Attracting and Retaining Immigrants to Newfoundland and Labrador:udVoices from the Newcomers and International Students

摘要

This is a funded study facilitated by Memorial University’s Harris Centre looking at attractionudand retention of newcomers and international students to NL. Study findings andudrecommendations are summarized and compared to that of previous studies on immigrationudissue. It is our hope that this report will be useful to a variety of governmental agencies and nongovernmentaludorganizations in formulating plan to attract and retain immigrants to meet theudimpending needs of skilled human resource for economic development and prosperity of NL.udThis was a multisite study with a total sample of 212, including 50 newcomers to NL, 83udinternational students, 36 immigrants who have left NL, and 32 newcomers from Toronto (27)udand Montreal (5). Newcomers were initially defined as persons born outside of Canada whoudarrived in Canada 5 years ago or less. The study received full approval from MemorialudUniversity’s Human Investigations Committee (HIC) in January 2009. The data collectionudperiod was from February 1 to April 30, 2009.udResearch Objectives:udThis study addressed two questions: (1) What are the reasons for low attraction of newcomers toudNL? (2) What are the factors that motivate immigrants to leave NL? The study incorporatedudboth qualitative methods (guided interview schedule and focus groups) and quantitative methodsud(structured survey questionnaires). There are also open-ended questions on the surveys whichudprovided additional qualitative data. The data gathered from different sources, using differentudmethods have been consistent and are complementary to each other. The triangulation of dataudsources and methods of data collection minimizes potential bias, avoids one-side interpretationudand enhances the validity and reliability of the findings.