Canadian Research Data Centre Network

Canada is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world, and thus issues relating to integration of immigrants into Canada are increasingly important to understand, since they have diverse material consequences for immigration policies, successful transitions for persons coming to Canada, and ethno-cultural identities. The goal of this research is use an Australian model developed by Nesdale and Mak (2000) to expand our knowledge of what factors are important to the development of a sense of belonging to a host country, focusing on Canada. It builds on previous Canadian research by using a more comprehensive dependent variable and includes representatives of all ethnic groups immigrating to Canada. The results indicate that factors including ethnic identification, acculturation attitudes, demographic variables (age, gender, education), and acceptance by the host society are all important to developing a sense of belonging to a host country, whereas unexpectedly, indicators of material success are not.