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“It Sounds Like You Don’t Want to Help Me”: How Everyday Bordering in Settlement Services Impacts Immigrant Women in Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Catherine Schmidt

    (University of Toronto)

  • Rupaleem Bhuyan

    (University of Toronto)

Abstract

The Canadian government’s investment in settlement services, which provide language, employment, and housing assistance for new immigrants, is recognized as a key component of Canada’s commitment to multicultural integration. With Canada’s move towards a “two-step” immigration system, however, many new immigrants who arrive on temporary permits do not have access to federally funded settlement services. Based on research from a larger project about the settlement experiences of immigrant women in Ontario, Canada, our paper explores how exclusions from settlement services impact immigrant women with precarious status. We examine these exclusions as a form of “everyday bordering,” through which social divisions based on immigration status are constructed within everyday life. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 35 immigrant women and 20 settlement service providers. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants who arrived with a range of statuses, including permanent residents, refugee claimants, temporary workers, and international students. In our analysis, we use a situated intersectional lens to consider the impacts of exclusions within settlement services from the perspectives of both immigrant women and service providers, with attention to how immigration status intersects with social divisions based on race, gender, and class. Interview data was coded using thematic analysis methods. Our findings highlight the hardships resulting from a lack of access to information for women with precarious status and the inadequacy of reliance on employment-related and personal networks to take the place of formal settlement support. While many service providers resist the exclusions required by their funding mandates, these largely individual strategies are limited, leaving frontline workers with the emotional burden of being unable to fulfill their professional role of supporting new immigrants.

Suggested Citation

  • Catherine Schmidt & Rupaleem Bhuyan, 2025. "“It Sounds Like You Don’t Want to Help Me”: How Everyday Bordering in Settlement Services Impacts Immigrant Women in Canada," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 255-277, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joimai:v:26:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s12134-024-01183-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s12134-024-01183-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Patrick Cloos & Elhadji Malick Ndao & Josephine Aho & Magalie Benoît & Amandine Fillol & Maria Munoz-Bertrand & Marie-Jo Ouimet & Jill Hanley & Valéry Ridde, 2020. "The negative self-perceived health of migrants with precarious status in Montreal, Canada: A cross-sectional study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(4), pages 1-22, April.
    2. Julie Walsh & Evelyn Khoo & Karina Nygren, 2022. "Correction to: ‘Everyday Bordering’ in England, Sweden and Bulgaria: Social Work Decision-Making Processes When Working with Migrant Family Members," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 363-364, March.
    3. Henk Van Houtum & Ton Van Naerssen, 2002. "Bordering, Ordering and Othering," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 93(2), pages 125-136, May.
    4. Ashika Niraula & Anna Triandafyllidou & Marshia Akbar, 2022. "Navigating Uncertainties: Evaluating the Shift in Canadian Immigration Policies during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 48(S1), pages 49-59, October.
    5. Julie Walsh & Evelyn Khoo & Karina Nygren, 2022. "‘Everyday Bordering’ in England, Sweden and Bulgaria: Social Work Decision-Making Processes When Working with Migrant Family Members," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 343-361, March.
    6. Sarah Elizabeth Roberts, 2020. "The Bureaucratic and Political Work of Immigration Classifications: an Analysis of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program and Access to Settlement Services in Canada," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 973-992, September.
    7. Maria Mukhtar & Jennifer Dean & Kathi Wilson & Effat Ghassemi & Dana Helene Wilson, 2016. "“But Many of These Problems are About Funds…”: The Challenges Immigrant Settlement Agencies (ISAs) Encounter in a Suburban Setting in Ontario, Canada," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 389-408, May.
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