Lloyd L. Wong

Global Celebrity Athletes and Nationalism Fútbol, Hockey, and the Representation of Nation

Globalization scholars have pointed to a world of increasing transnationalism and deterritorialization that contributes to new meanings of identity and citizenship as the nation-state declines. Sports, and their transnational labor migration, play an important role in both undermining and strengthening nations and national identities. In this context, this article examines two superstar and global celebrity athletes in the sports of fútbol and hockey: Iván Zamorano and Wayne Gretzky. The article shows that although Zamorano and Gretzky are prime examples of transnational citizens and global business persons, living in both national and transnational spaces, it is ambiguous, paradoxical, and contradictory that in Chile, Zamorano represents and symbolizes the essence of Chileaness and that in Canada, Gretzky is usually offered as the symbol of a true Canadian. These two global celebrity athletes embody transnational cultural and capitalist business practices and, at the same time, willingly serve as national cultural icons for the formation and reaffirmation of national identities.

Chinese business migration to Australia, Canada and the United States: State policy and the global immigration marketplace

This paper examines business migration to Australia, Canada and the United States by integrating the concepts of a global immigration marketplace and the commodification of citizenship into global political economy theory. It finds that state business migration policies constitute “offers” to potential businesspersons, in a discourse of “competition” and simultaneously regulate the process. In the sorting process of potential migrants across countries many businesspersons have a rational “choice” of the country they want to emigrate to. This competition and choice provide evidence of a global immigration marketplace and data show that only Australia and Canada are active competitors with Canada having an advantage. An analysis of Chinese business migration from China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore indicate substantial numbers in the tens of thousands in the early 1990s but this has decreased in recent years due to several economic and political factors. Currently there are moderate levels of Chinese business migration with China now as the major source country. Since businesspersons are not a homogenous group the paper concludes with some suggested policy changes to make business migration more accessible and transformative.

“Cancelled Dreams”: Family Reunification and Shifting Canadian Immigration Policy

ABSTRACT Drawing on a collection of personal interviews with immigrant families, this article documents the impact of recently introduced restrictive family reunification policies on immigrants living in Canada today. Since 2008, Canadian immigration policy has changed dramatically with renewed neoliberal emphasis on economic immigrants and labor-market integration. This article explores the impact of this policy shift on immigrant families and on immigrant women and children in particular. This article argues that there are profound human costs to limiting family reunification; these costs are disproportionately borne by immigrant women and ultimately impact immigrant integration and belonging.

Measuring Social, Cultural, and Civic Integration in Canada: The Creation of an Index and Some Applications

This paper reports on one segment of a research project that was funded by the former Prairie Metropolis Centre. The research utilizes a large quantitative data set in Canada, the Ethnic Diversity Survey, to develop a specific index to measure the social, cultural, and civic integration of immigrants in Canada and then selectively applies it for some comparative analyses. The paper begins with a definition of integration and then reviews the literature on measuring immigrant integration in Europe and the United States as well as the relevant Canadian literature that foregrounds the variables that we considered for a Canadian immigrant integration index. We then explain how, using factor analysis, our immigrant integration index is developed for Canada. Finally, the paper applies this social integration index and presents some of the results where this index is applied. More specifically, this last part of the paper presents comparative social integration index scores and analysis for: 1) nativity (comparing immigrants to the Canadian-born); 2) generational status; 3) racialized (visible) minority status; and 3) nativity by generation and racialized (visible) minority status. While there are statistically significant differences in all of these comparisons, one of our major findings is that integration, as measured by our index, is not that different between immigrants and the Canadian-born.

Calgary’s Chinese Kinship Associations: Their Role in Chinese Canadian Integration

Abstract The kinship associations in Calgary’s Chinese community were formed to assist Chinese immigrants in meeting their needs, such as housing and moral support, in the face of the discrimination they encountered during their early days of settlement in the city. In providing for these needs the kinship associations helped Chinese immigrants establish themselves, and thus, integrate into Canadian society. However, over time the opportunities to integrate into the Canadian society have increased and the question arises whether the kinship associations have been willing or able to take advantage of these opportunities. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether kinship associations in Calgary’s Chinese community are effectively promoting Chinese Canadian integration into mainstream society. Personal face-to-face interviews revealed the records of the kinship associations in integrating their members into Canadian society; these records were then compared with those of newer, non-kinship Chinese Canadian associations. The authors conclude that the integration efforts by the kinship associations are inadequate as compared to newer Calgary Chinese organisations, and that the integrative role of these kinship associations has diminished over time.

Revisiting Multiculturalism in Canada

Multiculturalism existed demographically in Canada at the time of confederation when the country was formed in 1867. While the situation in 1867 was one of in equalitarian pluralism, with the British being dominant, much of the current historical literature refers to the colonial and confederation periods as having three founding ethnic groups, Aboriginal peoples, French, and British.

Multiculturalism and Ethnic Pluralism in Sociology

Over the past several decades Canadian sociologists generally have been supportive of cultural and ethnic pluralism in Canada and supportive of official multiculturalism policy, as have the general Canadian population. Public opinion polling since the 1990s has consistently found that the majority of Canadians approve of, or support, multiculturalism in Canada.