Economic and Social Reports
Perceptions of shared values in Canadian society among the immigrant population

DOI: https://doi.org/10.25318/36280001202201200003-eng

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Abstract

This study compares the perceptions held by immigrants and Canadian-born people of shared democratic values—such as human rights, gender equality, and ethnic and cultural diversity—in Canadian society. Compared with Canadian-born people, a proportionally larger share of immigrants believed that Canadians share such values to a great extent. This difference in perception varied across regions: it was more evident in the Prairies and less evident in the Atlantic provinces. The perception of shared values was greater among recent immigrants when compared with established immigrants. While those who arrived in Canada as adolescents or adults had more favourable perceptions of shared values, immigrants who arrived during their childhood had perceptions of shared values similar to those of Canadian-born people. Immigrants from different entry classes (refugees, economic immigrants, and family sponsored immigrants) held similar perceptions of shared values in Canadian society.

Acknowledgment

The authors thank Cédric De Chardon, Feng Hou, René Houle and Grant Schellenberg for their advice and comments on an earlier version of this article.

Authors

Christoph Schimmele and Max Stick are with the Social Analysis and Modelling Division, Analytical Studies and Modelling Branch, at Statistics Canada. Maciej Karpinski and Seyba Cissokho are with the Policy Research Division at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Introduction

Immigrant integration is a multidimensional concept that spans economic, social and political contexts, and should include the psychological well-being of its subject (Harder et al., 2018). Many assessments of immigrant integration compare immigrants with Canadian-born people through the assessment of indicators such as educational attainment, labour force status, income and geographic distribution. While these indicators are important concerns, they mainly provide information about immigrants’ human capital, socioeconomic outcomes and settlement patterns. They provide less information about the host society and its institutions’ performance to enable immigrants’ prospects for integration (Li, 2003). The successful integration of immigrants is a two-way process that involves the adaptation of immigrants, on the one hand, and social acceptance and institutional openness in the host society, on the other hand.

The successful integration of immigrants into Canadian society should not be reduced to a single outcome (e.g., income) or dimension (e.g., socioeconomic status). An immigrant can be well-integrated in some respects, but poorly integrated in others (Kyeremeh et al., 2021). Accordingly, assessments of immigrant integration should have a wide scope to provide a fulsome account. The psychological aspects of integration are important because they represent immigrants’ subjective evaluations of their post-migration lives and satisfaction with the host society. Broadly, psychological integration refers to factors such as sense of belonging, social identity and attachment to the host society (Harder et al., 2018; Harles, 2004). Psychological connections to the host society arise through immigrants’ post-migration experiences, particularly their perceptions of inclusion. The psychological perspective of integration shifts the focus from the characteristics of immigrants (e.g., human capital) towards those of the host society and its institutions.

Post-migration experiences are known to influence immigrants’ perceptions of the host society, which will have implications for their social identities and subjective well-being (Banting & Soroka, 2012; Bilodeau et al., 2020; Houle & Schellenberg, 2010). The host society’s receptivity towards immigrants is a key factor (Hou, Schellenberg, & Berry, 2016; Safi, 2010), and exclusionary experiences (e.g., discrimination) tend to weaken immigrants’ sense of belonging to Canada and their province of residence (Bilodeau et al., 2022; Wu & Finnsdottir, 2021). Exclusionary experiences can also increase the likelihood that immigrants will adopt “reactive” social identities, which are characterized by a retreat into co-ethnic or pan-ethnic identities and poor attachment to the host society (Schimmele & Wu, 2015). However, perceptions of acceptance shown by the host society tend to increase immigrants’ feelings of positivity towards Canada (White, Bilodeau, & Nevitte, 2015).

This study used data from the 2020 General Social Survey (GSS) to assess perceptions of shared values in Canadian society among the immigrant population. These values represent the democratic norms or standards that provide a basis for social inclusion in a diverse society (Henderson & McEwan, 2005; Sinha, 2015). The perceptions of immigrants and Canadian-born people were compared at the national level and within provinces to account for regional variation. This study examined whether differences in the perceptions of shared values depended on entry status, years since immigration, age at immigration and population group.

Data and measures

This study used data from the 2020 GSS on Social Identity. The GSS is an annual cross-sectional survey that collects information on social trends and monitors the well-being of Canadians (Statistics Canada, 2019). The target population of the survey was Canadians aged 15 and older living in the 10 provinces of Canada; it excluded residents of the three territories and full-time residents of institutions or First Nations reserves. The data were collected from August 2020 to February 2021. The sample size was 34,044 respondents, including 13,931 landed immigrants (Statistics Canada, 2021).

To measure perceptions of shared values, the survey asked respondents “To what extent do you feel that Canadians share the following values?” The values listed were human rights, respect for the law, gender equality, English and French as Canada’s official languages (linguistic duality), ethnic and cultural diversity, and respect for Indigenous (First Nations, Métis or Inuit) culture. Respondents were asked to categorize the extent to which Canadians share these values through the use of a scale: to a great extent, to a moderate extent, to a small extent or not at all. The large majority of respondents believed the values were shared “to a great extent” or “to a moderate extent.” The present study compared the proportions of immigrants and Canadian-born people who felt that Canadians share values “to a great extent.”

The perceptions of immigrants and Canadian-born people were compared at the national and provincial levels. Respondents from the Atlantic provinces—Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick—were grouped because the number of immigrant respondents from these provinces was too small for separate analysis. Respondents who were immigrants were classified according to their entry class (refugee, economic immigrant or immigrant sponsored by family), generation (people aged 13 years and older [first generation] and 12 years and younger [1.5 generation] at entry), length of time in Canada since immigration (0 to 5 years, 6 to 9 years, 10 to 19 years, and 20 years or longer), and population group (White, Black, Chinese, South Asian, Southeast Asian [includes Filipino], Arab and West Asian, and Latin American).^Note 

Estimates were calculated with survey weights to account for possible over- or under-representation of some demographic groups. Bootstrap weights were used to calculate statistical significance to address the complex survey design of the GSS.

Immigrants have favourable perceptions of shared values in Canadian society

In this study, a “strong perception of shared values” refers to a belief that Canadians share values to a great extent. In 2020, two-thirds (67%) of immigrants reported a strong perception of shared values regarding human rights in Canadian society, whereas over one-half (55%) of Canadian-born people reported the same perception (Chart 1). Almost one-half (47%) of immigrants had a strong perception of shared values on ethnic and cultural diversity, which is nearly double the proportion (24%) of Canadian-born people who reported the same belief. One-half (50%) of immigrants believed that Canadians share values on gender equality to a great extent, while less than one-third (30%) of Canadian-born people reported this belief. As depicted in Chart 1, the remaining proportions of immigrants with a strong perception of shared values (respect for the law, 62%; linguistic duality, 42%; and respect for Indigenous culture, 37%) were also significantly higher than those of Canadian-born people for all categories.^Note 

Perceptions of shared values varied between provinces

Research based on the 2013 GSS showed that the general population’s perceptions of shared values varied between provinces. For example, the perceptions of shared values on ethnic and cultural diversity in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Saskatchewan were significantly lower than the national average. Comparatively, perceptions were higher than the national average in Ontario and British Columbia (Sinha, 2015). It is unknown whether a similar pattern occurs among the immigrant population, but recent studies have shown that immigrants’ national identities and sense of belonging differ across regions (Bilodeau et al., 2022; Wu & So, 2020).

Table 1 presents the perceptions of shared values for immigrants and Canadian-born people for each province. In all provinces, a significantly higher proportion of immigrants reported that Canadians share values to a great extent. The only exceptions to this case were for the human rights and linguistic duality categories in the Atlantic provinces, where the differences between immigrants and Canadian-born people were statistically non-significant.

For most values, the differences between the perceptions of immigrants and Canadian-born people were consistently smaller for the Atlantic provinces and larger in Saskatchewan and Manitoba (Table 1). For instance, the perceptions of shared values on human rights of immigrants (60%) and Canadian-born people (54%) differed by 6 percentage points in the Atlantic provinces, the smallest gap. The largest difference between perceptions of shared values on human rights was of 23 percentage points in Manitoba—71% of immigrants and 48% of Canadian-born individuals. The difference in perceptions of shared values about ethnic and cultural diversity between immigrants and Canadian-born people was as small as 13 percentage points in the Atlantic provinces and as large as 35 percentage points in Saskatchewan. In the Atlantic provinces, the difference in perceptions regarding respect for Indigenous culture between immigrants and Canadian-born people was also comparatively smaller.

In Ontario, the differences between immigrants and Canadian-born people in terms of perceptions of shared values resembled the national pattern. In Quebec, the differences in perception between immigrants and Canadian-born people were smaller than the national average. The differences in perception in Alberta and British Columbia were similar to the national pattern.

To provide context for the regional patterns of perceptions of shared values, immigrants from each province were compared with immigrants from Ontario (Appendix Table 1). Ontario was selected as the reference group because it is where one-half of immigrants reside and therefore has a major influence on the national pattern. Canadian-born people were also compared across the provinces. With these two sets of comparisons, it is possible to ascertain whether provincial-level differences in perceptions between immigrants and Canadian-born people are attributable to the perceptions of immigrants, the perceptions of Canadian-born people, or a combination of both.

This supplementary analysis suggests that the smaller differences between immigrants and Canadian-born people in the Atlantic provinces can be accounted for largely by lower perceptions among immigrants. Compared with immigrants in Ontario, a significantly smaller proportion of immigrants in the Atlantic provinces had a strong perception of shared values on human rights, ethnic and cultural diversity, linguistic duality, and respect for Indigenous culture. Among the Canadian-born population, there was a non-significant difference or small differences between residents of the Atlantic provinces and Ontario. Slightly fewer Canadian-born people in the Atlantic provinces had a strong perception of shared values on ethnic and cultural diversity, but slightly more had a strong perception of shared values on linguistic duality and respect for Indigenous culture.

In Saskatchewan, the larger differences between immigrants and Canadian-born people appear to reflect the perceptions of both groups. For example, proportionally more immigrants in Saskatchewan had strong perceptions of shared values on gender equality and linguistic duality compared with immigrants in Ontario. In contrast, proportionally fewer Canadian-born people in Saskatchewan had strong perceptions in these respects compared with their counterparts in Ontario. Perceptions of shared values on human rights, ethnic and cultural diversity, and respect for Indigenous culture were similar among immigrants in Saskatchewan and immigrants in Ontario. However, the Canadian-born people in this province held significantly weaker perceptions compared with their counterparts in Ontario.

In Manitoba, immigrants’ perceptions were similar to those of immigrants in Ontario for all shared values, with the exception of linguistic duality, on which immigrants in Manitoba had significantly stronger perceptions. Compared with Ontario, Canadian-born residents of Manitoba had significantly weaker perceptions of shared values on human rights, respect for the law, linguistic duality and respect for Indigenous culture.

Immigrants from all entry classes have favourable perceptions of shared values

In Canada, immigrants are admitted based on their human capital and labour market criteria (economic immigrants), through sponsorship by a family member, or as refugees. The manner in which immigrants enter Canada has been identified as a possible source of differentiation in their acculturation (Hou, Schellenberg, & Berry, 2016).

In each entry class, a significantly higher proportion of immigrants than Canadian-born people reported a strong perception of shared values in Canadian society despite some variation. For perceptions of shared values on ethnic and cultural diversity, the difference between economic immigrants and Canadian-born people was smaller than the differences between immigrants from other entry classes and Canadian-born people. The difference between economic immigrants and Canadian-born people was also comparatively smaller for perceptions of shared values on respect for Indigenous culture. Otherwise, immigrants from all three entry classes had similar perceptions of shared values.

Recent immigrants have the most favourable perceptions of shared values

Immigrants’ perceptions of shared values in Canadian society may change with longer exposure to the settlement environment, as it takes time and experience to understand Canadians’ beliefs in regard to their values. The number of years since an immigrant was granted the right to live in Canada permanently is referred to as “years since landing.”

The perception of shared values was strongest for recent immigrants (Table 3). Among those who immigrated zero to five years earlier, 77% reported that Canadians share values on human rights to a great extent. Among immigrants who had landed in Canada six to nine years earlier, 71% reported this perception. For both groups, a significantly higher proportion had a strong perception of shared values compared with those who had immigrated 20 years earlier or more (long-term immigrants). Among the latter group, 62% had a strong perception of shared values on human rights. On ethnic and cultural diversity, over one-half (56%) of immigrants in Canada for nine years or less had a strong perception of shared values, about 17 percentage points higher (39%) than for long-term immigrants. Two-thirds of immigrants in Canada for nine years or less had a strong perception of shared values on gender equality, compared with two-fifths of long-term immigrants.

Compared with long-term immigrants, immigrants in Canada for 10 to 19 years also had significantly stronger perceptions of shared values, though the differences were smaller than those observed for recent immigrants.

With increasing years in Canada, immigrants had perceptions of shared values somewhat closer to the Canadian-born average, but these were still more favourable. The proportion of long-term immigrants who had a strong perception of shared values on human rights was 7 percentage points higher than that of Canadian-born people. The difference between long-term immigrants and Canadian-born people was even wider for perceptions of shared values on gender equality (11 percentage points) and ethnic and cultural diversity (15 percentage points).

Age at immigration shapes perceptions of shared values

The proportion of respondents who believed that Canadians share values to a great extent was significantly higher among those who arrived in Canada as adolescents or adults (first-generation immigrants) than among those who arrived as children (1.5 generation immigrants) (Table 3). While 70% of first-generation immigrants felt that Canadians share values on human rights to a great extent, 57% of the 1.5 generation had this perception. About 52% of first-generation immigrants believed that Canadians share values on ethnic and cultural diversity to a great extent, compared with 32% of 1.5 generation immigrants. On gender equality, 56% of first-generation immigrants felt that Canadians share this value to a great extent, compared with 31% of 1.5 generation immigrants.

The proportions of first-generation immigrants with strong perceptions of shared values were between 15 and 27 percentage points higher than for Canadian-born people. In contrast, the differences between 1.5 generation immigrants and Canadian-born people were negligible or small, except for perceptions of shared values on ethnic and cultural diversity. In this case, the proportion of people with a strong perception of shared values was almost 8 percentage points higher for 1.5 generation immigrants.

Perceptions of shared values in Canadian society are consistently higher for immigrants across different population groups

Immigrants from all selected population groups had consistently stronger perceptions of shared values compared with the average for all Canadian-born people, but the size of the difference varied across groups (Table 4). Particularly noteworthy were perceptions of shared values on ethnic and cultural diversity. About 60% of South Asian, 58% of Southeast Asian and 45% of Chinese immigrants had a strong perception of shared values on ethnic and cultural diversity, compared with 24% of the Canadian-born population. The proportions for Black (57%), Arab and West Asian (48%), and Latin American (48%) immigrants were also significantly higher compared with the Canadian-born average. Among immigrants from non-White population groups, the proportion of respondents with strong perceptions of shared values on human rights ranged from 63% (Chinese) to 78% (South Asian) and, on gender equality, from 50% (Chinese) to 62% (South Asian).

Depending on the population group, the proportion of immigrants who reported a strong perception of shared values on ethnic and cultural diversity was between 10 and 36 percentage points higher compared with Canadian-born people. Group-specific differences with Canadian-born people were also found for perceptions of shared values on gender equality (between 7 and 32 percentage points) and human rights (between 5 and 23 percentage points). These group-specific differences between immigrants and the average for all Canadian-born people are visualized in Chart 2. For perceptions of shared values on respect for the law, linguistic duality and respect for Indigenous culture, there was also a wide range in the differences between immigrants and Canadian-born people.

White immigrants had the weakest perception that Canadians share values to a great extent. As Chart 2 depicts, the differences between White immigrants and the Canadian-born average for perceptions of shared values were considerably smaller than those observed for immigrants from other population groups. This was the case across all six values. The relatively smaller differences between White immigrants and Canadian-born people may partially correspond to years since immigration. Over two-thirds of White immigrants in this study were long-term immigrants.^Note  As discussed above, the share of immigrants who had a strong perception of shared values was significantly lower for long-term immigrants than recent immigrants. Nevertheless, White immigrants had significantly stronger perceptions of shared values compared with Canadian-born people.

Conclusion

Compared with Canadian-born averages, immigrants consistently had stronger perceptions that Canadians share values on human rights, respect for the law, gender equality, linguistic duality, ethnic and cultural diversity, and respect for Indigenous culture. That is, a significantly higher proportion of immigrants than Canadian-born people reported that Canadians share these values to a great extent. Recent immigrants had particularly favourable perceptions, and the proportion who believed that Canadians share values to a great extent became gradually smaller over time. Immigrants who arrived as adolescents or adults also had stronger perceptions of shared values than Canadian-born people, but immigrants who came to Canada as children had perceptions similar to those of people born in Canada.

Immigrants have a dual frame of reference for their perceptions—their country of origin and the host society (Röder & Mühlau, 2012). Most immigrants move to a new country to improve their life opportunities and for better national conditions, boosting their subjective evaluations of the host society (Hendriks, 2015). Among recent immigrants, perceptions of shared values appear to be based on comparisons with conditions in their country of origin, but this frame of reference is less salient for long-term immigrants. As immigrants become more acculturated to the norms prevalent in the host country, their evaluations are reoriented towards these new conditions and expectations (Hendriks & Burger, 2020). Consequently, immigrants’ perceptions of shared values gradually become less favourable over time.

A similar explanation applies to the lack of difference in perceptions of shared values between immigrants who arrived in childhood (the 1.5 generation) and Canadian-born people. Immigrants who arrived as children and those who arrived at older ages are differentiated in terms of their primary place of socialization and education (i.e., the source country or host country), affecting their personal expectations (Wu, Schimmele, & Hou, 2012). Childhood immigrants are more likely to depend on host-country norms as their frame of reference for their perceptions, since this group was educated and socialized in the host country and also has limited awareness of conditions in their source country to use as a secondary frame of reference to evaluate Canadian society (Röder & Mühlau, 2012).

Compared with Canadian-born people, immigrants from some population groups frequently feel “uncomfortable or out of place” in Canada because of their ethnicity, culture, race or skin colour (Wu, Schimmele, & Hou, 2012). Presumably, this experience should negatively impact their perceptions of the host society. Despite this, immigrants from such population groups had comparatively more favourable perceptions of shared values than either White immigrants or Canadian-born people—notably so for perceptions of shared values on ethnic and cultural diversity. However, there was variation between immigrants from different population groups in perceptions of shared values.

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