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Social Innovation & Social Enterprises

Ryerson’s faculty and students strive to better Canadian society and the world by addressing the needs of our most vulnerable and underserved, including immigrant, refugee and racialized communities. Social innovation and enterprise at Ryerson begins with the work of understanding the needs of all Canadians, to provide necessary services and supports to create inclusive employment opportunities and to promote diverse businesses. 

Partnership for Change: The RBC Immigrant, Diversity & Inclusion Project

Faculty

Gerda Cammaer (Image Arts) received support for “The Shoe Project,” through which immigrant and refugee women work with experienced writers to write stories of their arrival in and adaptation to Canada. The participants then learn how to turn their stories into short films. 

Kiaras Gharabaghi (Child and Youth Care) received support to study the preparedness of small cities, towns and rural Ontario to work with immigrant and refugee populations, with the goal of developing clarity with respect to current gaps in child service systems. 

Sui Sui (Business Management) received support to explore the under-representation of women-led companies in Canada’s export sector, and to explore strategies and promotion programs to enhance success for women-owned businesses.

Students

Andrew Greaves, a master’s student in Immigration and Settlement, examined employment barriers to racialized immigrants, in particular whether volunteerism contributes to improved employability of Afro-Caribbean migrant professionals when they are seeking employment commensurate to the education and training they obtained in their country of origin.

Laura Lam, a master’s student in Immigration and Settlement, sought to explore the struggles immigrants face when integrating into the labour market, specifically the rise of technology platforms that have contributed to an increased involvement of immigrants in the gig economy that can lead to immigrants surviving, but not thriving, socioeconomically. 

Cassandra Skrotzki, a master’s student in Psychology, investigated the prospective cognition – the ability to anticipate what might happen in the future – of Chinese immigrants in order to address the effects of immigration on their mental health and sense of community belonging.