About

Program Mission

We are living in the ‘Age of Migration’. Drawing on unprecedented streams of global migration, Canada ranks among the world’s most important immigrant-receiving countries. More than 1 in every 5 Canadian residents was born outside the country, and the last two decades stand out as the highest period of sustained newcomer arrivals in Canada’s history. This program is designed to:

• enhance in-depth knowledge, through four core courses, of the key historical, theoretical, methodological, policy and program literature and issues in the field of immigration and settlement studies in Canada
• explore and critically assess, through a selection of courses and seminars, some of the social, economic, political, cultural, spatial, policy, service-delivery and human rights aspects of immigration and settlement
• critically interpret the historical connection between immigration, settlement and Indigenous displacement and genocide, and examine decolonization frameworks in the context of ongoing newcomer arrival in a settler society
• compare the experience of migration and settlement in Canada with other countries, through the incorporation of international perspectives in curriculum
• provide focused discussions of the theoretical, conceptual, methodological issues/concepts practitioners need to know (and think) about when using related information
• develop a critical understanding of the methodological and practical issues facing research in the field
• generate, through a practicum, an understanding of the ways in which information in the field is utilized, in both practice and policy-making contexts
• demonstrate an ability to contribute to knowledge in the field through the preparation of a Major Research Paper
• provide opportunities for completion of the degree on a full-time and part-time basis