GRANT'S DESI ACHIEVER
“SUCCESSFUL INTEGRATION IS A TWO-WAY STREET”
Dr Rupa Banerjee, Canada Research Chair in Economic Inclusion, Employment and Entrepreneurship of Canada’s Immigrants.
By SHAGORIKA EASWAR
Dr Rupa Banerjee studies topics that most of us read about with our morning cup of chai and shake our heads over the state of things before moving on to the first thing on our agenda for the day.
Because she believes that solutions to the job-skills mismatch and the possible creation of an underclass, etc., lie in research and study that informs policy.
As the Canada Research Chair in Economic Inclusion, Employment and Entrepreneurship of Canada’s Immigrants, Associate Professor of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behaviour at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) and Associate Editor, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, she is widely quoted in media on issues that affect immigrants, and thus all of Canada.
Her mandate is to focus on evidence-based, research-backed insights into how immigrants are doing in the Canadian labour market. What impact credential devaluation of skilled immigrants, employer discrimination and policy shifts at the macro level have on workers and their families.
“My goal is to come up with actionable insights, to help with policy development, to arrive at a scholarly understanding of the process as an immigrant-receiving country, and also study individual immigrant journeys.”
Those finding it challenging to find meaningful employment and those who want to set up a business appear to be in two distinct groups, but Dr Banerjee explains the presence of both “economic inclusion” and “entrepreneurship” in her title.
The entrepreneurship journey is complex, she says, and particularly so among newcomers, with many push-pull factors.
“For some, entrepreneurship is a strategy for economic inclusion. The inability to find employment pushes them to create their own employment. The gig economy is the perfect example. Uber drivers and delivery persons are essentially entrepreneurs. They may not see themselves as one because we connect ‘entrepreneur’ with a massive enterprise, but the way they navigate the system is very entrepreneurial.”
Dr Banerjee’s primary research interest lies in the employment integration of new immigrants to Canada and she is particularly interested in the institutional barriers facing new immigrants in the Canadian labour market. Asked to plot the change in, say 10-year segments, she says it’s always a complicated story. But that for PR through the skilled category, things have improved. That in the 80s, and all the way up to the early 2000s, the outcomes were dropping with highly skilled immigrants unable to find work. Many were caught in situations of being deemed over-qualified for jobs they applied for but unable to catch up to the potential they hoped for because they lacked Canadian experience. As of early 2015, things started getting better.
“Important policy changes probably contributed to that. One thought is that the way human capital is now evaluated is better than the old points system. Under the best-in-the system, the best get invited.”
But do they all see better outcomes? We used to talk about doctors driving cabs and delivering pizza, now it’s Uber and delivery services. But is there tangible change?
“It’s been widely discussed that the new policies can actually dilute the skills in the labour market,” she says. “The highly-skilled tend to be flexible, if they can’t find employment in their particular field, they can move to another related one. A truck driver on the other hand, may not be able to pivot because his skills are less applicable elsewhere. But if you want restaurant workers then you have to bring in those with experience in the hospitality industry instead of having a surgeon in the kitchen. There’s this image we have of ourselves that we bring in only highly-skilled people – we forget that immigrants built roads. Also, among the lower-skilled immigrants, the expectation is that their kids will do better, they are looking for inter-generational mobility, unlike the highly-skilled who want intra-generational success.”
“The high level of education of immigrants in Canada is both a blessing and a curse,” says Dr Banerjee. “If they are not able to apply those skills, there’s a massive ‘brain waste’. We still have precarity in the system.
“Those struggling in the early 2000s are still in the labour market, because many took survival jobs and that scars the resumé. It’s a big downgrade from what they trained for and most importantly, what they expected. Many leave, but among many of those who end up staying for the future of their children or other compulsions, the level of disillusionment is drastic. They are not just economically affected but also psychologically. Not all, but many. Enough for it to be an issue we should be looking at closely. For cohesion, it’s very important for people to live up to their social potential.
“Increasingly, we are seeing that those who first study in Canada actually do well – if they have studied in a publicly-funded university and are able to find well-paid jobs in the field they studied.”
But again, so many international student are falling through the gaps.
“We are finally seeing caps on student numbers,” Dr Banerjee agrees. “But these are blunt instruments and the devil is in the details. Why didn’t we look at the effects of these policies years ago? There are policy failures at so many levels and the real losers are students. There is no simple solution, but definitely, work-integrated learning is important. Co-op and internship opportunities are key.”
Dr Banerjee also studies workplace diversity and ethno-racial discrimination, particularly as it applies to second-generation immigrants.
And what she is seeing is that the traditional view that parents struggle, have difficulty getting credentials recognized, have language issues, but their kids do well, is not always the case.
“With those who came 20 or 30 years ago with young children or had children here, there wasn’t enough research on the kids themselves. But with the 2021 census, we did a deep dive and we found increasing polarisation. The second generation is highly educated, but the labour market outcomes are falling short of where they should be. The Chinese and South Asians fare a little better, but the disparity is marked for Black and Latinos. This throws a wrench into our optimistic view of how well the second generation is doing. And so, the question is, why?
“Those in the STEM fields do well. But unlike in the past, when opportunities were spread out, now mid-level ones have vanished. We have either the highly-skilled or the very low-skilled. And those in low-income jobs tend to gather in what we call ethno burbs. There is a lot of internalized oppression. This can shift one’s perception from ‘Canadian’ to ‘Black Canadian’ or ‘South Asian Canadian’. ”
Earlier this year she released new research that sheds light on the socioeconomic experiences of second-generation immigrants and ultimately the state of social mobility for racialized minorities in Canada.
“We have to meet immigrants half way.” Dr Rupa Banerjee with her family.
Born in Kolkata, Dr Banerjee herself came to Canada as a child. Her father, a professor of computer science at the Indian Statistical Institute, was invited as a visiting professor to Belfast. Once there, he realized that the academic life was better in the West and they immigrated to Canada in 1983. They came through the points system and he landed with a job at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta.
“A year later, he thought, ‘Well, I guess we’re staying here,’ and moved to the University of Windsor. That’s where I grew up, went to school, etc.”
They were very fortunate , says Dr Banerjee, because her father came with a good job and then soon found another, though not at the scholarly level he had been in.
“He felt he’d sacrificed prestige and academic rigour by being at a smaller university, and they also felt socially isolated.”
There were a few South Asians and even fewer Bengalis in Windsor. And they found it hard to make non-Indian friends, she recalls.
“They were unable to move beyond the pleasantries. The interactions were awkward. They were fluent in English, but I remember translating for them because people at stores and other places couldn’t – or wouldn’t – understand them. My mother felt it specially, because my dad at least got to interact with faculty at work. She trained and worked in administrative jobs, but there was a lot of open racism those days. Particularly towards Indians. Name calling, getting beaten up. It was acceptable to openly use racial slurs and ostracize people.
“I didn’t want to hang out with the kids being bullied, the ones with more obvious ethnic markers. I distanced myself because I thought hanging out with them would identify me as the other. It was only in high school that I made some Indian friends and identified as desi – and started watching Bollywood movies! – that I found a sense of community. Even today my friends are immigrants or children of immigrants. Not necessarily South Asian, but immigrants. It’s a reaction to exclusion.”
Her husband Prasenjit is a physician. Her brother Avik, an ENT surgeon.
“It’s embarrassing, we follow the stereotype!” she says with a laugh. Their daughter Keya is 15, and son Anik, 11.
Dr Banerjee’s tips for those who seek her advice on succeeding in Canada include starting the preparation process before they arrive. To get accurate information.
“There’s lots of misinformation floating around, specially from those looking to profit, but even from friends and family who don’t want to admit to struggle.
“Adjust your expectations. I am shocked at how many people expect jobs on landing. Those at bridging programs and co-ordinators at immigrant-serving agencies say women are better at adjusting.
“Do occupation-specific language training. And think of the integration process in decades, not years.”
She also has tips for decision makers.
Take the time to learn, to understand the skills of immigrants. Acquire intercultural competence.
“It’s an issue of both supply and demand. It’s not just about who is coming in, but at the receiving end, are the employers and Canadian society ready? Is their infrastructure in place? Policies have been put in place, but until we change the perception of hiring manager and decision makers, we won’t see change.
“Because successful integration is a two-way street, we can’t just have immigrants doing their bit, we have to meet them halfway.”
• Grant’s is proud to present this series about people who are making a difference in the community. Represented by PMA Canada (www.pmacanada.com).
