Douglas Durst (editor) - Diversity and aging among immigrant seniors in Canada : changing faces and greying temples

Copyright 2010 Douglas Durst and Michael MacLean

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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data

Title: Diversity and aging among immigrant seniors in Canada : changing faces and greying temples /

editors, Douglas Durst, Michael MacLean.

Names: Durst, Douglas, editor. | MacLean, Michael J., 1947- editor.

Description: Originally published: Calgary : Detselig Enterprises, 2010.

Identifiers: Canadiana 20190063424 | ISBN 9781550598155 (EPUB) | ISBN 9781550598162 (Kindle)

Subjects: LCSH: Older immigrantsCanadaSocial conditions. | LCSH: Older immigrantsCanadaEconomic

conditions. | LCSH: Older immigrantsCanada. | LCSH: Minority older peopleCanadaSocial

conditions. | LCSH: Minority older peopleCanadaEconomic conditions. | LCSH: Minority older

peopleCanada.

Classification: LCC HQ1064.C2 D59 2019 | DDC 305.26086/9120971dc23

We acknowledge the support of the Government of Canada.

Nous reconnaissons lappui du gouvernement du Canada.

Working on this volume has been a labor of love mainly because of the importance of the topic and the contributions from the many current researchers. Thank you to all the contributors for their timely and relevant chapters and their superb work in meeting deadlines and quick responses to our pesky questions. It has been a real pleasure working with such high calibre of colleagues.

Our sincere gratitude goes to the Metropolis Canada and especially the Prairie Metropolis Centre for their encouragement and financial support to see the completion of this project. Their continued and consistent support for research and, just as importantly, dissemination of knowledge on Canadas immigration, is gratefully recognized. Thank you to Dr. Baha Abu-Laban for his initial support and Drs. Linda Ogilvie and Tracey Derwing, Co-Directors of the Prairie Metropolis Centre, for their on-going encouragement.

We thank Karen Martens Zimmerly and Alaina Harrison for assistance in proof reading and editing. Thank you to the Faculty of Social Work and the Social Policy Research Unit, University of Regina, for their support in kind.

On the production side, we thank Ted Giles, for editing, production and design. We thank James Dangerous for his cover design.

Reading the chapters, we are touched by the stories of those individuals who left their homelands to come to Canada. We are moved by their personal commitment to their new home and how they have shaped Canadas past, present and future.

Douglas Durst and Michael MacLean

When considering immigrants, many people assume that immigrants are young but senior immigrants are not new in Canada. Throughout the history of Canada, our foreign-born members have aged in Canada and made important and significant contributions to our country. It is surprising to many people to learn that the prairie provinces of western Canada have the highest percentages of foreign born seniors; they emigrated from Europe many decades ago. However, in recent years, the faces of our senior population have been changing. With changes in source countries, our senior population is beginning to reflect the diversity in demographics of the nation as a whole. With increasing ethnic diversity among our aging population come some new challenges and opportunities. Some of these seniors immigrated as adults and aged in Canada and others aged in their homelands prior to family unification. All of them bring diversity and contribute in all aspects of Canadian society whether it is social, economic, political or spiritual. Little attention has been given to this demographic, social change. We know so little about them and the challenges they face. This edited volume attempts to address this lack in knowledge and makes an important contribution for policy and program planning. Readers in social policy, social gerontology, social work, public health/administration and community development will be informed and challenged by the discussions proposed by scholars from across Canada. Many of the chapters provide specific and concrete recommendations for practitioners and policy planners. Some of the contributors come from a social gerontological background with an emphasis on aging while others have a research background on immigration or ethnicity. It is exciting to see these two important backgrounds come together and teach us what they know. There are numerous chapters addressing gender concerns from a feminist perspective and structural issues with a critical analysis. The book is interdisciplinary with contributions from economics, nursing, medicine, sociology, social work and psychology. Its diversity across theoretical perspectives and disciplines is its strength.