Research on Newcomer Communities and Immigration Data in Calgary 

Looking for local data and research on immigration? Below you’ll find migration-related data, research, and reports.

Newcomer Participation: Opportunities for Mental Health and Sport Organizations

This report, prepared by Habitus Consulting Collective, explores how mental health and sport organizations in Calgary can play a stronger role in supporting the social inclusion, wellbeing, and belonging of newcomers. Drawing on community insights, promising practices, and interviews with sector leaders, the report identifies key opportunities for collaboration, inclusion, and culturally responsive service delivery. As a systems-level initiative, CLIP aims to strengthen connections across sectors that impact the lives of immigrants and refugees. This work highlights the potential of mental health and sport organizations to reduce barriers, foster welcoming spaces, and contribute meaningfully to newcomer participation and integration. We invite organizations, policymakers, and community members to use this report to spark dialogue, inspire action, and deepen collective efforts to create a more inclusive Calgary. Final Report

CLIP Community Plan and Funding Model

In 2021 CLIP applied for a Service Delivery Improvement (SDI) project. The settlement Service Delivery Improvement (SDI) funding initiative lets the IRCC invest in projects that research improvements to settlement service delivery. CLIP’s SDI project was the design and development of a community-based plan for settlement service delivery and funding in Calgary. The project was done in two phases. Phase one developed a baseline. This was done through an environmental scan and community engagement (see below). Phase two built on phase one findings. Its original outcome was the development of a community-based plan and a new funding model for Calgary. With support from the funder, phase two shifted from creating a plan to understanding the ideal state of such a plan and the barriers which prevent it from being realized. It focused on understanding the role of CLIP in such a model, and the systemic barriers of immigrant serving sector and other service providers in creating a community-based plan and approach. The evaluation report was completed by the University of Calgary in response to phase one findings and community forum feedback. It was done with the understanding that a plan would not be created but that the feedback collected would create a foundation for CLIP as a partnership. In phase two CLIP hears from just over 200 individuals representing both the immigrant serving organizations and mainstream service providers. Project Final Report | What We Heard Report

Evaluation Report

The University of Calgary completed an evaluation report on the environmental scan and system. The evaluation has 3 objectives: 1. Assess the completeness and validity of the environmental scan and systems mapping of the immigrant-serving sector in Calgary. 2. Assess the appropriateness of the applied method of environmental scan in identifying service gaps and overlaps, determining the methodology's effectiveness in capturing key insights and areas for improvement. 3. Determine the validity of the results and recommendations presented in the environmental scan and system map, assessing the reliability of the findings and the potential impact of the recommendations on enhancing immigrant services delivery and support systems in Calgary. Project Evaluation Report

Priorities Fact Sheet and Action Opportunities

In 2024, CLIP commissioned Habitus Consulting Collective to undertake secondary research to understand the current state of newcomer quality of life in four key areas: economic well-being, physical and mental health, fluency in English and French, and engagement in community life. These key outcome areas are critical indicators of integration as identified by IRCC and CLIP (Calgary Local Immigration Partnership, n.d.). Additionally, the project also identifies key actions that CLIP can take to strengthen outcomes for newcomers in Calgary and provide strategic direction to the CLIP Council. The Fact Sheets highlight areas where the quality of life for immigrants and newcomers falls short compared to non-immigrants across four critical areas of well-being: economic, physical and mental health, fluency in English and French, and engagement in community life. The Opportunities for Collective Action then outline potential areas for meaningful work to address and improve these inequities. Priorities Fact Sheets and Action Opportunities

CLIP 2023 Newcomer Survey Report

The Calgary Local Immigration Partnership (CLIP) 2023 Newcomer Survey collects the first-hand experiences of newcomers to Calgary, exploring when, where, and how they accessed information as they made Calgary home. The survey asked a series of questions to better understand how newcomers to Calgary access and use community services within the city; to understand any barriers to accessing those services; where in the community they feel most connected; and to compare and assess differences between 2023, 2021, and 2017 CLIP Newcomer Survey data.

The survey was made available in 13 languages so that we could reach as much of the newcomer population in Calgary as possible, with 53 per cent of respondents choosing to complete the survey in a language other than English. New for 2023, the survey was opened to all immigrants residing in Calgary at the time of the survey, not just newcomers (i.e., in Canada less than five years). The survey was a point in time gathering feedback on newcomer settlement experiences, with an emphasis on the experiences of those who did not access settlement services.

This report summarizes and showcases the survey findings with the ultimate goal of improving these experiences, and the settlement and integration outcomes of newcomers to Calgary. The demographics of the respondents to the CLIP 2023 Newcomer Survey mirror many of the demographics noted in the 2021 Federal Census. While the CLIP 2023 Newcomer Survey is not statistically significant, based on demographic comparability and other sources of data, we are confident that the results are representative of the broader immigrant population in Calgary. Full Report

CLIP 2022 Environmental Scan and Systems Mapping: Services for Newcomers in Calgary

In 2022 The Immigrant Education Society (TIES) was awarded CLIP's Environmental Scan and Systems Mapping project. TIES worked closely with CLIP and various service providers in Calgary to conduct an environmental scan of local services available to newcomers. The final report was completed in December 23, 2022. Below is the full report as well as a summary of key findings. Full Environmental Scan and System Map Report | Environmental Scan and System Map Report Summary Takeaways

CLIP 2021 Newcomer Survey Report

The Calgary Local Immigration Partnership (CLIP) 2021 Newcomer Survey explores when, how and where newcomers access information as they make Calgary home and suggests areas for increased attention so that together, we can improve newcomers’ experience and settlement and integration outcomes.

As Canada reopens after COVID-19 precautions lift, opportunities to review access to settlement and integration programs, to fully utilize immigrant’s vital role in both economic and societal recovery, and to remove systemic barriers for newcomers and marginalized populations present themselves. Better settlement and integration journeys in Canada require engagement by all levels of government, both the private and public sectors as well as civil society.

The CLIP 2021 Newcomer Survey is a point in time. Calgary residents, not born in Canada, who arrived between 2015 and 2020 were asked a series of questions in order to better understand how newcomers to Calgary access and use community services in the city, to understand barriers in accessing those services, where in the community they feel most connected, and to gauge if there were differences between survey data from 2017 and 2021. FULL REPORT | INFOGRAPHIC

Calgary Mapping Newcomers’ Commute in Calgary - December 2021

The results of the study show that newcomers in Calgary are distributed throughout the city, with a high concentration near the city's Northeast area. Also, it shows that the number of jobs is exceptionally high in industrial regions of the Northeast and Southeast, along with the city centre. In other words, there is geographic proximity between the newcomer clusters and the job clusters. However, major transit lines are not efficiently connected to most job clusters except for city centers, so job accessibility is inevitably low for those who use transit to commute to such areas. For example, newcomer clusters in the city's Northeast generally have low transit-based job accessibility despite their spatial proximity to job clusters in the Northeast industrial area. The locational relationship of newcomer clusters and job clusters has important implications from the perspective of transit planning. For instance, newcomers clustered in the Northwest and South end of the city are generally far from important job clusters and at the same time have limited access to transit services. In these cases, longer-term transit planning will need to examine ways to improve transit-based accessibility to the industrial areas. In contrast, newcomer and job clusters are spatially proximate in the Northeast, but additional transportation options that efficiently connect the short distances between them are needed to improve newcomers' job accessibility in this area. In both cases current iii transit services, that have been geared toward commuters travelling from suburban areas to the centre or within the centre itself, need to be expanded to achieve better suburb-to-suburb service. FULL REPORT | REPORT APPENDIX

CALGARY IMMIGRATION DATA

A wide range of data along with immigration data is now available on The City of Calgary website. Reports and profiles are based on Census of ​Canada data, Calgary Civic Census data, and more. These data products include profiles about Calgary as well as information about specific topics and populations, including immigrants, newcomers and new Canadians

Data for Calgary was compiled for CLIP to use to inform its Action Plan adjustments going forward. This includes a “snapshot” of open-source administrative data for IRCC (which is constantly being adjusted as new data are added), as well as data that provides facts about immigrants in Calgary. Local data is provided at the Census Subdivision level (the actual city of Calgary), at the slightly larger Census Metropolitan Area, or at both levels if available. If no local data was available, some provincial and national statistics are reported. See Calgary Immigration Data, Summer 2019.

A PROFILE OF IMMIGRANT HEALTH IN CALGARY - WINTER 2019

It is well documented that immigrant and racialized groups often experience greater access barriers to health and social services in Canada, due to multiple factors including language, transportation, information, service fees, and discrimination. Given the growing numbers of immigrants who make Calgary their home, there is a need to explore the association between characteristics such as immigration status, mother tongue, and ethnocultural identities, and potential disparities in health care access, physical health status, and mental health status for Calgary’s diverse immigrant populations. Seeking to fill this gap, a research collaboration between the Calgary Local Immigration Partnership and Dr. Naomi Lightman of the University of Calgary (Department of Sociology and Newcomer Research Network) has resulted in this report, A Profile of Immigrant Health in Calgary. 

Data from the Canadian Community Health Survey that was gathered between January 2013 and December 2016 provided a sample of 5,529 survey respondents who were residents of the Calgary Zone Community Health Region during the collection period. Key findings include significant differences between immigrants and their Canadian-born counterparts in rates of unmet health care needs, physical health status, mental health status, sense of belonging to the local community, and the number and presence of chronic conditions experienced. The results often differ by immigrants’ length of time in Canada, which is also associated with age. Significant differences between immigrants and the Canadian-born population in the Calgary Zone are also found in rates of racialized identity, having a mother tongue other than English, living arrangements, sexual orientation, employment, and educational attainment. In addition, there are statistically significant differences between immigrants and their Canadian-born counterparts in terms of health care access and general health status, some of which may have implications for service provision and, ultimately, health outcomes. 

These findings will help CLIP Council and its working groups to understand the impact of various factors on the mental and physical health of immigrants. This is important information to have as CLIP moves forward with its Action Plan and works toward the full inclusion and integration of newcomers in Calgary. To view the complete results, see A Profile of Immigrant Health in Calgary. 

CLIP SURVEY OF NEWCOMERS - FALL 2017

The Calgary Local Immigration Partnership reached out in innovative ways to a wide range of foreign-born individuals to learn as much as possible about why decisions about accessing settlement services are made. As a result, the CLIP Newcomer Survey was completed by 1,638 foreign-born individuals.  

"Many people advocated for more relevant, accurate information to be provided pre-arrival. They really wanted to know more about living in Canada and the realities of daily life in Calgary. This related to different social and economic systems in Canada—banking, housing, childcare, children’s education, health care, transit, and how to dress for Calgary’s weather—as well as social norms about environmental protection and recycling. Respondents also recommended various way to advertise settlement services and to help newcomers to effectively navigate the local service system upon arrival in Calgary. Helping newcomers find the programs that exist to help them is critical. More widespread, however, is the often reiterated disconnection between the attraction of skilled workers and professionals to Canada and the realities of the job market in Calgary. Respondents lamented that, to their dismay, they arrived with hope and optimism, only to find they had little chance of working in their chosen field upon arrival. Moreover, they found few if any appropriate supports to help them transition quickly or easily into the work they were trained to do. Frustration and despair were frequently expressed by these respondents." To meet the needs of the full range of newcomers who move to Calgary, "better advertising of existing programs and services is essential. In addition, different kinds of services and supports are needed for professional and non-skilled migrants. Each of these streams are both necessary and important to enable the successful social and economic integration of newcomers." To learn more about the results, you can read the Newcomers Survey Summary or the full Newcomers Survey Report.

CLIP SURVEY OF SERVICE PROVIDERS - FALL 2017

In the fall of 2017, the Calgary Local Immigration Partnership surveyed program managers from a range of mainstream and settlement agencies in Calgary. The purpose was to inform funders, CLIP, agencies, and government partners about the current state of local service provision in the settlement and integration of newcomers. The survey provided respondents with the opportunity to identify gaps in service provision, backlogs, waiting lists, or other barriers to delivering services. It similarly enabled them to share elements of service provision that are working well and what they believe contributes to that success. The survey was completed by 85 service providers. Almost-three-quarters of them (72.0%) were from mainstream organizations that serve all Calgarians, including newcomers. Nearly one-quarter (24.4%) were from immigrant-serving organizations with programs that are primarily targeted to newcomers, meaning anyone born outside of Canada. To see the results, you can read the Service Providers Survey Summary or the full Service Providers Survey Report. 

Additional Reserach and Information

• Calgary Economic Profile 2019

• LIPs data dashboard for all immigration-related data from the 2006 and 2016 Census