Framing Migrant Resilience as a Civic Responsibility: A Case Study of Municipal and Provincial Immigrant Integration Policies in Toronto, Ontario

Abstract

Abstract This article presents a case study of how regional and municipal governments in Toronto, Ontario, use the concept of resilience to frame the challenges faced by immigrants and the steps governments are taking to promote immigrant integration. In the past decade, resilience has emerged as a policy framework to encourage positive adaptation of people and institutions that are facing social, economic and environmental challenges associated with population growth and economic globalisation. As a policy discourse, the concept of resilience is used to identify which immigrants need social and psychological support to better cope with pre- and post-migration stressors. Although government discourse acknowledges some of the structural inequities migrants face that require resilience (e.g. poverty, systemic racism, precarious employment), the discourse on migrant resilience notably omits government responsibility to enact structural solutions. Even the City of Toronto’s anti-racism campaign, which seeks to reduce racial bias and discrimination against immigrants, frames ‘civic resilience’ as an individual responsibility. Despite the promise of resilience to emphasise immigrants’ capabilities, we argue that resilience discourse operates as a type of diversity management strategy to identify which immigrants warrant government support to maximise their economic contributions to the region.