Abstract
This study concerns the settlement experiences of Tibetan refugees in the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto including their success in obtaining adequate, suitable, and affordable housing and their achievement of a sense of ‘home’. Toronto’s Tibetans are one of the largest Tibetan communities in North America and one of the most spatially concentrated immigrant groups in the city. Most Tibetans have lived in Toronto for less than a decade. The research is based primarily on evidence from a questionnaire survey and qualitative evidence from a photovoice analysis. Evidence from the questionnaire survey indicates that despite the relatively bad reputation of many high-rise buildings in Parkdale, Tibetans are at least somewhat satisfied with the quality and amount of space offered by their apartments. Affordability, however, is a major problem. Four main themes were identified from the photovoice analysis: creating a comfortable house, finding space in nature, celebrating culture and spirituality, and community integration. We argue that evaluations of housing satisfaction should encompass these aspects of feeling at ‘home’ as well as more tangible aspects of the physical dwelling and local neighbourhood.
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Notes
Adequate, suitable, and affordable are terms used by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), Canada’s national housing agency (http://cmhc.beyond2020.com/HiCODefinitions_EN.html#_Housing_Standards). Adequate refers to the need for major repair, suitable indicates whether there are enough bedrooms for the size and make-up of the household and affordable refers to the proportion of the household’s income spent on housing costs. The CMHC definitions are based on detailed information from the Canadian census, whereas the terms are used more generally in this paper.
MacPherson et al. (2008) indicate that there are 3,475 Tibetans in Toronto (based on the 2006 census) and about 3,000 in New York City. Other sources (e.g., Brudzinska et al. 2008) based on estimates from Tibetan NGOs suggest the number is roughly 5,000 to 6,000 in New York. Regardless, Toronto and New York have the largest concentration of Tibetans in their respective countries.
These and subsequent census figures are for census tracts 4.00, 5.00, 7.01, and 7.02 in South Parkdale where the majority of Parkdale’s Tibetans reside.
Sampling was undertaken in buildings of five stories or more with at least 50 units and constructed prior to 1980. Buildings of five stories or more require an elevator and are therefore considered high-rise.
In total, 18 cameras were distributed by the end of August, 11 cameras were successfully returned, 5 were lost, and the other 2 were unused and redistributed. Most cameras were returned an average of 1 month after the camera was initially distributed and each participant was given $25 as a thank-you gift for participating in the project.
Because of small numbers responses were combined so that ‘satisfied’ includes those who answered ‘very satisfied’ or ‘somewhat satisfied’, ‘proud’ includes ‘very proud’ or ‘somewhat proud’, and ‘agreed’ included ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’.
Participants were given a pseudonym.
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Acknowledgments
This study was funded by a CURA (Community University Research Alliance) grant from SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council). We also want to thank St. Christopher House, our community partner in the project, for their interest and support and the Tibetan newcomers in Parkdale who graciously responded to the questionnaire survey. David Hulchanski and Emily Paradis, key participants in the CURA project, read a draft of the paper. We are grateful for their comments.
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Logan, J., Murdie, R. Home in Canada? The Settlement Experiences of Tibetans in Parkdale, Toronto. Int. Migration & Integration 17, 95–113 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-014-0382-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-014-0382-0