Immigrant serving organizations and the school-to-work transitions of newcomer youth in Winnipeg

The transition frorn compulsory schooling into the workforce is an imporlant process for all youth, and for newcomers to Canadian society, it is an indicator of successful integration.There are many challenges facing young people during this stage of life; however, for new immigrants there are often additional barriers to obtaining meaningful emplo5rment.To overcome these difficulties, support and assistance from newcoÍrer serving agencies are essential' This thesis utilizes qualitative interviews with immigrant serving organizations in the city of Winnipeg that are assisting newcomer youth during their job search.The perspectives of youth respondents are included to provide a multi-faceted analysis of the school-to-work transition.A similarly intricate theoretical framework is established to provide the foundation to situate these narratives through the use of structuration and critical race theories.Findings suggest that although there are a wide range of service agencies specialized to se¡e various sub-groups of the newcomer youth population in Winnipeg, the contributions of ethno-cultural organizations are margin alized.Furthermore, with the goal of attracting twenty-thousand nervcomers annually to the province of Manitoba, it is essential that services are provided with the adequate spatial and financial resources to ensure that agencies are able to maintain and build upon their current level of support.Chapter 1: Introduction "I think everyone should reach out to each other.So, to go to Folklarama once a year, to eat the food once ayear, is one thing, but to actually get to know other people?" -ANAK Inc. "Sammy" is a twenty-six year old woman born in Nigeria.While working on an engineering degree in her home country there was a prolonged strike that prevented her from completing her education.When she and her family became frustrated with waiting, she decided to migrate to Canada to cornplete her degree.Upon arrival, she had to repeat grade 12 before she could enter university despite the fact she had completed a high school diplorna in Nigeria.Currently, she is working on completing a bachelor degree in psychology and hopes that through her studies she will be able to obtain a job helping other people."Lu Lu" is a thirty year old woman born in China who came to Canada as an intemational sfudent.After completing a graduate degree she had difficulties finding employment related to her field of study.She turned to a local volunteer placement centre that helped her find an unpaid position in her field that eventually tumed into a contractbased position.She hopes to find a more pennanent job in the future that will allow her to feel more stable in her career."Tony" is a twenty-eight year old man born in Ethiopia who arrived in Canada as a refugee several years ago.He worked as an electrician back home, but hopes to retrain in order to obtain a less strenuous professional job.He often apologizes for his English and although currently unemployed, he is receiving language and other training at a local organizalion to help prepare him for his new future in Canada.These are the stories of newcomers, and clearly, the assistance of service agencies is fundamentally important during the job search process which is the focus of this thesis.Canada is a nation of newcomers.Most Canadians, with the exception of First Nations Peoples, can trace their lineage through immigration.Unforrunately, the history of inter-group relations in Canada has been a turbulent story of including aspects of newcomers that mainstream society finds acceptable, while marginalizing groups that are considered too different.For example, until the 1960s immigration policies in Canada were heavily focused upon attracting newcomers of European descent while excluding much of the world (Isajiw 1999:85;Simich, et al. 2005; 260).Furtherrnore, the genocidal implications of European settlement for North America's indigenous cultures are also well documented (Indian and Northern Affairs 1996; Woolford 2009).Recently, Canada has embarked upon a road of "multiculturalism" as a nation that celebrates diversity (Winnemore and Biles 2006:24).These observations illustrate the inherent contradictions between historical and contemporary realities and the mainstream ideal of welcorning newcomers.Despite the increasingly popular discourse that identif,res Canada as being inclusive of newcomers, it is clear that diff,rculties remain for young people who are trying to integrate and obtain stable, meaningful employnent.The pattem of employment transitions varies considerably across provinces, but there is evidence that many highlyeducated newcomer youth experience a delayed transition (Organtzation for Economic Cooperation and Development 2008).It raises questions about how accepting and rnulticultural Canada is as a society.Are these meaningful concepts, or are they simply an ideal that is trumpeted to the world as a badge of honour while all too often newcomers are marginalized into low-status jobs and a precarious existence?These important questions are diff,rcult to answer in such a broad context, and the focus of this thesis is upon a crucial time in a young person's life; the school to work transition.Additionally, the goal is to incorporate a wide ran3e of perspectives to gain a balanced interpretation as an effective social theory must contain the individual, organizational and societal levels of analysis (Battilana 2006 655).This recognizes that social life is an interconnected web of relations between people, groups and structural conditions.Therefore, in order to examine the employment transitions of newcomers, this thesis includes the perspectives of youth, service agencies, and governmental immigration strategies.The transition from compulsory school to the workforce is an important process for all youth, and for newcomers to Canadian society, it a significant measure of successful integration.It is important to include an examination of both structural and individual factors that impact this process.This is essential because from the structuration perspective of Anthony Giddens, "society only has form, and that form only has effects on people, in so far as structure is produced and reproduced in what people do" (Giddens & Pierson, 1998:77).If this is the case, during the transition between education and the labour force, individuals will recreate, modify, or revolutionize the structure as their cohort progresses through these processes.However, the society might attempt to restrict any extreme changes, and if systemic discrimination is present, it might be difficult for newcomer youth to actively take part in the employment transition process.This research seeks to determine how immigrant communities and related organizalions attempt to fill in the gaps in the transition process that youth must overcome as they move into the workforce.These strategies illustrate how individuals come together as active participants to change the forces of structures, including patterns of discrimination, and combat their exclusion from finding meaningful, stable employment.This can be understood through the structuration perspective to develop a holistic view of how structural constraints limit members of immigrant communities, and subsequently, how such communities develop alternative strategies to deal with structural or institutional racism as newcolrìer youth enter the labour market.By conducting research on this topic, my goal is to contribute to the literature on school-to-work transitions of newcomer youth in Canada.Although there has been a considerable amount of research into the education to work pathways of the general population of Canadian youth, there is little examining newcomer youth (Anisef 2000;Wilkinson 2008: 153).This is an important area that warrants further research because irnmigrants or refugees may face challenges during the transition process that Canadian- bom youth would not contend with.These obstacles can include real or perceived linguistic challenges, credential recognition, and the request for "Canadian experience" often made by many employers (Rathzel 2006: 225; Grabke 2008: 3).V/ith a focus upon the organized effort of community and non-profit groups assisting youth in making a successful transition to the labour force, important policy implications can be investigated.The primary goal is to provide information on services available to assist newcomer youth in the transition process in Winnipeg, Additionally, this research contributes to a broader understanding of the school-to-work transition of newcomer youth, and how organizations in the community of Winnipegare adapting to the challenges of diversity.The concept of our society as welcoming and inclusive must also be challenged with the assistance of Critical Race Theory, which contends that discrirnination is still a very real challenge for minority groups.Finally, applying the detailed and flexible theoretical paradigm of structuration theory to this specific research topic helps contribute to developing and applying conceptual frames to this area of sociological interest.These two theoretical paradigms will assist in situating this research within a meaningful framework; while it is an explanatory perspective, it is also based in a pragmatism that seeks to expose and ameliorate current discriminatory attitudes that linger in our so-called inclusive society. Research QuestionsThe main research question that guides this thesis is to examine the strategies are immigrant receiving organizations in Winnipeg utilize to facilitate successful school-to- work transitions for newly arrived youth.Furthermore, I hope to identify if the agencies and youth perceive common challenges and obstacles in reaching a successful emplolrnent transition.Specifically, there are two main questions that guide this research:1. What is the role of newcomer social service agencies during the school to work

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