Voices Unheard: New Study Unveils Immigrants' Struggles with Discrimination in London

Last year, Western University researchers released a study sponsored by the London and Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership showing how widespread discrimination against immigrants and racialized people living in Southwestern Ontario was.

According to the study, completed in nine regions in southern Ontario including London and Middlesex County, about 60 per cent of those who identified as immigrants said they experienced some level of discrimination or racism in the communities in which they lived.

Now, a new study also led by Western’s Network for Economic and Social Trends is taking a deeper look into the types of discrimination newcomers are facing and how that might impact their feelings of belonging and their desire to continue living in our communities.

“Hearing people’s own words, what they are experiencing is very powerful,” said Professor Victoria Esses, director of the Centre for Research on Migration and Ethnic Relations and who led the research project.

“Statistics are important. They tell us about the rate of discrimination or the incidence of discrimination and where it’s taking place, but it’s really not salient in terms of what these events are and how much they impact people’s lives, so I do think it's important to hear what people are saying about what they're experiencing in our community.”

A total of 30 immigrants took part in the qualitative study, which was conducted from November 2022 to February 2023.

As part of the project, newcomers shared specific examples of cases of discrimination they faced and the impact it had on their lives.  

The examples included in the study took place in a variety of public settings, including public transit, restaurants and immigrants’ places of work.

In one case, for instance, an immigrant recounted how they were using London’s transit system when a passenger out of nowhere started verbally insulting them.

“We were sitting on the side in the back row and they just started throwing out racial slurs and, out of nowhere, like we did not even talk to them . . . ‘You smell so bad, you’re smelling like curry’ . . . This went on for a very long time, for a good 15, 20 minutes or maybe even more than that,” the immigrant recounts.

Another shared how a customer at a restaurant refused to have his order taken by an immigrant worker.

“So I asked them, ‘What would you like?’ And they immediately turned to my co-worker, and they were like, ‘I don't want her to take my order. I want you to make it,’” the participant in the study said.  

Esses said being able to look at specific instances of discrimination can open a window to better understand newcomers’ experiences in our communities and find ways to help them better integrate into our communities.

“Sometimes people are expressing discrimination in pretty overt ways. Some of those quotes, it was really obvious that people were going out of their way to say nasty things or to be offensive,” she said.

“But sometimes discrimination can be more subtle . . . Not that it has less impact, but I think it's important for us to identify what actually is happening in our community.”

Battling instances of discrimination could soon become critical for the economic future of the city of London, which has for years now been working to attract and retain newcomers in the region.

This will also be true for many communities across Canada.

According to a recent study by Desjardins, for instance, immigration will be critical for the country’s long-term economic success, given the country’s “sustained labour demands” and aging population.

“Our research shows that higher immigration will do more to raise real GDP per capita and, by extension, living standards and incomes in the long run,” the report reads.

But plans to attract international talent won’t reach their full potential unless newcomers feel welcome in their communities, Esses said.

“You can have all the plans you want but If people are not being treated properly in the community, they're going to leave, so the whole plan falls apart,” she said.

That’s why as part of the report, researchers also included strategies and suggestions that can be issued to fight discrimination.

The recommendations are based on research, best practices and input from participants in the study.

They include suggestions such as wide dissemination of information about available resources to support immigrants, training to newcomers and the general public on how to react to cases of racial discrimination and the parameters under which a reporting tool for discrimination should be developed.

You can read the full report on the LMLIP’s website.