Attracting and Retaining Immigrants to Newfoundland and Labrador: Voices from the Newcomers and International Students

Gien, Lan and Law, Rebecca (2009) Attracting and Retaining Immigrants to Newfoundland and Labrador: Voices from the Newcomers and International Students. Project Report. The Harris Centre, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

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Abstract

This is a funded study facilitated by Memorial University’s Harris Centre looking at attraction and retention of newcomers and international students to NL. Study findings and recommendations are summarized and compared to that of previous studies on immigration issue. It is our hope that this report will be useful to a variety of governmental agencies and nongovernmental organizations in formulating plan to attract and retain immigrants to meet the impending needs of skilled human resource for economic development and prosperity of NL. This was a multisite study with a total sample of 212, including 50 newcomers to NL, 83 international students, 36 immigrants who have left NL, and 32 newcomers from Toronto (27) and Montreal (5). Newcomers were initially defined as persons born outside of Canada who arrived in Canada 5 years ago or less. The study received full approval from Memorial University’s Human Investigations Committee (HIC) in January 2009. The data collection period was from February 1 to April 30, 2009. Research Objectives: This study addressed two questions: (1) What are the reasons for low attraction of newcomers to NL? (2) What are the factors that motivate immigrants to leave NL? The study incorporated both qualitative methods (guided interview schedule and focus groups) and quantitative methods (structured survey questionnaires). There are also open-ended questions on the surveys which provided additional qualitative data. The data gathered from different sources, using different methods have been consistent and are complementary to each other. The triangulation of data sources and methods of data collection minimizes potential bias, avoids one-side interpretation and enhances the validity and reliability of the findings.

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