Bringing Diversity Data to Life: a Review of our First Panel Discussion on Diversity

March 17, 2023 admin
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Community Writers Project, Events, J.E.D.I. Initiative
  • What does this data mean for cultural communities and the broader Canadian society?
  • What does the data tell us still needs to be done to shape public policy to address social justice issues, equity and fairness, diversity, inclusion, gender, and identity?
  • How do these findings impact the lived experiences of individuals in cultural communities, particularly in relation to inclusion and gender identity?
  • What data is still needed by cultural communities to address cultural communities’ perspectives on data which will make the difference?

The event highlighted gaps in services and policies, but it also emphasized the need for the data to be accessible to the everyday person in an understandable format because at the end of the day, cultural communities will ask “Why should we pay attention to this data?”

Case in point. Before attending this event, I was unaware that this data is available on Statistics Canada’s website. In addition, without the interpretation of this data through the lens of lived experience, the data was basically meaningless to me. Yes, I understood the data, but like many immigrants coming from very different political and social systems, I missed seeing the impact on policies, funding, and our education system.

For example, a couple of the statistics pointed out that between 2016 and 2021, there were 1.3 million new immigrants who came to Canada. As of 2021, close to a quarter of Canada’s population were new immigrants at some point in their lives and almost 20% of Manitobans were immigrants.

Let’s break that down in terms of community impact.

Where do people tend to immigrate to?

  1. Where there are economic opportunities, which is one Canada’s three criteria for immigration selection.
  2. Where there is a community from home/birth countries.
  3. Where infrastructure and supports are in place to help them settle into their new lives.

Currently, there is a massive push to recruit immigrants in the nursing field to fill the shortage in the healthcare sector. New immigrants bring their families with them fulfilling another of Canada’s immigration selection criteria – family reunification which includes young children and grandparents.

What the statistics shows is an urgent need for supporting structures to assist this new wave of immigrants through language and other barriers.

One of the panelists shared their family’s experience in moving to Canada and highlighted what the statistics meant to their family. Their family moved here when Canada was recruiting women in the field of engineering. When they arrived in Canada, the job wasn’t available yet for their mother. Instead, their mother had to retrain and work in another profession for several years before finally being able to work in engineering.

If that story sounds familiar, it should. How many professionals in medicine or engineering, or other areas immigrate to Canada and end up working as cab drivers, or as support workers because infrastructure and policies have yet to catch up to the numbers that immigration is pushing for?

Through the event’s discussions, some of the gaps identified are being fulfilled by cultural communities for various reasons including, lack of formal organizational support driven by policies and funding. Compounding this are the difficulties communities already face to address challenges like gender roles, mental health, domestic abuse and gender-based violence, or legal matters among others. This in turn impacts how and where funding for programs gets directed.

The event was both eye-opening and a learning experience for participants and CMCCF. I believe that more engagement from the community will come from directing attention to lived experiences that put a face to the numbers. I look forward to seeing this reflected in the next panel discussion on March 21, 2023.

This article was written by community writer Tsungai Muvingi as part of our J.E.D.I. Initiative – Community Writers Project. All thoughts and opinions expressed are Tsungai’s own. You can learn more about Tsungai on our team page here.

To learn more about our Intercultural and Intergenerational Diversity and Inclusion Engagement Project, go to our J.E.D.I. Initiative landing page here.

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