Canadian dream elusive for some racialized 2nd-generation Canadians, study finds
CBC
New research has found that the Canadian dream is proving elusive for some racialized second-generation Canadians born since the 1960s, despite having higher educational levels than their white counterparts.
A new study, entitled "Is the Canadian dream broken? Recent trends in equality of opportunity for the racialized second generation," found that educational attainment and employment earnings are not uniform across groups of racialized second-generation Canadians, with some groups experiencing further disparities below the mainstream average.
And while educational levels for some racialized groups have surged, employment earnings were lower for most groups compared to the mainstream population, the study found. It also discovered intergroup differences.
The study, by researchers at four universities and released on Wednesday, defines the Canadian dream for immigrants as equality of opportunity and the chance to achieve financial security. Even if the first generation lives in poverty, the next generation will be able to pull itself out of poverty and achieve economic success, according to this definition.
"I don't think the Canadian dream is accessible to everyone equally," said Rupa Banerjee, one of the authors of the study and associate professor at Toronto Metropolitan University.
"For some, the Canadian dream is holding pretty well, but for others, it's failing. And that failure has really, really serious and significant repercussions, not just for them and their family, but for the entire society," added Banerjee, also the Canada Research Chair in the economic inclusion of immigrants.
"We've always kind of been smug that Canada is not like Europe or Canada is not like the U.S., that we're much more multicultural. We believe in pluralism. But I think that's a bit of a myth that we've kind of felt good about but doesn't really exist, and in that sense, the Canadian dream is failing."
The study defines second-generation as Canadian-born individuals with at least one immigrant parent.
It looked at educational attainment and employment earnings in three of "successive 10-year birth-cohorts" of second-generation Canadians from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s, specifically 1966-1975, 1976-1985, and 1986-1995.
It focused on people 26 to 35, using data from the 1981, 1991, 2001, 2021 Canadian Census of Population and the 2011 National Household Survey. Examining the progress of five racialized groups, South Asian, Chinese, Black, Filipino, and Latin American, it compared them to third-and-higher generation white Canadians.
The study sample would have completed their education and begun their work careers.
According to Banerjee, the study's main findings include:
Banerjee said the study shows that anti-Black racism is real and Canada is not a post-racial society.
The study notes that second-generation Canadians face fewer barriers than their parents because they are born and raised in Canada, benefit from the local educational system, and are typically fluent in English or French.
Residents clapped, danced, sang and cried in the Anishinaabe community of Kitcisakik this week when the lights were finally turned on for the first time.
A man is suing three members of a Winnipeg family and a real estate broker he alleges used his intellectual disability to financially exploit him through property deals in Canada and India, leaving him out hundreds of thousands of dollars.
When Stephanie Gamble watched her mother model the first dress she made, smiling wide and walking an imaginary runway, she knew that was what she wanted to keep doing in her life.
'Tis the season for cuddling on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate and watching holiday movies. And for people in B.C.'s Interior, that can increasingly mean seeing their home communities on display.
Every year, snowy owls spread their wings and migrate down to the Prairies, where they enjoy access to plenty of rodent prey in vast open spaces.
This month has been a busy stretch at the Upper Room Food Bank in Charlottetown.
N.W.T. Education Minister Caitlin Cleveland says she has received the final report from an independent investigation into education bodies in the Dehcho region.
P.E.I.’s auditor general says he’s concerned and disappointed that the projected deficit has doubled what government initially estimated it would be — and he's urging the province to balance its budget.
A man found not criminally responsible for stabbing five people to death at a Calgary house party is getting more freedoms but not an absolute discharge.
A man has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of a Toronto mother outside a supervised consumption site in Leslieville.
Russian olive trees — sometimes known as silver berry or oleaster — are small, ornamental plants with silvery leaves and black bark, and small yellow flowers and silver fruit that look like miniature olives. They’re pretty, but they’re a problem.
The Yukon Legislative Assembly’s fall sitting ended on Thursday after the territorial government introduced and passed a supplementary budget.
A Canadian military counter-intelligence operative, who stands accused of passing sensitive information to Ukraine, was involved in an investigation into allegations that a leading Canadian defence journalist was a longtime Russian asset.