Spatial Assimilation of Racial Minorities in Canada's Immigrant Gateway Cities

Abstract

This study demonstrates that conventional expectations concerning patterns of residential spatial assimilation by racial minority immigrants are likely to be altered under conditions of persistent high levels of immigration. While cross-sectional studies conclude that the traditional assimilation model fits the experience of racial minority immigrants to Canada, a different picture emerges from longitudinal changes at the group level. Using a pseudo-cohort approach, it is shown that, for some racial minority immigrants, the level of residential dissimilarity from Whites in Canada's gateway cities has risen with time. Moreover, residential proximity to Whites is becoming less salient as a marker of spatial assimilation. Differences among racial minority groups in residential distribution and exposure to own-group neighbours only reflect variations in the degree of own-group preference and capacity to build affluent ethnic communities.