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Introduction
This article is based on the qualitative study of immigrant women who have landed in the province of New Brunswick in the last decade, some of whom have stayed and others who have left for elsewhere in Canada. The research participants came to the province for either employment or education purposes through the Provincial Nominee Program or with a temporary work or study permit. They were attracted by a provincial government that views immigration as a means to address issues of population decline, labour market demand and economic development. Yet like many immigrants who have come and gone over the years, contextual factors related to precarious work intersect with factors related to precarious citizenship to push many immigrants to go elsewhere in search of economic security and social integration.
While research has begun to identify the general factors that contribute to precarious employment and precarious citizenship for immigrants in Canada, less is known about the specific factors related to these issues in contexts outside of popular immigrant receiving contexts of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. New Brunswick is a non-traditional immigrant destination and this research can add to the knowledge of immigrants who attempt to settle outside of the major urban centres in Canada.
The research focuses on the experiences of precarious employment and precarious citizenship of immigrant women and highlights the segmented and racialized nature of the labour market in New Brunswick. Immigrant women are both pulled and pushed into precarious work and few transition into more secure employment. Those who work in high skill occupations experience precarious citizenship due to experiences of cultural insensitivity in the work place and social isolation. Precarious legal citizenship for those with temporary permits, a large pool of migrant workers seeking precarious work and precarious social citizenship due to difficulties in developing relationships with members of the native-born population contribute to out-migration.
Theory
Precarious work consists of jobs that have little or no long-term security such as part-time, limited contract, and shift work which, for example, characterizes much of the work found in service industries. Much of this work consists of low wage jobs that require low levels of education and skill. However, there are occupational sectors in which jobs that require high levels of education and expertise are increasingly tied to limited term contracts with few benefits and no long term security. “The proliferation of precarious employment—work that is unstable and insecure, offers limited rights, protections, and benefits, and allows workers limited autonomy, recourse, or control—is symptomatic of a global shift in the very nature of work” (Goldring and Landolt, 2011, p. 326).
Precarious employment is gendered. Vosko (2000) posits that the shift away from the post-Second World War “standard employment relationship” in Canada (secure, full-time jobs with benefits) began in the 1970s and was accompanied by the rise of the “precarious employment relationship.” These shifts in employment relationships reflect the “feminization” of labour. According to Vosko, feminized labour has its historical roots in the temporary employment relationships developed for white middle-class women in the nations of the North after the Second World War. White middle-class men were considered the primary economic providers and women took on part-time casual work to supplement their husbands’ incomes. Poor, immigrant, visible minority and aboriginal women have always had limited access to the “standard employment relationships” enjoyed by white, native-born men. Vosko argues that white women have not simply entered the Canadian labour market in greater numbers, but feminized employment relationships characterized by their temporary, insecure and casual nature, are becoming the norm for increasing numbers of workers. Immigrant, visible minority, and aboriginal women bear the brunt of gender segregation and therefore income and occupational polarization in the Canadian labour market (Creese et al., 2008).
Research on precarious employment in twelve countries by Oxfam indicates that women are over-represented in labour-intensive industries and the more precarious jobs within them (Kidder and Raworth, 2004). Employers the world over continue to cling to the myths that women are better suited for work that requires manual dexterity and concentration on repetitive tasks for long periods of time. Nevertheless, women value precarious jobs as they struggle to pay the rising costs for education and health care for their families, even though the work is insecure, stressful and includes experiences of subordination and harassment. Many women feel pushed to leave their countries of origin in order to support their families. On a global scale, the number of international migrants has increased dramatically in recent years, with almost 60% living in the countries of the North (UN, 2012).
In Canada the growth of precarious employment throughout the labour market is accompanied by the conditions of precarious citizenship for immigrants (Goldring and Landolt, 2011). Precarious citizenship is the uncertain pathway to citizenship for immigrants whose formal rights and entitlements are limited and conditional. Precarious citizenship describes the status of temporary foreign workers (TFWs), international students, and refugees in Canada. The citizenship status of these immigrants is legally precarious until they are granted permanent residency by the state. However, there are other important aspects of citizenship to consider. Nagel and Staehli (2004) make the distinction between legal citizenship and substantive citizenship, arguing that substantive citizenship entails the ability to exercise the rights and privileges of societal membership. When immigrants of any status do not feel that they belong to the new society or are unable to engage meaningfully with its citizens and institutions then they do not have substantive or “social citizenship.” Torres et al (2013) further describe social citizenship as a relational process in which members of immigrant groups are able to engage economically, politically and socially with individuals and institutions in the new society. Relational citizenship requires the participation of all people in a society, regardless of their country of birth. Precarious citizenship is tied to the rise in precarious employment conditions in Canada as provincial governments and employers attempt to attract immigrants to deal with labour market shortages and population decline (Li, 2003). Without legal citizenship, immigrants are denied access to certain types of employment, job security, labour protections, educational opportunities and public services. Without social citizenship, immigrants are hindered in the creation of the social capital necessary to get jobs commensurate with their education and experience, organize politically, or otherwise engage meaningfully in the societies in which they live and want to build a future for their families (Kazemipur, 2004).
The particularities of precarious work and precarious citizenship vary according to national and regional contexts. The New Brunswick is part of the global proliferation of precarious employment. The conditions of precarious work in the province attract some immigrant women but precarious citizenship and the lack of social citizenship in the province of New Brunswick contribute to the province’s ongoing struggles to retain all immigrants over the long term.
Context
There are a variety of factors associated with the province of New Brunswick that make it distinct context for the study of the intersection of precarious employment and citizenship of immigrant women. It is a non-traditional immigrant destination with a relatively small and rapidly aging population, a segmented labour market, and there are high levels of unemployment.
The province of New Brunswick is located on the east coast of Canada and has a total population of just over 750,000 people (StatCan, 2014). It is estimated that over 50,000 young adults have left the province in the past two decades (GNB, 2013) and this has resulted in a larger proportion of older adults than elsewhere in the country. The province has not been a popular destination for immigrants, although the four provincial universities have attracted thousands of international students. Over the past fifteen years, the New Brunswick government has focused on recruiting and retaining immigrants in the province in order to address population decline, labour demands and economic development. As a result there has been a rise in the number of people immigrating as well as an increase in the visible minority proportion of the population (Akbari and Rankaduwa, 2010). Data from the 2011 National Household Survey estimates that total number of immigrants living in the province was 28,470 with over a thousand more females than males (StatCan). Most of the immigrants who settled in New Brunswick between 2005 and 2010 were married and brought with them 3,875 children under the age of eighteen (Haan et al., 2013). Slightly less than half of the immigrants in New Brunswick are from European countries of origin. Almost 22% are from Asian countries of origin and nearly 6% are originally from countries in Africa (StatCan, 2011). 78% of the New Brunswick population consists of people of European ethnic origins (StatCan, 2008).
Sall and Thomas (2015) describe the contemporary New Brunswick labour market as segmented. The primary labour market contains high skill and high paying jobs in urban centres and is dominated by native-born citizens. There is rising a demand for investment and skilled workers in the emerging knowledge-based sectors (Miner, 2010). The Canadian Council on Learning argues that “the rising level of competition facing Canadian firms, changes in production technologies, and changes in the nature and organization of work are all driving increases in the knowledge intensity of jobs in Canada” (2006, p. 2). According to Sall and Thomas (2015) the secondary labour market in New Brunswick is comprised of precarious employment opportunities located mostly in rural and remote areas of the province. Workers employed in the secondary labour market are aging and their children are unwilling to stay and work in this sector.
Despite the demand for workers throughout the labour market, unemployment rates in New Brunswick are among the highest nationwide at 10.4% as of March 2015, while the national unemployment rate at that time was 6.8% (StatCan, 2015). This has characterized the provincial labour market over the past 30 years and, according to Workman (2005), high rates of unemployment are among several factors associated with a global transformation of work that have driven down wages in the Atlantic region and contributed to the growth of precarious employment in the secondary labour market. The value of the minimum wage actually decreased by 30% between 1976 and 2000 (Workman, 2005, p. 92) and at $10.30 per hour, New Brunswick currently has the lowest minimum wage in the country (GOC, 2015). One quarter of all hourly wage workers in New Brunswick earn within $2.50 of the minimum wage with women comprising a substantial proportion of people with precarious employment. Thus the high unemployment rates do not signify that the province does not need immigrants. There is a demand for labour in in a range of occupations - jobs that native-born workers are either unwilling or incapable of filling.
The principle route to formal citizenship is the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) which has been used by over three-quarters of the immigrants who land in New Brunswick (CIC, 2011). The provincial government prioritizes the nomination of immigrants “who have the greatest potential to become economically established” in the province (GNB, 2014a) and selects immigrants with the skill sets and work experience to meet the needs of the labour market. Principal Applicants (PAs) in the PNP are eligible to sponsor their spouse and/or dependent children. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), the federal body responsible for enforcing immigration policy, does the medical and criminal record checks and has the ultimate authority in issuing permanent residency cards.
In recent years, TFWs have increasingly come for work in the fish, seafood and food processing plants, the fast food service industry as well as employment as domestic workers. There were 2,880 TFWs in the province in December 2012 (CIC). In 2014 TFWs comprised 27% of the workers in the lobster processing sector in New Brunswick and in some processing plants they made up 60% of the workforce (CBC). Employers who wish to hire TFWs must, in most cases, apply for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). Once a positive LMIA is issued, an employer can recruit foreign workers. Before coming to the province, foreign workers must apply for temporary work permits from CIC. Temporary permits are issued from a minimum of three months to a maximum of four years (GNB, 2011). According to the federal government website, TFWs are supposed to have “the same rights and protections as Canadians and permanent residents” (ESDC, 2014). While in New Brunswick, TFWs with jobs in certain sectors can be offered permanent jobs by employers (Mazerolle, 2012). Once an offer of a permanent position has been received, TFWs can apply for permanent residency through the PNP but there is no guarantee that their applications will be successful (GNB, 2011). International students who graduate from a university in the province can also apply for a temporary work permit (maximum of three years) under the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program (PGWPP). During this time they can apply for permanent residency status through the Canadian Experience Class but again, the success of their applications is not guaranteed.
New immigrants have typically landed in New Brunswick and then moved elsewhere in the country, usually to urban centres with larger immigrant populations (Okonny-Myers, 2010) 2010). New immigrants find the Atlantic region one of the most difficult areas to adopt as a home due to underemployment and the low density of immigrant social networks (Ramos and Yoshida, 2011, Wilson-Forsberg, 2012). The provincial government has increased its efforts in retaining immigrants by funding immigrant settlement services throughout the province. Immigrant service providers help transition newcomers into their new life in New Brunswick, which includes assisting them in integrating both economically and socially within communities through the provision of employment counseling and language training programs (Theriault and Haan, 2012).
Data and Methods
The data upon which this article is based comes from two qualitative studies: the first study (S1) is a study of newly arrived immigrant women conducted in 2012 in New Brunswick and their social support networks (N=79) and the second study (S2) is a study conducted in early 2014 of immigrant women who had originally landed in New Brunswick but moved elsewhere in Canada (N=9). Approval for both studies was obtained from the University of New Brunswick’s Research Ethics Board. Participants in the second study were recruited using contacts made during the first study. A description of the sample according to the immigrant categories of the research participants is found in Table 1. The data was collected through face-to-face, semi-structured personal interviews and focus group discussions. Some of the interviews were conducted with the help of a translator. The personal interviews with the women who had left the province were conducted over the phone. The interviews and focus group discussions were digitally recorded (with permission) or through hand written notes. The transcriptions of the data removed most personal identifiers except for participants’ countries of origin.
Immigration Category N
Provincial Nominee Program 41
Temporary Foreign Worker Program 29
International Student 14
Family Sponsorship Program 4
Total 88
Table 1 Research Participants and Immigration Categories
Data from the transcripts were coded into the categories of precarious work and precarious citizenship. These categories were analyzed in three ways: first we compared the precarity of immigrant women who came to New Brunswick via the PNP with those who were TFWs; secondly those who came to New Brunswick for reasons related to education were compared with those who had come primarily for employment; and thirdly we compared those who were living in the province during the time of the interview with those who had left and were living elsewhere in Canada. Table 2 indicates the numbers of immigrant women in each comparison. The comparisons were done in this way in order to identify patterns in the impacts of precarious employment and precarious citizenship based on the research participants’ intentions for immigration (personal), their immigration category (structural) and whether or not they were living in or out the province of New Brunswick at the time of the data collection.
Comparison Category N Category N
Relationship to New Brunswick at time of research In 79 Out 9
Primary purpose for immigration Education 39 Employment 49
Immigration Category PNP 41 TFW 29
Table 2 Analytical Categories
The findings below outline the following four themes that arose in the analysis: precarious work in the secondary labour market, inaccessibility of the primary labour market, precarious citizenship and structural issues, and precarious citizenship and social issues.
Findings
Precarious Work in the Secondary Labour Market
The analysis provides evidence that the women who came to New Brunswick to work in jobs that are classified as low skilled are part of global flows of workers seeking precarious employment. They came having worked and lived in circumstances that they consider more challenging than those in New Brunswick. For example, several Filipina TFWs had been working in electronics factories in Taiwan before coming to work in the seasonal seafood processing industry. Some indicated that they had paid a lot of money to private agencies to secure their foreign work permits. In Taiwan they worked long hours and had no regular days off. When asked about the differences in wages between the two contexts, they responded:
Participant #6: We earn double.
Participant #7: Double here.
Participant #3: And we work back in Taiwan sometimes for 16 hours – and here we have just enough - just work 11 or 12 hours – that’s the longest hours we have (S1, FG #2).
When asked if the seasonal nature of the work in New Brunswick was problematic, the women indicated that they could get extra shifts during times of peak production to make up for times when work hours were limited. Several women had squeezed in an extra night shift in the middle of two 12 hour day shifts (part of a continental shift schedule) just prior to participating in a focus group interview (S1, FG #1). These women work in rural and remote villages in New Brunswick where they are the only visible minority group and there is no public transportation. They rely on employers for accommodations and transportation, at least in the early months after arrival. They do not have to pay rent for employer-owned housing in the off-season. By pooling their resources, some had purchased vehicles so they can travel to a city to purchase Asian groceries.
Many of the women in low skilled jobs indicated that they chose to immigrate to New Brunswick because they had learned through their social networks that the pathway to Canadian citizenship was quicker here. TFWs in the research indicated that they had applied for permanent residency status immediately after arrival. Nevertheless, the application process involves a long and unnerving waiting period, especially if TFWs’ original work permit expires and they have difficulty getting another job within the four years they are allowed to remain in the country. For several research participants, the citizenship process involved a great deal of documentation and bureaucratic errors. For example, one woman accompanied her husband who had a temporary work permit for a trucking company. Her husband was offered a permanent position and she was an experienced engineer from Romania so the family applied through the PNP for permanent residency. Her experience dealing with the provincial government was upsetting:
They lost my documents! Then they did mistakes . . . I sent the file here in [the city] in April and after two months I received an email where the lady from there told me that I need to provide a criminal record check from FBI, from West Virginia. This is the procedure, it’s a normal procedure, it’s right on the website, for people who are living more than six months on United States territory. . . The criminal record contains two pages. . . And she showed me the first page. I said, “Listen to me, if this page exists, of course I put it with the other one.” “I’m sorry it’s not here,” [she said.] My husband had to schedule another appointment for finger prints. . . so we lost another two months and the money, of course. . . (S1, Participant #18).
Even without bureaucratic errors, the process of applying for citizenship is lengthy due to backlogs in the federal system. This creates a great deal of anxiety for immigrant women. One woman spoke of having to return to Korea with her husband and family after their temporary work permits expired, even though they had been assured of permanent work by their employers. After four years of working in New Brunswick, settling their children into a new education system, and trying to create new friendship networks, her family had to uproot, return to precarious work, adjust to their precarious social status in Korea, and wait (S2, Participant #10).
Although the low skill jobs in New Brunswick are deemed less precarious than elsewhere in the world by immigrant women, these are jobs that New Brunswickers are unwilling to take (Sall and Thomas, 2015). Many of the women cross the globe for precarious work in order to care for their families. The Filipina TFWs are sending remittances home to pay for their children’s education, their parent’s retirement or health care expenses. Unlike many local workers who have no other choice (Workman, 2005, Good and McFarland, 2005), these women are glad to have precarious employment (Kidder and Raworth, 2004). Local employers indicate that they like hiring temporary foreign workers because of their work ethic and reliability (CBC, 2012). Long waits for legal citizenship and penalties for employers who violate TFW regulations will create a revolving door, given that there are so many migrant workers globally willing to take precarious jobs. This is a compliant workforce who will likely not risk their jobs by organizing to address low wages, uncertain hours, excessive production pressures, working conditions or their frustrations with immigration bureaucracy.
Inaccessibility of the Primary Labour Market
Research participants who applied through the PNP from abroad, came to New Brunswick with high hopes for finding employment, since their education and skills were deemed necessary for the provincial labour market. These hopes were eroded during a long and painful process of looking for work. For example, a woman with a master’s degree in chemistry who had worked for thirteen years in Lebanon as a medical representative for a pharmaceutical company, recalls her experiences looking for work in New Brunswick:
I applied many times for government jobs. There was an online website that you register in and you have an account on this website and anytime there is an opportunity in the provincial government, having any opportunity for jobs I would get an alert or warning. I applied for many jobs that were, I believe that they were good for me given my qualifications. I didn’t apply for positions that they required a PhD. I didn’t apply for positions that required either like masters or anything. I applied for positions that were for high school degree or college degree. After all of them they send me a letter, “No we did not take your application into consideration . . . blah, blah, blah, but keep applying! Keep applying!” No one – even though – no one asked for an interview or phone me through the phone, you know what I mean? It didn’t go anywhere (S2, Participant #8).
She spent two years trying to find skilled employment while working night shifts at a call centre. This strategy of taking on precarious employment while searching for a better job was common amongst the highly-educated women in the sample. Within six months of moving to Ottawa with her family, she was hired by the federal government. In the opinion of this research participant and many other high skilled workers who shared similar stories, the problem lies with the native-born population. Both immigrant women in the province and those who moved elsewhere in Canada feel that the local population is not ready to accept foreigners. This was echoed by women who landed in the province having already secured high skilled employment.
Research participants indicate that employers and fellow employees in New Brunswick are: insensitive to cultural differences in social interactions, provide little or no feedback about why their employment applications are unsuccessful or why their employment was suddenly terminated, and have problems with their strong accents. The language skills and accents of immigrants have been identified by researchers in the province over twenty years ago as reasons for workplace and social discrimination (Miedema and Nason-Clark, 1989). Most of the women had studied English before arriving but admitt that speaking in daily interactions is challenging. Native English speakers are often impatient with immigrants, interrupt frequently, speak about them in their presence, or treat them as if they are children. The immigrant women also feel that the language classes provided by the local settlement organizations are not helpful. They indicate that the teachers are not well-qualified, especially those who teach classes for professionals in the workplace.
Some small business owners said that language barriers are the reason that they left the province. There is a lot of information and documentation required to run a business and sometimes numerous permits are required. When these immigrants encounter problems either meeting government regulations or negotiating contracts with suppliers, the women feel unable to explain themselves or fully understand the information provided. There was no one in government offices that offers translation services and there are few visible minority people working in front-line government services with whom immigrant women can identify. Immigrant business owners had to learn from their mistakes. One Korean woman felt that she was being over-charged by the suppliers for her florist shop. She felt her English ability was not good enough to argue and change the contracts. She said:
When I was in Korea, if I felt that things were unfair, then I could complain through an organization or association or government office. I couldn’t find those kinds of associations or organizations to help me out in [a New Brunswick city]. There needs to be these helping organizations for immigrants because I had to cover a lot of expenses and lost money (S2, Participant #6).
As a single mother of school-age children, she could not afford these kinds of mistakes so she moved elsewhere in Canada. This woman acknowledges that immigrants business people need to work together to overcome challenges but the immigrant population in New Brunswick is small and not yet organized for this.
Several research participants felt that one of the reasons it was so difficult to find and keep suitable employment in the province was due to the closed social networks within the native-born population. Each city in the province is small and networks are close-knit making it difficult to gain entry. If employers have to make a choice between an immigrant and someone they know or who comes recommended by someone in her/his network, they choose the familiar. Even those who manage to access the primary labour market struggle. Immigrants explained that in their workplaces they sometimes misread social cues and had a difficult time interacting socially with their native-born co-workers. In the case of one woman from Argentina, the social isolation she experiences was so severe that she became depressed (S1, Participant #14).
Research has shown that the early years of the settlement process take a toll on Canadian immigrant women’s mental health (Holtmann and Tramonte, 2014). Evidence from the women in this study indicates that the primary labour market is inaccessible to immigrants due to racialization, a finding confirmed by other research in the region (Ku et al., 2011, Ralston, 1996, Tastsoglou and Jaya, 2011). Although New Brunswick employers in the secondary labour market prefer to hire immigrant women over native-born citizens for precarious work, employers in the primary labour market are reticent hire them for high skill jobs. The government that attracted them to the province could do more to help them from being forced into secondary labour market and the subsequent de-skilling that arises in feminized precarious jobs (Man, 2004, Creese et al., 2008).
Precarious Citizenship and Structural Barriers
Several of the research participants had been sponsored shortly after marriage to husbands (foreign and native-born) who were already living and working in New Brunswick. These women were well-educated as were the wives of international students. The women in these two particular groups came to Canada in pursuit of a better future. They explained that they were initially ineligible for government-funded language and employment counselling services offered through settlement service agencies. The early period of the settlement process is a critical time for the social integration immigrants. These women had difficulty accessing social support networks and this led to experiences of isolation. This is particularly problematic in a context with a low overall density of immigrants. Public transportation systems are underdeveloped in New Brunswick which exacerbates the women’s experiences of disconnection, especially during a long, cold winter. A Ukrainian woman explains why it is difficult to meet peers at a local Orthodox faith group:
For example Easter, I went there and there were other Ukrainians. So every Sunday it’s a problem to go there because [the priest] serves at 8 o’clock am and from here like to go there for 8:00, it means we have to wake up at 6:00. My husband - I don’t have a car and if I ask him to wake up at 6:00 every Sunday . . . (S1, Participant #20)
She did not want to inconvenience her husband and chose not to have regular contact with other Ukrainian immigrants. Yet social isolation is not only emotionally difficult for immigrant women, but it is also risky.
One participant provided a text book example of domestic violence perpetrated by a Canadian-born man who isolated his wife from all social support. When recounting her story, she said she felt an obligation to help her husband overcome his behavioural problems. Immigrant peers and health care professionals did not advise her to seek safety when she disclosed the abuse. She remained in the violent marriage for years because she feared losing custody of her young children. It was not until she sought refuge in a shelter that she got information and reassurance from CIC staff about her citizenship status. This research participant’s life was at risk because she was isolated and unsure of her legal citizenship status and rights (S1, Participant #6). Research indicates that the structural dependency of immigrant women on the sponsorship of their husbands creates conditions of precarious citizenship in which they feel trapped in life-threatening situations (Cottrell et al., 2009, Mosher, 2009, Fong, 2010).
Precarious Citizenship and Social Issues
Definitions of Canadian citizenship emphasize both the rights and responsibilities of all Canadians (CIC, 2012a). According to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canadians have democratic, legal, mobility, equality, minority language and education rights as well as the fundamental freedoms of conscience, belief, expression, peaceful assembly and association. Our responsibilities are to obey the law, respect the rights and freedoms of our fellow citizens and actively contribute to our diverse and prosperous society. Our responsibility to contribute to the flourishing of diversity can ensure social and economic prosperity.
Some research participants are from countries of origin (Chad, Ukraine, Philippines, Romania, Vietnam, Iran and Pakistan) where they experience precarious citizenship because their particular ethnic origins or socio-economic status places them in situations of civil unrest and social insecurity. Several mothers sought out social stability based on Canada’s international reputation as having a peaceful and just society and spoke of how much more safe it is for their families to live in New Brunswick. Everyday social interactions at work, in education institutions, and in their neighbourhoods are important opportunities for immigrant women to develop relationships and they are eager to contribute to social citizenship. Many of the research participants indicate that they do not feel like full members of New Brunswick society. A woman originally from Vietnam describes the situation well:
[M]y husband share his experience to me, he told me he has a feeling when he has nothing to do, he has a feeling like he is in a prison, in jail like no freedom at all and I could understand him. And I recognize that for the people, not only for food, they eat every day, but they need to work. Because a lot of Vietnamese they prepare things for them [for immigration], they have money, they still have money from their country but they are not happy. What they need to work, their social life is very important (S1, Participant #8).
The study included mothers who immigrated via the PNP in order to parent their children through the provincial public education system. Their hope is for their children to gain entrance to a good Canadian university. These women have put their lives on hold for their children while their husbands continue to work and support the families financially from their country of origin. The families are successful with the PNP applications because of their financial stability and there is a plan for the husbands to eventually migrate. However, the women do not believe that their husbands or children will find suitable employment in New Brunswick. Their time in New Brunswick is a period of social limbo. The immigrant women are not wholly committed to settling in the province and in their view the local born population is not embracing them. The women like living here – they appreciate the clean environment and the small size of the cities, but they long for social acceptance. Those that moved away to an urban center elsewhere in Canada explain that their social interactions have become easier. One woman said that she no longer feels like a monkey in a zoo (S2, Participant #5).
These feelings of social limbo are most poignant amongst female international graduate students. In general, international graduate students feel more comfortable socially than research participants whose lives are lived outside the gates of the provincial universities. This is because the universities have a longer history of integrating members of visible minorities as faculty, staff and students. The female international students say that their self-confidence and autonomy has increased as a result of their graduate education in New Brunswick. Their families hope that the women will marry a man who shares their ethno-religious background and herein lies the dilemma. The women fear that the independence gained as Western graduate students will clash with their parents’ and future spouse’s expectations for a suitable wife. They are caught between the gender norms of two societies. They want to work in their chosen field and get married but are unsure how they can do both. They know that immigrants struggle to find high skill work in New Brunswick. A graduate student originally from Iraq wanted to respect her parent’s hopes for her future. She said, “If I get married to a guy who is really good - who is open and not controlling then I will be fine. But if I get a guy who is another version of my father and brother then it’s going to be terrible” (S1, Participant #10). She believes that another international graduate student would be the best match but the chances of them both working in New Brunswick are slim. Despite the opportunities promised by the PGWPP, immigrant women in this study know the difficulties associated with getting skilled employment in the local primary labour market.
This last example is not unique to New Brunswick as research shows that many Canadian immigrants struggle to have their credentials recognized by employers (Frank and Saunders, 2009, Buzdugan and Halli, 2009, Yoshida and Smith, 2008). Immigrant women are more likely than Canadian-born women and men and immigrant men to be unemployed with rates of unemployment among new immigrant women nearly twice that of Canadian women (Tastsoglou and Preston, 2006). This story of a New Brunswick-educated graduate student’s expectations at the intersection of precarious citizenship and precarious work does not bode well for New Brunswick’s population growth strategy of building diverse and inclusive communities (GNB, 2014b, p. 15).
Conclusions
The findings from conversations with 88 women who originally immigrated to New Brunswick provide evidence that the impacts of precarious work and precarious citizenship contribute to the province’s difficulties in retaining immigrants and out-migration. Precarity, as experienced by the immigrant women in this study, is a structural and social problem in New Brunswick. The practice of hiring immigrant women for precarious work in the secondary, or low skill, labour market is driven by companies seeking a flexible and compliant workforce. Recent federal policies concerning TFWs seek to curb abuses of the system by employers, but the provincial government assists local employers in perpetuating the precarious labour market by keeping wages amongst the lowest in the country. The province also helps to attract precarious workers by dangling the promise of permanent residency in front of TFWs but the processing of applications is mired in bureaucratic inefficiencies and has resulted in deportation. The revolving door for TFWs in and out of the province is not a problem for employers, who know that there are millions more willing to take their place.
The movement from precarious to legal citizenship in New Brunswick does not correspond with a movement to secure employment for immigrant women. Those whose citizenship applications are successful experience racialization that shuts them out of the primary labour market and forces them to take on or continue to work in precarious jobs. Unlike TFWs, these women are dissatisfied with precarious work. The few immigrant women who did manage to access the primary labour market are impacted cultural insensitivity in their work places. Well-educated women who had arrived with high hopes for their futures in New Brunswick report mental health problems as a result of the intersection of precarious work and precarious social citizenship.
Immigrant women who arrive in the province having secured precarious work from abroad are more satisfied with their situation here than are those who are pushed into precarious employment. Both groups of immigrant women are working in order to care for their families. The working conditions for TFWs are less precarious than their experiences elsewhere in the world and they can earn more money to support their families. The conditions of precarious social citizenship in New Brunswick create a social limbo enticing high skill immigrant women to uproot in search of better possibilities for their families elsewhere.
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