Abstract
New immigrants to Canada, particularly those with extensive education and work experience, typically experience significant socio-economic exclusion. This is because they are often unable to find jobs in the professions they have trained in, largely because their credentials are not recognized in Canada and are resigned to take jobs they are overqualified for. This form of socio-economic exclusion can in turn impact their sense of belonging to the country, despite survey findings of a strong sense of belonging among underemployed immigrants that may seem to suggest otherwise. Hence, this chapter considers how social enterprises can contribute to facilitating the socio-economic inclusion of highly skilled newcomers to Canada based on the findings of a research study that reviewed the general capacity of social enterprises to address structural injustice. This is done with an underlying awareness of the fact that even though social policy has been devolved to non-government organizations like social enterprises, in an ideal world, it is supposed to be the purview of the state.
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Notes
- 1.
“Racialized” individuals in this study refer to those who are considered socially different from the ethnic majority. In Canada, racialized individuals are essentially non-white people or people of color.
- 2.
Social enterprises are conceptualized in this study as organizations that operate in the marketplace to create social outcomes.
- 3.
See Oloke (2021) for more information about the research study, including the methodology employed.
- 4.
Paula and James are not specific individuals but are a composite representative of the experiences of a significant portion of the Nigerian community in Canada within which the author has lived experience.
- 5.
Other terms used interchangeably with “sense of belonging” in this study include acculturation, social integration and socialization.
- 6.
As the dominant worldview in most Western states since the 1980s, neoliberalism embodies a political philosophy and an economic belief that markets will produce largely efficient economic outcomes when allowed to operate with minimal government intervention (Palley, 2012). The usage of neoliberalism in this chapter focuses particularly on the way that this concept encouraged state retreat from social policy designed to address structural injustice (particularly of the economic kind) faced by members of marginalized groups.
- 7.
Social policy in this study refers to actions (social welfare or services) designed to address “wicked” societal problems of a structural nature that impact the economic, political and social welfare of members of a community.
- 8.
This raises the questions of why it seems to be so difficult to fairly assess educational achievements and work experience from other countries and whether this might be a way for trade unions and professional licensing agencies to ensure Canadian workers retain exclusive access to professional jobs.
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Oloke, I. (2023). How Social Enterprise Can Facilitate the Inclusion of Highly Skilled Newcomers to Canada. In: Maiangwa, B. (eds) The Paradox(es) of Diasporic Identity, Race and Belonging. Politics of Citizenship and Migration. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38797-5_10
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