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Why Do Migrants Stay? Migrant Retention in Small and Mid-Sized Cities in Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand

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Many small and mid-sized cities view international migration as a way to address labour shortages and to counter the effects of population decline. Smaller urban centres often face significant challenges to attracting and retaining migrants, however, as migrants often prefer to live in larger cities (Hyndman, Schuurman, & Fiedler, 2006; Stump, 2019). This Special Issue focuses on Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand because in each of these countries, there is an active research and policy debate (whether at the federal level or the local level) on how to maximize the benefits of international migration by making smaller centres attractive and welcoming to newcomers (Akbari & Macdonald, 2014; Sapeha, 2016). We therefore see great value in bringing scholars from all four countries together to share emerging insights and knowledge on this topic.

It is clear that stable and meaningful employment is a primary factor for immigrant attraction and retention in regional centres (Akbari, 2020; Sayers & Poulter, 2016; Taylor, Bell, & Gerritsen, 2014). A number of research studies have also found that educational opportunities, the creation of a welcoming environment, and the presence of amenities and services contribute to the successful attraction and retention of migrants (Flippen & Farrell-Bryan, 2021; van Kooy, Wickes, & Ali, 2019; Walton-Roberts, 2011). Smaller centres often struggle to meet all of these criteria simultaneously, however. Moreover, even when these requirements appear to be met, migrant retention rates may fall short of expectations (Esses & Carter, 2019; Wulff & Dharmalingam, 2008).

Our goal with this special issue is to take a place-based approach to exploring the local and regional contextual factors contributing to newcomer retention in small and mid-sized cities. We want to examine how the characteristics of specific places shape migrant experiences and also try to turn the usual research and policy question (why do people leave?) on its head and ask those who stay in smaller centres – why do they do so (Nguyen, 2020)? What is attractive or important for them? Are their motivations more instrumental/socio-economic, emotional/cultural or both? How do such motivations evolve in the different life stages of a family/household? Should we conceptualise the settlement process in a small or mid-sized city as one that can involve different localities and hence be a ‘mobile settlement’? And what then is the role of local practices, initiatives, and policies in building connections between mainstream organisations (not necessarily settlement organisations) and newcomers? In terms of an analytical framework, the Special Issue engages with the relevant literature on multi-level, and de-centred governance, proposing a regionalised governance perspective.

This Special Issue starts with an introductory paper (Triandafyllidou, Kelly, and Nguyen) that lays out the main analytical concepts and the research questions that inform the individual papers. The paper also illustrates the value of taking a comparative approach to understanding migrant retention in small and mid-sized cities in Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. The second paper (Zhuang) offers a full literature review focusing on Canada and the United States with regard to a place-based approach to migration and retention in small and mid-sized cities.

The following two contributions to the issue (Kelly and Nguyen; and Alam et al.) investigate the dynamics of staying in (rather than leaving) small cities in Canada and New Zealand. We thus turn the main analytical and policy question on its head and explore the role of geographical characteristics, local and regional authorities, community actors, other stakeholders and overall, how these blend into a place-based framework that increases migrant retention in smaller urban centres.

The next two papers (Tastsoglou and Sevgur; Huot et al.) focus not only on the role of local mainstream actors such as educational institutions, libraries, and trade unions, but also of ethnic, linguistic, and family networks, in providing support and services to newcomers. The papers also broaden our understanding of concepts such as ‘region’ and ‘community’ by looking at them in an unbounded way that sometimes transcends conventional spatial categories.

The paper by Boese, and the paper by Rice and Quan, takes a closer look at how migrants live socially embedded lives in both Canada and Australia. Migrant lives are influenced by structural forces such as immigration policy, the local environments they encounter, and their interactions with different stakeholders. It is in this context that they employ their own agency, making decisions concerning where to move or where to stay.

The last paper (Stump) brings the different threads of the other contributions together taking up a more policy-oriented perspective and looking at how the academic insights can translate into a whole-of-community strategic policy approach in small and mid-sized cities in Canada, the United States, and Australia.

Five key contributions for this Special Issue

It engages with innovative analytical thinking about migrant integration governance that go beyond the multi-level governance approach to think creatively about a ‘regional’ perspective.

It explores how geographical factors (such as city size, regional characteristics and the distance between small and mid-sized cities and larger urban centres) have shaped the lived experiences and integration trajectories of international migrants.

It investigates the role of local mainstream actors such as educational institutions, libraries, trade unions and ethnic and family networks in providing support and services to newcomers.

Contributions to this special issue engage with an intersectional perspective analysing how factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, language, country of origin, race and class impact how different categories of migrants experience life in small and mid-sized cities.

Research included in this Special Issue offers a qualitative, biographical perspective looking at how life course factors and pre-migration experiences can shape migrants’ preference for a small city context.

Editors

  • Melissa Kelly Melissa Kelly , 

    Melissa Kelly

    Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada Melissa Kelly is a Research Fellow with the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration at Ryerson University. She holds a PhD in Social and Economic Geography from Uppsala University in Sweden and has held postdoctoral fellowships at Carleton University in Canada and at the University of the Free State in South Africa. Melissa’s work focuses on how migrants and refugees experience settlement, integration and belonging in different spatial contexts.

  • Michelle Nguyen Michelle Nguyen  &

    Michelle Nguyen

    Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada Michelle Nguyen is a Research Technician at the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration program at Ryerson University. She holds a BA in International Development Studies and History from Trent University and an MA in Immigration and Settlement Studies from Ryerson University. She has contributed to various research projects and publications on international migration issues, Canadian immigration history, modern Vietnamese history, the integration of immigrant families, and immigrant placemaking in Canada.

  • Anna Triandafyllidou Anna Triandafyllidou

    Anna Triandafyllidou

    Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada Anna Triandafyllidou holds the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration at Ryerson University, Toronto as of 1st August 2019. She was previously Robert Schuman Chair at the Global Governance Program of the European University Institute (Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, 2012-2019) where she directed the Cultural Pluralism Research Area. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies.

Articles (9 in this collection)