From Temporary to Permanent Residency: Recent Trends in Canada’s Two-Step Immigration Selection

Staying Behind: Limited Displacement and Inequality After Wildfires in the U.S.

Only the most severe wildfires actually push people to migrate out of their homes after a natural disaster in the U.S. Most people stay behind.

As wildfire seasons become more frequent and severe across North America, the question of how people respond—whether by moving or staying—is an increasingly urgent one. Research by CMS affiliate Professor Kathryn McConnell finds that most people do not migrate after wildfire-related disasters in the U.S., offering insights for climate adaptation and disaster relief planning in Canada and beyond.

“We have seen across Canada this summer that wildfires are having a major impact on people's communities. What we are trying to understand in this research is the extent to which fires cause long-term population change, which I think is an increasingly important question as fire seasons get worse.”

Kathryn MConnell

Assistant Professor, UBC Sociology

Key Findings

Most U.S. wildfires between 1999-2020 did not cause significant population mobility. People tended to migrate only when fires caused major structural damage.
Wildfires, even destructive fires, do not cause long-term or permanent population shifts. Instead, migration due to wildfires is often short-lived, with residents returning within a year.
Both emotional ties and limited economic options could drive individuals’ decisions to stay put after wildfires. There is some information on the drivers of immobility, but they need to be studied more.

Recommendations

Wildfire recovery planning should account for those who stay. Many residents stay in place after destructive wildfires, and financial support should focus on the needs of those who stay.
Post-disaster response should also provide early support after destructive wildfires. The most needed assistance comes in the months immediately after a wildfire, and governments should deliver housing, financial aid, and other recovery services immediately after fires.
Federal and state agencies should create and share migration data that includes demographic details. More data would help identify which communities are more likely to relocate after wildfires, supporting more targeted disaster and recovery planning.

Implications for Current Events

In early 2025, wildfires in Los Angeles destroyed thousands of homes, raising alarms about possible long-term displacement. Similarly, Canada is facing one of its worst wildfire seasons on record, with widespread evacuations in provinces like Alberta. Yet, despite the scale of these events, we still know very little about how wildfire destruction in fire-prone regions impacts whether individuals stay put or leave.

Professor Kathryn McConnell and her colleagues’ research offers a starting place, finding that across more than two decades of wildfire events in the U.S., large-scale migration occurred only after extreme structure loss, and even then, often only for short stints. In both the U.S. and Canada, there is a need to strengthen support for emergency housing, local recovery planning, and rebuilding efforts, alongside continued attention to displacement risks. Recognizing the diverse ways people respond to environmental hazards is key. Recovery strategies should consider not only those who leave wildfire zones but also the majority who stay behind.

About the Authors

Kathryn McConnell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her work explores how climate change intersects with the built environment and shapes patterns of population movement. With a focus on climate-related hazards and social inequality, she uses sociological tools to support more equitable approaches to climate adaptation and mitigation. Before joining UBC, Dr. McConnell held a postdoctoral position at Brown University’s Population Studies and Training Center. She earned her Ph.D. and Master’s in Environmental Science from Yale University, and her undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University.

Marjorie Rugunda is a PhD student in the department of Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia. She holds a BA degree from Rhodes University, South Africa and a Master’s degree from the University of Calgary. Her current research studies how institutions within Africa represent entrenched colonial legacies that shape contemporary social and political relations in (post)colonial contexts.

Document details

This publication is part of the CMS Migration Insights Series. The research briefs synthesize peer-reviewed, published academic research by CMS affiliates.

Refuge and Rejection: Hong Kong’s Overlooked Holocaust History

The history of Hong Kong reveals the overlooked role of colonialism in shaping global responses to the Holocaust.

British Hong Kong was one of the last ports for the Jewish refugees to visit before finding a semi-permanent settlement in other parts of Asia. However, Hong Kong’s role studying the global Holocaust has largely been overlooked. CMS affiliate and PhD candidate Ryan Cheuk Him Sun examines the conflicting role that Hong Kong played, one that both provided shelter to the refugees but also interned and expelled them.

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“This research invites a broader, more interdisciplinary understanding of antisemitism—one that moves beyond Europe to examine its manifestations across regions, particularly Asia.”

Ryan Cheuk Him Sun

PhD candidate, UBC History

Key Findings

Holocaust studies have long centered on Europe, overlooking the little-known history of Jewish refugees in Hong Kong
Hong Kong played a conflicting role during the Holocaust, first providing shelter to Jewish refugees from Europe, and then later expelling them.
Hong Kong’s status as a former British colony reveals the contradictions of imperial policy during the Holocaust, simultaneously rescuing and rejecting Jewish refugees.

Recommendations

It is important to recognize that antisemitism has never been just a Euro-American idea; antisemitism can be traced around the world, including East and Southeast Asia.
The story of the Holocaust must be told from multiple world regions to provide a global approach to the Jewish experience and to understanding antisemitism.
As countries today face new refugee flows, the experiences of Jewish asylum-seekers in Hong Kong show that offering refuge matters, especially at times of conflicts.

Implications for Current Events

September 2–3 marks Victory over Japan Day in the US and China, commemorating the Pacific theatre’s end in WWII. On this 80th anniversary of the war’s conclusion, it’s a reminder that the fight against fascism, and the suffering it caused, extended far beyond Europe.

By uncovering Hong Kong’s overlooked role in Holocaust-era displacement, the article highlights how colonial policies helped shape both the survival and exclusion of Jewish refugees. The story also offers a hopeful reminder: Hong Kong and other Asian cities did once open their doors to those in need, demonstrating a legacy of humanitarian response. The contradictions of colonial asylum and exclusion help explain why the 1951 UN Refugee Convention was necessary in the first place—codifying the right to refuge after years of failure. As governments revisit migration policy in the face of current crises, these histories remind us of the urgent need to balance security with compassion and justice. At a time when the world is still dealing with refugee crises and rising anti-religious sentiment, these overlooked stories are more important than ever.

About the Authors

Cheuk Him Ryan Sun is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at UBC. His transnational research expands the geography of Jewish exile outside Europe and beyond Shanghai, to consider the British colonies of Hong Kong and Singapore. He adopts a refugee-centered approach that highlights the agency and mobilities of Austrian and German-Jewish refugees in formulating their escape plans, while slowly becoming entangled with the wartime policies of British colonial administrations. His work shows how the distinct experiences of Jewish refugees in Hong Kong and Singapore have been ignored or subsumed within more standard narratives. He is particularly interested in Jewish refugees’ ship-bound experiences, especially how transiting through colonial port-cities and encountering local inhabitants informed Jewish refugees’ understanding of ‘the Orient’.

Zixi (Peter) Zhang is a PhD student in the Department of History at the University of British Columbia. He studies early modern East Asia with a focus on China. His current research centers on the Chinese intellectual diaspora during the Ming-Qing transition in the 17th century.

Document details

This publication is part of the CMS Migration Insights Series. The research briefs synthesize peer-reviewed, published academic research by CMS affiliates.

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Making Friends, Making Homes: How Cosmopolitan Associations Connect Diverse Immigrants

Participating in cosmopolitan associations helps newcomers expand local networks, build cross-ethnic friendships, and embrace diversity in daily life, contributing to a sense of belonging and membership in Canada’s multicultural society.

Joining groups is a way for people to meet other members and build connections in their local community. CMS affiliate Dr. Sean Lauer’s research shows how participation in different types of associations shapes Canadian newcomers’ everyday experiences of diversity, impacts the ethnic makeup of their friendship circles, and contributes to newcomers’ settlement and integration in the new country.

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“An overlooked part of newcomer experiences includes their involvement with local organizations in Canada. The variety of organizations available, including those that cater to a diversity of backgrounds, interests, and activities, is a key component of the integration experience.”

Sean Lauer

Professor, UBC Sociology

Key Findings

Newcomers who join cosmopolitan associations—groups that bring together people from different cultural or ethnic backgrounds—are more likely to make friends with people who do not share their own ethnic background. In fact, 57% of newcomers in these groups had friends from different ethnic backgrounds, compared to only 38% of those who did not join any group.
Newcomers who join sorting associations—groups made up mostly of people from the same ethnic or cultural background—are the least likely to make friends from other backgrounds. Only 15% of newcomers in these groups formed cross-ethnic friendships.
The type of association a newcomer joins can affect their friendships and how well they adapt to living in a diverse society. People in cosmopolitan associations are more likely to develop a diverse friendship circle (48%) than those in sorting associations (20%).

Recommendations

Governments should invest in cosmopolitan organizations by funding social and cultural programs and spaces that bring together people from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
Cosmopolitan organizations should promote routine, collaborative activities. These activities create a common space to make relationships more personal, allowing for more cross-ethnic friendships.

Implications for Current Events

On July 23, 2025, the Canadian government announced a $3.2 billion investment in local organizations aimed at supporting newcomers’ economic integration. This investment recognizes the vital role of local organizations in equipping newcomers with the skills, training, and opportunities necessary to build their lives here. While this focus on economic integration is essential, it is equally important to support the organizations that foster immigrant social integration—building the community connections that make a new country feel like home.

Dr. Lauer’s research suggests cosmopolitan associations are key to immigrant social integration. Compared to sorting associations that are primarily made up of people from the same ethnic background, cosmopolitan associations bring together people from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. His findings show that newcomers who join cosmopolitan associations are more likely to have cross-ethnic friendships than those who participate in sorting associations or do not join any group at all. These cross-ethnic friendships are crucial for immigrants to embrace diversity and integrate socially in Canada. Governments should invest in cosmopolitan programs and spaces that facilitate cross-ethnic connections and thereby support newcomers’ social integration.

About the Authors

Sean Lauer is a Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. His research uses institutional and network approaches to study immigration, friendship, marriage, and community organizations. He has published widely, including the books Getting Married: The Public Nature of Private Relationships with Carrie Yodanis and Neighbourhood Houses: Building Community in Vancouver with Miu Chung Yan. His current research explores how community spaces and programs help people build social connections. He is studying how friendships, particularly between people of different ethnic backgrounds, develop through involvement in local organizations. He earned his PhD at the University of New Hampshire.

Capri Kong is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. She holds a BA degree and a Master’s degree from the University of British Columbia. Her current research studies the characteristics and dynamics of friendship networks among first- and second-generation immigrants and their influence on immigrants’ sense of belonging and integration into Canadian society.

Document details

This publication is part of the CMS Migration Insights Series. The research briefs synthesize peer-reviewed, published academic research by CMS affiliates.

Love and Belonging: How Immigrants Find Romantic Partners in Canada

For immigrants, online dating is more than just a way to find love; it is a channel through which they can build a sense of home and belonging.

A sense of belonging is often tied to settling down, forming relationships, and building a family. Dr. Yue Qian’s research highlights how online dating platforms promote inter-nativity partnerships, fostering connections between immigrants and Canadian-born individuals. These platforms can create opportunities for immigrants to integrate and cultivate a sense of belonging in their new homes.

Note: In this brief, “nativity” refers to whether a person was born in Canada (“Canadian-born”) or born outside of Canada (“foreign-born” or “immigrant”).

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“Calling Canada home isn’t just about work, but also about love and connection. Helping immigrants build meaningful relationships is key to supporting their well-being, belonging, and ability to thrive.”

Yue Qian

Professor, UBC Sociology

Key Findings

Immigrants are 56% more likely than Canadian-born individuals to use online dating. Moving to a new country often starts with limited access to local networks, so immigrants seek other ways to meet potential partners.
Online dating helps connect immigrants and Canadian-born individuals. Immigrants who use online dating report a higher rate of partnering with people born in Canada compared to those using offline channels.
Immigrant men are more successful in partnering with Canadian-born women through online dating than through offline channels. Online platforms allow users to meet more people, which can facilitate interactions across ethnic and language groups and mitigate barriers that limit offline connections.

Recommendations

Immigrant-serving organisations should promote digital integration to help immigrants build connections with Canadian communities. Online dating can encourage cross-cultural exchanges, reduce social distance, and foster a sense of belonging.
Current integration policies and services primarily focus on economic incorporation. This overlooks how relationships help with integration. Government integration policies should also fund programs to help immigrants build new social relationships.

Implications for Current Events

Summer is the wedding season, a time when love and commitment are celebrated across the country. But for many, the idea of a traditional marriage doesn’t hold the same appeal. A national survey by Statistics Canada found that among adults born in Canada, barely half (51%) were married, while 18% lived in a common-law relationship. In comparison, over two-thirds of adult immigrants (69%) in Canada were legally married, and only 7% lived in a common-law relationship. These differences highlight how migration and cultural backgrounds influence relationship choices. They also raise broader questions about how immigrants find love in their new homes.

Online dating can be one pathway to love, marriage and integration. Dr. Yue Qian’s research reveals the potential of online dating platforms to facilitate interactions and cultural exchanges between immigrants and Canadian-born individuals. Her findings on inter-nativity partnerships—romantic relationships between Canadian-born individuals and immigrants—provide insights into how romantic relationships help immigrants integrate into Canadian society. Dating interactions can bridge cultural understandings and reduce the social distances between groups, helping immigrants to feel at home and thrive in Canada. Despite these opportunities, immigrant men often face barriers due to gender and nativity stereotypes and have the lowest success rate in forming a long-term relationship through online dating.

About the Authors

Yue Qian is a Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her research examines gender, family and work, and inequality in global contexts, with a focus on North America and East Asia. She has published over 60 articles in leading journals, including Nature Human Behaviour, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), American Sociological Review, Social Forces, and Journal of Marriage and Family. She earned her BA at Renmin University of China and her MA and PhD at The Ohio State University.

Capri Kong is a master’s student in Sociology at the University of British Columbia. She holds a BA degree from the University of British Columbia. Her current research studies the characteristics and dynamics of friendship networks among first- and second-generation immigrants and their influence on immigrants’ sense of belonging and integration into Canadian society.

Document details

This publication is part of the CMS Migration Insights Series. The research briefs synthesize peer-reviewed, published academic research by CMS affiliates.

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From Classroom to Citizenship: Higher Education’s Role in Migration Policy

Post-secondary institutions around the world have become key migration players through the recruitment, selection, surveillance, and integration of international students.

As countries face labour shortages and their immigration policies shift, international students are increasingly seen as ideal future workers. Research conducted by CMS Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr. Lisa Ruth Brunner and her colleagues examine how Canada, Australia, and Germany have integrated higher education into migration policy, reshaping universities and colleges as key players in immigration through a process known as edugration.

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“The idea of international students as ‘ideal immigrants’ may seem like a perfect policy solution. In practice, however, it changes the role and purpose of higher education institutions and can quickly get distorted by marketization pressures.”

Lisa Ruth Brunner

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UBC Centre for Migration Studies

Key Findings

Many countries increasingly merge education and migration policies, viewing international students as ideal immigrants—a policy trend called ‘edugration.’
Higher education institutions around the world are now major migration actors. Universities and colleges not only attract potential immigrants through international student recruitment. They also control access to immigration pathways through admission, graduation, and tuition policies. Governments also rely on schools to collect immigration data and promote integration. These new roles are shifting higher education’s societal role.
Edugration approaches differ. Some countries, like Canada and Australia, use high international student tuition fees to subsidize public higher education. This can distort education and labour markets. Other countries, like Germany, do not charge high tuition. Instead, they focus on selective recruitment to fill workforce demands.

Recommendations

Governments should ensure that public colleges and universities have enough funding and freedom to focus on their main job — teaching and research — without being expected to do the work of immigration offices.
Governments should either take away immigration responsibilities from higher education institutions, or provide schools with enough support and funding to offer reliable, high-quality services.

Implications for Current Events

Between 2014 and 2024, the number of study permit holders in Canada grew by over 200%, surpassing one million in 2023. Initially seen as a triple win for students, provinces, and the federal government, concerns about housing, affordability, and labour outcomes shifted the conversation. In 2024, the government capped study permits, reducing them to 437,000 in 2025—a 10% drop. This has led to frustration and a sense of “broken promises” as students face uncertain immigration pathways, with some turning to asylum.

In 2024, Australia hosted 853,000 international students—3% of its population. Rising housing and migration concerns prompted a 2025 enrollment cap of 270,000 and pushed visa fees to AUD 2,500—the highest globally. In Germany, immigration policy changes aimed at attracting skilled workers also raise concerns about integration and job access. These shifts show how student visa policies are now reshaping both immigration systems and the purpose of higher education globally. Dr Lisa Ruth Brunner and colleagues warn against relying on higher education institutions as immigrant ‘integration’ actors as well as immigration decision-makers and call for clearer, more coordinated and transparent residency pathways for students.

About the Authors

Lisa Ruth Brunner is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of British Columbia. She is also a Public Policy Consultant with the Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC (AMSSA). She conducts critical, interdisciplinary research on international migration, citizenship, and education in Global North settler-colonial contexts. She has over a decade of professional experience as an international student advisor and has been a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant since 2014.

Document details

This publication is part of the CMS Migration Insights Series. The research briefs synthesize peer-reviewed, published academic research by CMS affiliates.

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Making Health Disparities Visible: The MENA Category and COVID-19

Middle Eastern and West Asian Torontonians were hit harder by the COVID-19 pandemic than their white counterparts.

April marks Arab Heritage Month in Canada and National Arab American Heritage Month in the United States. As Arab communities in North America are increasingly gaining official recognition, they are also becoming more visible in official data. CMS affiliate Dr. Neda Maghbouleh illustrates how important this is for identifying health inequities experienced by Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) communities in her research on COVID-19 racial health disparities in Toronto.

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“You can’t unsee these disparities once they’re exposed. So the question is, are we going to adjust our data systems to keep track of them, or keep them invisible?”

Neda Maghbouleh

Associate Professor, UBC Sociology

Key Findings

In Toronto, people of Middle Eastern, Arab, and West Asian descent were more likely to be infected with COVID-19 and more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 than white people.
It is unknown whether there are health disparities between Middle Eastern people and white people in the United States. U.S. health institutions do not yet include the “Middle Eastern or North African” (MENA) racial category in their data collection, which makes health disparities between the populations impossible to track. Tracking health disparities is a prerequisite for addressing health inequities with targeted resources and interventions.

Recommendations

Canadian healthcare and public health institutions should routinely collect data on patients’ ethnic backgrounds. To make this data most useful, these institutions should coordinate with each other to adopt standardized data collection practices.
Public health authorities in the United States should use the “Middle Eastern or North African” racial category in their data collection, similar to how many Canadian institutions do. This allows health disparities to be discovered and then addressed.
Public health researchers and authorities should investigate potential health disparities between MENA and white populations in the United States.

Implications for Current Events

One year ago, the United States federal government announced a long-awaited change to how data on race and ethnicity would be collected. After years of advocacy, there would finally be a “Middle Eastern or North African” (MENA) category available, distinct from the “white” category that obscured the existence of Arab, Iranian, and other MENA Americans. While some worry that this categorization may ultimately increase the marginalization of MENA Americans or deepen divisions between racial groups, it can also be very important for identifying inequities and directing resources towards MENA communities.

Research findings by Dr. Maghbouleh and her colleagues suggest that the MENA category will be important for public health purposes and for targeting health interventions. The U.S. National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities had already adopted the new categorisation by mid-2024, allowing their grant funding to go towards research on the health of MENA communities. However, the future of this Biden-era policy is uncertain under the Trump administration. Where there used to be a list of the racial groups within the scope of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities’ work–a list that included the MENA category–there is now only a “Page not found” message. Dr. Maghbouleh recommends that the new administration stay the course in implementing the new rule on collecting data on race and ethnicity, cautioning that the reliability and usefulness of public health data depends on robust data infrastructure systems that are insulated from political uncertainty.

About the Authors

Neda Maghbouleh is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Canada Research Chair in Race, Ethnicity, Migration, and Identity at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on immigration, racial categories, and identity. She is the author of The Limits of Whiteness: Iranian Americans and the Everyday Politics of Race (2017). In 2024, she was appointed by the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau to the 2030 Census Advisory Committee. She earned her PhD and MA from the University of California, Santa Barbara and her BA from Smith College. Before joining the University of British Columbia, she was an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto.

Nadia Almasalkhi is a doctoral candidate in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. She holds two BA degrees from the University of Kentucky and an MA degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Her current research studies the political integration and political transnationalism of Middle Eastern immigrants and diasporas, especially from Syria and Lebanon.

Document details

This publication is part of the CMS Migration Insights Series. The research briefs synthesize peer-reviewed, published academic research by CMS affiliates.

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Statelessness by Design: Myanmar’s Bureaucratic Methods of Erasing the Rohingya

Bureaucracies that “fail” to document every citizen may be deliberately creating statelessness.

Four years ago, on February 18, 2021, Canada imposed sanctions on Myanmar after a military coup removed elected civilian leaders from the government. Under both military and civilian rule, though, the state of Myanmar took deliberate steps to create the largest stateless population in the world. Research by CMS affiliate Dr. Amanda Cheong shows how Myanmar used its state bureaucracies to erase the Rohingya ethnic group from the nation—with dire consequences.

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“It’s not an accident that some people have birth certificates and IDs while others don’t.”

Amanda Cheong

Assistant Professor, UBC Sociology

Key Findings

Documents establishing a person’s legal identity can have life-or-death consequences. Without identity documentation, people risk becoming stateless. Stateless people lack a state to protect them or guarantee their basic rights, and are therefore extremely vulnerable.
Governments can engage in bureaucratic practices that render people stateless, even when these people are entitled to a legal identity under domestic or international law.
Bureaucratic practices often reflect political choices and outright targeting of minorities. Governments’ political choices can thus leave people stateless and vulnerable.

Recommendations

The problem of statelessness requires political solutions, not simply technocratic ones. Political actors must decide to grant legal identity documentation to all individuals in their territory who would otherwise be stateless.
Immigration and asylum officials must be aware that some migrants cannot produce documents due to political persecution. Be cautious in treating official government records as unbiased and complete records. In the case of Myanmar, Rohingya refugees may not have documents to prove their identity or their family’s history in Myanmar.

Implications for Current Events

Worldwide, there are between 4.4 million and 10 million stateless people. The elimination of statelessness is part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. Unfortunately, there has been little evidence of progress towards reducing or preventing statelessness since the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted in 2015. While UN reports lament the incompleteness of most countries’ birth registration systems and censuses, they tend to treat these omissions as resulting from bureaucratic weakness, such as a lack of investment in national data collection systems. Their proposed solutions advocate for strengthening national statistical systems and “embracing innovation” and advanced technology.

Dr. Amanda Cheong’s research shows, however, that political will, not technocratic or high-tech solutions, is what is required to achieve an end to statelessness. Although some states do lack institutional capacity to conduct complete censuses and maintain accurate vital statistics, the largest stateless population in the world–the Rohingya from Myanmar–are stateless because Myanmar used their state institutional capacity to revoke and downgrade Rohingyas’ identity documents and to systematically exclude Rohingyas from the national census. The statelessness of the Rohingya community is further exacerbated by the political decisions of neighbouring countries. These host countries refuse to legally recognize displaced Rohingyas as “refugees” and refuse to provide them with identity documentation. Without relief from statelessness, displaced Rohingyas remain restricted from accessing basic rights, like freedom of movement, livelihood, and education. The case of the Rohingya illustrates how eliminating statelessness requires political change in addition to institutional development.

About the Authors

Amanda Cheong is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on how legal status and documents shape people’s lives, particularly in Southeast Asia and in North America. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals like International Migration Review, Social Problems, and Ethnic and Racial Studies. She is currently writing a book about the experiences of stateless individuals in Malaysia. She earned her BA at the University of British Columbia and her PhD at Princeton University.

Document details

This publication is part of the CMS Migration Insights Series. The research briefs synthesize peer-reviewed, published academic research by CMS affiliates.

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Digital Place, Belonging, and Infrastructure: Leveraging Technology-Enabled Intergenerational Homesharing to Strengthen Immigrant Integration in Canada

Project Overview

The research tackles the major challenges faced by permanent and temporary immigrants in securing safe and affordable housing, compounded by language and cultural barriers that hinder their social integration. An effective and promising solution is homesharing, which pairs those seeking affordable housing with people who have empty rooms. Canada HomeShare (CHS), the only non-profit homesharing program in Canada, has embraced this innovative approach by offering a technology-enhanced intergenerational housing program.

Research Questions

How can the homesharing program leverage digital communication tools to improve intergenerational housing for immigrants and older adults, addressing housing challenges, ageism, and social isolation?

Research Design and Methodology

The project uses focus groups, in-depth interviews and surveys.

Collaborators

UBC Centre for Migration Studies

Principal Investigator: Ying Zhu (Associate Professor, Management, UBCO)
Shirley Chau (Associate Professor, School of Social Work)
Neha Gupta (Assistant Professor, Community Culture and Global Studies)

Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU)

Samantha Biglieri (Assistant Professor, Urban and Regional Planning)
Raza Mirza (Lecturer, Interdisciplinary Studies)

Outputs

Work in progress.

Project Status

This project is currently in the Planning and Data Collection phase.

Keywords

Homesharing; immigrant integration; affordable housing; intergenerational connections; digital communication tools

Discover other Bridging Divides projects

Discover other UBC projects from the Bridging Divides research program.

This research was undertaken thanks in part to funding from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund.

Humanizing Technologies: A Survival Toolkit Navigating the Artificial Intelligence Era in Migration Studies

Project Overview

This interdisciplinary project leverages mixed reality (MR), artificial intelligence (AI), migrants’ oral histories, and qualitative research to develop innovative solutions for multifaceted challenges faced by first- and second-generation immigrants. These challenges include cultural differences, generation gaps, communication barriers, career struggles, family dynamics, and mental well-being. The research focuses on enhancing cultural resilience and fostering stronger connections among different generations within migrant communities.

Research Questions

How can we build resilience using novel ideas and technologies, especially in mixed reality (MR), to support the storytelling of migrants’ stories?
How do we create new AI large language models (LLM) that produce more diverse and inclusive text-to-video footage and engage AI technologies meaningfully and ethically?
How can we develop a role model for fellow academics to use the heated debate technologies in migration studies and for social good with less or no bias?

Research Design and Methodology

The project combines interdisciplinary approaches to address the challenges faced by first- and second-generation immigrants. It leverages mixed reality, artificial intelligence, migrants’ oral histories, and qualitative research to explore cultural differences, generation gaps, communication barriers, career struggles, family dynamics, and mental well-being. The methodology includes archival research, immersive media and artificial intelligence in filmmaking, research in large language models, in-depth interviews and oral history, participant observation and ethnography, and qualitative content analysis.

Collaborators

UBC Centre for Migration Studies

Principal Investigator: Annie Wan (Associate Professor, Creative Studies, UBCO)

Research Assistant

Ronnie Cheng (Undergraduate Student, Media Studies, UBCO)

Outputs

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Publications

Open-access book chapter secured in Ludic Images: The Moving Image between Game, Play and Interaction, Yearbook of Moving Image Studies (2023). Germany: Büchner-Verlag.

Conferences & Events

"AI for All", presented by Wan, A., RAISE x Amazon Fall Exposition, Seattle, United States, October 14, 2025

"Humanizing Technologies: A Survival Toolkit Navigating the Artificial Intelligence Era in Migration Studies" presented by Annie Wan, UW Raise X Amazon Fall Exposition, Seattle, US, October 3, 2025

“Prototyping Principles for Humanizing Technologies: Preliminary Research in Research-Creation Methodologies, Artificial Intelligence, and Mixed Reality for Migration Studies”, presented by Annie Wan, APARN: Asia Pacific Artistic Research Network Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, July 1–3, 2025

"Prototyping Principles for Humanizing Technologies: Preliminary Research in Artificial Intelligence and Mixed Reality for Migration Studies," presented by Anni Wan, CMS Research Conference 2025, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, May 1-2, 2025.

Website

Access the project website: https://humanizingtech.space/

VR Experiences

Journey #1: A user explores a surreal theatre where highlighted piano keys awaken playful babies of contrasting natures, creating a whimsical musical scene. As keys are pressed, babies pop and interact, sometimes fighting or friends, adding lively chaos. When too many babies gather, the scene dissolves into the remnants of HK’s old airport, planes crashing, restoring the loop of enchantment and chaos.

Journey #2: A chaotic yet cozy North American living room, dimly lit and cluttered with toys, invites interaction as a flickering TV hints at hidden worlds. Suddenly, we’re at a poignant airport scene, bidding farewell to crying loved ones, fading into the distance. With a remote, we navigate surreal channels, switching from Hong Kong popular music to hockey games, while each press unlocking a new, immersive world in endless rotation.

Journey #3: A split scene reveals bustling, busy Hong Kong on the left and quiet Vancouver on the right, symbolizing a migrant’s contrasting world. Over time, Vancouver’s calm transforms into vibrant detail, mirroring growing familiarity and comfort. As the city stabilizes by the army, the once-blurred Hong Kong fades, echoing how migrants blend their origins with new beginnings.

Journey #4: A single, shuddering sigh condenses into a tarnished coin on a shore of erased memories. Picking it up, the character is flung into the interior of a car racing through Hong Kong. The heartbreak of the past becomes the frantic, high-speed escape of the present.