‘We can always improve’: Community conversations of inclusivity

In the first quarter of 2024, New Brunswick welcomed a record of 3,999 newcomers, indicating the province’s immigration surge. This growth is beneficial for a province that is dealing with a labour deficit and an aging population. However, the real challenge is not just attracting newcomers, it is getting them to stay.

According to the New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training in 2020, nearly 50 per cent of immigrants leave New Brunswick within five years, frequently in search of greater opportunities in bigger provinces like Alberta or Ontario. This extends the idea of New Brunswick as the “drive through” province.

While the government has successfully boosted immigration numbers, retention remains a critical issue. In the absence of significant investments in community integration, immigrants will continue to view the province as a temporary stop rather than a long-term home.

To address these challenges, our Promise of Home project, a four-phase community-based narrative research study, has been collecting the stories of immigrants’ lived experiences to begin exploring a number of strategic initiatives meant to improve the retention of newcomers.

In the first two phases of the research project, we connected with teenage and adult immigrants, refugees, and newcomers living in Fredericton to hear about their experiences of life in the city through story. From this, we gathered six common barriers to settling in Fredericton. These areas for growth include social services, immigration services, public services, community awareness and engagement, anti-immigration discrimination and racism, and education.

As we wanted to engage more of the community for richer dialogue, phase three extended the project into the greater Fredericton population. This was done to encourage conversation in hopes of achieving more community-driven ideas surrounding newcomer integration and retention.

This began with outreach events around the city and evolved into our team connecting with groups and organizations in the city, guided by the six pillars, to host focus groups.

Although the majority of the groups and organizations we contacted responded positively and agreed to participate in our focus groups, some expressed no interest in engaging in a conversation about inclusion. This process further supported our theory that there are still discrepancies surrounding the idea of what inclusivity and diversity mean amongst Frederictonians as well as who is granted access to these feelings of inclusivity.

Despite these barriers, we were still able to hear from diverse voices in the focus groups, intentionally gathering people who seemed to not frequently interact with immigrants.

After hosting eight focus groups in February and March and reviewing the information gathered, a variety of themes emerged across these groups: the lack of awareness regarding immigrants’ experiences and the difficulty of long-term residents connecting with immigrants, for example. It seems that the responsibility currently relies heavily on newcomers to form connections; long-term residents are not reaching out first, instead remaining in their own circles.

Another theme that we noted was the effort currently being put in by organizations and groups to include immigrants and newcomers. However, existing barriers such as language, transportation, and funding are impeding the accessibility of these services.

An unspoken theme that was present in many of the focus groups was ignorance. This arose in a variety of ways, with participants being unable to acknowledge unconscious biases. In speaking with a group of non-racialized long-time Frederictonian staff members, for example, they expressed their struggle of bringing in immigrant patrons. They were unable to recognize how diversifying their team could make the environment safer and more inviting for newcomer individuals. In contrast, there were some individuals who displayed a higher level of awareness, sharing experiences of white privilege.

With all the insights gathered from this phase of research, there are very clearly gaps in Fredericton’s ability to support immigrants via inclusivity. There must be more diversity in organizations and groups to help foster an environment that is welcoming to everyone.

Community members must make an effort to reach out to newcomers and immigrants, and must become comfortable with being uncomfortable. Immigrants have entered a new country and community, where everything is different: entering an unfamiliar space as a long-term resident in an effort to offer connection is a small gesture that may mean a lot.

Caitlin Sawler, Juliet Orji-Oba, Rebecca MacMullin, and Shelby Harnish are social work students doing a social action placement with Promise of Home researching the lived experiences of immigrants in New Brunswick.