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\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\nFor decades, Canada has sold itself as a multicultural success story, but a new survey suggests that promise isn\u2019t landing the same way for everyone arriving today. For many newcomers, discrimination isn\u2019t an exception; it\u2019s the experience.<\/p>\n
The new survey from WPP Canada titled \u201cCanada\u2019s New Voices,\u201d found nearly nine in 10 newcomers say they\u2019ve experienced discrimination.<\/p>\n
The survey was conducted based on more than 150 in-depth interviews with people who arrived after 2021 and was aimed at helping businesses better understand the country\u2019s growing population.<\/p>\n
The biggest triggers of discrimination were race, language, or an accent and having their work experience or education dismissed.<\/p>\n
Language and accents were directly cited in 31 per cent of cases but were underlying triggers potentially facilitating discrimination in up to 80 per cent of all incidents.<\/p>\n
The report also reveals a growing identity struggle. Many newcomers say being Canadian isn\u2019t about history or symbols, it\u2019s about values like kindness, fairness, and inclusion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means we still have a lot of work to be done. and our purpose is to really bring some of these things to light,\u201d said WPP President Kevin Johnson.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we began to dig into the lives of those newcomers obviously, we began to unearth all of these feelings. So, it\u2019s very much qualitative data but it\u2019s also quantitative as well,\u201d said Johnson.<\/p>\n
Although some, 16 per cent, of those surveyed said they felt you can\u2019t truly belong unless you\u2019re born here, creating what researchers call a birthright barrier.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany people think the topic has already been explored from above and beyond from all perspectives. It\u2019s not. Some people were saying, \u2018I see some ads. I don\u2019t understand the humor, all these ads all these commercials are created for those people born in Canada who understand,\u2019 and these people were saying I feel excluded,\u201d said Aleksei Rogatinskii, VP of Strategy at WPP.<\/p>\n
That lack of belonging is now creating a divide. Researchers say about a quarter of newcomers are pulling back, sticking mainly to their own communities, and potentially limiting their opportunities and community connections.<\/p>\n
While nearly a third say they\u2019re trying to integrate at any cost \u2026 sometimes losing parts of themselves in the process. Only about half, 46 per cent, say they\u2019ve found a healthy balance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want this to create conversation amongst the general population. Let\u2019s have conversations at our diner tables and on our way to work on how we can make this more inclusive for newcomers as [they]navigate this very challenging time,\u201d said Johnson.<\/p>\n
Researchers say that growing sense of not belonging is now making some newcomers to reconsider staying in Canada at all as less than one-third, 29 per cent, of newcomers say they plan to settle here permanently.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tA volunteer waves Canadian flags while handing them out to people during Canada Day festivities in Vancouver, B.C. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Darryl Dyck <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For decades, Canada has sold itself as a multicultural success story, but a new survey suggests that promise…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-633407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}