Twenty-third International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

Skilled immigrants form a substantial and growing portion of the population of Canada. While these immigrants contribute significantly to an increase in population, economic growth, and social transformation, their quest for resettlement is complex, and filled with challenges and compromises. The Canadian government, social service organizations, and immigrant communities in Canada profess interest in helping immigrants to successfully integrate into Canadian society. Despite this high level of interest, highly skilled African immigrants (HSAIs) continue to face myriad of challenges in their labor market integration process. Drawing on a qualitative study conducted in Montreal, this paper provides an overview of the resettlement experiences of Highly skilled African immigrants in the Quebec labour market (LM). The findings of the study indicate that HSAIs in Quebec face challenges including finding adequate employment, nonrecognition of their credentials, learning a new language, and racial discrimination in the Quebec labor market. Another significant finding of the study is that HSAIs’ status and identity of being African immigrants negatively impact their ability to successfully integrate into the Quebec context. Accents, bias, and preconceived notions of what being African connotes all add to the psychological struggle of belonging and integrating into their new social context. Despite these challenges, this research demonstrate the strengths and resilience of African immigrants and the various ‘resources’ that they utilize to cope with the difficulties they encounter. This study emphasizes the need for deliberate institutional efforts to address the systematic barriers that impact the resettlement experience of HSAIs in the Quebec LM.