Putting Family First

When migrants reach their new home, we often interpret their settlement and integration as an individual process driven largely by the labour market. But family plays a crucial role.

Putting Family First is the fruit of a four-year academic–community partnership to investigate the experience of immigrant families settling in Greater Toronto. Contributors explore the integration trajectory of immigrant families, from newcomers’ initial reception to their deep involvement in and attachment to their receiving society. Chapters examine the interrelated themes of the policy environment, children and youth, gender, labour markets and work, and community supports, making insightful connections between concepts such as neoliberalism, resilience, and social capital.

Putting Family First applies rigorous academic research to solve practical problems, illustrating how the family context can be mobilized to facilitate the successful integration of newcomers and offering important guidance to practitioners and policy makers in Canada and beyond.

Harald Bauder is a professor of geography and the director of the Graduate Program in Immigration and Settlement Studies at Ryerson University. He is also the founder of the Ryerson Centre for Immigration and Settlement. His books include Migration Borders Freedom and Immigration Dialectic: Imagining Community, Economy, and Nation. Bauder is also a recipient of the Konrad Adenauer Research Award and a senior research fellowship from the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies.

Contributors: Mehrunnisa Ahmad Ali, Assel Baitubayeva, Fabiola Limón Bravo, Tania Dargy, Diane Dyson, Erika Gates-Gasse, Maria Gintova, Sepali Guruge, Charity-Ann Hannan, Corinne Hart, Mia Hershkowitz, Ana Leticia Ibarra, Omar Lujan, Skylar Maharaj, Beth Martin, Erin Mulvale, Henry Parada, Andrea Robertson, Ezekiel Roos-Walker, Jesse Root, John Shields, Reena Tandon, Vappu Tyyskä, Marc Yvan Valade, Shuguang Wang, Karline Wilson-Mitchell