Segmented assimilation in the Canadian context

Donna K. Maynard, University of Western Ontario

This study provides comparative literature review of both American and European uses of segmented assimilation theory of immigrant incorporation, while articulating the relative lack of such research in Canadian context. It uses the 2002 Ethnic Diversity Survey to explore whether there is evidence of segmented processes at work among particular ethnic groups in Canada using a series of ordinal logistic regressions to model the upward mobility of the second generation. Preliminary findings suggest that processes of incorporation of the immigrant second generation may have more in common with European than with American experiences, despite greater structural commonalities with the U.S.