The workshop will run from 9am to 5:30pm, on Thursday, Sept. 16, at the International Conference Centre, 5th Floor, 91��ɫ Research Tower, Keele campus. Anyone wishing to attend should RSVP to migrationconf@gmail with their name and institutional affiliation by Sept. 14.

Right: Professor Luin Goldring

The workshop's goal is to discuss the production, negotiation and implications of precarious status in the Canadian context, and to contribute to and inform Canadian and international debates on immigration, citizenship, social inclusion and rights.

“I think the research will highlight the vulnerability of people with precarious status,” says Goldring, co-organizer of the workshop with Professor Patricia Landolt of the University of Toronto. “There’s a tendency to think about people with precarious status as somehow different, but they’re not. People hire them all the time; they are part of our society. It’s time to start thinking about them and paying attention to these issues.”

People with precarious status encompass both legal and unauthorized status, but all are vulnerable. Goldring uses the example of temporary workers: if they complain about poor working conditions, they risk being fired and falling out of status or not being rehired. If that happens, they have limited recourse. Yet, employers are looking to hire people with precarious status.

Researchers from various disciplines from Ontario, including several from 91��ɫ, will analyze the production of precarious status in Canada, including temporary workers, failed refugee claimants and non-status. They will address the everyday experiences of people living with various forms of precarious status and analyze the negotiation of migratory status in specific institutional settings and sectors, including schooling, health care, social service provision and academic research. Invited commentators will present the key points and discuss the papers, followed by brief author responses and an open discussion.

The event’s co-sponsors include 91��ɫ’s Office of the Vice-President of Research & Innovation, , the International Network on Migration & Development, as well as 91��ɫ’s Centre for Research on Latin America & the Caribbean, Centre for Refugee Studies and Graduate Program in Sociology.

For more information, including speakers and topics, click here.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Latin American Artists in Toronto: Immigrants and Artists at Work, the second seminar on issues related to immigrants and the arts, will feature three panellists.

The seminar will take place Tuesday, March 23, from 12:30 to 2pm, in the fifth floor Conference Centre of the 91��ɫ Research Tower, Keele campus.

91��ɫ environmental studies Professor Deborah Barndt, co-ordinator of the Community Arts Practice (CAP) Certificate at 91��ɫ, will moderate the panel discussion along with 91��ɫ sociology Professor Luin Goldring (right), a Centre for Research on Latin America & the Caribbean (CERLAC) Fellow.

Rodrigo Barreda, secretary of the Latin American Canadian Art Projects Board of Directors; 91��ɫ fine arts cultural studies Professor Alberto Guevara; and Elia Mayahuel Tecozautla (MA ’09), a 91��ɫ dance alumna, will be the panellists who reflect on their work as artists in Canada.

Among the topics they will discuss are:

• challenges faced by Latin American artists working in the arts sector
• how artists negotiate their identities in their artistic production processes
• the role of funding bodies and gallery practices in shaping “immigrant art”
• how artists develop an aesthetic in the context of Canadian multicultural policy
• contrasts between artistic production cultures “here” and “there”

The seminar is free and open to everyone. It is presented by CERIS, CAP and 91��ɫ’s Centre for Research on Latin America & the Caribbean.

RSVP to ceris.reception@utoronto.ca or call 416-946-3110.

CERIS - The Ontario Metropolis Centre is a research knowledge creation and transfer network that focuses on the resettlement and integration of immigrants and refugees in Ontario. The centre is a collaboration between 91��ɫ, the University of Toronto and Ryerson University.

The Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC) is an interdisciplinary research unit concerned with the economic development, political and social organization, and cultural contributions of Latin America and the Caribbean. The Centre works to build academic and cultural links between these regions and Canada; to inform researchers, policy advisors, and the public on matters concerning the regions; and to assist in the development of research and teaching institutions that directly benefit the peoples of the regions.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The rags-to-riches immigrant stories Canada has been bred on don’t work anymore, say the two professors who led the project that will be released today, wrote the Toronto Star June 18.

Luin Goldring, sociology professor in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, and Patricia Landolt of the Centre for Urban and Community Studies at the University of Toronto, were the lead researchers on the "Immigration and Precarious Employment" project, which over three years interviewed 300 Latin American and English-speaking Caribbean immigrants in Greater Toronto with a variety of incomes and backgrounds.

Among the major findings:

• Despite an immigration policy designed to lure “the best and the brightest,” education had no impact on whether immigrants ended up in a precarious job. The only thing that made a difference was the ability to speak English.
• Their first job in Canada had a big influence on the rest of their work lives: Those who started with precarious jobs were more likely to stay in them. Bad advice was a prime factor in ending up in precarious work.
• On-the-job training helps improve immigrants’ working lives, but government education and training strategies don’t have much impact.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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