The Settlement and Integration Experience of Temporary Foreign Workers Living in an Isolated Area of Newfoundland and La
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The Settlement and Integration Experience of Temporary Foreign Workers Living in an Isolated Area of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Delores V. Mullings 1 & Sulaimon Giwa 1 & Karun K. Karki 1 & Sobia Shaikh 1 & Amoaba Gooden 2 & Elaine Brown Spencer 3 & Willow Anderson 4 Accepted: 12 October 2020/ # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract This study explored the settlement and integration experiences of 12 current and former Filipino temporary foreign workers (TFWs) in the low-wage service industry residing in a remote and isolated area of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The study employed a qualitative research approach that involved five in-depth semi-structured interviews and two focus group discussions, with data analyzed using thematic analysis. Informed by labour process theory, four major themes emerged from individual interviews and focus group discussions: (1) the importance of employment, (2) settlement and integration challenges, (3) looking forward-looking back–transnational navigation and (4) settlement and integration support. These themes help to tell the stories of TFWs in the service industry, including the challenges and opportunities of transnational migration. The findings highlight minimal organizational support available to TFWs in the settlement and integration process, with the lion’s share of this responsibility falling on other Filipinos within the community to provide tangible and emotional support. Recommendations for how to support TFWs’ settlement and integration needs in remote and isolated communities are discussed. Keywords Temporary foreign workers . Filipinos . Remote and isolated area . Settlement
and integration . Service industry . Newfoundland and Labrador . Canada The movements of people to and from countries across continents have been a natural part of human existence. Since WWII, increasingly, individuals around the globe have responded to the push factors of war, famine, economic crisis and political persecution in their countries of birth as well as to the pull factors of perceived economic mobility, better education and access to health care in foreign countries (McLeman et al. 2018; Ibourk 2016). Walia (2010) makes the argument that global capitalism is responsible * Delores V. Mullings [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
Mullings D.V. et al.
for individuals needing to leave their homes to work in economically prosperous countries, like Canada, which means that temporary foreign workers (TFWs) are actually forced labourers and displaced persons. In spite of those conditions, Canada has historically implemented racist and discriminatory immigration policy that excludes some groups of immigrants, particularly those from the Global South such as Africa, parts of Asia (e.g. the Philippines), Latin America and the Caribbean (Calliste 1991; Daenzer 1997; Satzewich 1989). Individuals from these regions are often seen as cheap labour pools (Walia 2010; Vancea 2018) rather than potential contributors to building the nation
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