Resettlement

The Oxford English Dictionary's definition of resettlement, to “settle or cause to settle in a different place,” implicitly recognizes that moving can be voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary movers are generally called immigrants; involuntary movers are called refugees.

Resettlement countries are typically preoccupied with selecting those immigrants most likely to make a contribution to the country and with establishing the legitimacy of refugee claims. They pay comparatively scant attention to what happens after opening their doors.

Resettling in a new country is ever-changing and, according to some authorities, a lifelong process. The process involves establishing economic and social independence, creating capacities to build a future, establishing family and community networks, and developing tools, such as language, that make participation in the larger society possible.

Although a general consensus exists that integration is the end goal of successful resettlement, differing definitions of the term create confusion. Governments, typically preoccupied with the economic and demographic benefits of immigration, define integration as [Page 784]the realization of human capital. Canada's gross annual immigration level equals roughly 0.7 percent of its total population. The comparable U.S. figure is about 0.3 percent. Both countries experience net economic benefit: over the course of a lifetime, the average immigrant family pays more in taxes than it consumes in services and benefits. Economic class immigrants (to use the Canadian term, which corresponds to “employment-based immigrants” in the United States) tend to be remarkably successful: men achieve economic parity with native-born Canadians within 2 years, and women within 5. Selecting immigrants on the basis of human capital attributes such as education and employable skills is part of the explanation. However, selection is no guarantee of success. Despite their generally high levels of education and job skills, about one-third of immigrant families live in poverty for at least a decade before they begin to achieve economic parity with persons born in the United States and Canada.

About 1 in 4 new settlers enters the United States or Canada as an economic immigrant. Others, including “family class” immigrants and refugees, integrate more slowly and, on the whole, encounter even more bad luck and blocked opportunity than their economic class counterparts.

Service providers are more concerned about factors such as linguistic ability and health, not only because they are intrinsically important, but because they help ensure successful resettlement. Proficiency in a resettlement country's language is, for example, one of the most potent predictors of economic integration. According to the 2000 U.S. census, 21 million people did not speak English “very well.” Language training is obviously important, but, in the United States, less than half the demand for English-language training is being met. On the whole, immigrants are in better health than native-born residents of Canada and the United States. However, the health of some immigrants deteriorates significantly over time, probably because of a combination of predisposition and exposure to unhealthy diets, new environmental pathogens, and adopting sedentary habits. Immigrants resettling in North American and Europe are at high risk for tuberculosis, a disease that compromises their own health and poses a significant public health challenge. Immigrants and refugees underutilize preventive and curative health services, thereby further compounding their health risks.

...