a multidisciplinary alliance of universities, colleges, and community organizations dedicated to promoting the integration of immigrants and minorities across Ontario

Find an Expert

Searchable database of skills, experience, knowledge and achievements of WCI members.

Research Areas

Organizational units for planning research activities of the Welcoming Communities Initiative.

Best Practices Corner

Multi-media repository of research, tools and resources focusing on promising practices in settlement, integration, community receptiveness and anti-discrimination.

Local Immigration Partnerships

Directory and key document repository for Local Immigration Partnerships across Canada.

Research of Interest

Organizational Best Practices of Local Immigration Partnerships

Pictured: Principal researcher Adnan Qayyum

An evaluation of promising organizational practices was conducted by analyzing 27 Local Immigration Partnership strategic plans in detail. Statistical results indicate that three organizational practices were particularly important. These were: having a broadly based and inclusive LIP council; ensuring active municipal involvement throughout the planning process; and establishing municipal leadership in the form of the city being a signatory to the LIP plan. This evaluation also proposes indicators…

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What's New

Immigration, Integration, and Inclusion in Ontario Cities (forthcoming: June 2012)

Edited by Caroline Andrew, John Biles, Meyer Burstein, Victoria Esses and Erin Tolley

Queen’s Policy Studies Series #76

Notwithstanding recent shifts in immigrant destinations, Ontario still receives the majority of newcomers and its cities are among the most diverse in Canada. Accommodating this diversity and creating the essential pathways to prosperity for both the newcomers and their hosts is as much a local project as a national and provincial one. This volume – edited by members of the Welcoming Communities Initiative and to which WCI members contributed a number of chapters – explores the activities of municipal governments…

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Events

JUN19-21

SPO

Uni

Canada and Refugee Resettlement Conference

Location: Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Richmond, BC

This conference intends to bring together approximately 300 academics, policy analysts, policy makers and service delivery practitioners to discuss innovation and best methods and approaches for what will be an on-going need in the 21st Century. The conference will also look at the impact of the Federal Bill C-11 recently completed. The conference is national in scope but it is intended to also look at “successful practices” from the international community.

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ABOUT US

The Welcoming Communities Initiative (WCI) is a multidisciplinary alliance of universities, colleges, and community organizations dedicated to promoting the integration of immigrants and minorities across Ontario.

To achieve this goal, the WCI seeks to implement a comprehensive program of research aimed at devising, improving and testing measures to attract, retain, and integrate newcomers, including students and foreign workers, in cities, towns and less populated locales. Many of these communities would like to grow their economies, renew their populace, and reinvigorate their labour markets.

The WCI favours research that combines local expertise with academic scholarship in order to address practical concerns and challenges. In particular, the Initiative promotes comparative work that engages local stakeholders, scrutinizes promising practices, communicates effectively, and drives innovation and improvements.

Welcoming Communities Initiative