concordia hopes to improve understanding of migration with new research institute
the institute for research on migration and society will study how immigrants can best adapt to life in canada, while also examining their needs.
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amid growing media coverage and politicization of immigration issues, concordia university announced wednesday the creation of an institute designed to better understand and help handle migration in quebec and canada. the institute for research on migration and society (irms) will bring together scholars and researchers in fields including economics, political science, behavioural science and psychology to study how immigrants can best adapt to and augment canadian society, while also examining their needs.
“what we’re trying to do is bring all these different approaches to understanding why people move,” said mireille paquet, director of irms and an associate professor of political science. “what are the best type of interventions we can do to enable more positive migration management and migration relations? but also just to understand this reality, because human migration is an important dynamic of the world. it’s also something that is really affecting a society like canada and a society like quebec.”
global and interprovincial migration has become a hot-button issue nationally and provincially. the federal liberal government, which had steadily increased immigration levels since it took power in 2015, announced in late october it will dramatically reduce the number of new permanent residents by almost 100,000 people in 2025. the cuts are designed to ease pressures on housing and health-care services, but could also have an impact on employers seeking workers, and on canada’s overall demographic outlook.
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in quebec, premier françois legault has been demanding funding from the federal government to help offset the costs of a disproportionate number of asylum seekers and temporary workers in the province. in june, the federal government granted the province $750 million to cover expenses for three years of services. quebec had been requesting $1 billion, saying the province needed 11,000 more nurses and 3,700 teachers to deal with the influx. legault also claimed that “100 per cent” of quebec’s housing crisis was attributable to the increase in the number of temporary immigrants.
concordia’s institute will conduct social science research that features diverse voices, including those of newcomers, to produce science-based solutions. it is launching with a core group of 11 faculty members and three researchers.
at the same time, it will train its members and students in how to transfer knowledge to media and governments to aid in the policy-making process. knowledge-based information is especially important in a world “affected by misinformation and a growing politicization of these issues,” paquet said.
the institute will be fully bilingual in order to be able to build bridges and contacts with the quebec government, which oversees much of the immigration policy in the province, and to expand learning into the english academic world.
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“currently, most of the academic discussions on migration happening in quebec are only taking place in french,” irms co-ordinator kassandre thériault said in a statement issued by concordia. “but one of the big realities with newcomers is they often enter here but leave for other provinces. as the first fully bilingual research hub on migration in canada, irms is uniquely positioned to contribute to knowledge and policy. it can also bridge immigration politics across provinces and with the government of canada.”
the irms will also collaborate with the réseau québécois de la recherche en immigration, en intégration et en relations interculturelles (rq3i), a collaboration between concordia, université de montréal and université laval that aims to bridge the gap between research and public policy on immigration.
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