tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/2016-census-45429/articles2016 Census – The Conversation2019-05-31T13:46:50Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1179622019-05-31T13:46:50Z2019-05-31T13:46:50ZWe the North: The Toronto Raptors playoff success represents a shift in Canadian identity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277381/original/file-20190531-69067-inkv23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Toronto Raptors fans sing the Canadian anthem at what's dubbed "Jurassic Park" before the first game of the NBA Finals.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’re not a basketball fan right now, you’re missing out. For the first time since they were founded in 1995, the Toronto Raptors have advanced to the National Basketball Association final <a href="http://media.sportsnet.ca/2019/05/raptors-vs-bucks-game-6-on-sportsnet-reaches-6-8-million-canadians-largest-audience-ever-for-an-nba-game-in-canada/">and excitement</a> for the game in Canada has never been higher.</p>
<p>This outcome was very much <a href="https://nationalpost.com/pmn/sports-pmn/basketball-sports-pmn/trudeau-extremely-excited-about-toronto-raptors-says-son-is-massive-fan">the vision</a> of John Bitove, one of the founders of the Toronto Raptors, who said the ultimate goal of the organization would be to win an NBA championship. But more than that, it would be to recognize basketball as a major national sport in Canada. </p>
<p>Hockey has traditionally been seen by most people — both inside and outside of the country — as <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/n-16.7/page-1.html">the sport that most defines Canada</a>. Fans have often been sold the idea that hockey players are what a Canadian is or ought to be. For many fans, national pride is attached to this descriptor. </p>
<p>The historical and cultural significance of hockey means it will always be a Canadian sport. But because of the changing demographics of the Canadian population, anecdotal evidence suggests some fans are starting to seek national identity through <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-raptors-nba-finals-1.5155288">basketball</a>. A few reasons underpin this new identification. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277385/original/file-20190531-69067-1ai1eyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277385/original/file-20190531-69067-1ai1eyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277385/original/file-20190531-69067-1ai1eyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277385/original/file-20190531-69067-1ai1eyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277385/original/file-20190531-69067-1ai1eyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277385/original/file-20190531-69067-1ai1eyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277385/original/file-20190531-69067-1ai1eyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Toronto Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard, shown here during the first game of the NBA Finals, has become a hero across Canada for his phenomenal performance during the playoffs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span>
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<h2>Changing demographics</h2>
<p>First, Canada is becoming more diverse. According to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/census-2016-immigration-1.4368970">the latest census data</a>, 21.9 per cent of Canadians reported being or having been an immigrant or permanent resident. Statistics Canada predicts this number to reach 30 per cent by 2036. The Indigenous population is growing at more than four times the rate of the non-Indigenous population.</p>
<p>Also, 7.7 million Canadians check “visible minority” on their census forms, representing 22.3 percent of the population. These numbers are higher in Toronto, which is one of the top sports cities in Canada. The census data showed more than <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/census-visible-minorities-1.4371018">half of Torontonians</a> identify as a “visible minority.” </p>
<p>The changing demographics are impacting Canada’s identity as a nation. From the <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/year-in-ideas-how-canadian-identity-has-changed-and-what-it-means-for-our-future">1950s to the 1980s</a>, it could be argued that the three major pillars of Canadian identity were the country’s role as UN peacekeepers, its universal health-care system and the threat of Québec separation. Although health care remains a pillar, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-canadas-multiculturalism-is-our-identity/">multiculturalism</a> now ranks as a core Canadian identity. </p>
<p>Kawhi Leonard has spoken about being <a href="https://byblacks.com/main-menu-mobile/opinion-mobile/item/2303-dear-toronto-do-you-even-know-who-kawhi-leonard-really-is">inspired by the legacy of Earl Lloyd, the first African-American to play in the NBA</a>, and coaches and teachers have spoken about <a href="https://byblacks.com/main-menu-mobile/opinion-mobile/item/2303-dear-toronto-do-you-even-know-who-kawhi-leonard-really-is">the rise of basketball for youth in the Greater Toronto Area</a>.</p>
<h2>The global expansion of basketball</h2>
<p><a href="https://gazettereview.com/2016/08/top-10-popular-sports-world/">Basketball is a more global game than hockey</a> and therefore more familiar to many new Canadians. </p>
<p>The NBA televises its games in 215 countries and territories and in 50 languages. About <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/18/nba-steps-up-its-global-plans-to-take-basketball-to-new-markets.html">300 million</a> people play basketball in China, and the NBA says 30 per cent of its paid live-streaming subscription service comes from Asia.</p>
<p>Another global expansion of the NBA is in India. There are about seven million Facebook fans in the country who follow the sport. The NBA has <a href="https://in.reuters.com/article/basketball-india-nba/india-can-be-the-next-china-for-nba-says-top-official-idINKBN1860Q0">a partnership</a> with Sony SIX, an Indian sports channel that airs 350 live games on its platform. Roughly six million kids and 5,000 coaches are given the opportunity to learn the sport of basketball through the league’s developmental program.</p>
<p>And the NBA’s recent expansion into United Kingdom has drawn a lot of attention. The league has signed a new partnership with Sky Sports to show games. “We’re also partners in terms of their digital platforms and hugely excited about that … we see an opportunity through the entire Sky system to continue promoting the NBA throughout Europe,” said NBA commissioner <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmurray/2019/01/20/inside-the-nbas-attempts-to-reach-a-global-audience/#259d146c7dd2">Adam Silver</a>.</p>
<h2>Fans want to watch winners</h2>
<p>The idea that some Canadian fans are starting to seek national identity through basketball is not only limited to the changing demographics and the global expansion of the sport. Fans simply want to watch winners — <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/doi/pdf/10.1123/jsep.14.1.28">research</a> shows that winning is a predominate predictor of fan desire for sport. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1134188144746729475"}"></div></p>
<p>The Toronto Raptors have certainly proved to be exciting to watch. They made it to the NBA playoffs in the last <a href="https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/teams/Toronto-Raptors/28/Playoff-History">six years</a>, and are now finally taking centre stage as they face the defending champions, the Golden State Warriors. </p>
<p>Fans revel in a team’s success despite having done nothing tangible to bring the team success, a phenomenon known as <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1977-10287-001">basking in reflected glory</a>. Social psychologists posit that fans use a sport team’s success to enhance their self esteem. </p>
<p>Whether or not the Raptors win the NBA championship, expect expressions of fandom and national pride to continue during the next few months with Canadians wearing a Raptors jersey while on vacation or hosting celebration parties with other fans. These displays of unity and Canadian culture are gratifying to see. </p>
<p>Let’s go Raptors! </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277386/original/file-20190531-69059-15t5j2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277386/original/file-20190531-69059-15t5j2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277386/original/file-20190531-69059-15t5j2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277386/original/file-20190531-69059-15t5j2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277386/original/file-20190531-69059-15t5j2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277386/original/file-20190531-69059-15t5j2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277386/original/file-20190531-69059-15t5j2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Toronto Raptors superfan Nav Bhatia checks out the action before Game 1 of the NBA Finals. He has been a constant presence at the team’s games since the Raptors first season in 1995.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span>
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</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117962/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Snelgrove receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vinu Selvaratnam does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Hockey is often considered Canada’s national sport, but with the changing demographics of the country and the rising success of the Toronto Raptors, basketball is also seen as a national sport.Ryan Snelgrove, Professor of Sport Business, University of WaterlooVinu Selvaratnam, Master of Arts Candidate, Recreation and Leisure Studies, University of WaterlooLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/934172018-03-16T00:12:58Z2018-03-16T00:12:58ZHomeless numbers will keep rising until governments change course on housing<p>Ten years ago the Australian government launched a National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness (<a href="https://www.homelessnessaustralia.org.au/campaigns/npah-campaign">NPAH</a>). It injected A$800 million into homelessness services and A$300 million to build 600 new homes for people experiencing homelessness. It was later announced that another A$400 million would be available under the National Affordable Housing Agreement (<a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/housing-support/programmes-services/national-affordable-housing-agreement">NAHA</a>) to build new housing and supported accommodation for the homeless. Total recurrent expenditure (at 2016-17 prices) on homelessness services has <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2018/housing-and-homelessness/homelessness-services/rogs-2018-partg-chapter19.pdf">increased by 28.8%</a>, from A$634.2 million in 2012-13 to A$817.4 million in 2016-17. </p>
<p>But despite this, the number of people experiencing homelessness and the rate of homelessness have both increased. Our research points to problems in the public housing system as one of the more important causes of these increases.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs%40.nsf/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/0DB52D24450CC7ACCA257A7500148E4C?OpenDocument">According to census figures</a> released on Wednesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the number of homeless people in Australia has risen by 14% to 116,427. The rate of homelessness has increased from 47.6 people per 10,000 of the population in 2011, to 49.8 per 10,000 now. (The ABS defines homelessness <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/4922.0Main%20Features22012?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=4922.0&issue=2012&num=&view=">here</a>.) </p>
<p>There is some good news: the numbers of Indigenous homeless and homeless children and youth (aged 12-18) have declined by 26%, 11% and 7% respectively since 2011. But on the downside, increases are particularly pronounced in New South Wales (where the homelessness rate <a href="http://abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/2049.0Main%20Features12016?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=2049.0&issue=2016&num=&view=">rose by 27%</a> and among people aged over 65 (by just over 30%) and overseas-born migrants (by 40%).</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-and-more-older-australians-will-be-homeless-unless-we-act-now-87685">More and more older Australians will be homeless unless we act now</a>
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<h2>Why are we still going backwards?</h2>
<p>Changes in Australian housing and welfare systems and wider social and economic developments appear to have more than offset any benefits from the NPAH and NAHA. <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/248">Our research</a> sheds some light on the role played by Australia’s housing system. Using the internationally recognised and unique <a href="http://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/journeys-home">Journeys Home</a> longitudinal survey, we find that public housing is the most important factor in preventing homelessness among vulnerable people. </p>
<p>Public housing is particularly effective because it is affordable. It has also traditionally offered a long-term refuge for precariously housed people. This is because public housing leases provide the benefits of security of tenure commonly associated with home ownership. </p>
<p>It is perhaps no accident that NSW was one of the first states to introduce fixed-term tenancies in public housing. This eroded one of the major attributes of tenure, in a state that has seen relatively large increases in homelessness numbers. </p>
<p>The empirical evidence also suggests that community housing fails to provide the same protection for people at risk of homelessness. While community housing is affordable, the security of tenure is weaker, which may explain these findings.</p>
<p>Despite such evidence, the stock of public housing continued to decline between the 2011 and 2016 censuses. State government-initiated transfers of stock to the community housing sector accelerated this trend. In 2013 Australia had a public housing stock of 325,226 dwellings. This declined by 3.2% to <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2018/housing-and-homelessness/housing/rogs-2018-partg-chapter18.pdf">314,864 usable dwellings in 2017</a>.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-needs-to-reboot-affordable-housing-funding-not-scrap-it-72861">Australia needs to reboot affordable housing funding, not scrap it</a>
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<h2>Where are the additional homeless coming from?</h2>
<p>One of the more alarming changes is a sharp increase in the number of homeless people over 65. This partly reflects Australia’s ageing population. However, the increase is such that the elderly’s share of the total homelessness count has also risen. </p>
<p>Furthermore, our <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/248">research</a> suggests that this trend could become protracted. This is because the homeless elderly have much less chance of escaping into formal housing than younger people experiencing homelessness. We have little understanding of the reasons for this, but <a href="https://www.missionaustralia.com.au/news-blog/news-media/mission-australia-report-shows-homelessness-is-a-growing-concern-for-older-Australians">gaps in service provision</a> to the aged could be partly responsible.</p>
<p>The other group who feature prominently among the homeless are overseas migrants. They now make up 46% of the homeless, despite representing just 28% of the Australian population. The number of homeless overseas-born migrants has soared by 40% since the 2011 Census, from 38,085 to 53,606 people.</p>
<p>It turns out that homeless overseas-born migrants are concentrated among those living in severely overcrowded dwellings – a little over half of those living in these conditions were born overseas. We know little about these homeless people. <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-white-face-can-be-a-big-help-in-a-discriminatory-housing-market-52962">Discrimination could be a factor</a>, though some <a href="https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/about_us/media_releases/2016-census-homelessness-estimates">characterise this group as students living in group households</a> who should not be considered homeless. But this is speculation and further study is certainly required.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ghost-hunting-will-the-census-reveal-the-true-scale-of-homelessness-in-australia-63336">Ghost-hunting: will the census reveal the true scale of homelessness in Australia?</a>
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<p>In view of the latest census results, it is clear to us that governments need to reassess their approach to what is turning into an intractable social problem. </p>
<p>We do not deny that situational factors, such as drug abuse, domestic violence and so forth, are important here. But equally, there is strong evidence that structural problems in our housing market are a significant cause of growth in the numbers of homeless people. </p>
<p>Until these problems are resolved, service provision and support will remain a band-aid masking deeper social and housing system issues.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93417/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin Wood receives funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Guy Johnson receives funding from Unison Housing.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Juliet Watson receives funding from Unison Housing. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosanna Scutella was Deputy Director of the Journeys Home study, which was funded by the Commonwealth Department of Social Security.</span></em></p>A decade after the launch of a national campaign to reduce homelessness, the latest figures show Australia is going backwards. Research points to problems in the public housing system as a key factor.Gavin Wood, Emeritus Professor of Housing and Housing Studies, RMIT UniversityGuy Johnson, Professor, Urban Housing and Homelessness, RMIT UniversityJuliet Watson, Lecturer, Urban Housing and Homelessness, RMIT UniversityRosanna Scutella, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Applied Social Research, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/880142018-01-07T19:09:52Z2018-01-07T19:09:52ZMum, dad and two kids no longer the norm in the changing Australian family<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200123/original/file-20171220-4965-1shr6f1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Grandparent-led families are increasingly significant in Australia.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The image of the typical family – mum, dad, and two kids – still permeates how we define and understand the family in contemporary Australia. This ideal saturates our screens and newsfeeds and was at the centre of the marriage equality debate, underscoring the pervasiveness of the nuclear family as the dominant family form in our consciousness.</p>
<p>However, this conceptualisation masks the true nature of Australian families, which has changed significantly in recent decades. As sociologists and demographers have long known, the Australian family is as diverse and different as the country’s terrain. </p>
<p>Drawing on data from the 2016 Census, we know there are more than 6 million families in Australia. This is a significant increase from the 5 million or so families counted at the 2011 Census. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200110/original/file-20171220-4980-105ngby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200110/original/file-20171220-4980-105ngby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200110/original/file-20171220-4980-105ngby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200110/original/file-20171220-4980-105ngby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200110/original/file-20171220-4980-105ngby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200110/original/file-20171220-4980-105ngby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200110/original/file-20171220-4980-105ngby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Figure 1 – Family composition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">2016 Census - Counting Families, Place of Enumeration</span></span>
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<p>Of these 6 million families, the most-common family form (as illustrated in Figure 1) was the couple family with no children (37.76%). The next-most-common was couple families with dependent children under the age of 15 (30.64%). </p>
<p>These proportions confirm that the nuclear family is no longer the most common family form in Australia. One-parent families with dependent children comprise around 8% of all Australian families. </p>
<p>Reflecting this move away from the traditional, nuclear family and the rise of more couple families without children, is the size of families. In 2016, around 30% of all families were two-person families. A further 27% were four-person families. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200111/original/file-20171220-4957-1n5wxqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200111/original/file-20171220-4957-1n5wxqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200111/original/file-20171220-4957-1n5wxqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200111/original/file-20171220-4957-1n5wxqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200111/original/file-20171220-4957-1n5wxqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200111/original/file-20171220-4957-1n5wxqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200111/original/file-20171220-4957-1n5wxqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Figure 2 – Family blending.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">2016 Census – Counting Families, Place of Enumeration</span></span>
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<p>Most couple families with children in Australia are so-called “intact families” (89.94%), consisting of at least one one child who is the natural or adopted child of both partners in the couple.</p>
<p>However, families are becoming increasingly more “blended”, as couples dissolve (due to separation, divorce or death of a partner) and new families are formed. </p>
<p>Blended families are a small proportion of modern Australian family forms, accounting for just over 3.7% of all families. This includes families with two or more children, at least one of whom is the natural or adopted child of both partners and at least one other child who is the step-child of one of them. </p>
<p>A further 6.3% of families are step-families. Here, there is at least one resident step-child, but no child who is the natural or adopted child of both partners. </p>
<p>Grandparent-led families are also increasingly significant. </p>
<p>Grandparents already play a significant role in Australian family lives through the provision of informal child care, but there are now just over 60,000 grandparent families in Australia (which a significant increase from estimates in 2004, which found around 22,500 grandparent families). Of those, 53% of grandparent families are couple families with grandchildren and 47% are lone grandparent families. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200112/original/file-20171220-4951-ys0rvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200112/original/file-20171220-4951-ys0rvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200112/original/file-20171220-4951-ys0rvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200112/original/file-20171220-4951-ys0rvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200112/original/file-20171220-4951-ys0rvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200112/original/file-20171220-4951-ys0rvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200112/original/file-20171220-4951-ys0rvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 3 – Family composition by same-sex.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">2016 Census – Counting Families, Place of Enumeration</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The 2016 Census gathered information on same-sex couples. Compared with opposite-sex couples, these data show that family forms differ across sexual orientation.</p>
<p>Overall, around 15% of same-sex couples had children. Female same-sex couples were more likely to be in couple families with dependent children (20.67%) compared to male same-sex couples (3.10%), or opposite-sex couples (37.8%). </p>
<p>However, same-sex couples were still more likely to be in couple families with no children than were opposite-sex couples, and they were more likely to have smaller families. Of those, around 54% of male same-sex couples with children and 51% of female same-sex couples with children had one-child families. One-third of same-sex couples had two children. </p>
<p>In comparison, 36% of opposite sex-couples had one child, and 42% had two children. </p>
<p>What these data from the 2016 Census show is just some of the diversity within the Australian family. While the idealised nuclear family of the past is no more, this does not mean that the family as a social institution is in decline, or that families in contemporary Australia are at risk.</p>
<p>But it does mean families are changing. Our political leaders should reflect on this diversity to ensure social policies reflect these differences, so that all families are well supported.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88014/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brendan Churchill is Convenor of the The Australian Sociological Association's (TASA) Families and Relationships Thematic Group. </span></em></p>Families are changing, and our political leaders should reflect on this diversity to ensure social policies reflect these differences, so that all families are well supported.Brendan Churchill, Research Fellow, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/863852017-11-13T23:19:29Z2017-11-13T23:19:29ZHow the genomics health revolution is failing ethnic minorities<p>Statistics Canada recently released its <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/census-2016-immigration-1.4368970">2016 census data</a>, which depicts a Canada that is more diverse than ever before. Today, nearly a quarter of Canadians belong to a “visible minority” and 1.7 million Canadians are Indigenous. </p>
<p>Having only recently returned to this country after finishing my PhD at the University of Oxford, where I studied genome sequencing and its impact on clinical practice, I have been constantly reminded of our diversity. And yet I know that this diversity is still entirely lacking from our <em>genomic data</em>. </p>
<p>Today, genomics is quickly becoming integrated into our health-care system. It is providing new targeted treatments for cancer, creating personalized drug regimens, and <a href="https://www.genomicsengland.co.uk/the-100000-genomes-project/">uncovering diagnoses for rare diseases</a> that were previously genetic mysteries. However, the lack of diversity in existing genomic data limits the ability of ethnic minorities — including Indigenous Canadians — to benefit from these advances in health care. And this perpetuates the very inequalities that caused the problem in the first place.</p>
<h2>White Canadians, incomplete databases</h2>
<p>Our genomes are recipe books for who we are. Individual variation in our genes — like changes in individual recipes — can provide extremely useful health information. This includes information on our risk of developing serious diseases, ranging from cancers to fatal heart conditions. </p>
<p>Today, when a health-care provider suspects that someone may have one of these genetic illnesses, they are able to read his or her genome sequence from cover to cover. <a href="https://www.genome.gov/27565109/the-cost-of-sequencing-a-human-genome/">Due to decreasing costs</a>, use of this technology has skyrocketed. Genome-based testing is helping provide diagnoses that were previously unimaginable — from new <a href="https://academic.oup.com/hmg/article/23/12/3200/697186">genetic causes of early-onset epilepsy</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ng.3970">birth defects affecting the heart</a>, to new <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ng.2983">drivers of cancer</a>.</p>
<p>An important step in the analysis process is determining how often a genetic “variant” occurs in healthy people. If a variant is too common in the wider population, it is unlikely to be harmful. Although we don’t have genome data for everyone, we do have extremely large databases of genome data from healthy individuals. We can use these as stand-ins for the wider population, to determine “normal” variation and which variants may cause problems. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, while growing in size, these databases are imperfect. There is normal genetic variation between human groups of different geographical origin. DNA-based ancestry tests, like <a href="https://www.23andme.com/en-ca/dna-ancestry/">23andMe</a>, use these differences to help tell you where you are from. </p>
<p>Genomic databases, however, mostly contain data from individuals of European descent. As a result, the data doesn’t actually reflect the wider population, but the wider <em>white</em> population. This is a product of <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/genomics-is-failing-on-diversity-1.20759">historical biases and inequalities</a>, and has real consequences for patients from groups who aren’t well represented. </p>
<h2>Misdiagnoses among African Americans</h2>
<p>Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is an inherited heart condition that can cause sudden cardiac death. Cases often make headlines when professional athletes die suddenly, like NBA-bound rising star <a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-hank-gathers-dwyre-20150304-column.html">Hank Gathers’ tragic death in 1990</a>. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1507092">study published last year</a>, however, showed that some African Americans were being misdiagnosed with the disease. This was not a biological problem, but a social one. Individuals of African descent were under-represented in the databases used for comparison. Variants that health-care providers thought caused the disease, and were regularly used to provide patients with positive diagnoses, were actually found to be common among healthy African Americans. </p>
<p>Instead of causing disease, they were simply ethnic differences with no harmful effect whatsoever. For individuals of African descent, these variants were “normal.” Patients were sent home with diagnoses of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who didn’t actually have the condition.</p>
<p>In the sports industry, to avoid tragic deaths like Gathers’, athletes are often screened for these heart conditions. Many, such as Gathers and King McClure (pictured above), have been diagnosed correctly. But experts have said <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/08/17/490386306/study-of-sudden-cardiac-death-exposes-limits-of-genetic-testing">that the careers of some future sport stars may have been wrongfully cut short</a> on the basis of these harmless gene variants. </p>
<h2>Uncertainty for those of Asian descent</h2>
<p>This problem is not specific to this heart condition, but true of all genetic diseases diagnosed in the same way. The problem is also not specific to African Americans — the same is possible for all ethnic groups missing from these databases. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.nature.com/gim/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/gim201776a.html">recent study</a> showed that individuals of Asian descent were much more likely to receive uncertain results from genome sequencing than if they were white. This means that their health-care providers were unable to provide them with a diagnosis through genome sequencing, unlike their white counterparts. </p>
<p>There is also a greater chance they might receive unnecessary preventative treatment as a result, including drugs and even surgeries.</p>
<h2>Indigenous peoples left behind</h2>
<p>In recent years, with the increased use of genome sequencing, these databases have grown enormously in size. Through international collaboration, the <a href="http://gnomad.broadinstitute.org/">Genome Aggregation Database</a> now has sequence data for over 100,000 individuals. </p>
<p>This has dramatically improved our ability to analyse very rare variants, helping us to better diagnose the diseases they cause. This has included a push to increase representation of some groups: today individuals of African and Asian descent are much better-represented than they were ten years ago. </p>
<p>Representation from other groups, however, is still lacking. </p>
<p>Notably, in Canada, genome sequence data from Indigenous peoples is almost entirely missing. This is particularly problematic, because individuals from these communities often present with genetic conditions unique to their communities. As a consequence, they are often extremely difficult to diagnose at the genetic level. </p>
<p>Without a genetic diagnosis, it is nearly impossible to predict who else in a family is at risk. This hinders our ability to prevent, manage and treat genetic diseases in these populations. </p>
<h2>Disrupting the equilibrium</h2>
<p>There is a way forward. Recruitment of individuals from under-represented groups, <a href="https://www.nature.com/gim/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/gim201776a.html">even in small numbers</a>, can dramatically improve our ability to diagnose genetic disease. Collecting more diverse data will allow us to broaden our definition of “normal” variation beyond that of white Europeans. </p>
<p>To do so, it is essential that we acknowledge the biases of the past. We must work to understand and address the barriers (both systematic and cultural) to enrolling individuals from underrepresented ethnic groups. Only by doing so can we collect the data needed to provide individuals in these groups with the same level of care as the rest of the population.</p>
<p>It is essential that we disrupt this equilibrium before it’s too late. We must all work together to diversify genomic databases so that everyone can benefit equally from the genetic revolution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86385/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Mackley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Genome sequencing is transforming the way we diagnose disease. But lack of diversity in genomic data means only some Canadians will benefit from this revolutionary technology.Michael Mackley, Junior Fellow, MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance; Medical Student, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/807942017-10-25T22:48:18Z2017-10-25T22:48:18ZBecoming Indigenous: The rise of Eastern Métis in Canada<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191910/original/file-20171025-25573-rcxw37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Métis Family and a Red River Cart, 1883. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.digitalhorizonsonline.org/digital/collection/uw-ndshs/id/3298">(State Historical Society of North Dakota, A4365)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the early 2000s, there has been a meteoric rise in the number of people self-identifying as Métis in Eastern Canada. <a href="http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/171025/dq171025a-eng.htm">New census data</a> shows the highest increases in self-reported “Métis” people between 2006 and 2016 were in Québec (149.2 per cent) and in Nova Scotia (124.3 per cent). In Canada during the same period, the increase was less than 60 per cent.</p>
<p>Rather than a spike in birth rates, almost all of the increase is due to white Franco-Québécois and Acadian settlers “becoming” Indigenous. To go along with these numbers, nearly 30 “Métis” organizations were founded in both provinces during roughly the same period. <em>(For the purpose of this article, we use quotes for those claiming to be Métis to differentiate them from those connected to the Métis Nation.)</em> Newly established “Métis” communities are stylizing themselves as the authentic inheritors of Indigenous nationhood, claiming that for many generations their ancestors were “hidden in plain sight.” </p>
<p>These practices are associated with what we call settler self-indigenization, or the tactical use of long-ago ancestors to reimagine a “Métis” identity. This practice disregards the development of Métis peoplehood out West. These “new Métis” often find legitimacy because of settler confusion over forms of Indigeneity based on kinship and belonging. </p>
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<p>We recently analyzed two organizations that reflect French-specific claims to Indigeneity: the Bras d’Or Lake Métis Nation (BDLMN), based in Cape Breton, and the Métis Nation of the Rising Sun (MNRS), based in Gaspésie. </p>
<p>These two groups, like several others we have studied, claim descent from an array of Indigenous peoples, and they often stylize themselves as the inheritors of the most authentic forms of Indigeneity. Ironically, they see themselves as more authentic than the still-living Indigenous communities from which they claim descent. </p>
<p>Together, these organizations claim to represent nearly 20,000 people and are currently involved in legal efforts to have their members recognized as Aboriginal people under the Constitution Act, 1982. These efforts, however, find concerted opposition from leaders of the Métis Nation, an Indigenous people of the prairies, and regional <a href="http://www.danielnpaul.com/Col/2005/SamuelDeChamplain-Mi'kmaqGreeting.html">Mi'kmaw populations</a>. </p>
<h2>The Métis people</h2>
<p>Métis have typically been misrecognized as mixed-descent, mixed-“race” identity, rather than a political and historically coherent Indigenous people, says Chris Andersen in his <a href="http://www.ubcpress.ca/metis">book, “Métis”</a>. Canada has long resisted recognizing the Métis Nation as a self-governing Indigenous nation that <a href="http://graphichistorycollective.com/project/poster-8-batoche-1885-canada-opened-fire-kokum-marianne-gatling-gun">predates</a> the formation of Canada. </p>
<p>The major problem with using a mixed-raced understanding of “Métis” is that it finds “Métis” everywhere and in so doing denies the more explicit peoplehood of the Métis Nation. Andersen argues Métis people should be recognized as those who belong to the Métis Nation.</p>
<p>While it is true in the early days of New France some colonists formed alliances and or intermarried with some Indigenous peoples, these relations did not give rise to distinct peoples.</p>
<p>Respecting how Indigenous communities understood themselves historically and continue to identify in the present is of the utmost importance as a matter of Indigenous self-determination.</p>
<h2>Contributors to the Canadian colonial project</h2>
<p>A common theme that emerges from our research is that Eastern Métis organizations are deeply invested in the settler status quo, despite bold claims about their “Indigeneity.” </p>
<p>For example, the BDLMN locates its origins in the inland fur trade, with its voyageur heritage, while also erasing the historical presence of Indigenous nations. The BDLMN says its ancestors “play[ed] an integral part in forging and forming Canada” by “exploring uncharted lands for the purpose of… being recognized by the British Crown.” </p>
<p>As major contributors to the Canadian colonial project, these explorers helped Canada open up lands that were unknown, undiscovered and open to appropriation by Acadian “Métis” voyageurs. The prior control and governance of these lands by Indigenous peoples — many of whom they claim as ancestors — rarely factor into these narratives.</p>
<p>BDLMN members also connect their legitimacy as Canadians by highlighting their standing as “taxpayers” and placing themselves in opposition to the Indigenous Mi’kmaq thirteen member assembly of Nova Scotia, who are questioned, apparently because they don’t pay taxes. </p>
<p>For example, the BDLMN “chief” disparages the 13-member Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs, who question “Maritime Métis” motives: “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=608167885885637&id=575266769175749">So what we have here … are 13 chiefs who do not vote, don’t pay taxes</a>, receive millions from the taxpayer, telling government how to run the province dictating Aboriginal Métis rights, [for Métis] who do vote and who do pay taxes.” </p>
<p>The BDLMN constructs its members as taxpaying and voting Canadian citizens whose claims to Aboriginal rights are more robust than those of the Mi’kmaq. </p>
<p>Their strategy for political recognition actively undermines Mi’kmaw sovereignty and self-determination by appealing to colonial discourses circulating in Canadian society about Indigenous life — in this case, that the Mi’kmaq don’t contribute to society and ultimately work against their more legitimate “Métis” rights.</p>
<h2>Audacious political claims</h2>
<p>Nearly a thousand kilometres to the west along the Trans-Canada Highway in Gaspésie we find the headquarters of the <a href="http://www.metisgaspesie.com/indexFr.php?langue=EN">Métis Nation of the Rising Sun (MNRS)</a>, the organization representing the largest number of “Eastern Métis” individuals (about 16,000 as of April 2017). </p>
<p>The NMSL has a tendency to portray its members as the only authentic Indigenous people in “their” territory. For example, the NMSL made several audacious historical claims in a public document that it prepared for a government commission in 2007. </p>
<p>It asserted the Quebecois “Métis” are the only remaining Indigenous people in Quebec: “We present this document to you as the only direct descendants of Québec’s First Peoples whose members were not all killed by microbial shock. We stand as witnesses to the errors of Official History, which teach us that there are Métis and Indians while there is only one Indigenous Nation in Quebec.” </p>
<p>In this case, the Quebecois “Métis” construct themselves as withstanding biological elimination due in large part to their European lineage, which offered them immunity to disease. </p>
<p>The organization’s statement to government continues: “Your creation of reserves, which began in 1831–32, forced only the most miserable among us to live there…[We] refused to die on ‘your’ reserves…We remained free due to [our] inhuman efforts. Diseases that came from Europe…killed the [Indigenous] half of ourselves. Only the descendants mixed with Europeans survived these plagues.”</p>
<p>For the MNRS, whose membership more than doubled in 2016 following the SCC’s <a href="https://www.firstpeopleslaw.com/index/articles/248.php">Daniels Supreme Court decision</a> (which many “Eastern Métis claim recognizes their rights, when it is actually a question of federal/provincial jurisdiction over Métis matters). Their authenticity as "Métis” comes from the fact that they lay in hiding as French settlers for over two centuries.</p>
<h2>Race-shifting</h2>
<p>While the material we examine is quite specific to French settler politics and history, other scholars have highlighted similar tendencies among white settler peoples. </p>
<p>Most analogous is the self-identified Cherokee phenomenon in the United States, a situation that has reached epidemic proportions — only a third of those who claim a Cherokee identity are enrolled in one of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes. </p>
<p>In 2011 there were over 250 self-identified Cherokee “tribes” in the U.S., according to anthropologist <a href="https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/anthropology/faculty/sturmcd">Circe Sturm</a>. Like efforts by self-identified Métis, Sturm suggests that “race shifting” among white Americans to Cherokee identity is an attempt to “reclaim or create something they feel they have lost, and … to opt out of mainstream white society.” </p>
<p>The end result, however, has been the proliferation of self-identified Cherokee “tribes” in the U.S. and “Métis commmunities” in Eastern Canada with minimal connections to Indigenous peoples who they claim as long-ago ancestors. </p>
<p>In both cases, settler self-indigenization relies on a remarkable story: That these new communities are more Indigenous than actual Indigenous people. These stories erase actual Indigenous communities by denying them the ability to determine their own membership and narrate their own histories.</p>
<p>There’s also a more immediate problem, given that the Aboriginal Peoples Survey public policy instrument, if governments take this trend at face value, it could diminish the already inadequate public policy resources directed to Indigenous communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80794/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New census data sheds light on the country’s Indigenous population. In Eastern Canada, the rise in people claiming to be “Métis” is a controversial case of “settler self-indigenization.”Darryl R. J. Leroux, Associate Professor, Department of Social Justice and Community Studies, Saint Mary’s UniversityAdam Gaudry, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Native Studies and Department of Political Science , University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/848912017-10-25T22:48:14Z2017-10-25T22:48:14ZClosing the immigrant wage gap: Is speaking English important?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191700/original/file-20171024-30556-yo1lpq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=425%2C112%2C3985%2C3081&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New census data gives insight into Canada's immigrant population, including how English language proficiency can impact wages. Here, a group of new Canadians take part in a citizenship ceremony in Ottawa in September.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Statistics Canada has released <a href="http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016017/98-200-x2016017-eng.cfm">new data</a> from the 2016 census that shows more than any other G8 country, Canada is a nation of immigrants. One in five Canadians (21.9 per cent to be exact) were born in another country.</p>
<p>Immigration is a significant component of Canada’s population growth and evolving demographic composition. The census data shows more than 1.2 million new immigrants came to Canada between 2011-16. Immigrants are also typically younger and more educated than the average Canadian.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly then, immigration is often touted as a necessary condition for <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2016/10/06/increased-immigration-urged-to-support-economic-growth-amid-aging-population.html">sustained economic prosperity</a>. And yet in spite of their ostensible importance to the Canadian economy, immigrants themselves have yet to catch up to other Canadians in terms of economic outcomes.</p>
<p>Economists refer to this catching up as “economic assimilation” and often measure it using the “native-immigrant wage gap” — the difference between the average wages of immigrants and those whose families have been here at least three generations. The persistence of this wage gap is a feature common to economies in the Western world that rely heavily on immigration.</p>
<p>As an economist and a child of immigrants myself, I was curious to delve into the census data to understand how this gap has evolved over time and across major cities in Canada — and to get a hint of what may be at the root of it. </p>
<p>The first thing that surprised me is the gap has not changed much over the past 10 years. Census data from 2006 showed, at a national level, first-generation immigrants earned wages 12.6 per cent less than the average wage of native Canadians. In 2011, the gap dropped slightly to 10 per cent, but the new census data shows it’s climbed significantly to 16 per cent.</p>
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<p>Importantly, the gap is a countrywide phenomenon. Looking at the three of the most popular destinations for immigrants in the past decade — Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary — the gap in 2016 sits at 25, 17 and 23 per cent respectively.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the gap doesn’t only exist for first-generation immigrants, but also for the children of immigrants (second generation, i.e. Canadians born to immigrant parents). The new data shows at the national level, second-generation immigrants earn 5.4 per cent less than natives. </p>
<h2>Understanding the wage gap</h2>
<p>The obvious question that follows then is: What is the source of these gaps? </p>
<p>Canada is an especially interesting case given the <a href="http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/express-entry/grid-crs.asp">“points” system</a> used to screen potential immigrants, where language, education and job skills are key determinants. And for the first time, the census has reported that about six out 10 new immigrants came here under the so-called economic admission category, meaning they have the skills “to enhance and promote economic development.”</p>
<p>Given the way immigrants are screened before entry, one would expect relatively quick integration into the Canadian economy and a convergence in wages. But this is clearly not the case.</p>
<p>The reasons put forward to explain the wage gap range from employer difficulty in assessing immigrant education credentials to outright discrimination. Economists refer to two types of “discrimination” in the labour market context, “<a href="http://www.dictionaryofeconomics.com/article?id=pde2009_S000544">statistical discrimination</a>” and “<a href="http://www.dictionaryofeconomics.com/article?id=pde2009_T000251">taste-based discrimination</a>.”</p>
<p>In the former, employers use observable traits (such as race) to make inferences about something like productivity. For example, an employer sees a job applicant with brown skin. The employer isn’t prejudiced towards brown people, but is worried (stereotypically) the employee is going to want to take trips “home” to Sri Lanka and would need a lot of vacation time. So the employer hires someone else equally qualified. Taste-based discrimination is more what we think of as prejudice — not wanting to hire someone purely because of skin colour.</p>
<p>Identifying causal factors that explain the wage gap is a difficult task - individuals who immigrate to Canada do so by choice. These choices are a function of a host of factors that could potentially jointly explain the decision to immigrate and labour market outcomes, including personal characteristics, job experience and education, to name just a few. Identifying discrimination in the labour market, and separating between taste-based and statistical discrimination, is even harder.</p>
<p>However, a 2011 <a href="http://oreopoulos.faculty.economics.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Why-Do-Skilled-Immigrants-Struggle-in-the-Labor-Market.pdf">study by University of Toronto economist Phil Oreopolous</a> takes an important step in this direction.</p>
<p>In the study, thousands of computer-generated resumes were mailed out to companies that had posted ads searching for employees. The resumes were randomly assigned either a foreign or a “white” sounding last name, and were otherwise identical. The result: The resumes where the applicant had a foreign-sounding last name were less likely to receive a call back than identical looking resumes with a “white” last name.</p>
<p>When the author followed up with some of the recruiters, the overwhelming reason given for overlooking resumes with a foreign-sounding name was that they anticipated difficulty with language. Specifically, recruiters expected a lack of fluency in English, problems with communicating at work and difficulty for customers and co-workers in understanding a foreign accent. In other words, recruiters were statistically discriminating between job candidates based on their names.</p>
<h2>Can language proficiency close the gap?</h2>
<p>The census presents an opportunity to study the importance of English proficiency for the gap in labour market earnings between immigrants and native Canadians in 2016. The census provides information on wages, immigrant (and generation) status, as well as the language most commonly spoken at home. </p>
<p>Specifically, guided by the findings in Oreopolous’s study, I looked at how the gap in average wages changes when English is spoken at home. (For the purpose of this study, I looked at communities outside of Quebec, where French is the dominant language.) In 2016, 63 per cent of new immigrants living outside of Quebec most often spoke a language other than English or French while at home.</p>
<p>The latest census data says the native-first generation immigrant wage gap is 16 per cent at the national level. Once we examine whether immigrants speak English at home, things change — the wage difference is just 5.8 per cent. But for first-generation immigrants who don’t speak English at home, the gap jumps to 27.3 per cent.</p>
<p>For second-generation immigrants, there is barely any gap for those who speak English at home (0.7 per cent) but it’s still a significant gap for those who don’t speak English at home (a whopping 45.7 per cent).</p>
<p>This pattern also holds in the major metropolitan centres in the English-speaking parts of the country, which attract the most immigrants. </p>
<p>Interestingly, at almost 25 per cent, Toronto has one of the largest city level wage gaps in the country, explained at least in part by the fact that new immigrants tend to land in Toronto first and are more likely to be unemployed for a period of time. The three largest cities in English-speaking Canada, which also attract the most immigrants, also have gaps larger than the national average.</p>
<p>In Ottawa, immigrants of either generation who speak English at home actually earn more than natives on average. While it may be tempting to attribute the major differences across the cities to differences in culture, they are more likely due to regional differences in industrial composition and attendant labour demand. </p>
<p>The wage gap for immigrants who don’t speak English at home is very large. In Toronto and Calgary, first-generation immigrants who don’t speak English at home can expect to earn 37 per cent less than natives. Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that the gap across all cities for is larger for second generation immigrants who don’t speak English at home. </p>
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<p>Though these patterns are striking, they should not be interpreted as causal – immigrants can’t necessarily start speaking English at home and expect to see their future earnings increase. There are unobserved qualities of individuals that may correlate both with the tendency to speak English at home as well as with labour market earnings potential. Without holding these fixed in some way, we can’t say whether there is a causal relationship between English skills and the gap in labour market outcomes. </p>
<p>But supposing that the findings here are suggestive of a causal relationship, why does speaking English at home matter so much?</p>
<p>One obvious answer is that individuals who speak English at home speak better English in general — and this would mean better communication at work. This would be consistent with the worries that the recruiters in Oreopolous’s study had when deciding who to call back. Or perhaps individuals of foreign descent that speak English at home tend to have other important skills on average.</p>
<p>But another possibility is the labour market discriminates against individuals with weaker English skills even when English is not important for productivity. Sorting between these different explanations (and others) will require more data and a deeper look.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84891/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arvind Magesan receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).</span></em></p>New census data provides a chance to understand why immigrants earn lower wages than Canadians who have been here for many generations. Whether immigrants speak English at home may be a clue.Arvind Magesan, Associate Professor of Economics, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.