Almost half of Canadians report a strong sense of belonging to their local community: GSS results for visible minorities and immigrants

Summaries I found more interesting, with overall sense of belonging stronger than not visible minority or Indigenous for most groups, as is the case for immigrants.

Further analysis needed why some groups have a stronger sense of belonging than Korean, Chinese and Southeast Asians and look forward to future work by StatsCan and others:

Sense of belonging to a local community varies among racialized groups

The proportion of people reporting a strong sense of belonging to a local community differed across racialized groups. For example, South Asian (59%), Filipino (57%), Arab (54%), and Black (51%) Canadians were more likely to have a strong sense of belonging to their local community, compared with those who did not belong to a racialized group and were not Indigenous (46%). 

On the other hand, Korean (24%), Chinese (36%), and Southeast Asian (38%) Canadians were less likely to have a strong sense of belonging to their local community. This finding is consistent with previous research, suggesting that some racialized groups are more likely to have a strong sense of belonging to their local community. More in-depth analyses are necessary to further understand this variation.

Immigrants are more likely to have a strong sense of belonging to their local community

Compared with those born in Canada (46%), recent immigrants—i.e., immigrants who arrived in the past five years (50%)—and those who arrived in Canada more than five years ago (48%) were more likely to have a strong sense of belonging to their local community. Despite the unique economic and social challenges they experienced during the pandemic, immigrants may nonetheless settle in regions where they receive support from immigrant settlement organizations or cultural community groups. 

This report found that social, economic, and demographic factors were associated with having a strong sense of belonging to a local community. Future research using the Canadian Social Survey will track this and other indicators in the Quality of Life Framework through the pandemic recovery period and examine how these factors and others relate to each other.

Source: Almost half of Canadians report a strong sense of belonging to their local community