Investigating Multilevel Governance of Newcomers’ Settlement and Integration in Canada
About the project
This project examines how federal, provincial and municipal governments coordinate—and often encounter challenges—in facilitating newcomer settlement and integration in Canada. It analyzes the dynamics of multilevel governance and identifies where constitutional, fiscal and jurisdictional constraints create gaps between national policy frameworks and local implementation realities, particularly at the municipal level. Beyond the three orders of government, the project also explores how different settlement service providers, such as government-contracted settlement organizations, faith-based organizations and diasporic community groups, contribute to the settlement and integration outcomes of immigrants. The study also examines international practices from OECD countries to explore governance strategies—focusing on intergovernmental collaboration, funding mechanisms and local implementation capacity—that could guide Canadian policy and improve the settlement and integration of newcomers.
The project draws on a systematic scoping review of scholarly and institutional literature. For the Canadian context, we identified 1,266 articles from Scopus, Web of Science and ProQuest using Boolean search terms related to multilevel governance, settlement and integration. Using Covidence for screening, we reviewed the abstracts of the research articles and shortlisted 152 articles, of which 73 were included for full manual review. Alongside this, we used the same databases and identified an additional 211 relevant articles to review on international best practices for incorporating municipalities into immigrant integration. After abstract screening, we included 32 studies for the manual review. We used large language models, including Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude, to assist with initial screening, then conducted thematic analysis to identify patterns across the literature.
Key findings
Selection of newcomers
- The centre of gravity in immigration selection and reception is shifting toward regionalization. While the federal government remains the primary authority over immigration admission and selection, Provincial Nominee Programs have given provinces significant influence over the distribution of newcomers across Canada, now accounting for 35% of all new economic immigrants. This is reinforced by the federal government’s Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot program, which grants municipalities direct authority to nominate newcomers based on local labour market needs. Several provinces, such as Alberta, through the Rural Renewal Stream, also empower rural municipalities to recruit and retain immigrants for their communities. These initiatives have not been examined in the literature, likely due to insufficient data at this early stage.
- Alongside the federal government, several other actors, including educational institutions, private sector employers, family members and private sponsors, also ultimately shape migration and migrants’ settlement. Higher education institutions recruit international students who often transition to permanent residency. Corporations sponsor workers through employer-driven streams. Private individuals sponsor family members and refugees. Even though these actors substantially influence who arrives, most are rarely involved in the settlement process, creating a coordination gap between selection and long-term integration.
- To facilitate an effective settlement process, programs such as Local Immigration Partnerships attempt to bring together various institutional actors to improve coordination and planning. Although these institutions have a significant impact on newcomers’ settlement and integration, the success of these initiatives varies due to differences in roles and gaps in regional collaboration.
Settlement and integration
- A key challenge in current programming is its one-size-fits-all design. The federal government provides substantial support, such as language training, employment assistance, and health and educational resources, through immigrant-serving organizations. However, this approach often bypasses provincial and municipal governments, creating structural disconnects between national intent and regional and local realities.
- A complex network of nongovernmental organizations and settlement agencies—some of which are faith-based, ethnocultural-specific or diasporic—provides essential, culturally specific support that is often inaccessible through federally funded immigrant-serving agencies.
Municipal governments and integration
- Municipalities respond to long-term integration needs, particularly housing and employment, in diverse ways shaped by fiscal capacity, jurisdictional authority and local political context. Yet, they operate without explicit immigration mandates, constrained by federal and provincial frameworks that do not sufficiently account for local conditions. This governance gap leaves municipalities managing integration outcomes without the resources or authority to shape the policies that produce them.
International takeaways
- Cases from OECD countries, such as Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands, demonstrate formal involvement of all levels of the government for integration and settlement, predictable funding mechanisms and locally adaptable implementation capacity. For example, Belgium’s place-based municipal coordination mandate and universal socio-economic support approach offer a more nuanced system of immigrant integration that socially roots and promotes immigrant belonging as both a civic initiative and a governance responsibility. Canada could potentially strengthen its governance architecture by adopting similar approaches to promote a more coordinated, place-sensitive settlement model.
Policy implications
Mainstream municipalities in the vertical governance of immigration and settlement
- Provincial and federal governments should embed municipalities within federal-provincial/territorial immigration agreements, recognizing their frontline role in recruitment, settlement and long-term integration. Mainstreaming municipal involvement requires moving beyond ad hoc consultation toward dedicated funding streams, formal decision-making roles and explicit accountability structures that acknowledge municipalities as core partners rather than passive bystanders.
Formalize horizontal governance through regional coalitions
- Policy-makers should empower regional and local coalitions, such as Local Immigration Partnerships, that already coordinate immigrant-serving agencies, often across municipal boundaries. Strengthening these mechanisms would enable them not only to better coordinate, but alsoto deliver services. This will help improve responsiveness to local conditions, reduce duplication and advance coherent regional immigration strategies that no single municipality or settlement agency could provide on its own.
Adopt a whole-of-community governance model
- Integration frameworks should account for the interdependence among federal, provincial and municipal actors, as well as settlement organizations, employers, educational institutions, religious institutions and civil society groups. Moving beyond current approaches toward more community-driven initiatives, such as community-based host families and self-help models, can help address capacity gaps, meet diverse yet targeted immigrant needs, and generate more sustainable integration outcomes.
Contact the researchers
Principal investigator
Sandeep Agrawal, Professor and Associate Dean, Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies, University of Alberta: sagrawal@ualberta.ca
Collaborators
Pradeep Sangapala, Nimil Hussain and Janak Ranaweera, University of Alberta
Further information
Read full report (Coming soon)