Community Engagement Models Among Chinese Immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada

Background and purpose: Community engagement refers to activity which seeks to effect community-based change by organizing communities to define their own issues, to identify the determinants of issues, and to engage in effective individual and collective action to change these determinants. In the process of community engagement, participants are expected to work collaboratively, through inspired action and learning, to create and realize bold visions for their common future. The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is a multicultural city in Canada, half of whose population was born outside of Canada. The Chinese population is the second largest visible minority group: 11.4 % of residents in the GTA are Chinese or self-report Chinese origin (City of Toronto, 2017). However, the community engagement model among Chinese immigrants is still unclear. The aim of this study is to understand the model of community engagement among Chinese immigrants in the GTA.

Methods: To understand the overall community engagement experience across different Chinese communities and generations in the GTA, we recruited 61 participants using snowball sampling through personal networks and three community-based organizations in the GTA. The total sample includes Chinese immigrants from Mainland China (n = 22), Hong Kong (n = 12), and Taiwan (n = 16), as well as participants who are Canadian-born Chinese (n = 11). We gathered data through unstructured, in-depth, open-ended interviews, which were conducted in the language preferred by the participant (Mandarin, Cantonese, or English). All interviews ranged from 60 – 120 minutes in length. Grounded theory was used to analyze the data. All transcripts were redacted and uploaded into Atlas.ti software.

Findings: Among participants, 54.1% were female, 78.7% had education more than college, and 68.9% were Canadians. The results revealed that community engagement models could be divided into four domains, classified along the axes of internal–external and passive–active approach. Participants involved in the internal–passive domain like to address community engagement as a process for collecting blessings by helping others or contributing themselves to their own communities. Participants in the internal–active domain indicated that engaging in community activities can improve opportunities for socializing with others and creating a new friendship circle. Thirdly, those in the external–passive domain like to address community engagement as a method of promoting the Chinese image among different ethno-racial groups. Lastly, those in the external–active domain describe their approach as advocating for the rights of Chinese immigrants and fighting against discriminations based on their Chinese background.

Conclusion and implications: Our study draws attention to the issue of community engagement among Chinese immigrants in the GTA, an area of research that is underdeveloped and yet potentially important to address an unfulfilled need among this population. Social and immigrant services serving Chinese communities may benefit from using this model to better understand the unique, diverse, and complex community engagement interests of their service users. With the increasing awareness of the concept of community among Chinese populations, further social research among Chinese immigrants in diverse cultural settings should be undertaken in order to better understand the emerging community engagement models among Chinese immigrants.