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Skilled Immigrants and the Negotiation of Family Relations During Settlement in Calgary, Alberta

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Abstract

When re-establishing their lives in Canada, international migrants with dependent children regularly encounter dramatically different conditions for family life. The parents’ employment situation, the limited availability of extended kin to help with child rearing, and a multicultural and relatively more permissive social environment, all of these invite or even demand changes in newcomers’ family practices. Yet, more information is needed about the ways in which skilled immigrants negotiate the changed conditions for work and family life in this country, and the impact this has on family dynamics during settlement. Drawing on data from interviews with 30 skilled immigrants living in Calgary, Alberta, this paper explores how coming to Canada impacted participants’ situations of paid work, parenting practices, and familial gender relations. Findings suggest that strained economic and social resources often limited the extent to which mothers and fathers were able to maintain an organization of family life similar to what they had established in their country of origin. However, while in some cases, shifts in family formation caused heightened levels of stress and strain and further entrenched the doing of conventional gender roles, in others, changed conditions acted as a catalyst for positive change. The tools that eased the burdens of settlement for some are explored, and recommendations are made for how to better support newcomer families.

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Notes

  1. Coined by West and Zimmerman (1987), the concept of “doing” gender refers to the theoretical understanding that gender is often—but not always— “taken for granted” and “routine” in our day-to-day interactions.

  2. While a few participants mentioned that they had paid privately for information about immigrating to Canada pre-migration, and others mentioned having completed pre-migration courses through the Canadian Integration Immigration program (CIIP), the majority described being unable to find or access what they felt was clear and concise information about relocating their family to Canada.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this study was provided by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

    Jeanna Parsons Leigh

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  1. Jeanna Parsons Leigh
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Correspondence to Jeanna Parsons Leigh.

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Leigh, J.P. Skilled Immigrants and the Negotiation of Family Relations During Settlement in Calgary, Alberta. Int. Migration & Integration 17, 1065–1083 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-015-0454-9

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