9TH NATIONAL METROPOLIS CONFERENCE
Online Conference Proceedings
- Conference Overview and Sponsors
- Conference Plenary Sessions
- Conference Poster Presentations
- Conference Workshops
For the complete conference schedule, please
visit the
9th National Metropolis Conference website (www.metropolis2007.net).
In a world characterized by globalization and transnationalism, Canada faces many opportunities and challenges in the successful integration of newcomers. Our experience of the past 10 years notwithstanding, many old questions require new responses:
What is the nature of citizenship in contemporary Canada?
What does it mean to be Canadian?
And what are the factors influencing 'attachment' and ‘belonging’?
What access do newcomers have to resources needed for social, economic, cultural and political integration?
What do newcomers need to do to facilitate their integration?
How do we promote a just society?
What do we expect newcomers to do?
What might we do differently tomorrow?
These questions will be explored in a series of plenary and workshop sessions at the conference.
There will be a general plenary session each morning of the conference followed by two concurrent plenaries. French/English simultaneous interpretation will be available for all the plenary sessions.
The conference will feature more than 50 workshops related to the conference theme. There will be a wide selection of concurrent workshops available throughout each day. There will be no simultaneous interpretation in the workshops. Participants are welcome to speak and present in French or English.
Background: The Metropolis Project
The Metropolis Project exists as both an international and a Canadian initiative. Internationally, Metropolis is a network of policy analysts and researchers from more than 20 countries, as well as a number of representatives of international organizations including intergovernmental bodies and NGOs. The Project is governed by an International Steering Committee that sets the strategic directions of the Metropolis Project, facilitates information exchange between members, plans annual conferences, and stimulates international research collaboration.
In Canada, a consortium of 11 federal ministries, led by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), in partnership with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), provides funds to support five Centres of Excellence across the country, which are headquartered in Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax. The Centres operate at arm’s length from government and facilitate policy-relevant research on immigration and diversity. Some 350 university researchers are affiliated with the centres. The Metropolis Project also includes a Project Secretariat, housed in CIC, which is dedicated to ensuring communication between researchers and government. The Secretariat is vital to enabling the connection between research and policy that is at the heart of the Metropolis Project.
The objectives of the Metropolis Project, writ large, are: to build research capacity in the areas of immigration, multiculturalism, and cultural diversity; to develop a new generation of researchers interested and prepared to study these issues; to provide a forum for the major stakeholders in immigration and multicultural policy to meet and learn from each other; and, above all, to engage in research that will inform public policy. The national conference plays a fundamental role in all of these areas.
We are profoundly grateful for the funding support provided by the following offices, institutions and organizations as below:
