West Coast Connections

At UBC, researchers and partners are rethinking citizenship, belonging and the changing world of work

View of landmark in Vancouver, British Columbia

FOCUS ON OUR HUBS

What does it mean to become a citizen of Canada? And why are fewer newcomers making that choice?

This is a question researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) are taking seriously. Across the country, Canada鈥檚 naturalization rate is in decline. Technology has changed everything from how citizenship ceremonies are conducted to how permanent residents apply for status. Meanwhile, multi-step immigration pathways, legal complexities, and evolving narratives about identity and belonging are shaping the way newcomers think about citizenship itself.

A key research interest of the UBC team within the Bridging Divides program is: how has Canadian citizenship changed over time, and how is it being lived, challenged, and reimagined today?

Anchored at the Centre for Migration Studies (CMS), the Vancouver team spans multiple disciplines and faculties. Some researchers focus on policy and civic life. Others examine digital platforms and migrant labour. Others still are exploring health equity, neighbourhood connection, and place-based belonging. Even while engaging national questions, their research is often community-driven to reflect local realities of newcomers and the communities who welcome them.

UBC鈥檚 work on citizenship is one of the clearest examples. In partnership with MOSAIC, one of Canada鈥檚 largest settlement and employment organizations, researchers are exploring how citizenship is experienced in everyday life 鈥� not just as a legal status, but as a relationship between individuals and the country they now call home. Together, they are asking how government narratives of citizenship differ from lived experience, and how service providers help shape these meanings through their programming.

鈥淕overnment-sponsored visions of citizenship tend to focus on allegiance and ceremony,鈥� explains one researcher.

鈥淏ut citizenship is also deeply emotional. It鈥檚 about belonging, about what people feel they鈥檙e a part of and who gets to feel that way.鈥�

Located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the x史m蓹胃k史蓹y虛蓹m (Musqueam) people, UBC鈥檚 Centre for Migration Studies has become a key site for interdisciplinary collaboration on migration and mobility. The centre鈥檚 mandate includes supporting research that explores the intersections of migration, settler colonialism, Indigeneity, and empire, an approach that continues to shape Bridging Divides work.

Across Musqueam, S岣祑x瘫w煤7mesh (Squamish), and s蓹lilw蓹ta蕯涩 (Tsleil-Waututh) territories, Bridging Divides researchers from multiple faculties, from nursing to geography, to public policy, are engaging with organizations rooted in the communities they serve.

One example of how UBC researchers are engaged in local collaborations is led by Sean Lauer. Lauer鈥檚 research explores how newcomers form friendships, build lasting connections, and engage meaningfully in their neighbourhoods and communities. The focus is on place-based community organizations that make up the local social infrastructure of the neighbourhood.

鈥淟ocal organizations bring people together, setting the stage for interactions and more lasting connections to emerge,鈥� he says. The types of organizations, the range of services they offer, and the people they attract all shape who connects with whom.

Lauer is currently working with the West Richmond Community Center, Collingwood Neighbourhood House, and Little Mountain Neighbourhood House. These organizations serve everyone in the local neighbourhood, making them ideal for exploring relationships that cross boundaries such as immigrant status.

鈥淚鈥檝e been working with the local network of neighbourhood houses in Vancouver for years now, and that long-term relationship allows for meaningful research collaborations to evolve,鈥� says Lauer.

Another area of research in Vancouver is led by Suzanne Huot, who is examining how migrants are navigating Canada鈥檚 evolving labour market, particularly in light of technological change. The rise of the gig economy and platform-based employment has reshaped not only how people work, but how they build livelihoods, claim visibility, and find meaning in their professional lives.

鈥淲hat we're seeing is that access to advanced digital technologies is opening up a lot of opportunities for people to take agency in their job search, as well as in their actual employment,鈥� says Huot. 鈥淭hey are creating new forms of self-employment beyond the traditional idea of entrepreneurship."

"In the work we鈥檙e doing at Bridging Divides we are looking at people鈥檚 experiences in the platform-based gig economy, food delivery services or ride hailing apps, but also people who are becoming social media influencers.鈥�

Understanding these shifts requires working directly with the people experiencing them, as well as the platforms and service providers who shape their choices.

From questions of citizenship and settlement to work, trauma-informed healthcare, and relationship building, the UBC team is embracing the full complexity of migrant integration. Under the leadership of Antje Ellermann, UBC鈥檚 institutional lead for Bridging Divides and Co-Director of CMS, the team鈥檚 contributions are helping move migration research in new directions.

鈥淎t the UBC Centre for Migration Studies, we believe that the most impactful research emerges through collaboration 鈥� across disciplines and in partnership with communities 鈥� advancing public scholarship that is responsive to the pressing challenges of our time.鈥�

Looking ahead, new researchers are joining the UBC team, existing partnerships are deepened, and new ones are taking shape. These interdisciplinary collaborations will continue to push the boundaries of what migration research can look like in Canada: grounded in place, informed by people, and carried forward with purpose.