Conceptualizing Migrant Integration in Canadian Small Centres.

As populations in small and medium-sized Canadian communities steadily decline, migration is increasingly seen as the solution. While government programs promoting migration to smaller centres exist at both the federal and provincial levels, the long-term integration of newcomers to smaller communities remains a challenge. This tendency could be connected to the notable social, economic and political differences that have been described between larger and smaller centres which can be overlooked by theories of integration derived from empirical work conducted in larger, heavily urban centres. This article explores three theories of integration – assimilation, transnationalism and the whole-of-community approach – and their applicability to the study of small centres medium-sized centres. It suggests that the whole-of-community’s emphasis on local context, multilevel governance and dynamic view of culture provides a useful framework for theorizing integration in small centres and develops a sketch of factors relevant to their study in the Canadian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]