Communities Within: Diversity and Exclusion in Ottawa

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Communities Within Diversity and Exclusion in
Ottawa

• Analytical and Conceptual Framework

A project funded by Canadian Heritage -
Immigration and Aboriginal Unit, City of
Ottawa and United Way Ottawa with the
Collaboration of Carleton University
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Project Objectives

• To document the nature and extent of social
  exclusion experienced by Ottawas visible and
  ethnic minority communities, in all aspects of
  life and
• To foster inclusion and social cohesion by
• empowering minority communities through
  strengthening of voices and by
• making practical recommendations that seek to
  reverse documented disadvantages

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Conceptual Framework Social Exclusion and
Marginalization

• Derived from two bodies of literature
• Canadian and International literature on Social
  Exclusion and Social Inclusion
• Canadian literature on the participation of
  minority populations in Canadas economy and
  socio-political processes

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Social Exclusion

• Definition
• Social exclusion is.. an accumulation of
  confluent processes with successive ruptures
  arising from the heart of the economy, politics
  and society, which gradually distances and places
  persons, groups, communities and territories in a
  position of inferiority in relation to centres of
  power, resources and prevailing values.
• Jordi Estivill -
  STEP program of ILO
• STEP Strategies and Tools against social
  Exclusion and Poverty program

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Diverse experiences of exclusionbut common
traits

• There is no single archetype of exclusion and
  marginalization as a life condition. Many types
  of groups suffer from it, although for different
  reasons and through different processes.
• Despite such diversity in causes and processes
  that may lead to social exclusion and
  marginalization, we found in the literature a
  remarkable commonality in the broad elements that
  characterize social exclusion, which will help us
  to broadly diagnose the problem.

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The common traits

• A multi-dimensional social phenomenon
• The nature of the relationship between the
  factors or dimensions relate to the severity of
  the condition of exclusion. Dimensions can be
• just interconnected
• cumulative and compounding or
• part of a vicious circle or a spiral of
  disadvantage (Cushing, 2003 Study for Roeher
  Institute)
• A time-bound, dynamic process, with an origin,
  and both a deterioration and emergence paths
  each instigated by aggravating or alleviation
  stimuli (Estivill 2003)
• The manifestation of social exclusion is one of a
  varying combinations of material, political and
  social/relational deficiency
• Is a relative condition, whose various dimensions
  can best be understood relation to another group
  (s).

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The devil is in the detail

• Despite a broad consensus on how to characterize
  social exclusion, there is not much of an
  agreement neither on
• how to measure it or on
• how to resolve it

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Application of the Concept

• Measurement of the phenomenon is fraught with
  problems because of
• The dynamic nature of exclusion
• The multiplicity of the factors and their
  interdependencies and lack of clarity on where
  priorities may lie and who ought to define them
• The idea of process and stages of exclusion
• The broad field of analysis it is a life-size
  phenomenon

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Towards Best Practice in Social Exclusion
Concept Application

• Starting with the experiences of the excluded
• Grounding the investigation geographically, with
  the geographic unit sharing a common political
  governance (a country, a city) and/or common
  lived experiences (neighborhood)
• Engaging the excluded in the research process
  (Andrew 2002 Estivill 2003).
• Not ignoring inequality within the excluded and
  within the included groups (Jensen Levitas)
• Grounding analysis of exclusion in a clearly
  articulated social transformation vision and
  avoid ideologies (Ruth Levitas 2002 Estivill
  200353)
• Identifying and studying the excluding agents, be
  they policies, institutions, people (Kunz 2002)
• The time dimension is accounted for through
  longitudinal studies that take into consideration
  economic cycles, demographic changes and the
  intergeneration transmission of the condition of
  exclusion (Estivill 2003 51)
• Multi-disciplinary expertise is applied.
• Given the nascent nature of the concept, any
  application must be tentative and cautionary.

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Our Application of the Concept of Social
Exclusion
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Social Exclusion Dissecting the Concept

• Social Exclusion implicit issues
• Exclusion from what?
• Exclusion of whom,?
• SE in relation to whom?
• Exclusion by whom?
• Identifying the Nature of Social Exclusion
• Determining what qualifies as SE?
• Describing the causes and process of exclusion,
• Identifying the interconnection between the
  factors of exclusion
• Identifying the compounding nature of the factors
  of exclusion through time
• Describing the human, political, and social
  impacts of exclusion,
• Identifying perpetuating factors (neighborhood
  disadvantages/advantages, voice, and
  representation)
• Describing the existence of traps in
  disadvantaged positions and availability of
  political leverage (hope factor?)
• Measuring the Extent of Social Exclusion
• Documenting the current conditions of life of
  Visible Minority communities
• Documenting the current socio-economic gaps
  between racial zed minorities and majority
  groups,
• Attempting a description of depth/ degrees of
  exclusion for each factor

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Defining the Boundaries of Exclusion

• Exclusion of Whom?
• We will investigate the social exclusion
  experiences of Ottawas visible and ethnic
  minority residents
• Specific Considerations
• Visible Minority residents of Ottawa are
  extremely heterogeneous groups and the level of
  heterogeneity varies across sub-categories from
  the Black Community, which is defined by skin
  color, to communities that are essentially
  defined by either ethnicity (like the Chinese),
  region of origin (South East Asians), language
  and history (Arabs), or even by country of origin
  like the Japanese Community.
• To avoid generalizations, case study methodology
  will be used to study specific communities in a
  more in-depth fashion qualitative research.
• The selected case study are Canadians of Chinese,
  Somali, and Lebanese ancestry. They are selected
  with a view of representing diverse experiences.
  

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..defining the Boundaries of Exclusion

• Social Exclusion in relation to whom?In relation
  to Ottawas non-visible minority populations.
• Specific Considerations
• Non visible minority populations include other
  groups that may also be excluded such as local
  Aboriginal populations residents with
  disabilities, and others.
• Differences between Francophone and Anglophone in
  terms of access to power, prestige and resources,
  will be acknowledged.

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Exclusion from What?

• Discussions of social exclusion of ethnic,
  racial, and cultural minority populations are
  inextricably interwoven with the theories and
  practices of citizenship in a pluralistic,
  democratic society.
• Citizenship is the common denominator among the
  diverse communities that make up the Canadian
  population (Gilles Paquet Betting on
  Diversity).
• Substantive citizenship (citizenship by practice)
  ideally affords minority populations the
  opportunities, resources, and partnerships
  necessary to influence the life conditions of
  their communities.

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Diversity and Exclusion Relating the two bodies
of literature
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Diversity and Exclusion Relating the two bodies
of literature

• In order to conceptually organize our learnings
  from the experiences of research participants, we
  have further reviewed two broad areas of
  knowledge, with an eye to the SE literature.
• Governance and accountability
• Citizenship theories

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The Problématique of Diversity(borrowing from
Gilles Paquet)

• A useful framework to discuss issues that
  underlie the diversity of a given citizenry a
  plural society .
• Material (resources) and Symbolic order
  (recognition) often the latter underpins the
  first
• Membership Criteria of membership can be
  defined relationally, on identity-basis, and or
  on culture-basis
• Belonging in any of the variants of membership
  can be discussed on the ground of a nation,
  ethnicity or through civil society

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Social Exclusion of Visible Minority Residents of
Ottawa

• To comprehend the nature of exclusion experienced
  by Ottawas racial and cultural minority
  populations, we will explore the following
  concepts
• Racialism
• Classism
• Gender inequality
• Social networks and the role of social capital in
  solving life problems
• Civic participation practices and constraints
• The role of public institutions, as perceived by
  minority populations

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Boundaries of Citizenship(Borrowing from Jane
Jensen)
Rights

• Not only rights but capacity to exercise rights
  meaning
• Material resources that allow and enable access
• Opportunities - Recognition and positive symbolic
  identities that underpin inter-group partnerships
  and collective action to negotiate the
  implementation of rights

Belonging a sense of recognition and
accommodation to participate in the economic and
social orders and to enjoy its supports in cases
of need The State plays an essential role in
delimiting the boundaries of belonging
Belonging
Access