much a dispute over the status of ethnic minorities in Quebec as it was over the language question. This study examines the immigrant's "Italianita" and how it helped shape his response to the ethnic tensions in St. Leonard.

No description available.

The development of the French language in Quebec has been the subject of various articles both in the popular press and in professional journals. Our study examines the French identification process in the context of the theoretical framework of social identity. The concept of identification is defined according to the notions of attachment to French language and of open-mindedness to the English language. This study presents some of the factors which influence the linguistic identification process. It also compares this identification between 1978 and 1990 among French Quebec students in high school and college. Most precisely, we examine and compare the relative influence of factors such as the objective ethnolinguistic vitality of the respondent and his linguistic usages and abilities. We also look at the concept of subjective vitality which is based on the respondent's attitudes and beliefs regarding the present and future situation of French language in Quebec.

An exploratory, qualitative study on the experiences of Polish older adults who made a transition from independent living to an ethno-specific residential care facility in Toronto is presented. Using the framework of Continuity Theory of Aging, the impact of ethnic/cultural identity on the process of relocation and subsequent adjustment to a nursing home environment was investigated. A purposive sampling strategy was used to select 2 male and 4 female participants. The data was collected using long interviews that were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. The findings of this study indicate that the subjects employed specific coping strategies that stem from traditional value orientation and life experiences hence suggesting that ethnic/cultural identity may have played a role in their successful adaptation to residential care setting. Although this research study is limited to one group of older adults and cannot be generalized to other ethnic groups, it has a potential to contribute to increasing the body of knowledge about the dynamics of residential care placement among ethnic minority seniors. Implications for social work policy, research and practice are discussed.