Access to Housing as an Adaptive Strategy for Immigrant Groups: Africans in Calgary

ABSTRACT/RESUME Although Africans have been present in Canada for at least a century and a half, very little is known about them. This may be partly attributed to the tendency for earlier censuses and immigration data to lump all Blacks into one category, and partly due to the fact that Africa has not traditionally been a source of immigrants to Canada. This paper examines how the residential circumstances of African immigrants in Calgary have impacted on their adaptation to their new society. Analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data reveals that, while a few Africans have managed to fit well into the socioeconomic structure of mainstream society, the majority continue to experience various forms of difficulties, including affordability. These difficulties are more pronounced in the housing and employment markets where factors such as discrimination, ethnicity, financial constraints, and recency of immigration have combined to disadvantage Africans and deny them access to equal opportunities. For low-income earne rs, these problems are more likely to cause additional deprivations and the propensity to experience core housing need. The study identifies discrimination in the housing market to be the most formidable barrier faced by Black African immigrants in Calgary. Des africains ont habites le Canada depuis au moins un siecle, mais nos connaissances a leur sujet sont limitees. Cela peut etre attribuable au fait que les donnees relatives aux recensements et a l'immigration ont dans le passe mis tous les dans une seule categorie, et aussi en partie au fait que l'Afrique a ete une source d'immigration non-traditionnelles pour le Canada. Cet article examine dans quelle mesure les conditions de logement des immigrants africains a Calgary ont influence leur adaptation dans leur societe d'accueil. L'analyse de donnees qualitatives et quantitatives revele que meme si un certain nombre d'africains s'inserent bien dans les structures socio-economiques de la societe dominante, la majorite continue de faire face a des difficultes, en particulier en ce qui a trait aux couts lies au logement. Ces difficultes sont plus prononcees dans le logement et dans l'emploi, ou des facteurs tels la discrimination, l'ethnicite, les contraintes financieres, et une immigration recente se co mbinent au desavantage des africains et les empechent d'avoir des chances egales. Pour les gens a faible revenu, ces problemes peuvent causer des privations supplementaires, ainsi qu'une tendance a avoir des manques en ce qui a trait aux besoins primaires de logement. Cette etude montre que la discrimination dans le secteur de l'habitation est l'obstacle le plus important auquel ont a faire face les immigrants noirs africains a Calgary. INTRODUCTION Immigration has been an important subject in both academic research and political debate in Canada, partly due to the fact that Canada is traditionally regarded as a classic immigration country. In addition, immigrants have become increasingly important to population growth and the geographical distribution of the population in the country. Yet still, this interest is driven by the impact immigration has on sending and receiving countries, especially the latter, as well as the immigrants themselves. The literature on cross-border population movements can be divided into two relatively separate categories. One focuses on the movements themselves while the other deals principally with the post-arrival and integration experiences of groups in host countries (Borgegard et al., 1998). The subject of this study falls within the purview of the second category in that it explores the Calgary-based housing experiences of Africans, a small and relatively recent group of immigrants in Canada. The term Afri cans is used in this paper to refer to people who were born in sub-Saharan Africa and who later immigrated to Calgary. The residential dimensions of the immigrant experience-- accessibility, nature and causes of residential concentration, housing conditions, as well as mobility and relocation patterns -- have been relatively well studied (e. …

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